You're watching Amazon delivery drivers hit the picket line in what the Teamsters are calling the largest strike against Amazon in U.S. History. Now, workers in California, Georgia, New York and Illinois are all going on strike. But Amazon does not recognize those drivers as their own employees, [00:00:18] even though they wear Amazon vests and drive Amazon cars. And it's all part of a massive dispute between Amazon and the Teamsters that goes back several years. In fact, we've covered this back and forth several times on the show. We wanted to stay on the story, and now it has gotten to a point [00:00:36] where obviously the strike is happening. So let's go through it one more time before we get to more details on the strike itself. Amazon delivery drivers technically work for contracting firms that are hired by Amazon. [00:00:52] In fact, my husband worked as a as an Amazon delivery driver for a little while. And that was the case, right? There was a third party, a third company, a delivery company that was contracted by Amazon, but he had the Amazon uniform and all of that going on. And basically his real boss was Amazon. Okay. [00:01:10] They were the ones who had the rules, the guidance and all of that implemented within this company. And so, for example, Jonathan Irvin, the owner of a, battle test, the owner of Battle Tested Strategies, [00:01:27] one of the contracting firms, stated that due to his contract with Amazon, he he could only pay his workers $19.75 per hour. And when he let his drivers leave their shifts without completing their full delivery routes due to like a health concern, an emergency, Amazon threatened [00:01:46] to pull their contract with BTS. Okay. Battle tested strategies so the workers at BTS unionized with the Teamsters and BTS acknowledged their union. But in response, Amazon stated that it had already terminated its contract with BTS, [00:02:03] which Irvin totally denied. So this back and forth has played out for at a few different Amazon facilities now, and the government is on the side of the workers. So the National Labor Relations Board has said that Amazon must recognize [00:02:20] the workers as employees because Amazon is a joint employer of those employees. But Amazon still maintains that the workers are not their employees. And that brings us to the strike. Here's what the Teamsters had to say in a statement. The nationwide action follows Amazon's repeated refusal to follow the law [00:02:41] and bargain with the thousands of Amazon workers who organized with the Teamsters. The union's general president, Sean O'Brien, was fiery as usual, saying the following if your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon's insatiable greed. [00:02:58] We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it. These greedy executives had every chance to show decency and respect for the people who make their obscene profits possible. Instead, they've pushed workers to the limit and now they're paying the price. [00:03:18] The strike is on them. So just how big are these profits that Sean O'Brien is talking about? Well, it's quite a bit. Amazon reported a net income of $39.2 billion in the first nine months of this year, more than double for the same period of 2023, [00:03:37] with revenue of $450.2 billion so far this year, making it the world's second largest private company, behind only Walmart in terms of revenue. So look, this strike is obviously timed strategically [00:03:55] with Christmas rapidly approaching. And that's the way you do it. You use the leverage you have to get what you want. And in this case they want recognition from Amazon something that Amazon has denied them. Well there goes the Teamsters again kicking some ass. [00:04:10] Yep. So, look, people got mad at Sean O'Brien for giving a speech at the RNC. It was the most popular speech I've ever heard in my life. At a at any convention, Republican or Democratic. And then he helped to get, a great labor secretary in under Trump. [00:04:27] How the hell did that happen? That's amazing. She's very pro-labor, and now they're doing these well-timed strikes against Amazon and really holding, trying to hold them accountable. So I remember when people got mad at him, oh, he's not a good Democrat. [00:04:44] But he never said he was a Democrat like that. Who cares what the label is, right? What are you doing? What are you doing? And he's delivering for the average worker. So I love that. So so now in this regard, I want you guys to understand this, this distinction because it's really important. So Biden's National Labor Relations Board said that under this circumstance, [00:05:04] these are actually Amazon employees, even though technically they're not. Why? So I'll give you an example from here. So if I hire a guy to do the lights in the studio and it's a one time thing and he comes from a third party, that's a contractor, okay? It's normal. It happens all the time. [00:05:19] I'm not responsible for his work conditions. He only came here in one day to the lights, right? Exactly. I don't set any of the rules and guidelines of his work, etc. But if I contracted out with a third party for the entire stage crew here, and every day they come in the same way. Every day they come here, they work at tight and I set the rules and [00:05:37] guidelines, but technically a third party is contracting them out. That's not right. Right. No, they're in essence, your employees, and you're trying to hide it in a technicality. Exactly. And that's why the by the way, that's not the case here. We have ayatsi, that, represents the stage crew, etc.. [00:05:54] So now, what we're worried about is that when Trump gets in, he's going to have a different National Labor Relations Board, especially because, again, here we go. The Democrats, there was a person who was going to get appointed by Biden that got blocked. [00:06:11] Now that Trump's going to get to put someone else in, that's going to be anti-labor. Probably unless Sean O'Brien is like a magician and he gets a pro-labor NLRB person appointed by by Trump. And so now we're worried that they're going to turn around. And that's why Bezos is probably going to meet with. [00:06:27] That's a great point. That is a great point. Yes. And so we show that to you earlier in the show. And he said wining and dining Trump. And so he wants somebody on the National Labor Relations Board that goes no, no they're not Amazon employees. Amazon doesn't have any responsibility for them. [00:06:42] So that's that's why this is such an important issue. Because remember if Amazon gets away with it everybody can get away with it. So then all of a sudden everybody's doing third party contractors and others do it as well. And they go, okay, you're actually our employees, but we're going to pretend you're not so that you can't strike against us [00:06:59] and you can't have collective power to have better wages, health care, etc.. Well, they're most striking against you during the holidays. Enjoy. Thanks for watching The Young Turks really appreciate it. Another way to show support is through YouTube memberships. You'll get to interact with us more. There's live chat emojis, badges. [00:07:17] You've got emojis of me Anna John Jr. So those are super fun. But you also get playback of our exclusive member only shows and specials right after they air. So all of that, all you got to do is click that join button right underneath the video. [00:07:33] Thank you.