Teamsters Take on Amazon – Fight for $30/Hour and a Union!

From drivers forced to pee in bottles to warehouse workers who suffer injury rates nearly twice as high as the rest of the industry, Amazon workers have been calling attention to the company's abuses for years.

I work at KCVG, Amazon's northern Kentucky air hub and the largest in the world, where lack of job security, overwork and inadequate wages are constant topics of conversation among colleagues and have fueled the fight for a union. Every part of the operation is designed to be as difficult as possible for workers to organize. Meanwhile, Amazon has posted rapid profits over the past two years, posting nearly $14 billion in profits in the second quarter of 2024 alone.

But now more than ever, Amazon workers are fighting back and winning real victories. In July, workers across the country staged coordinated actions on Prime Days, the most profitable two days for Amazon each year that push workers to the limit.

In September, Amazon employees won a $1.50 raise, access to first-day language courses and free Prime memberships. Amazon delivery drivers also received a $1.50 raise. This came shortly after the National Labor Relations Board ruled that contracted delivery drivers are considered Amazon employees and can unionize as such.

At the KSBD Air Hub in San Bernardino, workers recently marched against the boss and won paid leave when smoke from the California Line Fire made working conditions unsafe. And CAUSE (Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment) at RDU1 has begun collecting authorization cards to fight for union recognition.

KCVG is Amazon's Achilles heel

My colleagues and I at KCVG have been organizing for almost two years. With 4,000 workers handling nearly 30% of Amazon's “next-day” deliveries in the U.S., KCVG employees are an integral part of a nationwide campaign to unionize Amazon. Since joining the Teamsters in April, we held our first strike against unfair labor practices during Prime Week. It's no coincidence that Amazon immediately gave up air conditioning in personnel carriers on the side of the plane and full-time positions for part-time employees, two demands we had been making for months.

We recently fought for a $3 hourly raise as a down payment on the starting salary of $30. While we won $1.50, less than our $3 demand, Amazon originally only intended a 60 cent increase. These victories are possible because of the growing strength of workers organizing at Amazon as part of the powerful Teamsters union.

Building a national trade union movement

In 2022, JFK8 Amazon Labor Union (now ALU-IBT Local 1) workers in Staten Island were the first to win a union election at Amazon, but had yet to win a contract. Battles like the union campaign in Bessemer, Alabama, lost to ruthless union-busting campaigns. Most organizing initiatives were underground or independent, such as CAUSE, Amazonians United, and the ALU. The Teamsters had formed their Amazon division just a year earlier and were focused on preparing for the UPS contract dispute.

The terrain for Amazon's organization looks vastly different today than it did two years ago, when Amazon suffered its first blow at JFK8 in Staten Island. ALU-KCVG's affiliation with the Teamsters put the nation's largest logistics union in the middle of the ring with public enemy No. 1 of the working class. This was due to the strength of the campaign that the KCVG workers had built.

Our affiliation was a falling domino that led to the ALU at JFK8 joining the Teamsters two months later. It is a historic step forward that workers at these and other critical facilities are now organizing with the Teamsters. Organizing at DSPs is in full swing, as Teamster drivers in Palmdale, Calif., and Skokie, Ill., have expanded unfair labor practice (ULP) pickets to dozens of Amazon locations, and DBK4 workers in Queens, N.Y., are now receiving recognition demand from the union.

What strategy for the Teamsters?

Amazon's organizing focus in the US has shifted from independent unions (as ours once did) to the Teamsters. This gives Amazon workers tremendous strength, both in terms of human resources and legal resources, but more importantly, the opportunity for Teamsters at UPS, DHL and other carriers to support each other in collective action.

Large unions like the Teamsters have powerful resources: employees, lawyers, and existing members. However, these strengths cannot replace the need for a strong, Democratic organizing committee, as we learned from RWDSU's two losses at Amazon in Bessemer, Alabama.

Labor leaders at KCVG have learned this lesson and seen the JFK8 election victory as a positive example of what can be done differently. At the same time, they understood that our independent union did not have the strength to take on Amazon alone. Before joining the Teamsters, it was important that we built a core of labor leaders dedicated to fighting for bold demands and worker democracy. This has resulted in KCVG remaining a worker-led campaign to this day.

A strong, democratic organizational structure is the key to winning battles with the boss. But it's only one piece of the puzzle. Even the most organized Amazon facility will not be able to win a contract alone because Amazon's delivery lines are complex, redundant and extensive.

To win, Amazon workers will ultimately have to stage a well-organized nationwide strike that includes key chokepoints like air hubs. Employees of other companies such as UPS and DHL must refuse to transport redirected Amazon packages.

A serious strike to win recognition and a strong contract would then also require organizing larger facilities and coordinating with non-Teamster campaigns. A set of bold, shared demands, such as a starting wage of $30 an hour, would provide a strong foundation for a nationwide collective fight among the various entities and unions organizing at Amazon.

$30 and a union

The common fight for $30 an hour and a union, which is already being demanded by DAX8, JFK8, KCVG and RDU1, is the clearest starting point for this unification around the demands. The cost of living continues to rise and wages generally rise, but they are not keeping up. Although support for unions is at an all-time high, many workers will not risk their jobs to organize for modest gains. We want a significant improvement in our quality of life with real job security. A starting salary of $30 an hour and a union contract reflect this.

It's great that the Teamsters have taken up the fight to meet this need in multiple locations. Bold demands are not empty promises, as Amazon and its union activists claim, but goals that workers are fighting to achieve. Public support from Sean O'Brien and the Amazon division would make it even more difficult for Amazon to avoid the problem. And if Teamster leadership consistently prioritizes $30 an hour and a union, it could inspire more Amazon workers and the rest of the labor movement to organize.

Ultimately, it will be Amazon workers across the country who must play the most important role in organizing our colleagues around bold demands and preparing to strike to get the contract we deserve.