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Thousands of workers at Amazon facilities across the United States went on strike Thursday, the Teamsters Union said, halting work at the height of the busy holiday gift-giving season.

The union, which says it represents about 10,000 workers at the giant online retailer’s operations across the country, called the action the “largest strike against Amazon in U.S. history.”

Workers will picket facilities in New York, Atlanta, Southern California, San Francisco and Illinois, with other Amazon Teamsters “ready to join them,” the union said in a statement.

“The nationwide action follows Amazon’s repeated refusal to follow the law and negotiate with the thousands of Amazon workers who have organized with the Teamsters,” it said.

With less than a week to go until the holiday season, the strike threatens to significantly disrupt deliveries of Amazon orders as Americans rush to send last-minute gifts.

“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” Teamsters CEO Sean O’Brien said in the statement.

“We have given Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do the right thing for our members. They ignored it.”

In April 2022, workers at a New York facility became the first Amazon employees to unionize, with several other locations following suit.

Originally an independent union, Amazon workers voted to join the Teamsters in June.

Amazon has repeatedly tried to block unionization efforts, with lawsuits still pending.

The Teamsters represent just a tiny fraction of the 1.5 million workers at Amazon, the country’s second-largest private employer after Walmart.

The union has about 1.3 million members nationwide in industries ranging from freight delivery to cafeteria workers.

In the 2024 presidential election, the union decided not to support Donald Trump or Kamala Harris. This was the first time since 2000 that she did not support the Democratic candidate.

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