Amazon insists that striking delivery drivers doesn’t really work for Amazon

On Thursday, Motherboard reported that Amazon delivery drivers in Palmdale, California have gone on strike, a first for the company. The drivers, who joined the Teamsters in April and were recognized by Amazon “Delivery Service Partner”[ads1]; (DSP) Battle-Tested Strategies in May, are demanding better wages and improved safety conditions. The 84 striking workers walked out on Thursday.

MotherboardThe original article used the headline “Amazon Delivery Drivers Walk Out in First-Ever Driver Strike.” Afterward, an Amazon representative emailed the publication to request that the headline be changed. From Motherboardhis article:

“I am writing to ask if you would be open to updating your headline on the story you just posted,” the spokesperson wrote. “It says these drivers are ‘Amazon drivers’ and it inaccurately states that they are employed by Battle-Tested Strategies. Would you please update the headline to read ‘drivers who deliver for Amazon’?”

But Amazon, which uses contractor labor for the majority of its fleet, exercises a lot of control over these people it doesn’t technically apply. Beyond the fact that they wear Amazon clothing and usually drive delivery vans wrapped in Amazon artwork, the company strictly controls how drivers are allowed to look and post online, exercises control over when drivers can return if conditions are unsafe, and forces. drivers to accept AI monitoring to be hired.

Although these drivers wear Amazon uniforms, drive Amazon trucks, identify themselves as Amazon employees, are continuously monitored and supervised by Amazon executives, and receive their work assignments from Amazon, Amazon has attempted to legally separate itself from these employees through a fake “Delivery Service”. Partner” (“DSP”) structure. Under this DSP structure, Amazon finds individuals—often with little or no experience running businesses—and claims to help those individuals “start” businesses, while selling them a false fantasy.

The complaint also points out that Amazon offers branded trucks and uniforms, sets targets and conditions, unilaterally fires employees and much more. According to the document, Battle-Tested Strategies also operates from the same Amazon facility, DAX8, as three other “similarly captured” DSPs.

The document also describes the conditions the drivers face, which include driving without air conditioning in the “inhuman heat” of the desert, where temperatures can reach 118 degrees Fahrenheit. Inside the vans, drivers talk to each other Motherboard described internal 130-plus-degree temperatures that feel “like walking into an oven.”

Such conditions are not uncommon in the delivery world. In fact, last week, while representing more than 340,000 drivers, the Teamsters reached a tentative agreement to put air conditioning — air conditioning! — in all the small package delivery vehicles owned by UPS.