Amazon drivers strike over labor rights violations at Skokie station

SKOKIE, IL — After Amazon drivers in Skokie went on strike last month over alleged violations of federal labor laws, more than a dozen members of the Illinois state congressional delegation called on the company to abandon its anti-union tactics.

A group of 104 drivers organized in Teamsters Local 705 has called on Amazon to recognize the union and negotiate a contract.

The drivers are employed by contractor Four Star Express Delivery and claim that Amazon retaliated for their unionization efforts by terminating their contract with the contractor.

“Every Amazon driver knows who our real employer is,” striking driver Luke Cianciotto said in a statement.

“We wear their uniforms and drive their trucks. They decide whether we get hired or fired,” Cianciotto said. “We get them their profits and have formed a union with the Teamsters to get our fair share.”

According to a Teamsters video, the workers showed up at Amazon’s DIL7 facility in Skokie with documents showing that the majority of them were in favor of joining the union.

“No, we don’t accept that,” says one of the managers.

Organizers demanded $30 an hour, 40 hours of guaranteed work and better benefits. Currently, according to the Teamsters, they receive about $20 an hour, are rarely scheduled for a full work week and have expensive and substandard health insurance.

“Amazon preys on negative emotions, fear, isolation, manipulation,” an organizer tells the striking workers in the video, “but we rise above this with pride, dignity and honor.”

On Tuesday, U.S. Reps. Jan Schakowsky, Chuy Garcia and Nikki Budzinski sent a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy reporting reports of intimidation and retaliation against the Skokie workers. They were joined by 10 other members of Congress – all Democrats from Illinois except Brad Schneider.

According to the letter, the unfair labor practice allegations against Amazon include claims that the company fired employees for union organizing, monitored union activities, imposed a hiring freeze in response to union efforts, suppressed pro-union speech on message boards, changed working conditions under pretexts to restrict union activities, and attempted to permanently close the factory in response to union organizing activities.

The letter from most Illinois congressional Democrats this week follows another scrutiny letter a bipartisan group of senators sent to Amazon last month, following another letter in February.

The Senate has not yet received a “serious answer,” according to the letter, which describes Amazon’s responses so far as “inadequate.”

The letter from Schakowsky, Garcia and Budzinski said this is not the first time the world’s largest e-commerce company has been accused of violating the 1935 labor law that still governs unionization efforts in the United States.

“Amazon has been accused of serious violations of the National Labor Relations Act on numerous occasions in recent years, and as you know, an administrative law judge of the NLRB recently ruled that you violated federal labor law with your public comments about Amazon employees’ increased unionization efforts and advised you to refrain from threatening your employees with similar comments in the future,” the report said. “In accordance with that ruling and recommendation, Amazon has been ordered to notify employees at its facilities that the NLRB has found it to have violated federal labor law.”

The members of Congress asked Amazon to respond by July 15.

“As members of the Illinois congressional delegation, we are committed to ensuring that Amazon respects the rights of all of its workers, including DSP drivers in Skokie,” the representatives said. “We ask that you refrain from intimidation and retaliation against DSP drivers who exercise their right to form a union and, if they so choose, to engage in collective bargaining to seek good faith improvements in their wages and working conditions.”

An Amazon spokesperson issued a statement to reporters following last week’s industrial action.

“This protest was initiated and attended by primarily outside organizers and individuals who do not work for Amazon – and has no impact on our operations or ability to deliver to customers,” it said. “Four Star Express Delivery is an independent company that voluntarily closed its operations on May 30 and no longer delivers for Amazon.”

According to the layoff notice submitted to state trade regulators, Four Star Express Delivery LLC, based at Amazon’s facility at 3639 Howard Street in Skokie, announced it would lay off 104 employees on June 25 with two weeks’ notice.

The reason given was: “Contract lost.”

Owner Jerry Maros told workers that the company lost its “major customer” in an “unforeseeable” development in the first week of June after the majority of workers signed union cards, Labor Notes reported.

Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said Amazon responds to workers’ exercise of their right to unionize with “bullying and violations of the law” and that the company’s delivery service provider (DSP) program is exploitative.

“But Amazon drivers in Skokie will not be intimidated by the white collar criminals who run this company,” O’Brien said. “The Teamsters Union appreciates the support of elected officials who are showing real backbone to big business America by standing with these brave workers.”

Other Amazon drivers who have organized with the Teamsters have demonstrated in front of more than 30 Amazon warehouses in an ongoing strike against unfair labor practices, according to the union.

And last month, Amazon warehouse workers at the company’s JFK8 facility in Staten Island, New York, voted by over 98 percent of the vote to join the Teamsters, making more than 5,500 workers there members of the newly formed Amazon Labor Union-International Brotherhood of Teamsters (ALU-IBT, Local 1).

“I work for one of the richest men in the world and I’ve had to miss meals so my child can eat and my bills can be paid,” said Ebony Echevarria, one of the striking drivers from Skokie. “This is just not right.”

Amazon stock reached a market valuation of over $2 trillion for the first time last month. Founder Jeff Bezos, who announced his move from Seattle to Miami last year, this week announced plans to sell $5 billion worth of the company’s stock, bringing his total profit from record stock sales this year to $13.5 billion.

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