NJ Amazon Flex Drivers Demand Safety Commitment, Better Pay From Company

WOODLAND PARK, NJ — Dozens of Amazon Flex drivers in New Jersey rallied in front of the commerce giant's Woodland Park facility on Thursday, demanding better pay and for the company to address safety concerns.

Flex drivers work as independent contractors for Amazon, delivering packages to customers in their own private vehicles. Additionally, the drivers pay for their own gas and insurance, and don't get company healthcare.

These Garden State drivers are demanding that the company publicly commits to fair base pay, setting reasonable delivery quotas, and making routes more efficient.

Flex drivers are also expressing concerns about safety — as they contend with dog bites, stolen vehicles, and even being shot at. In the Seattle area earlier this year, an Amazon Flex driver was found shot dead in his car. The Woodland Park facility also made headline last November when a man and his wife were arrested following a machete fight.

Employees have reported that Amazon cut base pay at several locations, including for drivers in the New Jersey hubs.

Drivers including Ester, who has been working at the Woodland Park facility for more than a year, said the delivery quotas have become hard to keep up with.

"The same amount of packages that I would deliver in five hours, now I have to do it in three hours," she said. "We rush because if we don’t deliver all packages on time, we get punished and our accounts get blocked losing our only source of income."

The rally began at 11 a.m. at the Amazon Fresh facility, 1150 McBride Avenue in Woodland Park.

Make the Road New Jersey, which helps get workers organized across the state, is standing in solidarity with the Woodland Park contractors, and said Flex drivers "are an often forgotten but critical part of Amazon’s last mile delivery network."

Flex drivers have been organizing at this facility for several months and created a petition to urge the company to commit to improving things, the organization said.

In a statement, Amazon spokesperson Branden Baribeau said the company respects individuals' rights to peacefully protest and said the views of the rally-goers "are not representative of the vast majority of Amazon Flex delivery partners."

"Safety is always Amazon’s top priority, and we continuously invest in protecting drivers and community members," he said. "We’re thankful that violent incidents are exceedingly rare across our network and we'll continue to invest to improve safety outcomes because even a single incident is one too many."