In some U.S. cities, Amazon delivery drivers and Starbucks baristas are striking to put pressure on the two major companies to recognize them as union workers or meet demands for a first labor contract.
The strikes, which began Thursday and Friday, followed other recent disputes between American corporations and organized labor unions. Large, established unions secured significant employer concessions this year following strikes by Boeing factory workers, longshoremen at East and Gulf Coast ports, video game actors, and hotel and casino workers on the Las Vegas Strip.
But workers at Starbucks, Amazon and several other well-known consumer brands are still fighting for their first contracts. Amazon refuses to recognize the organizing efforts of drivers and warehouse workers — many of whom voted to unionize — even though the powerful Teamsters union says it represents them. Starbucks has long resisted unionizing its stores but had agreed to negotiate a contract by the end of the year.
Why are the strikes happening now?
Strikes—particularly those occurring during the holidays, a time of high economic activity—can assist unions gain leverage in negotiations or flex their muscles by winning the support of workers and sympathetic consumers.
Both Amazon and Starbucks experienced a wave of organizing efforts in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic focused attention on frontline workers and the impact of economic inequality on the lives of wage-earning Americans.
Employees organized at bookstores where unions are sporadic and had success with campaigns at some Apple stores, Trader Joe’s and outdoor gear company REI.
But converting these successes into contracts can be challenging. At Amazon and Starbucks, which were not unionized before the pandemic, workers have yet to reach an agreement with the e-commerce and coffee giants, both of which are headquartered in Seattle.
John Logan, director of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University, said he believes Amazon and Starbucks workers are “desperate” to make progress before President-elect Donald Trump brings a Republican majority to the National Labor Relations Board Board appointee is expected to be less pro-union during his term.
“The unions want to make these disputes public and put political pressure on the companies,” Logan said in a written statement. “If these disputes drag on until next year and are fought largely through the Labor Commission and the courts, that will… unions and workers will almost certainly lose. This could be their last and best chance to publicly pressure the companies before Trump takes office.”
However, Trump has also shown some signs that he may be more labor-friendly in his second term compared to his first term. Last month, he chose Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon to lead the Labor Department in his novel administration, appointing a Republican congresswoman who enjoys robust support from unions, including the Teamsters. Teamsters President Sean O’Brien also spoke at the Republican National Convention last summer.
Teamster-led strikes at Amazon
The Teamsters say Amazon workers are striking at seven delivery stations in Southern California, San Francisco, New York City, Atlanta and Skokie, Illinois, because the company ignored a Sunday deadline set by the union for contract negotiations. At midnight Saturday, the Teamsters say workers will also strike at a prominent New York warehouse that voted to join the fledgling Amazon Labor Union in 2022 and has since opted to join the Teamsters.
The prominent union group says it is fighting for higher wages, better benefits and safer working conditions for Amazon employees, many of whom suffer economic insecurity while working for a company worth $2.3 trillion. It did not say how many Amazon warehouse workers or drivers are joining the strike.
The union has focused primarily on organizing delivery drivers, who the company says are not its employees because they are employed directly by contractors Amazon hired to handle package deliveries.
This type of setup gives Amazon more protection from unionization efforts in an industry—transportation and trucking—that is dominated by the Teamsters. However, the union has argued before the National Labor Relations Board that the drivers, who wear Amazon’s ubiquitous gray-blue vests and drive similar-colored vans, should be classified as employees of the company.
Meanwhile, the online retailer has accused the union of spreading a “false narrative” about the thousands of workers it claims to represent. Amazon has also touted its salary, saying it offers warehouse and transportation workers a base wage of $22 an hour plus benefits. Hourly wages for subcontracted delivery drivers were also recently increased.
In September, the NLRB, which took a more worker-friendly stance under President Joe Biden, filed a complaint finding that the drivers were joint employees of Amazon. The agency also accused Amazon of unlawfully failing to negotiate a contract with the Teamsters for drivers at a California delivery center.
The Teamsters union says it also represents Amazon warehouse workers, including thousands of employees at the enormous New York fulfillment center who voted to be represented by the Amazon Labor Union.
Amazon objected to the results of the 2022 warehouse election, claiming the Amazon Labor Union and the Federal Labor Department falsified the vote. A regional NLRB director filed a complaint last year accusing Amazon of violating the law by refusing to negotiate with the union.
Amazon, in turn, along with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, are challenging the constitutionality of the NLRB in federal court. In June, the Supreme Court made it harder for the agency to enforce court orders in labor disputes and sided with Starbucks in a case brought by the company.
Contract negotiations at Starbucks
In contrast to Amazon, contract negotiations are ongoing at Starbucks.
But Starbucks Workers United, the union that has been organizing workers at 535 company-owned U.S. stores since 2021, said the company had reneged on a commitment made in February to reach a collective bargaining agreement this year.
The union also wants Starbucks to resolve outstanding legal issues, including hundreds of unfair labor practice charges that workers have filed with the National Labor Relations Board. The agency has also opened or settled hundreds of lawsuits against Amazon.
At the start of strikes that began Friday in Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle, Workers United said Starbucks had proposed a stimulus package that included no novel wage increases for unionized baristas and included a 1.5% boost in coming years.
Starbucks said Workers United ended a round of negotiations early this week. The company also says it already offers salaries and benefits worth $30 an hour to baristas who work at least 20 hours per week.
Starbucks employees quit their jobs twice last year. Workers United said the latest strikes could spread to hundreds of stores across the country by Christmas Eve.
Patricia Campos-Medina, who recently ran for U.S. Senate as a Democrat in New Jersey and directs Cornell University’s Worker Institute in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, said she expects there will be more union activity before Trump takes office .
Trump’s reactions will give the public a chance to see what his “commitments to the working class” are, Campos-Medina said.
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Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit contributed to this story.
