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The union has mainly focused on organizing delivery drivers, which the company says are not its workers because they are directly employed by contractors Amazon recruited to handle package deliveries.
That type of setup gives the Amazon more cover from unionization attempts in an industry — transportation and trucking — that’s dominated by the Teamsters. However, the union has argued before the National Labor Relations Board that the drivers, who wear Amazon’s ubiquitous gray-blue vests and drive similarly colored vans, should be classified as company employees.
Meanwhile, the online retailer has accused the union of pushing a “false narrative” about the thousands of workers it claims to represent. Amazon has also touted its pay, saying it provides warehouse and transportation employees a base wage of $22 per hour plus benefits. It also recently boosted hourly pay for the subcontracted delivery drivers.
In September, the NLRB, which has taken a more pro-labor stance under President Joe Biden, filed a complaint that found the drivers to be joint employees of Amazon. The agency also accused Amazon of unlawfully failing to bargain with the Teamsters on a contract for drivers at a California delivery hub.
The Teamsters union says it also represents Amazon warehouse workers, including thousands of employees at the major New York City fulfillment center who voted to be represented by the Amazon Labor Union.
Amazon objected to the 2022 warehouse election results, alleging the Amazon Labor Union and the federal labor board had tainted the vote. A regional NLRB director issued a complaint last year that accused Amazon of violating the law by refusing to bargain with the union.
Amazon, in turn, is challenging the constitutionality of the NLRB in federal court along with Elon Musk’s SpaceX. In June, the Supreme Court made it harder for the agency to win court orders in labor disputes, siding with Starbucks in a case brought by the company.
Contract negotiations at Starbucks
Unlike Amazon, contract negotiation have been underway at Starbucks.
But Starbucks Workers United, the union that has organized workers at 535 company-owned U.S. stores since 2021, said the company has failed to honor a commitment made in February to reach a labor agreement this year.
The union also wants Starbucks to resolve outstanding legal issues, including hundreds of unfair labor practice charges that workers have filed with the National Labor Relations Board. The agency also has opened or settled hundreds of charges against Amazon.
In launching the strikes that started Friday in Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle, Workers United said Starbucks proposed an economic package with no new wage increases for unionized baristas now and a 1.5% increase in future years.
Starbucks said Workers United prematurely ended a bargaining session this week. The company also says it already offers pay and benefits worth $30 per hour for baristas who work at least 20 hours per week.
Starbucks workers walked off the job on two occasions last year. Workers United has said the latest strikes could spread to hundreds of stores across the country by Christmas Eve.
Patricia Campos-Medina, who recently ran for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat in New Jersey and leads Cornell University’s Worker Institute at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, said she expects there to be more union activity before Trump takes office.
Trump’s reactions will give the public a chance to see what his “commitments are to the working class,” Campos-Medina said.
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By HALELUYA HADERO AP Business Writer
Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit contributed to this story.
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