Amazon delivery drivers in California become the first to unionize

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

The 84 workers are employees of 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.

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

The Teamsters said Battle-Tested Strategies had agreed to voluntary recognition of the union rather than force an election. The union also said it had reached an agreement with the company and that the workers had asked Amazon to “honor the terms” of that agreement.

Amazon DSP drivers ride in Amazon-branded vehicles and deliver Amazon products to Amazon customers, but they don’t technically work for Amazon, they work for contractors like Battle-Tested Strategies.

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

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

Unions, including the Teamsters, have fought to organize Amazon’s mass delivery network, which includes not just drivers, but warehouse pickers and packers, part of the company’s massive US workforce. .which amounts to approximately 1 million. Amazon’s organization is crucial to the Teamsters, as Amazon has the power to affect wages and working conditions throughout the logistics industry.

Last year, the Teamsters announced the creation of a new Amazon division within the union, as part of their plan to break into the retail giant.

Randy Korgan, director of that division, said in a statement Monday that 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 vote on whether to accept their tentative contract with Battle-Tested Strategies in the coming weeks. Though it did not release details, the union said the deal includes “immediate wage increases” and “provisions holding Amazon accountable for health and safety standards.”

If the contract can make significant improvements over current conditions for workers, that could help Teamsters organize drivers at other facilities.

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 agreement with the company.