Amazon Drivers Strike Over Labor 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 Illinois' congressional delegation have demanded the company refrain from union-busting tactics.

A group of 104 drivers organized with Teamsters Local 705 have called for Amazon to recognize the union and negotiate a contract.

The drivers are employed by contractor Four Star Express Delivery, and they claim Amazon retaliated against their organizing efforts by terminating the contractor's agreement.

"Every Amazon driver knows who our true employer is," striking driver Luke Cianciotto said in a statement.

"We wear their uniforms and drive their trucks. They decide whether we can be hired or fired," Cianciotto said. "We make them their profits and we organized a union with the Teamsters for our fair share."

Workers showed up at Amazon's DIL7 facility in Skokiewith what they said was documentation showing a majority of them were in favor of joining the union, according to video from the Teamsters.

"No, we don't accept that," one of the managers says.

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

"The negative emotions that Amazon preys on, fear, isolation, manipulation," an organizer tells striking workers in the video, "we exist above that with pride, dignity, honor."

On Tuesday, U.S. Reps. Jan Schakowsky, Chuy Garcia and Nikki Budzinski sent a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy about reports of intimidation and retaliation against the Skokie workers. They were joined by 10 other members of Congress — every House Democrat from Illinois other than Brad Schneider.

Unfair labor practice charges leveled against Amazon include allegations that the company terminated employees for organizing, surveilled union activities, implemented a hiring freeze in response to unionization efforts, suppressed pro-union speech on message boards, pretextually altered employment terms to limit union activity and sought to permanently close the facility in response to union organizing, according to the letter.

This week's letter from most of Illinois congressional Democrats follows another oversight letter sent to Amazon last month by a bipartisan group of Senators, following up on another one in February.

The Senate has not received a "serious response," according to the letter, which described Amazon's responses as "insufficient" so far.

Schakowsky, Garcia and Budzinski's letter noted that 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 now been accused of several serious breaches of the National Labor Relations Act in recent years, and as you are aware, an NLRB administrative law judge recently ruled that you broke federal labor law with your public comments regarding increased union efforts by Amazon workers and advised that you should avoid threatening your employees with similar comments in the future," it said. "In accordance with that ruling and advice, Amazon was ordered to notify employees at its facilities that the NLRB has found that it 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 its workers, including its DSP drivers in Skokie," the representatives said. "We ask for your commitment to refrain from threats of intimidation and retaliation as DSP drivers exercise their rights to organize a union, and if they so choose bargain collectively to negotiate in good faith to secure improvements in their wages and working conditions."

An Amazon spokesperson issued a statement to reporters after last week's labor action.

"This protest was initiated and has been attended by mostly outside organizers and individuals who don't work for Amazon — and has no impact on our operations or ability to deliver for customers," it said. "Four Star Express Delivery is an independently owned company that voluntarily closed its business on May 30 and no longer delivers for Amazon."

According to the layoff notice provided to state commerce regulators, Four Star Express Delivery LLC, with a listed address at Amazon's 3639 Howard St. facility, in Skokie announced it would lay off 104 workers on June 25 after providing two weeks notice.

Its stated reason: "lost contract."

Owner Jerry Maros told workers the company lost its "principal client" in the first week of June in an "unforeseeable" development after a majority of workers signed union cards, Labor Notes reported.

Teamsters General President Sean O'Brien said Amazon responded to workers exercising their right to organize with "bullying and lawbreaking" and that the company's delivery service provider, or DSP, program was exploitative.

"But Amazon drivers in Skokie refuse to be intimidated by the white-collar criminals running this company," O'Brien said. "The Teamsters Union appreciates the support of elected officials who are showing real backbone against Corporate America by standing with these brave workers.”

Other Amazon drivers organized with Teamsters have picketed more than 30 Amazon warehouses in an ongoing unfair labor practice strike, according to the union.

And last month, Amazon warehouse workers at the company's JFK8 facility in Staten Island, New York, voted to join the Teamsters with more than 98 percent of ballots, meaning that more than 5,500 workers there will become members of a newly the newly chartered Amazon Labor Union-International Brotherhood of Teamsters, or ALU-IBT, Local 1.

“I work for one of the richest men in the world and I’ve had to skip meals to make sure my child eats and my bills are paid,” Ebony Echevarria, one of the striking Skokie drivers said. “That’s just not right."

Amazon stock last month hit a stock market valuation in excess of $2 trillion for the first time. Founder Jeff Bezos, who announced last year he was moving from Seattle to Miami, this week disclosed plans to sell $5 billion worth of stock in the company to bring his total windfall this year for offloading the record-high stock to $13.5 billion.

Earlier: Amazon Leases 237,000-Square-Foot Warehouse Facility In Skokie