A COALITION made up of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and supporters rallied outside of San Francisco City Hall this week in favor of a resolution pushing for Amazon Web Services, the billion-dollar multinational company, to bargain with the union at a warehouse in the city.
Members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors stood shoulder to shoulder with leaders of Teamsters Local 665 and Amazon warehouse workers from DCK6 in the city’s Bayview District on Tuesday to loudly express their intent to pressure the company to enter into good-faith conversations with their workers and draw attention to what they say are ongoing violations of labor conditions.
Rafael Mandelman, president of the Board of Supervisors, introduced the resolution to the rest of the board, alleging that the company was attempting to circumvent directives from the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency tasked with enforcing labor laws.
Mandelman said his fellow supervisors unanimously supported the resolution.
“We are not here just to make money for the wealthiest,” said Mandelman. “We are here to sustain the lives and the families of every San Franciscan, every American. Since 2020 there have been 834 cases filed against Amazon at the NLRB. And now, unfortunately, they seem to think they can try the same thing here in San Francisco. But the trouble is, as you heard, this is a union town.”
Nonbinding resolution urges talks
While the Board of Supervisors’ action is nonbinding, supporters hope the passage of the resolution at Tuesday’s meeting will help push the company to enter into conversation with workers to officially establish the union presence at the warehouse with a contract promising better conditions.
An Amazon spokesperson responded by saying that without a formal union contract and workers playing union dues, they were under no obligation to enter bargaining conversations. The spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the allegations about workplace conditions made by the union Tuesday.
Teamsters leaders refuted this notion, saying workers are represented by them and do not pay dues until they have a union contract, something they believe Amazon is attempting to prevent by all means necessary.
Tony Delorio is the principal officer of Teamsters Local 665 in San Francisco and executive member of Teamsters Joint Council 7, which represents 100,000 union workers across Northern California and Nevada, and kicked off the rally at City Hall.
He started off by calling Amazon a “white-collar crime syndicate” in regards to their alleged union-busting activities and supposed reluctance to enter into good-faith conversation with workers demanding better wages and safety conditions.
“Over 14 and a half months ago, over 100 warehouse workers at Amazon in San Francisco organized to be a part of the Teamsters union,” said Delorio in reference to the new chapter at DCK6. “Since then, Amazon does what they do best. They’ve retaliated, they’ve union busted, and they’ve done everything but come to the table with us to negotiate.”
“This is a company that made $60 billion last year. … They make all this profit by exploiting workers, the very people that are here that make them all that money.” Peter Finn, Joint Council 7 president
President of the Joint Council 7, Peter Finn, said now is the time for more organizing against companies like Amazon. He said that although the National Labor Relations Board, has been siding with the union, he accused Amazon of using the appeals process to draw out the reconciliation process in an effort to avoid accountability and avoid establishing a formal union with a contract at the facility.
“This is a company that made $60 billion last year, and they’re slated to make even more this year,” said Finn. “They make all this profit by exploiting workers, the very people that are here that make them all that money. All the violations of the law have been filed with the National Labor Relations Board, the NLRB, and in every stage of the way we are winning, but they are still dragging their feet.”
Boos against Amazon sounded across City Hall’s steps by the numerous union members who traveled from across California to show their support for the resolution.
Allegations of retaliation, safety issues
Almost all other supervisors were also present to show their support for the teamsters. Supervisor Shamann Walton, who represents the district where the Amazon warehouse is located, said he was infuriated by the actions of companies that attempt to stifle workers’ rights.
“We stand with the workers, and we stand against anyone trying to violate workers’ opportunity to organize,” said Walton. “This is San Francisco, and we will not stand by and let this particular corporation stop our people from being able to get the wages that they deserve, the benefits that they deserve, and have the voice and the representation that they deserve.”
Janeé Roberts, 32, is a part-time worker at DCK6 who helped start the process to establish a Teamsters chapter at the warehouse with the support of the 2785 chapter that has been organizing for better labor conditions. She said she began coordinating with fellow worker Leah Pensler after both shared a car ride home and discussed the challenges with their employer.
“As one of the first warehouse workers (at DCK6) to stand up to Amazon and ask for a livable wage, for better benefits, proper safety and better working conditions, we knew that we were going against an industry giant,” said Roberts. “We are fighting for that anyway, because Amazon workers deserve so much more than what we’re going through inside of these warehouses.”
Roberts elaborated on the conditions in the warehouses. She said that during peak holiday season, when thousands of packages are processed a day, safety standards are not adequately taught to new seasonal workers and could potentially lead to major incidents. She claimed that when workers are asked to work additional hours on a given day, they often do not get breaks and are not informed that they need to claim any additional time because it is not automatically processed.
Pensler said the tactics the company have taken are illegal and they were not going to stand by idly, but will push back with the support of the union.
“Amazon’s response is to ignore us and mostly respond with intimidation, union busting, illegal termination, and captive audience meetings,” said Pensler. “Amazon has a legal obligation to come to the bargaining table with us. We want an official union contact. We’re not asking for anything special. We just want them to bargain with us. We want a fair contract that delivers fair wages and working conditions and benefits that we deserve working for a company that’s valued at over $2 trillion.”