Published , by Sam Chandler
Published , by Sam Chandler
The Teamsters have voted in the overwhelming majority to pass a resolution to unionize Amazon. This is a major step forward for workers’ rights. With the motion passed, the Teamsters will focus on creating a division to assist Amazon workers in the process of unionizing.
The news of the vote broke late Thursday evening on June 25, 2021. Lauren Kaori Gurley of Motherboard at VICE, took to Twitter to announce the vote. There were 1,562 votes in favor of the resolution and nine votes against.
Gurley had recently written about the Teamster’s coordinated nationwide project to unionize Amazon. Motherboard had obtained the official resolution ahead of the vote. In it, Teamsters recognized that “creating unions and building worker power at Amazon” would be its primary focus, should the vote pass.
With the vote now completed, and passed, Teamsters will “create a special Amazon Division”, according to the resolution. This will be to aid workers in gaining more rights within the industry.
Recently, Amazon came under fire following an analyst job listing that utilized heavy anti-union language. Amazon deleted the listing citing it was “inaccurate”.
Working conditions and standards have been a large talking point when it comes to Amazon, even drawing satirical commentary from the likes of South Park. With the Teamsters now focused on ensuring Amazon workers are able to form unions, we could be close to seeing better standards within the monolithic, trillion dollar company. Be sure to keep it locked to Shacknews for more on Amazon.