Amazon warehouse workers and delivery drivers at seven facilities in the metro areas of San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, Southern California, and New York City went on a days-long strike ahead of the retail peak season 2024. The industrial action has been launched by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, one of the most prominent and the third biggest union by membership (it claims 1,4 million members across the US), that claimed it would be “the largest strike against Amazon in U.S. history”. In their statement the Teamsters explain that “workers will join the picket line from DBK4 in New York City; DGT8 in Atlanta; DFX4, DAX5, and DAX8 in Southern California; DCK6 in San Francisco; and DIL7 in Skokie, Ill. Amazon Teamsters at other facilities are prepared to join them. Teamsters local unions are also putting up primary picket lines at hundreds of Amazon Fulfillment Centers nationwide.”
Though low wages, work conditions, injuries (Amazon’s total rate of injuries is nearly double the industry rate in the US) are major issues for workers, the primary concern for Teamsters’ members is union recognition. So, Teamsters set an ultimatum, saying that if Amazon would not recognize their union and start to bargain by December 15, workers would go on strike. And that’s what’s happened.
There were tense moments at the picket lines. A driver was swarmed and arrested by police while attempting to stop his van in New York warehouse entrance. Workers surrounded the van, and cops flung them off. Nevertheless, picketers managed to slow the flow of traffic out of the facility to only one truck through every two minutes. Heavy police deployment was seen also at other facilities, with dozens of uniformed police officers surrounding the warehouses to intimidate workers and deter them from striking.
It is not clear how many workers have joined the strike nor to what extent the strike has damaged deliveries. Amazon spokepersons claim that the operations of the retail giant have not been affected by Teamsters’ initiative. Teamsters represent about 7,000 Amazon workers, around 1% of the workforce. They are mostly drivers, but there are also warehouse workers, including the former members of ALU – Amazon Labor Union, who first won union recognition at JFK8 facility in Staten Island, New York, in 2023 and this June voted near unanimously to affiliate with a more traditional organisation like Teamsters.
5 out of 7 of the above mentioned facilities are delivery stations, where drivers load their vans with packages each morning and deliver them to customers’ homes. Amazon refuses to recognise the union because in fact the drivers represented by the Teamsters, they say, work for a contractor. Indeed, Amazon contracts out deliveries to about 3,000 small DSPs – Delivery Service Partners. But the NLRB National Labor Relation Board, having examined the case of DAX8 fulfillment center in Palmdale, California, recently issued a formal complaint against Amazon affirming that the retail giant is a “joint employer” of its DSP drivers and has a legal duty to recognize and bargain with the Teamsters.
NLRB’s arguments sound very similar to the conclusions drawn by the Italian magistrates in July, when Italy’s tax police seized some 121 million euro from Amazon Italian Transport, an italian subsidiary of the Seattle-based company. The Italian magistrates of Milan Prosecutor’s Office accuse Amazon Italia Transport of bypassing labour and tax laws in order to cut costs and gain a competitive advantage, and also to prevent unionisation, through and endles subcontracting chain down to informal and criminal economy.
What makes this issue especially worthy of consideration is that small delivery stations are the most vulnerable nodes – the so called choke points – of Amazon distribution network, whose relook and restructuring is under way in the US since February 2023. At this stage the company has made relevant investments on new fulfillment centers (the biggest warehouses and the first link in its delivery chain) to increase efficiency and reduce the times of delivery. In fact, say some commentators, this will also allow Amazon to reroute orders within the network in case of strikes and other disruptive events. And this makes even more strategic to unionise these small last-mile warehouses.
As Amazon seems to ignore the strike and minimize its effects, it’s still not clear what will be the next step for Teamsters. By the way, there are also objective factors which are likely to influence the course of the events. A key factor will be the attitude of the new Trump’s administration towards high-tech companies. Some of the most prominent CEOs have supported – or at least not opposed – Trump during the presidential campaign, but at the same time could be suspicious and see the announced role of Elon Musk – a competitor of them – in the incoming administration as a threat. In addition, Amazon’s dominance on online retailers could be undermined by the appearance of Chinese competitors such as Temu and Shine. We will see how these dynamics evolve. Anyway the drive towards unionisation does not slow. Don’t let those workers alone.
