Investing.com - In a significant win for organized labor, the Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) Labor Union has officially joined forces with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a union boasting 1.3 million members. This partnership provides Amazon workers with stronger representation and resources as they strive for a contract from the global giant.
In the upcoming weeks, members of the Amazon Labor Union will vote to confirm the affiliation. The Teamsters General President, Sean M. O’Brien, announced the affiliation during a union board meeting in Washington D.C., where the affiliation agreement was unanimously approved by the Teamsters' board.
The newly formed ALU-International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Local 1 will represent approximately 8,000 Amazon warehouse workers at JFK8, covering all five boroughs of New York. This will be the first ALU-IBT local union fully established under the Teamsters Constitution. Members of ALU-IBT Local 1 will gain access to the financial and organizational support of the Teamsters International Union, the Teamsters Amazon Division, and Teamsters Joint Council.
Sean O’Brien said, "Together we are creating an unstoppable movement to take on Amazon. Building relationships with workers, communities nationwide, and rank-and-file Teamsters has been essential to creating the capacity to stand up to Amazon — and this affiliation demonstrates it. It will require unprecedented unity and long-term investment to finally force this company to respect working people and fairly negotiate. The Teamsters proudly set the standard in the industry with our historic agreement protecting 340,000 UPS Teamsters, and we will make sure that standard is upheld at every other company, and especially at Amazon.”