FINDLAY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — In Findlay Township outside of the Amazon fulfillment center, the Teamsters continued to picket Thursday. They’ve been out since 6 a.m., joining a nationwide effort to put pressure on Amazon right before the holidays.
PHOTOS: Union members picket at Pittsburgh-area Amazon facility as part of nationwide strike
“They have been just ignoring us so they think that we don’t exist. Here we are,” said Kevin Schmitt, President of Teamsters local 249.
In Imperial and throughout the US, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters started picketing outside of Amazon fulfillment centers, Thursday.
Mike Veon, a former State Representative said, “This is a nationwide effort to bring some pressure to bear on Amazon to recognize the union and the facilities that they have organized in different parts of the country.”
Former state representative, Mike Veon came to the Findlay Township location in solidarity.
Veon said, “This is a show of support from the community from all the other unions throughout Western Pennsylvania. This is really important. It’s a huge company they need to share these profits with the people that work at these facilities. "
Schmitt said, “We have over 9,000 members that have joined Teamsters local across the country and Amazon is refusing to negotiate at all.”
Amazon refutes this saying - “For more than a year now, the Teamsters have continued to intentionally mislead the public – claiming that they represent ‘thousands of Amazon employees and drivers’. They don’t, and this is another attempt to push a false narrative. The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union.”
The Teamsters say workers who voted to authorize strikes joined picket lines Thursday after Amazon reportedly ignored a Sunday deadline for contract negotiations. Thursday morning, no delivery trucks could get through until about 10:30 when the local union president said Amazon filed a suit out of New York - where a judge ruled the picketing has to stop to allow trucks through.
The Teamsters say they’re fighting for employees’ basic rights. Amazon says it doesn’t expect the strike to impact operations or deliveries. It’s unclear how long the strike will last - as the international Teamsters leadership makes that call.
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