Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien (center) is shown rallying with Amazon workers outside Amazon’s JFK8 facility in Staten Island on June 19 in New York.

Stefan Jeremiah/AP

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Stefan Jeremiah/AP

About 10,000 Amazon workers have approved a strike starting Thursday morning to demand better wages, safer working conditions and longer breaks.

The Teamsters union says workers in New York City, Atlanta, California and Illinois are joining the strike line. Warehouse workers and drivers from other companies are also ready to strike.

The strike comes amid a key purchasing period, but there is no word on how long the strike is expected to last.

“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” said Teamsters President Sean O’Brien. “We have given Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do the right thing for our members. They ignored it.”

Amazon workers in Staten Island, New York were the first to unionize in 2022. But Amazon has continually fought the decision in court, arguing that union leaders influenced the workers’ vote, an argument the National Labor Relations Board rejected almost two years ago.

They started as a small, independent union called the Amazon Labor Union, but in June merged with Teamsters, which represents 1.3 million people in the U.S. and Canada.

“For more than a year, the Teamsters have intentionally misled the public by claiming that they represent ‘thousands of Amazon employees and drivers.’ They are not doing that, and this is another attempt to spread a false narrative,” Amazon spokesman Kelly Nantel said in a statement, The Associated Press reported.

Third-party contractors are also among the strikers. Teamsters used the terms “workers” and “members” in their statement about the strike.

Almost half of those planning to strike are members of the Staten Island union.

Gabriel Irizarry, a driver who works in Skokie, Illinois, said: “Amazon is one of the largest and richest companies in the world. They talk a lot about taking care of their employees, but when it comes down to it, Amazon doesn’t respect us and our right to bargain for better working conditions and wages. We can’t even afford to pay our bills.

Leah Pensler, a warehouse worker in San Francisco, said: “What we are doing is historic. We are fighting a vicious anti-union campaign and we will win.”