Teamsters Ask Labor Board to Halt Firing of Amazon Delivery Firm

May 5, 2023, 2:58 PM UTC

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has asked the federal labor board to seek a court order to stop the firing of an Amazon.com Inc. delivery firm that recently formed a union.

The Teamsters allege Amazon threatened workers’ jobs and refused to bargain with 84 drivers who unionized last month in Palmdale, Calif. The drivers work for Battle-Tested Strategies, a third-party company that delivered exclusively for Amazon and had its contract canceled days before the delivery company’s owner announced he would recognize the union.

The Teamsters are asking the National Labor Relations Board to seek a court injunction and temporary restraining order preventing Amazon from terminating the company’s contract while the board investigates the matter.

The owner of the company, Johnathon Ervin, has said he faced retaliation for the organizing effort, pointing to favorable performance reviews and commendations from the e-commerce giant. In an interview, he said he voluntarily recognized the union because Amazon wouldn’t fix broken delivery trucks.

Amazon has denied wrongdoing, saying Ervin was underperforming, that it was his responsibility to repair the trucks, and that he had recently faced a series of demerits for violating his contract.


To contact the reporter on this story: Ian Kullgren in Washington at ikullgren@bloombergindustry.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Genevieve Douglas at gdouglas@bloomberglaw.com; Martha Mueller Neff at mmuellerneff@bloomberglaw.com

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