New York, NY — A bipartisan coalition of over 30 Senators, along with the Teamsters, are taking aim at Amazon’s treatment of workers within its Delivery Service Partner (DSP) program.
The DSP workers are those who drive Amazon vans to deliver packages, and wear Amazon vests, yet Amazon executives deny that they are Amazon employees.
According to one worker, DSP Driver Jessie Moreno, who along with co-workers has organized with Teamsters Local 396, Amazon claims “it doesn’t control its drivers, but we all know that’s not true.” He criticized Amazon’s lack of responsibility for their safety, and indifference to the workers’ well-being.”
In June, the bipartisan coalition of Senators demanded, along with the Teamsters, in a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, that Amazon cooperate with a congressional inquiry asking for information on the DSP program, which the Teamsters call “exploitative.”
They also said that Amazon must divulge whether its mistreatment and micromanagement of the workers is in fact compliant with federal labor law.
Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien made no bones about who within Amazon is responsible, and went right to the top when he said, “Andy Jassy and Jeff Bezos think they can lie to the American people and break the law without consequences.” He cited the billions of dollars the company brings in, without recognizing any responsibility.
Jassy responded to the letter sent by the Senate with one of his own, one that was“full of lies,” according to Moreno, and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said the missive, “included multiple self-contradictory statements, general assertions without factual support instead of the information requested” as well as “claims at odds with publicly available data and highly credible investigative journalism.”
Meanwhile in May, an NLRB judge ruled that Jassy broke federal labor laws by making anti-union threats.
