Amazon workers and their union, the Teamsters, launched the largest strike against Amazon in US history this week. Amazon workers in Germany and members of the union ver.di announced they will strike along with their US counterparts. The nationwide US action follows Amazon’s repeated refusal to follow the law and bargain with the thousands of Amazon workers who organised with the Teamsters.

In New York, the Police Department broke the Amazon Teamsters picket line, protecting the company's operation and arresting one driver who refused to cross the picket line. The police also arrested Anthony Rosario, organiser for Teamsters Local 804. On his release Rosario was straight back to the picket line and was filmed asking, “What we doing wrong? We’re exercising our constitutional right.”

Workers are on strike in New York, Georgia, California and Illinois. Teamsters local unions are also putting up primary picket lines at hundreds of Amazon Fulfillment Centers nationwide. Amazon warehouse workers and drivers without collective bargaining agreements have the legal right to honour these picket lines by withholding their labor.

“What we’re doing is historic. We are fighting against a vicious union-busting campaign, and we are going to win,” said Leah Pensler, a warehouse worker at DCK6 in San Francisco.

Amazon is the second-largest corporation on the Fortune 500 list. Despite being worth more than $2 trillion, the company fails to pay its workers enough to make ends meet.

“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed. We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it. These greedy executives had every chance to show decency and respect for the people who make their obscene profits possible. Instead, they’ve pushed workers to the limit and now they’re paying the price. This strike is on them,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien.

That limit is felt on workers’ bodies. Amazon warehouse workers are nearly twice as likely to be injured at work than other warehouse workers.

Conditions are no better for delivery drivers, Gabriel Irizarry, a driver at DIL7 in Skokie, Illinois, explained, “Amazon is one of the biggest, richest corporations in the world…They talk a big game about taking care of their workers, but when it comes down to it, Amazon does not respect us and our right to negotiate for better working conditions and wages. We can’t even afford to pay our bills.”

The strikes in the US and Germany ahead of the holiday period comes on the heals of a global day of strikes and protests to Make Amazon Pay on Black Friday this year.

The movement to unite workers and citizens across borders to Make Amazon Pay is growing. Further company and police attacks only strengthen the resolve of Amazon workers and their allies around the world.

Latest from the Movement

US defies Spanish law to smuggle arms to Israel

A new investigation by the Palestinian Youth Movement and the Progressive International has revealed that the United States Department of Defense defied Spanish law to smuggle ammunition to Israel through its ports — and now threatens to sanction Spain for redressing its own violation of international law.

The US has used the military base in Rota, Spain to transport weapons to Israel while the killings in Gaza continue. In November, the MV Sagamore carried weapons to Israel via Rota, despite the Spanish Government's announcement of the suspension of arms shipments.

The latest research was covered in Spain by El Diario and the US by the Intercept.

In response, activist group Eko has begun a letter-writing campaign to the Spanish authorities to thank Spanish leaders for their action in halting arms shipments and urge them to deepen their commitment to justice by implementing an inspection protocol and imposing a comprehensive military embargo. Please write to the Spanish authorities here.

Türkiye systematically breaching its own economic blockade on Israel

New research from Stop Fuelling Genocide, supported by the Progressive International, finds that oil shipments from Türkiye to Israel are routine. The findings follow evidence revealed last month that the oil tanker Seavigour shipped crude oil from Turkey’s Ceyhan port to a pipeline near Ashkelon in Israel.

The port is the last stop on the BP-owned Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which transports Azeri crude oil from Azerbaijan. The oil is then shipped from the Heydar Aliyev Terminal at Ceyhan to Israel, accounting for almost 30 percent of its crude oil imports.

The researchers have since tracked 10 journeys made in the past year by the tanker Kimolos between Ceyhan and Ashkelon, with eight of them occurring after Turkey announced its embargo in May. Despite the ship turning off its tracking signal for several days in the Eastern Mediterranean to mask its route, the researchers managed to identify it as docking in Israel 10 times using satellite imagery.

The latest research was covered by the Middle East Eye and in the Turkish press by Duvar in English and in Turkish.

Free Ismail Lghazaoui

Last month, dock workers in the port of Tangier refused to work on a Maersk ship carrying arms bound for Israel. In retaliation, the Moroccan authorities have sentenced activist Ismail Lghazaoui to one year in prison for supporting the port workers and challenging Moroccan collaboration with the perpetrators of the genocide.

Powering Injustice

A new report from SOMO, the centre for research on multinational corporations, identifies the US, Brazil, and Azerbaijan among the largest suppliers of crude oil to Israel in the last year. It examines how foreign trade and investment in Israel’s energy sector may contribute to grave violations of international law being perpetrated by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in Gaza. It considers the obligations of states and the responsibilities of companies involved in the supply of energy to Israel. The report is available here.

Art of the Week

2025 Internationalism Calendar

We are delighted to announce that the Progressive International’s 2025 Internationalism Calendar is now live.

The annals of history are filled with the lives of kings and queens, lords and ladies, settlers and colonists. Their statues stalk town squares. Their biographies dominate bookshelves. Their legacies haunt museums. But history does not belong to the ruling class. It belongs to workers and peoples, struggles and mass movements.

Each year, we work to excavate the history of these struggles across our social media — and, each year, we bring it into your homes with our Internationalism Calendar, which is now available for purchase and as a free PDF download.