New York City warehouse workers who are members of the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) have voted to affiliate with the Teamsters as they try to get a contract from the online retailer.
The ALU members voted 98.3 percent in favor of the alignment, which will provide additional resources in their attempt to bring Amazon to the bargaining table, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced Tuesday in a press release.
“Workers at Amazon—in the warehouses or behind the wheel—have proven they have the strength, unity, and determination to take on the greediest employer on the planet and win,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O'Brien in a statement.
“Together, with hard work, courage, and conviction, the Teamsters and ALU will fight fearlessly to ensure Amazon workers secure the good jobs and safe working conditions they deserve in a union contract.”
Amazon has disputed the 2022 union election, which gave ALU the right to represent workers at the warehouse in the New York City borough of Staten Island.
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request from The Epoch Times for comment.
The labor group members’ approval of the affiliation deal means the ALU will join the Teamsters as an “autonomous” local union. It will have the same rights and duties as a standard chapter, according to a copy of the agreement viewed by the Associated Press.
The newly chartered ALU-International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 1 will be comprised of approximately 5,500 Amazon warehouse workers in Staten Island. It will have jurisdiction for Amazon warehouse workers across New York’s five boroughs and is also expected to help with the Teamsters’ broader organizing efforts at other Amazon facilities outside its jurisdiction.
The agreement calls for at least three local union representatives to participate in “executive planning and strategy discussions” with the Teamsters division that focuses on organizing workers at the e-commerce giant.
ALU President Chris Smalls said the affiliation will provide the strength needed to “secure a contract” at the Staten Island warehouse, known as JFK8.
“On behalf of the Amazon Labor Union, I’m proud of our members choosing a path to victory. We’re now stronger than ever before,” Mr. Smalls said in a joint release. “Having the support of 1.3 million Teamsters to take on Amazon gives us tremendous worker power and the opportunities to demand better conditions for our members and, most importantly, to secure a contract at JFK8.”
The ALU’s 2022 victory in Staten Island remains its only election win to date. Yet the group is the only labor organization to achieve the feat at an Amazon warehouse in the U.S., in part due to the company’s opposition and the sheer size of many of its facilities.
Still, the labor group has not secured a contract for more than two years as Amazon continues to appeal the National Labor Relations Board’s vote.
In addition, the group has faced other setbacks, including election losses at other Amazon warehouses and internal conflicts over its organizing strategy.
Some organizers left to form the ALU Democratic Reform Caucus, an opposing group that sued the ALU last year to force an election for new leadership.
Arthur Schwartz, a lawyer representing the dissident group, said he expects the election to be held next month outside the warehouse that voted to unionize.
Connor Spence, the ALU Caucus’s candidate for president, indicated support for the warehouse worker members’ vote to affiliate with the Teamsters. He said in a statement that it “sends a powerful reminder to Amazon that we’re not giving up in our yearslong campaign for respect, better wages, and safe jobs.”
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, created in 1903, has 1.3 million members in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.
Mr. O’Brien was elected in 2021 on a platform that emphasized greater organizing at Amazon.
Earlier this year, Amazon workers at an air hub in Kentucky also voted to join forces with the Teamsters amid their own organizing effort.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
