Not just for you guys.
This is for everybody.
This movement can be bigger.
If you tell somebody, just not in Palmdale.
Can you imagine, if we got workers to do to have the guts and
the power that you guys get to stand up to a billionaire?
God, that's power.
>> That's right.
>> We've got some positive labor related news today.
Turns out that an Amazon contractor that employs
delivery drivers has voted to unionize with Teamsters.
And the great news is that their boss basically not only recognizes the union,
but fully supports them on this mission.
The only issue is the way Amazon does business means that this isn't
going to impact Amazon's business practices.
So it's a little more complicated.
I'm gonna try to explain it to you guys.
So the company is Battle Tested Strategies, or BTS for short.
Not BTS like the Korean band.
>> There's some similarities, but not a lot.
I'm always afraid to even mention cuz their fans
are- >> They're great.
Let's move on.
>> They're the best fans in the world.
I have never seen fans this great.
They're the biggest fans, the best fans.
Now the workers at BTS are among the first of Amazon
contract drivers, two successfully unionize.
Okay, so when I say contract drivers,
what I mean is there are third parties that Amazon signs contracts with.
They do work on behalf of Amazon, but
the workers at the third party are not considered Amazon employees, right?
Now, Amazon was not happy at all after the company decided to unionize.
After these drivers, >> Have they turned against unionization
at this late date?
>> They've been warriors for labor, and
all of a sudden, they've really changed their tune.
It's shocking. >> Yeah, it must be about,
it's the car thing.
I think that set them off.
Sorry.
>> So let's get to Amazon's meltdown over this.
Actually, before we do, let me give you more details about this effort to
unionize, the successful effort to unionize.
Though BTS workers are not directly employed by Amazon, the company,
meaning Amazon does in fact dictate their working conditions,
including their wage floor, their routes and delivery schedules.
Okay, so Amazon delivery drivers work pretty grueling 10 hour shifts for
far less money than their unionized counterparts over at UPS.
So Jonathan Irvin, who is the owner of BTS, claims that due to his contract
with Amazon, he can only pay his workers $19.75 per hour.
Which sounds like a lot, but if you're in some states like, let's say,
California, where the cost of living is much higher, you'd wanna get paid more
cuz the $19 an hour isn't necessarily a living wage, depending on where you live.
Now, UPS drivers currently start their wages at $19 per hour,
but can reach as much as $37 per hour,
which I mean, >> Are they higher?
>> [LAUGH] I know for real.
>> Yeah, significantly higher.
A lot more feasible if you intend to live in an area like LA certainly.
>> Exactly.
And to make matters worse for Amazon and how they're reacting to this,
their quotes have been pretty brutal.
Now, Irvin, who again, is the owner of BTS,
he stated that when he let his drivers leave their shifts without
completing their full delivery routes due to health concerns,
Amazon would lose it over that and would threaten to pull their contract with BTS.
One BTS driver told The Washington Post that there were several days last summer
when he felt like he was gonna pass out on the job because of the hot temperatures,
the sweltering heat.
BTS, by the way, I should note, is located in the desert in Palmdale,
California, so the temperatures do get incredibly hot there.
That's why these workers decided, you know what?
Enough is enough, we wanna seat at the table, and
we want to have a say in our working conditions.
So one of the Amazon delivery drivers said this, we want fair pay and
safe jobs to be able to provide food for our families.
We want to know we will make it home to our families at night after delivering
Amazon packages in the extreme heat,
we organized with the Teamsters to change our working conditions for the better.
And last week, the 84 drivers at BTS negotiated a contract
with the Teamsters, which BTS voluntarily recognized.
So the head of this company, this third party is not the bad guy,
but Amazon does dictate their working conditions.
So I'm curious to see how this all plays out.
>> Yeah, I mean, if I go immediately to my deepest fears,
it's a total annihilation of this company pulling all their contracts.
I mean, we'll see.
I'm sure that is something that the workers attempting to
unionize have thought about, and we'll see what happens.
Yeah, I think look, especially when you list what they make, some people who live
in areas with much lower cost of living might think, well, they were doing okay.
Again, everything is more expensive in LA.
The gas is more expensive.
The rent is a lot more expensive.
But also, 10 hours in a truck in incredibly hot weather, that is rough.
And it's not even like it's already,
I can't conceive of being full time doing Uber or something like that.
It's very difficult in its own right, but an even harsher schedule in terms of,
we already know with Amazon drivers how rough of a schedule they're kept to.
Also, it's a physical job at the same time,
>> Yes it is,
>> Which I think a lot of people can
forget.
Have you ever gotten a really heavy package and
been annoyed about the fact that you need to bring it into your house?
Well, you don't have to bring it all the way from the truck or to the truck.
>> And you don't have to do it repeatedly every single day for your livelihood.
>> Yeah, all day.
And God forbid, if you do throw out your back or something,
you better find a way to complete the shift or maybe the company goes under.
So yeah, great to see them doing this.
Amazon is gonna Amazon.
We'll see what happens.
>> Now, Amazon responded to this successful
unionization effort in the way that you would expect them to.
So one of the spokespeople, Eileen Hards said in a statement, quote,
whether the Teamsters are being intentionally misleading or
they just don't understand our business, the narrative they're spreading is false.
She said the employees don't work for Amazon and
that the company's delivery network is comprised of thousands of contractors
that are independently operated and owned.
No, Eileen Hards.
We knew that.
Everyone knew that.
>> That's a real name.
>> Okay, everyone knew that.
But if Amazon is dictating the working conditions of this company,
then Amazon is at fault here.
But she continues to say this particular third party had a track record of failing
to perform and had been notified of its termination for
poor performance well before today's announcement.
>> Wait, they've already terminated them?
>> No, listen,
I don't take anything an Amazon spokesperson says at face value, right?
I think they probably fired or
ended the contract with this third party after they unionized.
>> Either way, it's terrible.
>> It is terrible.
>> Yeah, a lot of fun squirrely language being thrown around there that they're
independently operated.
Well, I guess to the extent that they still have to abide by all of
the restrictions that you put on them, and also, fundamentally,
why do you contract with thousands of different independent companies?
Why is that the path that you take rather than a vertical solution,
which Amazon prefers to have in most areas of its business?
It's because you are able to pass off a whole bunch of your potential issues to
them and make the claims that you're making in that statement that it's not us,
we're not the ones doing it.
If it's bad conditions, bad pay, it's independent.
I mean, they're abiding by our restrictions, but it's independent.
It's like a version of the Uber and Lyft thing.
It's creating arms distance between you and the workers that are working in
conditions that are functionally determined by your corporate leadership.
>> And it's tough because I don't know what the solution is, right?
Because there are so many of these delivery driver companies that get
contracted to Amazon or various companies corporations, right?
If Amazon has taken this strategy of we'll just contract out
rather than have our employees or delivery drivers in house,
you would really need as many of these delivery driver
companies to unionize in order to make a difference.
Because if it's just a few of these companies, well, then Amazon will just
decide, you have unionized employees, we're just not gonna do business with you.
>> Again, assuming, and maybe it makes sense to assume that we
put it all on the employees to be the ones that change the situation.
In theory, you could have legislation to mandate balance conditions for them.
I mean, that's a thing that could exist.
>> You could but I mean, John, we live in America.
Our politicians work for the money interest.
>> Yeah, and look, obviously there are many companies that contract.
There are not many of those companies that are on size and
scale of something like Amazon.
And one of the reasons why it's important for
you to do stories like this pointing out that they're contracting their workers is
because many people would be like what are you talking about?
I see the Amazon truck.
They have Amazon on their thing.
They have Amazon on the side of the no, but they're not actually Amazon.
So it's really Amazon getting to have its cake and eat it too.
That they get all the benefit of looking like they employ all of these people and
have this very professional sort of sleek idea that all of these people are working
for them, but they don't actually.
You could put the onus on them in terms of pay and working conditions.
>> Yeah, absolutely.
Look, as with many of the stories that we cover,
the onus shouldn't be on ordinary Americans.
The onus should be on the individuals who were elected into positions of power to
represent our best interests.
But they don't represent our best interests because corruption is now so
ingrained, so baked into the system, and
that corruption comes from money to interests like Amazon.
But I do agree with you.
If we had governmental institutions, if we had a Congress that actually
gave a damn about us, if we had even state lawmakers who gave a damn about us.
That type of regulation would be far better than just hoping
that all these employees across this line of work unionize.
That is an incredibly difficult thing to do.
And I really do commend the drivers at BTS for joining the Teamsters for
voting to unionize.
That is not an easy thing to do and I commend their boss for being so
respectful and accepting of the union contract.
But we really do need to change our political system.
We need to get the money out.
Other than that, I just don't see real governmental solutions to these issues.