A regional director for the National Labor Relations Board in Los Angeles issued the first formal complaint last week targeting the company’s delivery model, arguing in the Palmdale case that Amazon is a joint employer of the drivers and, as such, must bargain with the union.
Last month, another NLRB regional director issued a preliminary finding that Amazon is a joint employer of drivers in Atlanta seeking to unionize with the Teamsters, and that it must be held liable for unlawfully discouraging unionization.
Eileen Hards, an Amazon spokesperson, said there was “no merit” to the cases, adding, “We look forward to showing that as the legal process continues.”
The process is likely to be long; in the Palmdale case, a hearing before an administrative law judge is scheduled for March, and any decisions are open to appeal. And this year, a federal judge blocked an NLRB rule that would have broadened the standards for determining when a company is a joint employer.
But if the cases against Amazon prevail, they could eventually prompt a restructuring of the company’s last-mile delivery system and open the door to a wave of union organizing, labor experts said.
“When it comes to organizing, success breeds success,” said Benjamin Sachs, a labor professor at Harvard Law School.
A question of control
At the heart of the labor board cases is a key question: How much control does Amazon exert over those delivering packages?
The e-commerce giant argues that its role is minimal. More than 3,000 delivery service partners, or DSPs, determine pay, schedules and work conditions for drivers, the company said.
But NLRB rulings, the Teamsters and many drivers say Amazon dictates nearly every aspect of the job.
Dustin Neskahi has been delivering packages for Amazon in Lenexa, Kansas, for almost a year and a half, through Go Go Logistics, a service partner. With roughly 300 packages to deliver each day at more than 200 locations, he said, he sometimes has to forgo the two 15-minute breaks he is allowed.
If he fails to drop off all of the packages in his van by the end of the day, Amazon penalizes Go Go Logistics, he said.
“I just feel like I have the pressure to represent what they want from us,” Neskahi said. “I’ve got to be Amazon’s little poster boy for a delivery driver.”
Once last month, Neskahi said, he drove for more than 10 hours without a break and didn’t finish his deliveries until 9:30 p.m.
Cameras in the Amazon-branded van monitor his moves — information sent directly to Amazon, which alerts Go Go Logistics to any infractions. On that late night on the road, Neskahi had to look away from the dashboard longer than usual to identify addresses in the dark. That, he said, will probably result in a markdown on his scorecard.
The monitoring and expectations to perform come from Amazon, he said. The subcontracted company is “under a chokehold,” he added. “They are the messengers, the middlemen.”
Hards, Amazon’s spokesperson, pushed back against the notion that Amazon penalizes third-party companies for their performance. Amazon sets safety, compliance and quality standards, she said, and provides resources to help meet them. Cameras in vans flag unsafe behavior on the road, she said, but DSPs are responsible for how to respond.
Workers at Go Go Logistics have not taken steps to unionize. But Neskahi said he and a couple of fellow employees had encouraged others to join them in talking to a Teamsters representative. A union, he said, could take up issues of pay and workload with Amazon directly.
When it ended its contract with the delivery service in Palmdale after drivers started to organize, Amazon said the move was unrelated to the union campaign — but Johnathon Ervin, who owns the business, Battle-Tested Strategies, argued that it was retaliation. (Hards of Amazon said the company “does not retaliate for union organization.”)
Ervin said he had been drawn to the Amazon delivery program because of the allure of becoming an entrepreneur. He served as an Amazon ambassador at one point, talking to prospective DSP owners.
“But eventually, you realize over the years that they don’t want leaders,” Ervin said. “They do not want pushback. They want compliance.”
Ervin said all the driver metrics available to him as the owner of a subcontracted delivery company came from Amazon, through the e-commerce giant’s systems. When Amazon’s system found an infraction, an Amazon manager would tell him how to counsel the driver, he said.
The NLRB regional director’s finding that Amazon is a joint employer of the Palmdale drivers “confirmed the obvious,” Ervin said. Amazon was his company’s only client, and it hasn’t operated since he lost the contract.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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