Teamster driver vows to ‘hit Amazon hard’, sparks pre-Christmas strike: ‘Tired of being abused’

Teamster drivers have expanded their range Strike against Amazon Just days before Christmas, and thousands are still going strong, vowing to hang in there as long as it takes to bring the online retail giant to the table.

Teamster driver Christopher Velez was among those who walked the picket line. While standing outside in frigid twelve-degree temperatures early Monday in Maspeth, New York, he spoke with FOX Business’ Madison Allworth about the ongoing strike.

“Put yourself in our shoes,” he said. “We’re here. We’re fighting for something. We’re tired of being mistreated as slaves. Slavery ended a long time ago, so I hope everything will be resolved soon and everything will go back to normal.”

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Velez said he’s “not really worried” about the possibility of Amazon never coming to the table because “there will be a time when they’ll have to negotiate with us one way or another.”

He continued, “They don’t like that we are Amazon employees, but we are Amazon employees, and we are fighting here.” “This is global. This is global from Europe to the United States. We will hit them. We will hit them hard.”

However, Amazon has remained steadfast, insisting that it has no intention of sitting down with the Teamsters because, in their words, they “do not represent any Amazon employees.”

Amazon national spokeswoman Kelly Nantel he told FOX Business last week “There is no strike,” and the movement was described as a “protest.”

“There are no Amazon employees or drivers involved in this activity. What we have is a protest created and manufactured by the Teamsters to make a point,” she said, adding: “But I think it’s really important for viewers watching to realize that the Teamsters do not represent any Amazon employees, and they don’t represent any of our third-party drivers either.”

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Teamsters spokeswoman Cara Deniz responded to Amazon’s statements, insisting that the company is “deceiving the American public with its false narratives.”

“The reality is that more than 20 bargaining units representing nearly 9,000 employees successfully organized because the company has for many years exploited and abused workers, and those workers are fed up and are fighting back,” she said.

“No matter how big Amazon’s PR machine is, they can’t fool the American public into believing that drivers who deliver Amazon packages in Amazon-branded trucks don’t actually work for Amazon,” Deniz added. “No one believes this nonsense. Amazon must stop evading its legal obligations to these workers and get to the negotiating table now.”

The strike, which began last week, initially included seven centers in California, Georgia, Illinois and New York.

Workers at two additional sites – Staten Island Elsewhere in California – they left work over the weekend to join the strike.

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Truckers Union President Sean O’Brien encouraged the expansion.

“Amazon executives are cowards who hide behind lies, threats and intimidation to evade their responsibilities to workers and the public,” he said. “It takes real courage to stand up to corporate bullies, and that’s exactly what the Amazon Teamsters are doing.”

The union claims Amazon ignored its December 15 deadline to negotiate new contracts for higher wages, better benefits and safer working conditions.

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FOX Business’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.