BASED: How Amazon’s Outsourcing Facilitates Union Busting

Carl Hooks is out of work.

After three years as a delivery driver for Amazon in New York City, he was fired this month by his subcontractor employer, Champion Logistics, allegedly for violating company rules. His termination came shortly after he started organizing with Amazonians United ZYO1, a worker-led coalition pushing for collective action at one of the company’s massive warehouses in Queens.

His infraction was double-parking on the street in front of the warehouse while he went inside the facility to pick up packages for delivery. Though technically a finable offense in New York City, it’s hardly ever enforced by local cops, and certainly not by Amazon. Since union activity started up, though, casual conduct that used to go unremarked is now penalized, according to numerous workers.

Amazon’s contractors rarely ever stop drivers from double-parking, because it cuts down on wait times for deliveries, and workers are held to efficiency standards. When I called a warehouse worker this month to discuss Hooks’s case, he spotted three separate parked vehicles at the site, all jutting out into the street with their blinkers on.

Hooks was first cited for smoking a cigarette inside the vehicle, a policy he was not aware of. Once the manager informed him, he stopped smoking and returned to work for the day.

It wasn’t until a few weeks later that he received a phone call from a supervisor informing him he’d been suspended not just for the double-parking incident but also for smoking. Before the suspension was handed down, he had never been confronted or asked by a manager to stop double-parking. By the end of the month, he had lost his job.

"The only thing that changed in my behavior as far as I can see is that I started getting involved with Amazonians," said Hooks.

HOOKS’S CASE HIGHLIGHTS THE DIFFICULT REALITIES of Amazon’s fissured workplace for worker organizing. Through a system of third-party contractors, Amazon outsources last-mile transportation of its goods to outside delivery service partners (DSPs) that erode collective-bargaining rights.

The DSPs are technically independent businesses on paper, but not in practice. In order to contract with Amazon, third parties have to agree to their stipulations, including flat delivery rates and an at-will workforce. Both of these factors ensure lower wages for drivers.

This configuration has become a much more common tactic by employers, from Walmart facilities to janitorial staff and even tech companies like Apple.

It’s convenient for companies, because they off-load all liability for accidents or other occupational hazards onto third parties. It’s also a tool to curtail collective bargaining. If workers manage to unionize one of the numerous DSPs, Amazon can just terminate their contract.

That’s what happened recently at an Amazon distribution center in Palmdale, California. After the Teamsters won a union election with a contractor, Amazon just ended its business relationship with that DSP.

Under the thumb of Champion Logistics, Hooks’s at-will employee status made him disposable once he began organizing, which is exactly how Amazon prefers to manage its labor force.

Hooks is not the only union organizer who has run up against this. A handful of other drivers organizing with Amazonians United have seen changes to either make their schedules more hectic or cut their hours.

Inside the warehouse, workers say there’s also been a crackdown. They allege that Amazon has resorted to union busting, through actions like holding captive-audience meetings, which were recently banned in New York state. When an organizer in the warehouse, Dylan Maraj, entered one of these meetings, the manager abruptly changed topics, knowing the employee was a part of the union drive.

"They’re trying to turn the screws on us," Maraj said.

In a number of instances, Maraj has seen managers holding ad hoc interrogations of workers to warn them that passing out union buttons could conflict with the company’s solicitation policy. Over the past several months, posters also went up around the warehouse, spreading misleading information about the union. For example, one poster stated that Amazonians will sell workers’ information to outside parties.

Amazonians United this month filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board based on these alleged anti-union practices, as well as the firing of Hooks.

Amazon did not comment on these ULP charges in time for the publication of this article. Since September 2023, Amazon has faced over 220 open or settled ULP charges across 25 states and spent $14 million on union avoidance consulting.

To protest these alleged labor violations, around 25 Amazon workers staged a walkout on Saturday, December 9, which slowed business operations for a part of the day, according to members of Amazonians.

Amazon disputes this characterization. In a statement, a spokesperson told the Prospect, "Despite a small demonstration, the activities had no impact on our operations or ability to deliver for customers."

However, management at the Queens warehouse did concede to certain demands by the workers.

On top of the ULPs, the walkout was intended to ask for pay increases to $25 an hour, adequate staffing, and improvements to working conditions, primarily winter coats and rain jackets for drivers. Since the walkout, management agreed to provide coats to workers but not the other demands so far.

HOOKS PREVIOUSLY WORKED FOR OVER TWO YEARS at an Amazon subcontractor in the Bronx. But after his mother got sick, he switched to Queens so he could be closer to home to care for her. (His mother passed away earlier this year.)

Though the pay is hardly enough to meet the cost of living in New York, Hooks likes driving because he gets to be alone. He took pride in his job at Amazon. While we spoke on the phone, he remarked that he was currently wearing a jacket bearing the 14 pins that he earned as a driver honoring good performance and customer feedback.

The conditions as a driver, however, are grueling, with irregular schedules, constant surveillance, and onerous efficiency protocols, compounded by the burden of rampant understaffing. Most of all, what bothers Hooks is that his bosses talk down to him and his fellow drivers.

"They act like we’re just disposable even though we’re the ones bringing in the bread for them," said Hooks.

The switch to Queens also put Hooks in more danger. The routes he was assigned covered crime-ridden neighborhoods where Amazon vans are a frequent target for carjackings and theft. When packages get stolen, drivers are often on the hook for the losses and accused of negligence.

During one incident, Hooks says a crackhead stole a number of packages out of his van while he was making a delivery. Hooks called his supervisor and filed a police report immediately even though he knew it would make him late on his deliveries for the day. He later learned that his boss had launched an investigation into whether he’d actually stolen the packages.

Because of these repeated affronts, Hooks eagerly came on board when Amazonians United first approached him. He signed several petitions, began showing up at meetings, and became an outspoken advocate.

"It’s about solidarity at work but it also offered me something spiritual to be a part of especially after my mom dying and a difficult year," said Hooks.

Amazonians United is rallying workers at the Queens facility around a number of campaigns to increase pay and bonuses during peak times of the year, such as during the holidays. They’re also addressing erratic schedules and changes to shifts, which are among the workers’ top complaints.

Currently, Amazonians operates somewhat like a worker center, providing resources to workers and coordinating collective actions without official union certification. Over the past year, they’ve held a number of marches and orchestrated another walkout in the spring of 2022.

Amazonians’ strategy is in part a response to the extensive delays to first contract negotiations that the Amazon Labor Union is facing at the nearby JFK8 warehouse on Staten Island. Instead of immediately holding a union election, the Queens coalition is trying to build momentum first by getting more workers organized and showing them that the union can actually deliver gains.

"It’s important for workers to see that we’re one of them and fighting for their interest to get them what they’re owed," said Brendan Radtke, a driver and lead campaigner with Amazonians ZYO1.

The strategy is also about trying to unite Amazon warehouse employees and drivers, who are employed by different companies despite working right next to each other. Even the drivers inside the Queens facility are employed by a range of different contractors.

Hooks is still organizing with Amazonians while he awaits an NLRB ruling or a potential reinstatement. He has filed for unemployment and is picking up work where he can to take care of the eight family members whom he provides for since his mother passed away.

If the NLRB rules to reinstate Hooks, the contractor Champion Logistics, not Amazon, would be on the hook for back pay owed to him. His case is one example of how the DSP system gives Amazon increased leverage over labor.