Amazon workers in Kentucky extend picket lines during a nationwide strike

At 6 a.m. Thursday, thousands of Amazon workers went on strike across the country.

The International Brotherhood of the Teamsters – a union representing workers at companies including Amazon, UPS, DHL and others in the US – called workers at facilities in New York City, Atlanta, across California and Skokie, Illinois, to strike on.

Here in Kentucky, where Amazon operates several fulfillment centers and the company’s largest air hub, workers were not specifically called to strike; However, workers represented by Louisville-based Teamsters Local 89 and other local union chapters across the state were forced into “picket line extensions” in support of the national movement.

Across the Kentuckiana region, there are about “half a dozen” facilities with picket extensions, including Amazon facilities in Shepherdsville, Campbellsville and Northern Kentucky, Teamsters Local 89 said in a statement on Facebook.

Most recently, Local 89 in Kentucky led an effort to organize Amazon workers at the Northern Kentucky air hub.

The nationwide action, which Teamsters has called “the largest strike against Amazon in U.S. history,” could impact package shipping as the holiday quickly approaches.

More:The Teamsters union in Louisville is taking on Amazon and planning to organize in Northern Kentucky

“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed. We have given Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do the right thing for our members. They ignored it,” Teamsters general president Sean O’Brien said in a statement on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

USA Today previously reported that Amazon said a Teamsters strike “will not disrupt holiday sales.”

The strike and picket line extensions came after Teamsters officials accused Amazon of failing to come to the bargaining table to negotiate contracts by ignoring a Dec. 15 deadline, USA Today reported.

In Louisville specifically, many Amazon packages flow through UPS Worldport, the largest UPS air hub in the world. Teamsters Local 89, which also represents UPS workers, posted a statement on Facebook saying, “UPS Teamsters have the contractual right to refuse to cross a picket line as outlined in the UPS National Master Agreement.”

However, a UPS spokesman told the Courier Journal that the company does not expect any disruption to its business.

More:After the union victory at UPS, Teamsters set its sights on a major employer in northern Kentucky

Both Amazon and Teamsters have been embroiled in labor disputes, with multiple unfair labor practice charges filed against each other with the National Labor Relations Board.

Amazon believes today’s nationwide move is “another attempt to spread a false narrative,” a company representative said in a statement to USA Today.

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Amazon workers in Kentucky extend picket lines during a nationwide strike

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