Hundreds of Amazon drivers in New York Metropolis have joined the Teamsters union in the hope of acquiring higher pay and dealing situations. The union says a majority of drivers at every of three supply service companions (DSPs) figuring out of a Queens warehouse have signed authorization playing cards.
In accordance with a Teamsters press launch, the drivers have been organizing for a 12 months to safe truthful pay, constant schedules, affordable workloads and correct pay maintained vans. They walked off the job final December as half of a nationwide protest towards Amazon’s alleged unfair labor practices and union-busting efforts.
No less than on paper, becoming a member of the union ought to give the drivers extra leverage as they push Amazon for higher working situations. However that doesn’t essentially imply the firm will play ball. The Amazon Labor Union, one of the first main profitable group efforts inside the firm in the US, has but to safe a union contract, two years after forming. The group turned a Teamsters affiliate this summer time.
Nonetheless, the union has discovered some success on behalf of Amazon staff. Final month, a regional Nationwide Labor Relations Board director decided that Amazon is a joint employer of some third-party drivers in Palmdale, California. The Teamsters hope that discovering will set a precedent for the relaxation for DSP drivers elsewhere. The Queens drivers are the first Amazon staff to arrange with the Teamsters following that call.