Why Your Luxurious Christmas Present Is Getting Delivered Late Now

It couldn't have come at a worse time for shoppers. Amazon workers have gone on strike at seven facilities across the United States. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has called it the largest strike against Amazon in U.S. History. The strikes are taking place in New York, Atlanta, and San Francisco among others.

Amazon union representatives gave the company a deadline of December15th for the company to negotiate contracts with them. Amazon wouldn't even agree to meet with the union which resulted in the strike. The General President of the Teamsters Union, Sean M. O'Brien, put it bluntly when he said, "If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon's insatiable greed. We gave Amazon a clear deadline to do right by our members, and they ignored it."

Amazon has made assurances to their customers and shareholders by pointing out that roughly 1% of their hourly workforce is actually made up of the unionized facilities. Even though Amazon is downplaying what could be a major issue it doesn't help the company image when they are already suffering from allegations of unsafe working conditions.

Amazon insists that the union's actions are illegal. The Teamsters and Amazon have had ongoing legal challenges between themselves for some time. Regardless, the strike does bring to the attention of the general public the grievances workers have working for the company. Will this strike necessarily impact Amazon's operations during the holidays? That remains to be seen, but it is certainly showing that Amazon's hourly workforce is ready to fight for better working conditions and better treatment.