From Washington Examiner: Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said Amazon is his union’s biggest opponent and a “white-collar crime syndicate.”
O’Brien cast the fight against the e-commerce giant over the past few years as critical for the Teamsters in a wide-ranging interview with the Washington Examiner in his office near Capitol Hill.
O’Brien, who was born and raised in Massachusetts in a family of Teamsters, mentioned a story from the Boston Globe that just over 2,400 Amazon employees are recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, which he sees as evidence of the corporation not doing enough for their workers.
“And when you look at Amazon, a tycoon — I call them a white-collar crime syndicate, a corporate white-collar crime syndicate — in Massachusetts alone, like 2,400 of their employees are on SNAP benefits, right?” O’Brien said. “And that’s a f***ing embarrassment.”
“So if that’s 2,400 Massachusetts, what do you think it is nationwide?” he added. “That should just demonstrate how bad they are.”
He said Amazon exploits distressed communities.
“So yeah, they are the worst,” O’Brien said. “And unfortunately, they keep growing, and they are in more than parcel delivery, they’re in more than the cloud, they’re just emerging as a behemoth that is going to destroy the working class if we don’t fight.”
Amazon spokeswoman Eileen Hards responded in a statement.
“The Teamsters continue to mislead the public with false claims and illegal tactics — including threatening and intimidating workers — to coerce people into joining them, which is why there are multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union,” Hards said.
“The fact is we already provide much of what the Teamsters are requesting, including safe & inclusive workplaces, competitive pay, health benefits on day one, and opportunities for career growth,” she added.
Read more at Washington Examiner
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