[ The Teamsters said Monday that a group of Amazon drivers and
dispatchers in Southern California have joined the union and
negotiated a tentative contract with their employer, an Amazon
contractor, in what would be a first for the online retailer’s
delivery network. But Amazon said it had already notified the company
that it was losing its contract with the retail giant.]
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AMAZON DELIVERY DRIVERS IN CALIFORNIA JOIN TEAMSTERS  
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Dave Jamieson
April 24, 2023
HuffPost
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_ The Teamsters said Monday that a group of Amazon drivers and
dispatchers in Southern California have joined the union and
negotiated a tentative contract with their employer, an Amazon
contractor, in what would be a first for the online retailer’s
delivery network. But Amazon said it had already notified the company
that it was losing its contract with the retail giant. _

,

 

The Teamsters said Monday that a group of Amazon drivers and
dispatchers in Southern California have joined the union and
negotiated a tentative contract with their employer, an Amazon
contractor, in what would be a first for the online retailer’s
delivery network.

But Amazon [[link removed]] said it
had already notified the company that it was losing its contract with
the retail giant.

The 84 workers are employed by Battle-Tested Strategies, one of
Amazon’s “delivery service partners” that handles last-mile
deliveries for Amazon. The Teamsters said the group, which works out
of Amazon’s DAX8 facility in Palmdale, near Los Angeles, is the
first of Amazon’s roughly 3,000 DSPs to form a union and negotiate
an agreement.

“This particular third party company had a track record of failing
to perform and had been notified of its termination for poor
performance well before today’s announcement,” Eileen Hards, an
Amazon spokesperson, said in a statement. “This situation is more
about an outside company trying to distract from their history of
failing to meet their obligations.”

Battle-Tested Strategies did not immediately return emails seeking
comment.

The Teamsters said Battle-Tested Strategies had agreed to voluntarily
recognize the union. The union also said it had hashed out a contract
with the company, and that workers had called on Amazon to “honor
the conditions” of that agreement ― although Amazon won’t have
to if it no longer has a relationship with Battle-Tested Strategies.

Amazon’s DSP drivers ride around in Amazon-branded vehicles and
deliver Amazon products to Amazon customers, but they technically do
not work for Amazon ― they work for contractors like Battle-Tested
Strategies.

In a statement distributed by the union, one DSP driver at DAX8,
Rajpal Singh, said he wants more accountability from Amazon when it
comes to working conditions for subcontracted drivers.

“We deliver in an Amazon van, wearing an Amazon uniform, but when we
petition Amazon, they ignore us,” Singh said. “We have a mass of
support, we are a union, and now they need to listen.”

Unions including the Teamsters have struggled to organize Amazon’s
massive delivery network, which includes not just drivers but
warehouse pickers and packers ― part of the company’s huge U.S.
workforce that numbers roughly 1 million. Organizing Amazon is crucial
for the Teamsters since Amazon has the power to impact wages and
working conditions throughout the logistics industry.

Last year, the Teamsters announced the creation of a new Amazon
division inside the union, part of its plan to make inroads at the
retail juggernaut.

Randy Korgan, the director of that division, said in a statement
Monday that the DAX8 drivers were joining the union to “demand more
from this company, including good wages, safe working conditions, and
respect.”

The union said the drivers would be voting on whether to accept their
tentative contract agreement with Battle-Tested Strategies in the
coming weeks. Although it did not release details, the union said the
agreement includes “immediate pay increases” and “provisions
that hold Amazon accountable on health and safety standards.” 

The upstart Amazon Labor Union became the first labor group to
unionize an Amazon facility when it won an election at the JFK8
warehouse in New York City last spring. The union is now trying to
negotiate a first collective bargaining agreement with the company.

_This story has been updated with comment from Amazon._

* Amazon
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* Teamsters
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* Battle-Tested Strategies
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