AP – Amazon delivery drivers and Starbucks baristas are on strike in a handful of United States (US) cities as they seek to exert pressure on the two major companies to recognise them as unionised employees or to meet demands for an inaugural labour contract.
The strikes that started on Thursday and Friday followed other recent standoffs between corporate America and organised labour. Large and established labour unions secured meaningful employer concessions this year following strikes by Boeing factory workers, dockworkers at East and Gulf coast ports, video game performers and hotel workers on the Las Vegas Strip.
But workers at Starbucks, Amazon and some other prominent consumer brands still are fighting for their first contracts. Amazon refuses to acknowledge the organising efforts of drivers and warehouse workers – many of whom have voted to unionise – even though the powerful Teamsters union says it represents them.
Starbucks long resisted the unionisation of its stores, but had agreed to negotiate a contract by the end of the year.
WHY ARE THE STRIKES HAPPENING NOW?
Strikes – particularly ones that happen during the holidays, a time of high economic activity – can help unions exercise leverage during negotiations or flex their muscles by garnering support from workers and sympathetic consumers.
Both Amazon and Starbucks saw a wave of organising efforts following the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic focused attention on front-line workers and the impact of economic inequality on the lives of wage-earning Americans.
Employees organised at bookstores, where unions are rare, and were successful with campaigns at some stores run by Apple, Trader Joe’s and the outdoor equipment company REI.
But turning those wins into contracts can be a challenge. At Amazon and Starbucks, which were not unionised before the pandemic, workers have yet to secure an agreement with the e-commerce and coffee giants, which both have their headquarters in Seattle.
Director of labour and employment studies at San Francisco State University John Logan said he thinks the Amazon and Starbucks workers are “desperate” to make progress before president-elect Donald Trump gets to appoint a Republican majority to the National Labor Relations Board, which is expected to be less friendly to unions during his administration.
“The unions want to make these disputes public and bring political pressures on the companies,” Logan said in a written statement. “If these disputes drag on until next year, and if they are fought largely through the labour board and the courts, the unions and workers will almost certainly lose. This might be their last, best chance to pressure the companies in public before Trump comes into office.”
However, Trump has also given some signs that he might be friendlier to labour during his second term compared to his first term.
Last month, he picked Oregon Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer to lead the Department of Labour in his new administration, elevating a Republican congresswoman who has strong support from unions, including the Teamsters.
TEAMSTER-LED STRIKES AT AMAZON
The Teamsters say workers at Amazon are striking at seven delivery stations in Southern California, San Francisco, New York City, Atlanta and Skokie, Illinois, because the company ignored a Sunday deadline the union had set for contract negotiations.
The Teamsters said workers will also strike at a prominent warehouse in New York, which voted to join the fledgling Amazon Labor Union in 2022 and have since elected to affiliate with the Teamsters.
The prominent labour group said it’s fighting for higher wages, better benefits and safer working conditions for Amazon employees, many of whom experience economic insecurity while working for a company worth USD2.3 trillion. It has not said how many Amazon warehouse workers or drivers are joining the striking.
The union has mainly focused on organising delivery drivers, which the company said 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 unionisation attempts in an industry – transportation and trucking – that’s dominated by the Teamsters. However, the union has argued before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that the drivers, who wear Amazon’s ubiquitous gray-blue vests and drive similarly coloured 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 USD22 per hour plus benefits. It also recently boosted hourly pay for the subcontracted delivery drivers.
