The Amazon Labor Union (ALU) may have had its biggest win yet, formally affiliating with the Teamsters in what could be a needle-mover in getting a new union contract.
The Teamsters board unanimously approved the affiliation agreement. Rank-and-file ALU members will vote to ratify the affiliation in the coming weeks.
“Today is an historic day for labor in America as we now combine forces with one of the most powerful unions in the country to take on Amazon together,” said ALU president Chris Smalls, in a statement. “Our message is clear. We want a contract and we want it now. We are putting Amazon on notice that we are coming. It is time to bargain.”
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Sourcing Journal reached out to Amazon.
Whether the deal gets ratified is still up in the air, with ALU members voting in March to hold an election for new union officers. Smalls has said he doesn’t plan to run for reelection as ALU president. That election is expected to be held in July.
“If this [ratification] does go through, it’ll be a major change,” said Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research and senior lecturer, Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations. “ALU was very focused on a ‘one shop at a time’ model. They have very little resources or experience. They have good organizing instincts and are very passionate, but there was the lack of experience or understanding that it’s much easier to win the election than it is to get a contract.”
Despite voting to unionize more than two years ago, marking the first successful organization of the company’s employees in the U.S., Amazon has never recognized the victory and has continued to appeal the election results.
Without recognition, the union has not been able to negotiate a new deal for its members.
The NLRB has previously said it found merit to the charges that Amazon violated labor laws by refusing to bargain with the ALU.
“Amazon is not even recognizing the legitimacy of the NLRB,” Bronfenbrenner told Sourcing Journal, noting that even a nationally backed unionization drive will have to clear plenty of hurdles.
“Other unions have tried to organize Amazon before, it’s really tough. In order to win, it’ll take making sure the rank-and-file on board that they have community allies, and that they are broad community allies from political allies to religious allies to other unions,” Bronfenbrenner said. “They have to be able to mount an escalating campaign so much that Amazon says, ‘Okay, enough, we’re going to settle with you, it’s better to settle than to not.’”
Bronfenbrenner said that the Amazon workers are unlikely to get a contract until they start organizing more sites, like the Staten Island “JFK8” facility. Thus far, unionization efforts at other sites, like Bessemer, Ala., have failed to push through.
“It’s not going to happen soon. But it’s more likely to happen with the involvement of a national union than when it was just ALU doing it,” Bronfenbrenner said.
Amazon argued in a legal filing in February that the NLRB itself is unconstitutional, and a month later, the labor board fired back in a ruling that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy broke federal laws by saying that unions would make employees less empowered. Amazon disagreed with those charges, and Jassy cannot be penalized for the comments.
The newly chartered ALU-International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Local 1 will represent the roughly 8,000 Amazon warehouse workers at JFK8, and have jurisdiction across New York’s five boroughs.
This will be the first ALU-IBT local union fully established under the Teamsters constitution, if ratified. Members of ALU-IBT Local 1 will have access to the financial and organizational resources of the Teamsters International Union, the Teamsters Amazon Division, and Teamsters Joint Council 16 in New York.
Teamsters general president Sean O’Brien unveiled the affiliation Tuesday during the union’s general executive board meeting in Washington, D.C. The 1.3-million-member union had a banner 2023, winning a major score for 340,000 UPS employees last year upon negotiating a new five-year contract.
“Together we are creating an unstoppable movement to take on Amazon. Building relationships with workers, communities nationwide, and rank-and-file Teamsters has been essential to creating the capacity to stand up to Amazon—and this affiliation demonstrates it,” O’Brien said. “It will require unprecedented unity and long-term investment to finally force this company to respect working people and fairly negotiate. Amazon is far and away the greediest of American corporations.”
O’Brien also said that the e-commerce giant “does the most harm to American workers in delivery and logistics,” claiming that the union aims to dismantle Amazon’s “corrupt” delivery service partner program.
The Teamsters have been critical of the delivery service partner program in the past, saying that Amazon subjects contracted delivery drivers to extreme heat and lengthy hours without breaks. On top of that, the union argues that although Amazon contracts third-party delivery companies who employ the drivers, these partners have little discretion over aspects of their business, including routes driven or vehicles used.
