Amazon delivery drivers and Starbucks baristas are on strike in a handful of U.S. cities as they seek to exert pressure on the two major companies to recognize them as unionized employees or to meet demands for an inaugural labor contract.

Thousands of workers are striking, as picket lines formed outside seven Amazon distribution centers from New York to California Thursday morning.

Amazon workers affiliated with the Teamsters union continued a strike Friday at seven of the company's delivery hubs just days before Christmas. The workers, who voted to authorize strikes in recent days,

Amazon workers are on strike outside a warehouse in Maspeth, Queens, along with other locations around the country. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters said it represents nearly 10,000 Amazon workers who are demanding better pay and working conditions.

With less than a week to go before Christmas, thousands of Amazon workers organized under the Teamsters union went on strike early Thursday morning after the company's "repeated refusal to follow the law and bargain.

Coordinated strikes ahead of Christmas in a handful of cities including San Francisco and New York see the Teamsters challenge the nation’s second-largest private employer.

Warehouse workers in cities including New York, Atlanta and San Francisco were taking part in what Teamsters officials called the largest-ever strike against Amazon.

Teamsters union says Amazon workers at seven warehouses plan to walk off the job Thursday morning in multiple states.