Amazon Workers at seven facilities in New York, Georgia, California and Illinois went on strike Thursday to demand better benefits, higher wages and safer working conditions.

The strike, organized by members of the Teamsters union, is intended to pressure Amazon to come to the bargaining table and avoid disruption during the peak of the holiday shopping season. The union had previously given Amazon until Sunday to agree on negotiation dates for a contract.

“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said in a 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 a statement to CNBC, an Amazon spokesperson said the Teamsters had waged a year-long campaign to “intentionally mislead the public.” While the union claims it represents thousands of employees and drivers, the protesters at the sites are “almost exclusively outsiders,” Amazon said.

“The truth is that they have not been able to get enough support from our employees and partners and have brought in outsiders to harass and intimidate our team, which is inappropriate and dangerous,” the company said, adding that it “continues to focused on acquiring customers.” their holiday orders.”

A representative for the Teamsters did not immediately respond to CNBC’s inquiry about whether outsiders were involved in the strike.

The Teamsters claim that nearly 10,000 Amazon workers have joined the organization as of December 31, 2023, representing less than 1% of the company’s 1.53 million employees. The union said Thursday’s campaign was the largest strike against Amazon in American history.

Amazon has long opposed unions among its workforce, but efforts to organize began to materialize in 2022 when warehouse workers on New York’s Staten Island voted to join a union. Amazon had aggressively fought the unionization effort, so it was a significant defeat for the company.

In June, employees of the Amazon Labor Union, which led the movement on Staten Island, voted to join the Teamsters after difficulties negotiating a contract with Amazon.

–CNBC’s Annie Palmer contributed to this report

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