In 2022, Amazon union president Chris Smalls led a pro-union march in New York City. The company had trouble negotiating the contract.
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Michael M. San Diego/Getty Images/Getty Images North America
It’s a new chapter in Amazon’s push to recognize its unionized U.S. workers.
The independent Amazon union, which made history organizing the first and only unionized Amazon warehouse, has voted to support the massive Teamsters union.
For two years, Amazon has refused to recognize the upstart union or begin negotiations with the roughly 5,500 workers it represents in Staten Island, New York. .
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters set its sights on Amazon logistics workers years ago; the effort has yet to lead to any union elections. But it is a massive organization with 1.3 million members that negotiated a historic contract for its UPS workers last year.
The Teamsters union will now provide financial and organizational resources to the Amazon union, the team said in a statement Tuesday. Organizers advocated for higher wages, longer breaks and changes to speed and safety standards.
“The Teamsters and the ALU will fight fearlessly to ensure that Amazon workers get the good jobs and benefits they deserve under their union contract,” Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said in a statement. Safe working conditions.
Amazon, which did not respond to an inquiry from NPR on Tuesday, has long argued that unionization is not the best option or preference for most of its workers.
The Teamsters union also recently joined forces with Amazon workers at an aviation hub in Kentucky to push for unionization at the transportation nerve center at the heart of the company’s rapid transit.
After the Amazon union’s victory in Staten Island, it held two more elections in New York, but lost both times. The group’s leader, Chris Smalls, is an Amazon employee who was fired after going on strike during the pandemic. .
Separately, Amazon workers at an Alabama warehouse are waiting to find out whether they will get a third chance in a union election. The most recent vote, which has been close since 2022, is being scrutinized in a legal hearing that is expected to last much of the summer.
Editor’s note: Amazon is one of NPR’s recent financial backers.
