84 Amazon Delivery Drivers Just Won a $30 an Hour Union Contract (vox.com) 36
CNBC reports that 84 Amazon delivery drivers at a California facility "joined the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the union said Monday, in a win for labor organizers that have long sought to gain a foothold at the e-retailer."
An anonymous reader shared this follow-up report from Vox: [T]hey unanimously ratified the contract, which will bring their wages from around $20 currently to $30 by September and would allow them to refuse to do deliveries they consider unsafe. But that victory is a bit complicated... They wear Amazon vests and drive Amazon-branded vehicles, have schedules dictated by Amazon, and can even be fired by Amazon. But they're technically employed by Battle Tested Strategies (BTS), one of approximately 3,000 delivery contract companies that make up Amazon's extensive delivery network. BTS voluntarily recognized the union after a majority of workers signed union authorization cards and negotiated the union contract.
Amazon has told Vox that its contract with BTS, which exclusively delivers for Amazon, was terminated "well before" workers notified the tech giant Monday, but that the contract hasn't expired yet. The union said that the delivery people are still working for Amazon and that the contract goes through October, when it typically would auto-renew. What happens next depends on Amazon, the workers, and the interpretation of outdated US labor law... At the crux of the delivery driver issue is whether Amazon controls enough of what the workers do to be considered a joint employer. "If Amazon is able to get away with ignoring the workers' decision and hiding behind the subcontractor relationships, then I'm afraid we'll have yet another story of the failure of American labor law," said Benjamin Sachs, a labor professor at Harvard Law School. "If this leads to a recognition that these drivers are Amazon employees, joint employees, then this could be massively important."
One element of note: These workers organized in California, which has a lower bar for who is considered an employee, and by extension, who enjoys union protections... Another element that the National Labor Relations Board will likely have to decide is whether Amazon terminated the contract with BTS in order to avoid working with a union, something that would be illegal if they were considered employees.
The article also notes that elsewhere, 50 YouTube contractors also voted to unionize this week.
An anonymous reader shared this follow-up report from Vox: [T]hey unanimously ratified the contract, which will bring their wages from around $20 currently to $30 by September and would allow them to refuse to do deliveries they consider unsafe. But that victory is a bit complicated... They wear Amazon vests and drive Amazon-branded vehicles, have schedules dictated by Amazon, and can even be fired by Amazon. But they're technically employed by Battle Tested Strategies (BTS), one of approximately 3,000 delivery contract companies that make up Amazon's extensive delivery network. BTS voluntarily recognized the union after a majority of workers signed union authorization cards and negotiated the union contract.
Amazon has told Vox that its contract with BTS, which exclusively delivers for Amazon, was terminated "well before" workers notified the tech giant Monday, but that the contract hasn't expired yet. The union said that the delivery people are still working for Amazon and that the contract goes through October, when it typically would auto-renew. What happens next depends on Amazon, the workers, and the interpretation of outdated US labor law... At the crux of the delivery driver issue is whether Amazon controls enough of what the workers do to be considered a joint employer. "If Amazon is able to get away with ignoring the workers' decision and hiding behind the subcontractor relationships, then I'm afraid we'll have yet another story of the failure of American labor law," said Benjamin Sachs, a labor professor at Harvard Law School. "If this leads to a recognition that these drivers are Amazon employees, joint employees, then this could be massively important."
One element of note: These workers organized in California, which has a lower bar for who is considered an employee, and by extension, who enjoys union protections... Another element that the National Labor Relations Board will likely have to decide is whether Amazon terminated the contract with BTS in order to avoid working with a union, something that would be illegal if they were considered employees.
The article also notes that elsewhere, 50 YouTube contractors also voted to unionize this week.
the rest of the amazon warehouse needs to union! (Score:5, Insightful)
the rest of the amazon warehouse needs to be union as well.
Re:the rest of the amazon warehouse needs to union (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:the rest of the amazon warehouse needs to union (Score:5, Interesting)
They know it but they are afraid of reprisals. They'll get one eventually but it might take a few election cycles for the country to shift enough that we can start getting worker protection laws they were stripped over the last 40 years put back in place
The attack on unions started just after WWII with Taft-Hartley, which brought us Right-to-Work-For-Less laws, and it also kicked out lots of union officers due to the requirement to pledge they are not Communists. Reagan obviously made it worse with PATCO but this has not been decades in the making but literally generations at this point. I hope it does not take generations to move it back to putting workers in a much stronger position.
I never understood people's preoccupation (Score:3)
Re:the rest of the amazon warehouse needs to union (Score:2)
The attack on unions started just after WWII with Taft-Hartley
Unions were literally attacked in the 1800s.
Just drop the CA facility... (Score:0)
If the facility unionizes, just shutter it and open a new one, and next time, hire a staffing agency as a buffer, so the contractors can be yeeted without worrying about WARN or employee issues.
As for legal issues, once it is gets to Federal courts, the union has already lost.
Re:Just drop the CA facility... (Score:5, Insightful)
Why are so many Americans so opposed to workers' rights? I don't get it - you seem to want to increase wealth disparity, and ensure as many people as possible live below the poverty line. Your in favour of these companies' profits being subsidised by the government benefits paid to the workers that don't receive a living wage.
Re:Just drop the CA facility... (Score:5, Interesting)
American union membership would probably double if there were any choice. I had a high school teacher who refused to join the national teacher's union because she didn't want her union dues to support some of the things that would be politically supported with her dues. Give her a union that aligns with her own personal politics (or maybe just one that don't oppose them) and she'd probably have happily joined.
All that aside the issue is far more complex. This is so inconsequential that it doesn't matter and the editors probably only posted it due to their own political bent, but suppose you owned Amazon stock and it was a considerable part of your retirement plan. Even as a worker yourself it suddenly might be in your own best interest to wish to fuck over some other workers because it's better for you. Most people don't have political convictions that extend too far beyond their own self interest. Everyone just wants more, sometimes at their own expense.
If it looks like an Amazon duck, ... (Score:2)
...swims like an Amazon duck, and quacks like an Amazon duck, then it probably is an Amazon duck. (Duck Test [wikipedia.org])
Re:If it looks like an Amazon duck, ... (Score:2)
Re:If it looks like an Amazon duck, ... (Score:3)
Why not both? [bakerlaw.com]
In joint employment, there is usually a direct employer and a secondary business. The direct employer is the company that hires, schedules and pays the workers and provides their W-2s. The secondary business is the potential joint employer. It does not hire or pay the direct employerâ(TM)s employees, but it benefits from their services.
It sounds as if BTS is the direct employer and Amazon is the secondary business. But what does an AmLaw 100 firm really know, anyways?
Good for them! (Score:4)
Win/win (Score:2, Funny)
On the one hand I can't stand unions ( I've been a member of several ). On the other, it's amazon.
Let Them Fight.
Re:Win/win (Score:2)
Re:Win/win (Score:-1)
Mainly because corporations are the real engines of economic growth. They often a target, because they make tons of profit, and the taxes from that profit keep the government going.
Amazon should fire the lot, hire the next round with a stipulation that any attempts at unionizing will mean a $10,000 fine, per person participating in those activities.
Re:Win/win (Score:3)
Yes, Amazon should do exactly that... because it's incredibly illegal and at least a few executives who approved such a brain-dead plan would absolutely wind up in prison over it.
Re: Win/win (Score:2)
Re:Win/win (Score:1)
In the U.S., at least, unions are filled with lazy, incompetent workers (since Unions don't promote quality, just seniority). At most, Unions are nothing more than fronts for organized crime (i.e. Teamsters).
Re:Win/win (Score:-1)
I think the best way for Amazon to resolve this is to create a VR system based on NFTs attached to material collected from rockets sent to the outer atmosphere and other planets like Pluto. They can hook this together using Rust and Python. You're going to need a lot of CPU and RAM to make that work so buy big! To prevent moral loss a new security vulnerability reporting system can be created that will use QUIC, Java, and GNU HURD and will only show vulnerabilities related to the weather at Walmart locations. Don't worry, by the time you figure out how QUIC works HURD will be a dominant OS and all the pieces will fall in place.
It will take a lot of capital, maybe all of it, but don't worry buddy, it will all pay off in the end and you will be King cuckoo.
Can even be fired by Amazon (Score:2)
I think this very clearly will result in Amazon being considered a joint employer of the workers.
Does Amazon care? (Score:2)
It's fine if BTS wants to be a union shop that works with Amazon. While I'm no contract lawyer, it sounds like these workers of BTS formed a union, which was then recognized by BTS.
BTS has a contract with Amazon to do deliveries. The formation of the union has nothing to do with the contract between BTS and Amazon. So BTS is likely taking the haircut for the wages since they are the ones that pay those wages, not Amazon.
That BTS is a union won't really matter to Amazon one bit. BTS will accept the renewal contract with Amazon or it will get it's contract canceled.
I also wonder what kind of obligation Amazon has to renew the contract. They could very well decide they don't want to do further business with BTS because they are now a union shop, but I don't know if that part would be legal. I do know Amazon can afford to float a lawsuit longer then BTS can afford to not make revenue though.
Re:Does Amazon care? (Score:3)
That BTS is a union won't really matter to Amazon one bit. BTS will accept the renewal contract with Amazon or it will get it's contract canceled.
Agreed. If BTS' contract has enough overhead they can afford to pay their drivers an extra 50% wage increase, and the renewal of the contract with Amazon remains at the same negotiated price, then I don't see a problem.
If BTS wants to increase their contract price by 50% at the next renewal then I don't see a problem with Amazon searching for a new contract delivery service. If any service company told me their prices were increasing by 50% I would search for alternatives.
Amazon reaps what it sows... (Score:2)
I remember when Amazon's favorite thing to do seemed to be bragging about how it was going to give everyone that "$15 an hour" wage that they were fighting and bickering over not getting at many other entry-level jobs.
Shockingly, no sooner did people receive it than they demanded more. "We should be getting $18/hr. for this kind of work!" "I think we should demand $20!"
And now, Amazon finds itself in the situation where it's not comfortable paying more compensation for all the warehouse and delivery drivers it needs to move all of its inventory around, so workers are starting to unionize and demand even more.
Ultimately, I don't care. Far be it from me to get in the way of people taking steps to better their economic situation and wages. But maybe now Amazon has started to learn something about why companies traditionally fight so hard NOT to just voluntarily hand out a penny more in pay than they need to, for the low-skill jobs out there. Amazon's willingness and even seeming eagerness to appease the "Fight for $15" crowd quickly escalated to most big businesses giving in and matching that. Then, their workers expected more just to stick around. The increased costs to Amazon didn't lead to any improvements in ability to stack the boxes in the warehouses, or in loading the trucks or getting boxes to people in a timely manner. They simply paid more to get the SAME basic labor from individuals they'd always gotten.
Re:Amazon reaps what it sows... (Score:2)
$20/hr is still only $41k/year. There are some parts of the country where one can get by on that salary but plenty of other areas where it's not enough. I worked in warehousing when I was a college student in the 90s. It's not mentally stimulating but it's far from easy.
Unions help level the playing field. There is a balance, though, as I think unions can at some point become too powerful then they become a bureaucracy (looking at the UAW of past years).
Re:Amazon reaps what it sows... (Score:2)
The thing is though? We didn't really have "stagnant wages compared to inflation" for decades. Depending on what you were tracking, there was technically a lot of deflation in the cost of purchases like flat screen televisions or personal computers.
The biggest two areas that had sharp inflation were higher education and medical expenses.
IMO, both of those categories bucked the economic trends and demanded outsized payments for other reasons that needed to be addressed separately.
Drones (Score:2)
I read this title 3 times as "84 Amazon Delivery Drones...." as was looking forward to an exciting tweak in labor laws about AI's. I suppose this story is still about drones though....
Amazon deserves this. (Score:2)
something i never understood is... (Score:2)
why do unions get established mostly at the lowest worker level in places like Amazon... it's not as if the workers in managerial roles, or working at the offices have it much better- like the workers in the warehouses, they're subject to BS treatment and conditions- just different. This sort of cast system of union vs non-union at same org creates an adversarial environment.
With the grotesque profits, terrible worker treatment and health and safety record, and what should be criminal tax avoidance on a global stage- I hope Amazon unionizes the whole org and all it's workers to show the rest of the world that if they behave like this, there will be consequences. (I know it won't happen.. but one can dream)
Re:something i never understood is... (Score:2)
why do unions get established mostly at the lowest worker level in places like Amazon
Because the lower level managers get to lord over the lower level workers. That makes them feel like they have power and distracts them from the reality that their main job is to protect the upper level executives from having to directly deal with the peasants... I mean workers.
Numbers (Score:2)
Well... (Score:-1)
Re:Well... (Score:1)
In a like manner, the correct number of customers is zero, and the correct number of employees is (theoretically) zero. In reality, history has shown that this doesn't happen. The fact that this didn't happen is NOT because the underlying system is any good, but because of market manipulation. Sixteen tons, company store etc.
Re:Well... (Score:2)
According to some universities who insist their TAs pay tuition, the correct minimum wage is some negative number.
speed up drone dev (Score:2)
Amazon better speed up its delivery drone development.
Question (Score:2)
Re: Question (Score:2)