Amazon Teamsters and organizers from New York, Kentucky, Chicago, and California spoke to the Teamsters Convention about the Amazon threat to the Teamsters Union and the labor movement.

Some 10,000 Amazon workers have joined the Teamsters Union since the program began. At the Convention, Teamster delegates voted to expand the organizing program and center it on a strike-ready campaign.

“Me and other Amazon Teamsters are committed to changing Amazon and ending its fraudulent subcontracting scheme. We are building a movement worker by worker, building by building,” said Latrice Johnson, an Amazon package delivery driver from DBK4 in Queens who joined the Teamsters in 2023.

TOM Team drivers joining Teamsters

A new development in the program includes Transportation Operations Management (TOM Team) Amazon workers organizing. These are CDL drivers who perform short-haul and shifter work between warehouse facilities.

“TOM drivers are directly employed by Amazon but not treated any better. We joined the Teamsters to get the respect we deserve. Since we demanded recognition, Amazon has been scrambling,” said Jeff King, a TOM Team driver and Teamsters Local 89 member at SDF9 in Shepherdsville, KY.

Earlier this year the labor board issued a bargaining order for JFK8 workers in Staten Island, which won a union election in 2022 and later affiliated with the Teamsters as ALU-IBT Local 1. 

Amazon has nearly exhausted the legal appeals they have used to stonewall negotiations. 

Building a Strike-Ready Program

The Teamsters Convention voted to expand the Amazon organizing program and focus resources on “the goal of being strike-ready ” to force the company to bargain with workers who have organized with the Teamsters.

“It’s going to take regional strike plans — and we’ve got to build that capacity”, said IBT Amazon Division Director Randy Korgan, before calling on delegates to commit regional strike coordinators.