How The Teamsters Tested Amazon
New York City — At 6 a.m., a few days before Christmas, in the postindustrial neighborhood of Maspeth, 47 workers kick off a nationwide Teamsters strike against Amazon.
Maspeth, a corner of Queens that two centuries ago boasted lumberyards, linoleum manufacturers and rope factories, is still a bastion of union pride. “The people are working-class and they respect the unions and belong to them, especially the uniform ones, like the firemen, cops and sanitation workers,” said a retired construction worker at a local pub in 2020’s The Queens Nobody Knows.
But today, the uniforms increasingly seen around Maspeth sport Amazon’s signature “smiley swoosh” icon.