One ultimatum deadline between UPS and the Teamsters union was passed successfully on Friday, raising hopes of a contract settlement, but another one came and went today with prospects somewhat dimmed as the two sides cut off talks. Each party blamed the other for the breakdown, with three weeks left until the July 31 expiration of the current five-year agreement and pay the main sticking point.
More than 80 delivery drivers and dispatchers for an Amazon contractor who just joined the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in April have initiated the first strike against Amazon at a hub in Palmdale, CA, saying the company needs to address wages and working conditions. Amazon begs to differ, saying it terminated the contract with the DSP, and that the Teamsters are making up facts.
West coast ports from Los Angeles to Seattle faced slowdowns on Monday, a continuation of job actions by dockworkers that began Thursday, leaving goods stranded and flows disrupted, as the union and the port owners continue to wrangle over renewing a contract that expired in July.
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a case involving FedEx which had the potential to set precedent by giving workers the right to join “collective action” lawsuits when they live outside the state where the issue arose. The worker classification issue has been heating up in recent years, including California’s controversial AB5 law.
While Amazon has been able to stay ahead of growing efforts at labor organizing in the U.S., at least for the time being, union workers at an Amazon facility in the UK midlands have walked off the job in protest over pay, a first in the country, according to several media reports.
Amazon lost another skirmish in its ongoing multi-front labor war, as a federal regulator ruled Wednesday against its petition to have a successful union vote in Staten Island, NY vacated. At the same time, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters is heating up rhetoric ahead of the expiration of its contract with UPS on July 31.
FedEx Ground told its base of 6,000 contractors that domestic peak season volume is expected to be lighter than previously reported, as the company battles headwinds a year after package flow fell below forecasts, causing pain and outcries from contractors who invested heavily in trucks and drivers.
Amazon is challenging a union vote at a distribution center in Staten Island, NY, saying it should be thrown out due to illegal coercion on the part of the union, while the labor group is accusing the retail giant of sour grapes over an election it won. Union and employer are also locked in a dispute over an election in Bessemer, AL.
A tiny startup union dealt a major blow to mighty Amazon with a successful vote at a fulfillment center on Staten Island, NY led by a worker who had been fired two years ago, a move that backfired on the multi-million-dollar effort to thwart the organizing effort. But the matter is far from over as Amazon is sure to challenge the vote.
A California regulatory agency has fined Amazon and one of its delivery contractors $6.4 million for alleged wage theft violations between April 2018 and January 2020, saying drivers were not paid properly on long shifts and often had to miss meals. The investigation cited Amazon and Green Messengers of Santa Ana, CA.