Amazon workers in Skokie authorize potential strike

Amid the busy holiday shopping season, hundreds of workers at an Amazon delivery station in Skokie have voted to authorize a potential strike as they continue demands for a union contract with the online retail behemoth.

Workers are not currently on strike, but a work stoppage could happen any time, said a spokesperson for the Teamsters labor union, which represents hundreds of delivery drivers at the Skokie facility.

Delivery station DIL7 in Skokie serves thousands of Chicago-area households, according to the Teamsters. Workers there organized this summer and are demanding union recognition and a contract from Amazon. Others at 10 Amazon facilities across the United States have organized with the Teamsters.

Last Friday Amazon workers at two New York City sites represented by the Teamsters also authorized a possible strike.

“Workers sent a strong message to Amazon that they're united and demanding union recognition and a contract so they can have better wages, safety and working conditions,” said Kara Deniz, a Teamsters spokesperson, on Tuesday.

Since workers in Skokie joined the Teamsters, the online retail giant “has illegally refused to recognize their union and bargain a labor agreement. The Teamsters gave Amazon a deadline of Dec. 15 to come to the bargaining table and negotiate a contract,” said a statement the labor union released Monday, when drivers voted to authorize the strike. “Amazon chose to ignore that deadline and is pushing workers across the country closer to launching a strike that could disrupt operations for customers at the height of the holiday season.”

Earlier this month Amazon announced record sales during Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday from Nov. 21 through Dec. 2 compared to previous years.

Riley Holzworth, a worker at the Skokie facility, said in the Teamsters’ news release, “Amazon is one of the biggest companies on Earth, but we are struggling to pay our bills. Other workers are seeing our example and joining our movement, because we are only going to get the treatment we deserve if we fight for it.”

Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien added, “Amazon executives risk ruining the holidays for their customers because of their addiction to putting profits over people.”

Amazon has not recognized the union affiliation at the Skokie facility. According to a company spokesperson, subcontractors who drive for third-party delivery companies are not Amazon employees. Therefore there is no obligation to negotiate, Eileen Hards, an Amazon spokesperson, said Tuesday.

She added that previous strikes at other Amazon sites have not affected operations and deliveries.

“For more than a year now, the Teamsters have continued to intentionally mislead the public — claiming that they represent ‘thousands of Amazon employees and drivers,’” Hards said Tuesday in a statement. “They don’t, and this is another attempt to push a false narrative about the independent small businesses who deliver on our behalf.”

The Teamsters claim that Amazon avoids responsibility for its drivers through its “delivery service provider” subcontractor business model, yet has “total control over the wages, workplace conditions and safety standards of the drivers.”

Preliminary findings from a National Labor Relations Board investigation in California this summer found that Amazon is a joint employer of its subcontractor drivers, and has a legal duty to recognize and bargain with the Teamsters.

“The NLRB confirmed what every Amazon driver already knew: The [delivery service provider] system is a sham, and Amazon is our true employer. It is time for Amazon to take responsibility for the low pay and unsafe working conditions drivers face,” Deibi Reyes, a Skokie Amazon driver, said in a Teamsters news release this summer.

Hards of Amazon said in Tuesday's statement, “The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union.”

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.3 million people in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.