An Amazon.com delivery driver carries boxes right into a van outside of a distribution facility on February 2, 2021 in Hawthorne, California.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
Amazon delivery drivers at one among the corporate’s California facilities joined the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the union said Monday, in a win for labor organizers which have long sought to realize a foothold on the e-retailer.
A bunch of 84 staff at Amazon’s warehouse in Palmdale, California, won voluntary recognition by Battle-Tested Strategies, a third-party delivery contractor, to be represented by the Teamsters. That permits the employees and the Teamsters to sidestep the union election process, which could be difficult and last for a lot of months.
Battle-Tested Strategies is one among the legions of third-party delivery firms contracted by Amazon to shuttle packages to shoppers’ doorsteps. Amazon launched the Delivery Service Partner program in 2018, recruiting small businesses to assist grow its in-house logistics operations and further its goal of speeding up deliveries.
Last week, the Teamsters and Battle-Tested reached a tentative agreement that will likely be voted on by members in the approaching weeks, a Teamsters spokesperson said. The agreement includes immediate wage increases and substantial hourly raises, together with provisions that address concerns around health and safety standards.
The contract got here after employees for the past several years expressed concerns around conditions at the location, specifically related to excessive heat, the spokesperson said. The Palmdale site, generally known as DAX8, is in southern California’s High Desert region, north of Los Angeles.
“We wish fair pay and secure jobs, to give you the option to supply food for our families,” said Rajpal Singh, an Amazon delivery driver on the Palmdale facility, in a press release. “We wish to know we’ll make it home to our families at night after delivering Amazon packages in the acute heat. We organized with the Teamsters to alter our working conditions for the higher.”
Amazon said in a press release that it had terminated Battle-Tested before Monday’s union announcement, though it didn’t say when the contract ended.
“This particular third party company had a track record of failing to perform,” Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards said in a press release.
Battle-Tested owner Johnathon Ervin disputed Amazon’s statement and said the corporate has a “current contract” with Amazon. Ervin claims Amazon ended his company’s contract in retaliation for him voicing concerns about safety and dealing conditions.
The Teamsters and other big labor unions have long had their sights set on organizing warehouse and delivery staff at Amazon, the second-largest private employer within the U.S. The Teamsters last 12 months launched a division geared toward funding and directing organizing resources to Amazon employees.
Randy Korgan, director of the Teamsters’ Amazon division, said the union is “coordinating nationwide” with Amazon staff.
Up to now, just one Amazon warehouse within the U.S. has voted to affix a union. Employees on the JFK8 site on Recent York’s Staten Island voted last April to be represented by the Amazon Labor Union, a grassroots group of current and former employees. However the union has yet to achieve a contract with Amazon, as the corporate continues to challenge the election leads to court.
The Covid pandemic led to an upswing of organizing activity at Amazon, including amongst some contracted delivery drivers, who staged walkouts or created petitions to specific health and safety concerns. Along with pandemic-related issues, drivers have also routinely described a frantic pace of labor, infrequent bathroom breaks and damaged vans.
WATCH: Amazon drivers describe pressures and pitfalls of delivering for a DSP
