Posts tagged Amazon
‘Delivery Protection Act’ Pits NYC Mayor Mamdani And The Teamsters Against Amazon
August 17, 2026 // Opposition comes from a broad-based business coalition—Amazon, FedEx, logistics and trucking firms, all five borough chambers of commerce, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, Tech: NYC, the Supply Chain Federation, the Trucking Association of New York, the Five Borough Jobs Campaign and others. A study commissioned by the Five Borough Jobs Campaign estimated passage would increase annual delivery costs to New York households by $664 and threaten more than 10,000 city workers. With the bill pending a City Council vote, supporters have intensified their efforts to push the vote forward after Mayor Mamdani threw his support behind it—calling Amazon’s contractor-based delivery model exploitative and a danger to NYC workers, drivers and pedestrians.
Federal Court Permanently Enjoins New York State’s Effort to Replace the NLRB
August 5, 2026 // The Court also noted that the NLRB regained a quorum less than one month after the preliminary injunction was issued, thus restoring the Board’s ability to function and undermining the defendant’s argument that the inoperability of the NLRB required expanded state jurisdiction. Accordingly, the Court granted summary judgment in Amazon’s favor, declared the SERA Amendment unconstitutional, and permanently enjoined its enforcement. The Court then dismissed the remaining claims as unnecessary in light of that relief. Shortly thereafter, the NLRB and New York State stipulated to the dismissal of their parallel litigation in the Northern District.
Don’t Panic: A Skeptic’s Guide to the AI Jobs Doomsday
July 16, 2026 // Overall, US unemployment was 5.9 percent in mid-1979 and 5.3 percent by mid-1989.[25] During this same period the working-age population swelled by 21.5 million, or about 13 percent.[26] So, while some manufacturing jobs were lost, overall unemployment actually declined slightly over that period despite an increase in job seekers. New jobs in new fields were created by automation. Somebody had to operate the machines, build and maintain them, and transport them to foreign countries. This is the nature of automation: It focuses on eliminating the more tedious tasks, freeing up time, labor, and resources for other pursuits.
Sean O’Brien Re-elected Teamsters President
June 19, 2026 // O’Brien has also leaned on a weekly podcast, "Better Bad Ideas," to speak directly to members and shape the union’s message, according to Apple Podcasts. Episodes this year have mixed labor organizing talk with guests from across the political spectrum, giving the union chief an unfiltered venue to push priorities such as the Faster Labor Contracts Act and to outline strategy ahead of major contract battles.
Republican Sen. Josh Hawley rips AI “cheerleaders,” backs Teamsters union agenda
June 18, 2026 // Hawley told the Teamsters that "mega corporations" have "lost their moral compass" and that he supports the labor movement because unionized workers deserve fair wages and "decent working conditions," according to a copy of his speech obtained by Axios. Hawley: Argued that the Faster Labor Contracts Act is needed to "speed up first contracts for new unions" and said his Christian faith backs up his belief in unions. Endorsed the Teamsters' position that Congress should pass legislation barring self-driving trucks from replacing commercial drivers. Ripped Amazon as "the biggest monopolist in the country," saying it's treating workers as "indentured servants." Slammed "AI cheerleaders" as corporate goons who "want to replace every job they can with an algorithm" and said "we need to give workers rights over AI in the workplace."
QVC’s on-air hosts aim to unionize as bankruptcy case continues
June 17, 2026 // On Tuesday, SAG-AFTRA — which represents 160,000 media professionals nationwide — filed an election petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on the QVC hosts’ behalf, according to the federal agency’s website. If the employer does not voluntarily recognize the union, the petition can trigger an NLRB election and lead to a union’s formal certification. The hosts are taking steps to unionize as company higher-ups try to expedite the bankruptcy process, with the hope of emerging this summer.
Whole Foods unionization upheld by U.S. Labor Board
June 16, 2026 // n a brief, unanimous order Monday, the members of the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Whole Foods had raised “no substantial issues warranting review.” The order was issued by a pair of Republican board members appointed by President Donald Trump, as well as a Democrat appointed by his predecessor Joe Biden. Employees at the Philadelphia location voted 130 to 100 in January 2025 to unionize with the United Food & Commercial Workers union.
OPINION NLRB’s Pro Labor Bent OK with Sexist, Racist, Abusive Behavior
June 2, 2026 // Imagine if my co-worker called me a "gutter b****," "crack-head a**," and a "crack hoe." How about a male colleague calling me a "whore" and exposing his privates to me? Or let’s say a co- worker on strike yelled to me and others, "Go back to Africa, you bunch of f****** losers," and "f****** n***** scabs"? Should any of this behavior be tolerated by our employer? All of these are real, recent occurrences against women and Blacks at the hands of their union organizing colleagues, as the Institute for the American Worker catalogued.
JD Vance Courts Sean O’Brien and the Teamsters
June 1, 2026 // Mr. O’Brien is desperate for a win in Washington to sell to his 1.3 million members as he runs for re-election. Some Republicans in Congress seem eager to give him one—maybe two—as they seek to burnish their bona fides as defenders of the working class. These Republicans are doing more to help Democrats—the primary beneficiaries of Teamster campaign donations—than workers. The Teamsters’ membership has shrunk by nearly half since the 1970s amid a broader decline in organized labor. Technology has improved productivity. At the same time, jobs have migrated to states with right-to-work laws, which prohibit unions and employers from making union membership a condition of employment. The Teamsters have also lost rank-and-file support. Between 2016 and 2025, members filed 373 petitions to decertify the Teamsters, according to Reason magazine. Some 60% of the decertification elections succeeded. You can’t blame union members for wearying of paying dues that bankroll Democratic candidates and lavish lifestyles of union leaders. In the 2023-24 election cycle, 92% of Teamsters PAC donations to federal candidates went to Democrats, as did 91% of the union’s contributions to party committees.
Former Amazon Union Leader Who Was Arrested at Met Gala Has No Regrets
May 11, 2026 // Smalls has become a known figure in the labor movement and the subject of an acclaimed documentary, “Union.” His arrest on Monday, however, resulted in a more complicated reaction from the group he once led — the Amazon Labor Union, which is affiliated with the Teamsters. Local union officials effectively disavowed his actions, saying they “were not coordinated with the rank-and-file worker leaders and movement partners currently building a national campaign to take on Amazon.”