Complaint Comes as Amazon Drivers Nationwide Organize with Teamsters

(PALMDALE, Calif.) – The National Labor Relations Board Region 31 (NLRB) issued a formal complaint against Amazon affirming that the company is a joint employer of its Delivery Service Partner (DSP) drivers and has a legal duty to recognize and bargain with the Teamsters Union. The complaint charges Amazon with dozens of unfair labor practices that were deployed in an unsuccessful effort to thwart organizing efforts by Amazon delivery drivers represented by Teamsters Local 396 in Palmdale, Calif. The complaint also requires Amazon to have its DSP partners operating at the DAX8 fulfillment center in Palmdale offer positions to terminated drivers as a remedy to their unlawful conduct.

“Amazon wants to reap the benefits of drivers’ labor without having to take on any of the responsibility for their wellbeing—and those days are over,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. “This decision brings us one step closer to getting Amazon workers the pay, working conditions, and contracts they deserve. Amazon has no choice but to meet us at the negotiating table.”

Amazon is now required to respond to the complaint on or before October 15, 2024, and the NLRB will prosecute the corporate giant at a hearing on March 25, 2025 before an NLRB administrative law judge. The NLRB’s complaint further sets the stage for the nearly 280,000 Amazon DSP drivers nationwide to organize with the Teamsters.

Among the unfair labor practices charged in the NLRB’s complaint include Amazon unlawfully refusing to recognize the workers’ decision to unionize with the Teamsters; failing and refusing to bargain with the Teamsters over conditions of employment and the effects of its decision to terminate its DSP’s contract; threatening employees with job loss; holding unlawful captive audience meetings; intimidating employees with security guards; and other illegal retaliation against the group of newly unionized workers.

In addition to rehiring terminated Teamsters drivers, the NLRB is ordering Amazon to provide terminated employees with a neutral letter of reference, post NLRB’s explanation of employee rights poster within the DAX8 facility for one year, and permit a board agent to conduct a training on the National Labor Relations Act and ULPs for all management employed at DAX8.

“Amazon can no longer hide behind its DSP program to skirt responsibility for its driver workforce,” said Bryant Cline, an Amazon driver and Local 396 member in Palmdale. “Today’s decision by the labor board makes official what we’ve long known to be true—DSP drivers are Amazon employees, and we have a fundamental right to organize, unionize, and demand fair treatment and a contract from our multibillion-dollar employer.”

Last year, the 84 Amazon workers from Palmdale became the first group of Amazon delivery drivers in the country to organize a union. Since then, the Palmdale Teamsters have inspired other Amazon workers to take action, including drivers at Amazon’s delivery station in Skokie, Illinois and Queens, New York.

Amazon has avoided responsibility for its drivers through its DSP subcontractor business model, claiming DSP drivers are not official employees of Amazon. The NLRB’s complaint rebuts Amazon’s argument, proving Amazon exercises widespread control over drivers’ working conditions, making Amazon the drivers’ lawful employer. Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.3 million hardworking people in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Visit Teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and “like” us on Facebook at Facebook.com/teamsters. 

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