Teamsters aims to step up efforts to unionize Amazon workers

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a union that represents 1.4 million workers, is setting its sights on Amazon

NEW YORK -- The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a union that represents 1.4 million workers, is setting its sights on Amazon. On Thursday, it will vote on whether to make organizing Amazon workers its main priority. The Teamsters accuse the nation’s second-largest private employer of exploiting employees by paying them low wages, pushing them to work at fast speeds and offering no job security. “There is no clearer example of how America is failing the working class than Amazon,” says the resolution that will be voted on by representatives from 500 Teamsters local unions Thursday. The resolution is expected to be approved and would allow the Teamsters to “fully fund and support" efforts to unionize Amazon workers and create a division to aid them and “protect the standards in our industries from the existential threat that is Amazon.” It declined to say how much money it will spend on the efforts.