In a milestone for organized labor, the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) has formally affiliated with the 1.3 million-member International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The affiliation supplies renewed representation and stronger resources for Amazon workers — behind the wheel and inside warehouses — as they organize and demand a contract from the global behemoth.
The affiliation was announced by Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien during the union’s General Executive Board meeting in Washington, D.C. The Teamsters’ board unanimously approved the affiliation agreement. The affiliation was pending the approval of Amazon Labor Union members, who voted to ratify the deal in voting on June 15th and June 16th. ALU members overwhelmingly approved of the deal. The tally broke down to 829 votes in favor of the affiliation,14 against it, and 10 ballots that were spoiled.
The newly chartered ALU-International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Local 1 will represent the roughly 5,500 Amazon warehouse workers at JFK8 and have jurisdiction across New York’s five boroughs. This will be the first ALU-IBT local union fully established under the Teamsters Constitution. Members of ALU-IBT Local 1 will have access to the financial and organizational resources of the Teamsters International Union, the Teamsters Amazon Division, and Teamsters Joint Council 16 in New York.
This new system of setting up locals under ALU-IBT seems to signal that newly unionized Amazon workers will, at least for now, not be directly integrated into existing locals. The deal, which has since been made available online, establishes a system in which future ALU-IBT locals will be set up.
“Together we are creating an unstoppable movement to take on Amazon. Building relationships with workers, communities nationwide, and rank-and-file Teamsters has been essential to creating the capacity to stand up to Amazon — and this affiliation demonstrates it,” O’Brien said. “It will require unprecedented unity and long-term investment to finally force this company to respect working people and fairly negotiate. Amazon is far and away the greediest of American corporations. It does the most harm to American workers in delivery and logistics. In this partnership, the Teamsters and ALU will ensure Amazon workers at JFK8 realize the first contract they are long overdue. We will continue to expand our organizing campaigns nationwide. We will exhaust all resources to hold Amazon accountable as a direct employer and dismantle its corrupt DSP program. The Teamsters proudly set the standard in the industry with our historic agreement protecting 340,000 UPS Teamsters, and we will make sure that standard is upheld at every other company, and especially at Amazon.”
“Today is an historic day for labor in America as we now combine forces with one of the most powerful unions in the country to take on Amazon together,” said ALU President Chris Smalls. “Our message is clear. We want a contract and we want it now. We are putting Amazon on notice that we are coming. It is time to bargain.”
Part of the deal includes funding for Amazon Labor Union to run an election for new union leadership. A number of coalitions are running to replace Smalls, who has grown controversial within the rank-and-file. Smalls, who gained significant fame following the ALU’s initial victory, will not be running for re-election. ALU’s intitial success has been difficult to replicate, largely because of the enormous cost of running a union. Amazon has refused to budge towards a contract and the ALU’s only income, before the Teamsters affiliation, was running on donations.
The Teamsters, who set up an Amazon Division last year, appear to be positioned to save the day and turn up the heat on America’s greediest company. Workers at the Amazon air cargo hub KCVG in Northern Kentucky, who had begun a card drive with ALU, voted in April to affiliate with the Teamsters. The Teamsters also organized a group of 84 Amazon delivery workers last April, but then Amazon illegally terminated the contract of the subcontractor they worked for. Amazon delivery drivers that you see on the road in vehicles that appear to be Amazon delivery vehicles and, seemingly, appear to be employed by Amazon, are actually working for a complex network of subcontractors. This makes unionizing their workforce significantly harder.
“Affiliation between the Amazon Labor Union and the Teamsters represents the very best shot for workers to collectively expand the national, necessary, and militant campaign to win the rights that we deserve,” said Connor Spence of the ALU Democratic Reform Caucus. “The chartering of a new ALU-IBT local union in New York will be a future model for Amazon organizing efforts. With the support and strength of 1.3 million Teamsters across the country, Amazon workers will not lose.”
The Teamsters are also joining Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and a bipartisan coalition of over 30 Senators in demanding that Amazon cooperate with a congressional inquiry requesting information on its exploitative Delivery Service Partner (DSP) program.
The lawmakers made the demand in a recent letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, after the company sent a dishonest response to an earlier Senate oversight letter calling on Amazon to divulge whether its mistreatment and micromanagement of DSPs is compliant with federal labor law.
“Andy Jassy and Jeff Bezos think they can lie to the American people and break the law without consequences,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. “This company is making billions off the backs of the hardworking men and women that drive Amazon vans, wear Amazon vests, and deliver Amazon packages, yet Amazon executives still have the audacity to turn around and deny that they’re Amazon employees. No company should be above the law, period. The Teamsters continue to support Senate efforts that hold this corporate bully accountable for its dishonesty and mistreatment of its workers.”
Sen. Murphy noted that Amazon’s response to the earlier Senate oversight letter “included multiple self-contradictory statements, general assertions without factual support instead of the information requested and claims at odds with publicly available data and highly credible investigative journalism.”
“Amazon’s letter to the U.S. Senate is full of lies,” said DSP Driver Jessie Moreno, who joined his co-workers in organizing with Teamsters Local 396. “Amazon is claiming that it doesn’t control its drivers, but we all know that’s not true. Amazon needs to take responsibility for our safety and well-being while we are delivering their packages. Amazon drivers and warehouse workers are standing together to demand the good jobs we deserve.”
Last month, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy broke federal labor laws by making anti-union threats.
Tristin Amezcua-Hogan is the Editor of The Labor Beacon and a member of LIUNA Local 264. Tristin also serves as the Director of Communications for the Greater Kansas City AFL-CIO and the Chair of the Kansas City Regional Transit Alliance.
Tristin grew up as the son of a UA Local 669 member in Tecumseh, KS and the great-nephew of George C. Amis, longtime leader of the United Rubberworkers (now USW Local 307) in Kansas. Growing up in rural Kansas as the child of teen parents, Tristin quickly came to appreciate the life-changing benefit of a union job.
Tristin and his partner, Rebeca Amezcua-Hogan, are residents of the Westside, Kansas City, MO's historic Mexican neighborhood. They are proud members of Kansas City's New Reform Temple.
