Elected Officials Call Out Amazon for Union Busting, Misclassification Practices

(WASHINGTON) – Today, 133 members of the U.S. House of Representatives signed onto a letter supporting Amazon Teamsters by demanding information from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy regarding the retail behemoth’s unlawful violations of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

“Under a mountain of unfair labor practices and illegal worker misclassifications, Amazon is operating as a white-collar crime syndicate, violating federal law as a matter of principle,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. “Securing the support of elected officials to help the Teamsters hold Amazon accountable is a critical step to stop its abuses of power. Working families are suffering nationwide under the thumb of this greedy, trillion-dollar corporation. As more Amazon workers fight back and unionize with the Teamsters, the writing is on the wall — Jeff Bezos, Andy Jassy, and their associates aren’t going to get away with this crime spree for much longer.”

The letter was initiated by members of the House Labor Caucus, and it was prompted by Amazon’s extensive and well-documented pattern of illegality. This includes multiple and egregious labor law violations during a successful organizing drive led by Amazon Labor Union-International Brotherhood of Teamsters (ALU-IBT) Local 1 in New York, unfair labor practices of retaliation against Amazon drivers in Palmdale, Calif., who sought to organize with the Teamsters, labor violations at nearly every level of Amazon, and anti-union remarks made by Jassy.

“We have heard concerns from our constituents who are scared to exercise [their] rights due to fear of reprisal from their employer, and anti-union activities from an employer as prominent as Amazon exacerbate those concerns,” representatives said to Jassy in the letter. “Therefore, in accordance with the NLRA, we urge Amazon to refrain from engaging in intimidation, retaliation, and other forms of illegal interference, and to allow workers to decide on their own whether they should join a union.”

The Congressional delegation that co-signed the letter represents over 98 million U.S. citizens. Representatives are demanding Jassy answer key questions about Amazon’s labor practices, such as whether the company will commit to bargaining with Teamsters in good faith, how Amazon reconciles its actions with its public statements, and whether Amazon will commit to following the law in the future.

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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