By Arriana McLymore, Nathan Frandino and Greg Bensinger

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Amazon.com workers at seven U.S. facilities walked off the job early on Thursday during the holiday shopping rush as workers protested what they said was unfair treatment at the retailer. giant of its employees.

Warehouse workers in cities including New York, Atlanta and San Francisco are participating in what Teamsters officials are calling the largest strike against Amazon (NASDAQ: ) — but it could cause a ripple effect in the company’s multiple shipping operations.

As the world’s second-largest private employer after Walmart (NYSE: ), Amazon has long been a target of unions that say the company’s emphasis on faster speed and efficiency could lead to damage The company says it pays industry-leading wages and uses automation designed to reduce repetitive stress.

Amazon shares rose 1.8% on Thursday afternoon.

Workers told Reuters they want Amazon to come to the bargaining table and recognize the pressure to meet demands that affect their health. However, the strikers represent a small number of the 800,000-plus people employed by Amazon at more than 600 US fulfillment centers, shipping stations and same-day facilities.

“(Amazon) pretends it doesn’t have a quota system, but it has a very strict quota system that pushes people beyond their actual physical limits in an unnatural way,” Jordan Soreff said. , 63, who delivers about 300 packages a day for Amazon on Amazon. New York City boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn. “The more you do, the more you expect to do.”

Soreff was one of about 100 people outside the Amazon facility in Queens, including several Teamsters members who do not work for Amazon. However, the facility continued to operate, with other drivers entering work and then leaving the trucks, assisted by police, who stopped the protesters from blocking the drivers.

The Teamsters “deliberately misled the public” and “threatened, intimidated and attempted to coerce” employees and third-party drivers into joining them, an Amazon spokeswoman said.

Amazon has multiple locations in many US metropolitan areas, protecting it from potential disruptions. The company said it does not expect any impact on operations during one of the busiest times of the year. By 2023, the company will sell more than 500 million items from independent retailers on Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday.

“There may be some isolated incidents of delay, I just don’t think there will be a material impact,” said Morningstar analyst Dan Romanoff.

Earlier this year, Amazon announced a $2.1 billion investment to increase pay for fulfillment and transportation employees in the United States, increasing base wages for employees by at least $1.50 to $22 an hour.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters gave Amazon a deadline of December 15 to begin negotiations – but that day passed without talks. The Teamsters say they represent 10,000 workers at 10 Amazon facilities, but the e-commerce giant disputes this, saying there is no election or bargaining order for the locations.

RESISTANT TO UNIONS

Labor actions increased in the service industries after a period when workers in the automotive, aerospace and rail manufacturing industries won significant concessions from employers. US dock workers are set to go on strike in mid-January if contract talks are not resolved.

A union representing more than 10,000 Starbucks (NASDAQ: ) baristas authorized a potential strike earlier this week, following strikes at companies including planemaker Boeing (NYSE: ) earlier this year.

Amazon still hasn’t identified the first facility to vote on unionization in Staten Island, and has filed objections with the National Labor Relations Board to the 2022 union vote. In a federal lawsuit filed in September, Amazon challenged the constitutionality of the NLRB, which was formed during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

In San Francisco, there were at least three dozen protesters at an Amazon facility, with a Teamsters organizer estimating between 15 and 20 warehouse employees.

Janeé Roberts, a 30-year-old San Francisco resident who has worked at the facility for nearly two years, said her main reason for supporting the strike was safety conditions.

“Not only do I look at my co-workers and see how tired and worn and torn their bodies are, but we’re not even given proper benefits as part-timers ,” Roberts said while holding a sign outside the gates.

Amazon, whose businesses include the grocery chain Whole Foods, will face other union actions in the coming months. Workers at a Philadelphia Whole Foods in November filed to hold a union election, the first since Amazon acquired the business in 2017.

Germany’s United Services Union also announced strikes at Amazon warehouses across the country in solidarity with the Teamsters, starting Thursday.