Senators Hammer Amazon For ‘Union-Busting’ With Delivery Drivers | EUROtoday

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators requested Amazon on Wednesday to supply them with info concerning the corporate’s supply community and its response to union organizing — the most recent occasion of lawmakers placing warmth on the retail large over its labor practices.

In a letterthe lawmakers accused Amazon of utilizing a subcontracting association to “avoid legal liability” concerning drivers’ pay and dealing circumstances, and mentioned they deliberate to hold out a “distinct oversight inquiry” into the matter.

Sen. Chris Murphy, the Connecticut Democrat main the hassle, mentioned in a press convention on the Capitol that it was time for Amazon “to do the right thing and take responsibility for the working conditions of some of its most important employees.”

“Amazon needs to stop these union-busting techniques, needs to stop punishing workers for standing up for themselves,” Murphy mentioned.

Amazon didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Wednesday morning.

Murphy was joined on the letter by 24 different Democrats and, in a considerably uncommon transfer, three Republicans: Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri, J.D. Vance of Ohio and Roger Marshall of Kansas.

The senators are demanding particulars concerning Amazon’s “delivery service partner,” or DSP, community — the sprawling system of subcontracted supply drivers who get Amazon orders to your door.

The drivers are technically employed and paid by exterior contractors, however the Teamsters and different labor teams preserve that the retail large is absolutely the one setting the working circumstances. Whether Amazon is a “joint employer” of the drivers is a vital authorized query, since such a discovering might compel Amazon to the bargaining desk if staff unionize.

Amazon maintains that the drivers are usually not its workers even when they completely ship Amazon packages, put on Amazon uniforms and drive Amazon-branded vans.

The lawmakers’ letter included a detailed listing of questions diving into who controls the work for supply drivers — Amazon or its DSPs.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) mentioned Amazon was attempting to protect itself via subcontracting.

“Amazon is the hand. Amazon has decided to get all of its goods delivered across America by putting on a glove — using a corporate third party to shield the hand,” Warren mentioned. “And with the hand in the glove, Amazon feels safe to break laws that guarantee drivers fair and safe working conditions and to ignore the union that represents those drivers.”

Last yr, a gaggle of subcontracted Amazon supply drivers and dispatchers in Southern California unionized with the Teamsters. Amazon mentioned on the time that the supply service associate that employed the employees was within the strategy of shedding its contract with the retailer.

The Teamsters mentioned a majority of the employees signed union playing cards and known as on Amazon to acknowledge the bargaining unit and begin negotiating. So far, the corporate has declined to take action.

The case is presently earlier than the National Labor Relations Board, the federal company that referees union disputes within the personal sector.