Teamsters labour union launches new division for Amazon employees
One of America's largest labour unions has created a company-specific division for Amazon, America's second-largest private employer.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, one of the largest US labour unions has launched a new division to focus on unionising employees of Amazon.com Inc.
The e-commerce giant has for years discouraged attempts to organise, but in April this year, the worker-led Amazon Labor Union (ALU) scored a win when employees at a Staten Island warehouse voted to join the organisation.
Teamsters' plans to create a company-specific division for Amazon, the second-largest US private employer, were laid out last year.
"Our new division affords a nationwide network of resources to all Amazon workers, behind the wheel of any truck or hard at work in any facility, to strategize with the union, mobilize in their communities, and succeed together," Teamsters General President Sean O'Brien said in a statement on Tuesday.
'A great day for Labor'
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Teamsters, which has 1.2 million members, appointed Randy Korgan as director of the new Amazon division.
Korgan serves as secretary-treasurer and principal officer of Teamsters Local 1932, which represents members across Southern California and in San Bernardino, which the union said is Amazon's "most consequential logistics hub in North America".
On Thursday, a federal labor board rebuffed Amazon's attempt to scrap the Staten Island union win, handing victory to organisers in what could be a very long battle for recognition.
The win was a relief for the ALU.
"Today is a great day for Labor," Chris Smalls, a fired Amazon worker who now heads ALU, wrote in a Tweet celebrating the decision.
Shortly after the spring vote, Amazon filed more than two dozen objections with the National Labor Relations Board, claiming it was tainted by organisers and Region 29, the agency’s regional office in Brooklyn that oversaw the election.