Portside

The Teamsters are spinning off momentum from recent organizing fights to new battle fronts across Amazon’s logistics chain.

What happens next depends on Amazon, the workers, and the interpretation of outdated US labor law.

In Kentucky, workers organizing for a union at Amazon's biggest air hub are demanding the rehire of fired activists. Despite the retaliation, "our activity has been contagious among our co-workers," writes Griffin Ritze. Workers in various departments have taken direct action for immediate demands.

Logistics workers in rail, trucking, and warehouses labor hard to bring us our packages year-round. But their employers subject them to ruthless harassment, surveillance, and union busting. Their organizing efforts need our solidarity this Christmas.

The Amazonification of logistics has created a new group of highly exploited workers: delivery drivers. Amazon itself increasingly relies on an expanding network of subcontracted drivers and independent contractors to deliver packages.

Amazon has to do more than pay a $15 minimum wage to keep workers happy.

Amazon subcontracts to local courier companies that use drivers who are considered independence contractors. These companies are less expensive than Fedex or UPS and they are not unionized. Amazon provides them with phones that track their packages and delivery progress, and workers need to average a delivery every 2 minutes in order to meet demand.

Amazon’s success lies in worker exploitation and intrusions into consumers’ private lives.

Hundreds of current and former drivers are suing a FedEx subsidiary, seeking back pay for overtime worked and for paycheck deductions.