NYC Amazon Delivery Drivers Join International Transport Workers Federation with Strong Momentum

The delivery drivers walked towards their bosses with their phones, announcing the formation of a new union. “It was great walking in today with everyone as part of our union,” said Latrice Shadae Johnson. Photo Credit: International Transport Workers Federation

Today, hundreds of Amazon drivers from Queens, New York, announced to their employers that they will join the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF). They are demanding that the logistics giant recognize their union and negotiate a contract.

“It was great walking in today with everyone as part of our union,” said Latrice Shadae Johnson. She has been an Amazon delivery driver since November, earning $20 per hour.

What about Amazon’s management? “They were completely caught off guard,” she said. “So when we walked in, they ran into a small corner thinking they wouldn’t be seen. But we also rushed into that corner!”

“They had no choice but to listen to us,” she said. The workers surrounded the managers with their phones recording and documents: “We shouted loudly so they knew we were here and wanted to be heard.”

More managers came in wearing orange vests, “they felt more relaxed,” she said. Workers made short speeches demanding recognition and sharing workplace concerns, but emotions ran high, causing workers to interrupt each other out of excitement until they calmed down and took turns speaking.

This was the moment Johnson and her colleagues had been organizing for. They have planned this march for months. Johnson drew strength from the injustices she experienced over the past year. During deliveries, due to understaffing, no one came to help her carry heavy packages up and down stairs, a situation referred to by Amazon as “rescue.”

She recalled driving a truck filled with the stench of old urine because bottles were scattered in the back seat, serving as daily reminders of the punitive delivery metrics that prevented proper bathroom breaks.

Standing there with her colleagues, she also thought about her nine-year-old daughter. “When she first started school, I told her, ‘Whenever you encounter something you feel is wrong, speak up. Never, never, ever stay silent, even if you’re afraid to stand up and fight.’ That’s what I want to tell her. I let her know this small mission of mine with the union and ITF.”

Expanding Contractors

These drivers are part of Amazon’s Delivery Service Partner (DSP) program, meaning they are nominally employed by contractors even though Amazon retains full control.

The delivery drivers in Queens are hired by three different DSPs. Through the DSP model, Amazon claims it employs 390,000 drivers. This is roughly equivalent to UPS’s ITF workforce size.

Amazon surpassed UPS in package volume in April. According to supply chain logistics company MWPVL International’s latest data, Amazon has 695 delivery stations and 577 warehouses across the US, including airport hubs.

The drivers taking action today are from Delivery Station DB4K, where warehouse workers have organized through a loose network committee called Amazonians United for years.

National Momentum

In July, DB4K’s Amazon warehouse workers played a key role in organizing petitions at five warehouses, including another delivery station in the Bronx. The delivery stations are where packages are loaded into delivery vans and dispatched to mailboxes or front doors.

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Six hundred workers signed petitions demanding an initial wage of $25 per hour, one-and-a-half times pay during Prime Day (July 16-17), conversion of seasonal workers to permanent status within 30 days, and Juneteenth as a paid holiday.

This comes amid the National Labor Relations Board’s unfair labor practice investigations into Amazon and two DSP contractors in Georgia and California. In Atlanta’s DAT6 delivery facility, the NLRB found that union allegations about Amazon monitoring employees were justified and believed Amazon threatened to close DSP MJB Logistics if workers joined ITF.

Last April, Amazon drivers in Palmdale, California became the first to win union recognition within a DSP; they signed and approved an agreement with ITF Local 396.

Next was Amazon drivers in Skokie, Illinois. They reached majority support for union cards when Amazon terminated its contract with DSP Four Star Express Delivery. In June, they went on strike, alleging that Amazon violated labor laws by failing to recognize and negotiate with their union.

“Amazon can no longer ignore our low wages and dangerous working conditions, nor can it continue to evade responsibility for unfair labor practices,” said Palmdale’s Amazon driver and Local 396 member Jessie Moreno. “We are Amazon workers, and we are holding Amazon accountable.”

“We have been striking to stop Amazon’s violations while winning at the National Labor Relations Board, all while uniting Amazon workers in unprecedented ways.”

‘Stay Together, Stay Motivated’

As ITF organizing momentum spreads, Amazon is raising driver wages. The company announced this month that wages will rise from $20.50 to $22 per hour. Overall, the company is investing $2 billion in its DSP program, beyond the $12.3 billion over the past six years, indicating the importance of contract workers to Amazon’s bottom line.

The first attempt at organizing within a DSP was a victory amidst failure: In 2017, 46 workers from Detroit Downriver’s Amazon DSP Silverstar Delivery formed a union with ITF Local 337, after which the company closed down.

ITF is better organized today, having established a department to support organizing within Amazon in 2021. Warehouse workers at Staten Island’s JFK8 Fulfillment Center two years ago founded an independent Amazon Labor Union and later voted to affiliate with ITF, becoming America’s only unionized Amazon warehouse. July’s elections brought new leaders to the forefront.

Workers at Southern California’s San Bernardino Airport KSBD have been organizing against managerial retaliation for heat illness protection. They are members of the independent Inland Empire Amazon Workers United.

Amazon workers at Northern Kentucky’s CVG airport, belonging to another independent union, voted in April to join ITF. After DHL workers at the same airport organized a union and secured a generous ITF contract, they went on strike in July.

“What we need is to stay together and stay motivated,” Johnson said. “Amazon workers, keep doing what you’re doing. We are one team, one union.”

Luis Feliz Leon is a staff organizer for Labor Notes.

Source: Labor Notes