> > > > https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/jun/24/amazon-alabama-union-drive-teamsters > > Amazon crushed the Alabama union drive – can the Teamsters do better?The > Teamsters union is rich, strong, and experienced – and it’s ready to help > workers and give Amazon a headache > Steven Greenhouse <//www.theguardian.com/profile/steven-greenhouse>3 Apr > 2021 > [image: A man in a Teamsters jacket in New York on May Day. Labor experts > say it makes sense for the Teamsters to target Amazon.] > A man in a Teamsters jacket in New York on May Day. Labor experts say it > makes sense for the Teamsters to target Amazon. Photograph: Andrew > Kelly/Reuters > Thu 24 Jun 2021 05.00 EDT > > Last modified on Thu 24 Jun 2021 05.19 EDT > > The announcement that the Teamsters – one of America’s most powerful > unions – is going to mount an ambitious campaign to unionize Amazon > <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/amazon> warehouses across the US > presents the e-retailing colossus with a far bigger threatthan the recent > effort to unionize an Amazon > <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/amazon> warehouse in Alabama ever > did. > > In Alabama, Amazon’s fierce > <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/jan/27/amazon-seeks-to-block-workers-from-voting-by-mail-in-landmark-union-drive> > anti-union press crushed > <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/apr/09/amazon-union-vote-result-latest-news-bessemer-alabama-plant>the > organizing drive by a small union, the Retail, Wholesale and Department > Store Union (RWDSU). And besides, Amazon had a significant home-field > advantage in bright red Alabama. For Amazon, the Alabama face-off felt like > a one-and-done win against a junior varsity squad. > > But the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, with 1.3 million members > <https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/teamstersforademocraticunion/pages/11873/attachments/original/1585598306/IBT_LM-2_2019.pdf?1585598306>, > is a far larger, richer, stronger union, and has a century of experience > mobilizing and unionizing warehouse workers. Not only that, the Teamsters > will mount drives in many places where unions are popular and powerful and > arguably have a home-court advantage – think California, New York, > Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey and Washington state. In confronting the > Teamsters, Amazon will no doubt feel it’s being plunged into a > never-ending, head-to-head competition against an Olympic-caliber opponent. > > It’s one thing for Amazon to deploy its crack team of anti-union lawyers > and consultants to stomp out a union drive at a single warehouse center in > Alabama, but it will be quite another thing for Amazon and its anti-union > Swat team if the Teamsters mount union drives in 20 or 30 warehouses at > once. > > It shouldn’t be a surprise that the Teamsters union is undertaking a > national drive against Amazon, the nation’s second largest private-sector > employer. Amazon, Teamster officials say, is undermining wages and working > conditions in warehousing and trucking, the Teamsters’ two main industries. > No surprise that the Teamsters president, James P Hoffa, told his union’s > convention on Tuesday that Amazon was “an existential threat to every > Teamster out there”. > > Asked why the Teamsters are taking on Amazon, Randy Korgan, the union’s > national Amazon director, told the Guardian: “It’s a natural. Our union has > represented this industry for more than 100 years. We represent hundreds of > thousands of workers in this industry. > > “Truth be told,” Korgan continued, “Amazon’s impact on this industry is > driving wages, working conditions and safety and health conditions > downward. You have a lot of UPS, FedEx and US Postal Service drivers doing > the delivery portion of this job. These are good-paying middle-class jobs > for middle-class families. Amazon’s model is not good for working families, > it’s threatening middle-class jobs.” Korgan said Amazon drivers earn about > $16 an hour in southern California, while unionized UPS drivers there earn > $38 an hour, with $29 an hour above that in health, pension and other > benefits. > > Labor experts say it makes sense for the Teamsters to target Amazon. “It’s > good that the Teamsters are doing this,” said Stewart Acuff, former > organizing director for the AFL-CIO, the nation’s main labor federation. > “They’re perfectly placed to do this. They’re large, they have major > resources, they are committed to organizing and spending the money that’s > necessary. Most important, this is their core industry. They have all the > interest in the world in battling Amazon. > > “They need to do this for their members,” Acuff added. “They also need to > do this for their employers so their employers know the Teamsters are > willing to spend money to wage war to maintain standards and not let Amazon > undercut unionized transportation companies.” > > Korgan said the Teamsters would often seek to bypass union elections > conducted by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) because many unions > see that process as hugely favoring employers, which have access to workers > 24 hours a day. That’s one reason the RWDSU lost badly in Alabama, with > 1,798 against unionizing to 738 in favor. > [image: The union drive at the warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, failed with > 1,798 against unionizing to 738 in favor.] > The union drive at the warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, failed with 1,798 > against unionizing to 738 in favor. Photograph: Patrick T > Fallon/AFP/Getty Images > > “The NLRB strategy is only one of many ways to seek recognition,” Korgan > said. One way, Korgan said, would be to seek to pressure Amazon to agree to > card check and neutrality (not to oppose unionization). “Those are some of > the strategies,” Korgan said. “Everything is on the table.” The Teamsters’ > resolution on Amazon also spoke of “shop floor strikes, city-wide strikes > and actions in the streets”. > > Asked to be more specific about tactics and timing, Korgan said: “Stay > tuned.” > > Korgan said the Teamsters’ organizing efforts at Amazon would be helped > greatly by thousands of Teamster members who volunteer to help – whether by > joining a rally outside an Amazon warehouse or by telling Amazon workers of > the advantages of unions. “We’re part of the fabric of these communities, > we’re not an outside institution,” Korgan said. “We’re not a third party. > We’re coaching baseball right next to that individual who works at Amazon. > We’re living in the same neighborhoods. Our kids go to the same schools.” > > Kent Wong, director of the UCLA Labor Center, said some areas hold promise > for the Teamsters’ efforts; he pointed to the Inland Empire, an area east > of Los Angeles teeming with warehouses. > > Wong said the Teamsters might be able to win there because southern > California has strong unions and many pro-labor lawmakers, and besides, the > head of the Los Angeles County Labor Federation is a prominent Teamster > leader. “Anywhere you have a robust labor movement with strong > labor-community alliances and elected officials who are willing to speak > out and support the right of workers to form unions, that gives you a leg > up,” Wong said. > > He praised the Teamsters for undertaking its Amazon campaign, but said it > won’t be easy. “When you take on a giant corporation that has a strong, > anti-union policy, it’s going to be an uphill fight,” Wong said. “It will > be a long-term, protracted fight.” > > Wong said the Teamsters have a “mixed reputation, given the legacy of the > original Jimmy Hoffa”. > > But he added: “The Teamsters are known as a fighting union that has > successfully raised the wages and working conditions for workers in these > industries.” > > In other words, the Teamsters have a reputation, a swagger, that stills > attract many workers. In recent years, the Teamsters have unionized more > than 20,000 school bus drivers and scored numerous victories unionizing > warehouses, including at Sysco Foods and US Foods. > > In its Amazon campaign, the question will be whether the Teamsters’ > reputation as a fierce, fighting union that delivers to workers will > succeed in overcoming the fierce, anti-union propaganda campaign that > Amazon conducts in its warehouses. > > © 2021 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All > rights reserved. (modern) > >
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