Thousands of Amazon delivery drivers and warehouse workers recently gave the e-commerce giant Amazon a deadline of Dec. 15 to agree to bargaining dates for a union contract.
Citing “low wages, disrespect, and illegal union busting,” the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents 1.3 million hardworking people in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico, said Amazon workers have ‘demanded recognition and union protections.
From a press release:
Despite an historic organizing wave over the past two years, Amazon has continuously failed to meet its legal obligations to bargain with thousands of drivers and workers inside warehouses and fulfillment centers over its industry-worst working conditions.
“The Teamsters are done asking nicely for Amazon to stop breaking the law. Amazon must commit to come to the table and bargain a Teamsters contract with its workers — or face the consequences of its inaction,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien in a press release. “Thousands of Amazon workers around the country have courageously united to take on one of the world’s most abusive employers. Amazon has a legal obligation to recognize the Teamsters and to start negotiating. Time has run out for this trillion-dollar company. We will protect our members at all costs, and we are prepared to come after Amazon with the full force of the Teamsters Union if and when necessary to get the contract workers have earned.”
The Teamsters’ demand for bargaining emerges amid ongoing worker-led actions. Just this year, Amazon warehouse workers and drivers in San Francisco, Queens, N.Y., Skokie, Ill., Atlanta, Ga., City of Industry, Calif. and Victorville, Calif., have won massive organizing campaigns. They join warehouse workers with ALU-IBT Local 1 in Staten Island, N.Y., who voted overwhelmingly to affiliate with the Teamsters this summer, and Amazon Teamsters in Palmdale, Calif., who have picketed 50 Amazon warehouses nationwide as part of their ongoing strike.
“Amazon is a bully, but the Teamsters know how to deal with bullies,” said Randy Korgan, Teamsters Amazon Division Director and Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 1932. “This growing movement of Amazon workers can count on the muscle and support of more than 1.3 million hardworking Teamsters across North America. If Amazon fails to agree to bargaining dates with the Teamsters by Dec. 15, we are ready to take the fight directly to the company’s doorstep in every state. Amazon workers are going to win, and the company knows it.”
The Teamsters Amazon National Negotiating Committee is finalizing its proposal now for the first Teamsters contract at the company. The national contract proposal is being developed by rank-and-file Amazon Teamsters drivers and warehouse workers from all unionized locations.
The Teamsters Union is calling on all Amazon workers across the country to seize this historic opportunity before the end of the year to show Amazon their power and demand good jobs, fair wages, safe working conditions, and the protections of a strong Teamsters agreement.
