Amazon Union Joins Teamsters—Will Negotiations Finally Begin?

Amazon Labor Union members have voted to join the Teamster union with a resounding 98.3 percent vote in favor of the move. Amazon’s public image has been put through the grinder after its recent $5.9 million USD fine over unspecified workplace productivity quotas in addition to existing concerns about the working conditions at its warehouse and the situation of delivery drivers. Now it appears that workers are taking matters into their own hands and uniting to speak up for their rights and interests. 

Amazon Labor Union or ALU is the only homegrown union that represents warehouse workers at the e-commerce company and their decision to join the International Brotherhood of Teamsters is a big win for both parties. We first heard about the Amazon union labor news earlier this month when the discussion of uniting the two groups was initially entertained, but now that the Amazon-Teamsters vote is complete, the Amazon labor union partnership is officially sealed. 

Image: Amazon

Amazon-Teamsters Union Is a Big Win for the Workers

Unions have regained their popularity and found a considerable amount of support over the last few years. While pharmaceutical unions are gathering support, autoworkers have had some big wins and significant losses in their unionization campaigns. Despite their popularity, there’s quite a bit of resistance from big corporations that do not want workers unionizing and demanding changes to the established systems. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is very overtly anti-union, but others like Starbucks, Delta, and Amazon have also been repeatedly accused of union-busting activities. Unfortunately for them, things have been moving forward with unionization efforts across the country.

The Amazon Labor Union doesn’t represent all Amazon workers across the nation, but they still form a historic team that stands as Amazon’s first NLRB-recognized unionized workplace in the United States in 2022. It had a close call back then, with 2,654 votes for the union as opposed to the 2,131 votes that rejected it. Amazon had executed a major anti-union campaign to stop workers from supporting the group, but the union won in the end, taking over to represent workers in Staten Island, New York, at the JFK8 warehouse. Despite the initial success, the union failed to garner support in the two successive union votes it organized across New York.

The Amazon-Teamsters union will now give workers more reason to trust in their strength and ability to push for change. The Amazon union’s affiliation with the larger team of labor workers should also give it the resources it needs to push Amazon to come to the table and negotiate terms with them.

Details of the Amazon Union’s Affiliation with Teamster

With the Amazon Labor Union partnering up with the Teamster union, the group will represent approximately 5,500 Amazon warehouse workers at JFK8 in Staten Island and they will maintain jurisdiction for the company workers across New York’s five boroughs. Local 1 will represent the Amazon labor union partnership, and those who are a member of ALU-IBT Local 1 will be able to make the most of the resources and support from Teamster. Now that the Amazon union and Teamster union vote has gone in their favor, they will be able to unite to “ensure Amazon workers secure the good jobs and safe working conditions they deserve in a union contract.” 

Amazon union labor news suggested that the e-commerce company has refused to enter into discussions with the union so the negotiation terms that will be brought up remain unclear. Better wages and safer working conditions are going to be obvious talking points for the Amazon Teamster union, but the exact negotiation points will only come to light once the company acknowledges the workers and their demands.

Teamsters’ UPS campaign success was one of the biggest wins for labor unions across the country and their experience with negotiation deals for warehouse and delivery workers should be handy in this particular Amazon labor union partnership. With its 1.3 million members, Teamster may still have some ways to become the nation’s biggest union, but it is certainly one we expect to hear about more often in the upcoming months. 

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