The [84] drivers, who work for the Amazon delivery service partner (DSP) Battle-Tested Strategies in Palmdale, California, unionized with the Teamsters in late April, and are demanding that Amazon come to the bargaining table to negotiate a contract. Drivers have already negotiated and ratified a contract with the DSP, which voluntarily recognized their union.
Amazon has previously stated that, because the drivers don’t work directly for Amazon—they work for the DSP, which is then contracted by Amazon—that the company is not obligated to bargain with them. For the past month, the union has been trying to prove that wrong, saying that, despite Amazon placing all responsibility onto the DSP, it is in fact in “complete control” of the DSP’s operations.
While the strike is important, if we can get recognition that these subcontractors are just a way for corporations to dodge employment laws, that would be fucking HUGE.
This obfuscation of who works for who via a series of subcontracts is horrible. I personally know of the janitorial BS that got started by Winters Cleaning and the cinema industry in the 90s. There’s an article that Variety did on it some years back. It’s about removing responsibility from the company benefitting from the labor. It increases the likelihood that impoverished, desperate people will be taken advantage of. When problems are noticed the last company in the line of subcontractors just fold up. No one is held accountable.
If Amazon has deep control of operations due their contracts, then yes, Amazon is their employer.
While the strike is important, if we can get recognition that these subcontractors are just a way for corporations to dodge employment laws, that would be fucking HUGE.
I’ve been idly trying to come up with a framework that discourages this kind of behavior, and I haven’t come up with anything good. Got any ideas? Everything I come up with either wouldn’t work or would never get implemented.
A fucking livable minimum wage to start at. Universal health care for another. Free, or very inexpensive, education for a third. Basic things that other countries seem able to do.
While the strike is important, if we can get recognition that these subcontractors are just a way for corporations to dodge employment laws, that would be fucking HUGE.
This obfuscation of who works for who via a series of subcontracts is horrible. I personally know of the janitorial BS that got started by Winters Cleaning and the cinema industry in the 90s. There’s an article that Variety did on it some years back. It’s about removing responsibility from the company benefitting from the labor. It increases the likelihood that impoverished, desperate people will be taken advantage of. When problems are noticed the last company in the line of subcontractors just fold up. No one is held accountable.
If Amazon has deep control of operations due their contracts, then yes, Amazon is their employer.
I’ve been idly trying to come up with a framework that discourages this kind of behavior, and I haven’t come up with anything good. Got any ideas? Everything I come up with either wouldn’t work or would never get implemented.
A fucking livable minimum wage to start at. Universal health care for another. Free, or very inexpensive, education for a third. Basic things that other countries seem able to do.