A group of Amazon delivery drivers and dispatchers in Palmdale, California went on strike for a second time on Saturday to demand that Amazon recognize and bargain with their union. The picket lines then extended to a second Amazon warehouse in San Bernardino on Sunday, making this the first multi-day strike at an Amazon facility in the U.S., and the first such strike to extend its reach, according to a Teamsters spokesperson.
“Amazon workers across the country know that this company always puts its profits ahead of our safety and our families’ livelihoods,” said Brandi Diaz, one of the drivers on strike, in a statement. “We are extending our picket lines and picketing outside of this second Amazon facility to force this company to end its unfair labor practices and treat Amazon workers like human beings.”
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The drivers, who work for the Amazon delivery service partner (DSP) Battle-Tested Strategies, unionized with the Teamsters in late April, and are demanding that Amazon come to the bargaining table to negotiate a contract. Drivers have already negotiated and ratified a contract with the DSP, which voluntarily recognized their union.
Workers picketed DAX8, the Amazon facility which houses Battle-Tested Strategies, as well as ONT1, a sortation center near Amazon’s massive San Bernardino air hub. ONT1 workers, who are direct Amazon employees, did not join the strike, but DAX8 drivers and other community members were there asking people to honor the picket line, with varying degrees of success, according to a Teamsters spokesperson. ONT1 is one Amazon warehouse which sends packages to the Battle-Tested Strategies facility to be delivered.
Amazon has previously stated that, because the drivers don’t work directly for Amazon—they work for the DSP, which is then contracted by Amazon—that the company is not obligated to bargain with them. For the past month, the union has been trying to prove that wrong, saying that, despite Amazon placing all responsibility onto the DSP, it is in fact in “complete control” of the DSP’s operations.
Amazon had also moved to terminate its contract with the DSP before the unionization was announced, though the Teamsters contested in an unfair labor practice charge filed to the National Labor Relations Board that this was intentional anti-union activity that would allow the company to “rid itself of these newly unionized employees.” That contract was scheduled to expire on Saturday, June 24, when drivers went on strike.
An Amazon spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Amazon has brought nothing but pollution and low-wage jobs to our community,” said Michael Jones, a community member organizing with San Bernardino Airport Communities who joined workers on the picket line, in a statement. “Workers and community members are rejecting Amazon’s exploitative business model. We demand clean air and good jobs.”
Amazon facilities around San Bernardino have seen substantial organizing efforts in the past. Amazon warehouse ONT8 was one of four in the country to file for union election with the Amazon Labor Union last year, though it was unsuccessful. The air hub, known as KSBD, has its own group of organized workers known as the Inland Empire Amazon Workers United, who have previously gone on strike to demand a pay raise and an overall safer working environment from the company.
“I want Amazon to know that we will fight as long as it takes to stop these unfair labor practices,” said Darryll Phillips, an Amazon driver on strike, in a statement. “We are risking heat stress and dog bites every day delivering Amazon’s packages and exhaust ourselves trying to meet Amazon’s unsafe quotas. We negotiated a union contract to protect our safety. Amazon should respect that.”
