Teamsters ready plan to unionize Amazon

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters will vote Thursday on a resolution recognizing unionizing Amazon as one of the organization’s top priorities.

As part of an initiative called “The Amazon Project,” the Teamsters will create a special Amazon-focused division that will assist workers interested in organizing, according to a copy of the resolution reviewed by The Hill. Vice first reported on the resolution, which is expected to pass easily.

That project would be the most ambitious effort yet to organize the e-commerce giant, which is the country’s second-largest private employer and has been hiring at staggering rates since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Teamsters, boasting more than 1.4 million members across the U.S. and Canada, already represent several parts of the logistics industry, including warehouse, package delivery and transportation workers.

The vote comes just months after Amazon beat back an initial effort to unionize a warehouse in Bessemer, Ala. The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) is in the process of challenging that result.

The Teamsters, RWDSU and United Food and Commercial Workers Union have all already made inroads into organizing at Amazon.

The company has successfully kept unions out of its American workforce so far, but organized labor groups are hopeful that the example set in Bessemer and the heightened scrutiny of Amazon’s workplace conditions will make breaking through easier.

Over a thousand workers have contacted the RWDSU about unionizing recently, according to the union, and some Amazon workers have launched advocacy groups at their own facilities.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Teamsters’ resolution.