Labor Prosecutors Challenge Amazon’s Claim It Doesn’t Employ Its Delivery Drivers
HuffPost
The company has long argued that the drivers who ride around in Amazon vans and deliver Amazon packages don’t really work for Amazon.
Labor prosecutors are challenging Amazon’s long-running claim that it doesn’t employ the massive network of drivers who deliver its packages across the country.
A regional director for the National Labor Relations Board has determined that Amazon is really a “joint employer” alongside one of its delivery contractors, an agency spokesperson said Thursday. The director also found that the e-commerce giant broke the law by making illegal threats, holding anti-union “captive audience” meetings and refusing to bargain with workers.
Although the case involves just one firm that Amazon contracted with in California, it has big implications for Amazon’s labor model in the U.S.
Even though Amazon delivery drivers work out of Amazon-branded vans and wear Amazon-branded uniforms, the company has long maintained that they don’t actually work for Amazon but for one of its contracted firms, known as a “delivery service partner” (DSP). If Amazon doesn’t employ the drivers, then it isn’t responsible for meeting wage and safety standards or bargaining with those who want a union.
A finding that Amazon is a “joint employer” alongside its DSP could make the company responsible for any labor law violations and, in theory, force it to the bargaining table.
