On April 1, 2022, the Amazon Labor Union made history when it won — by a landslide — a union representation election at Amazon’s JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island, New York. JFK8 became the first unionized Amazon facility in the U.S. After the vote, in an attempt to overturn the election, Amazon ma

On June 5, the Teamsters union made this groundbreaking announcement: “In a milestone for organized labor, the Amazon Labor Union has formally affiliated with the 1.3 million-member International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The affiliation supplies renewed representation and stronger resources for Amazon workers — behind the wheel and inside warehouses — as they organize and demand a contract from the global behemoth.” (teamster.org)

The Teamsters board voted unanimously to approve the affiliation, which ALU members will vote on in the coming weeks. The newly chartered ALU-International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Local 1, which will represent the 8,000 workers at JFK8, will have jurisdiction over all Amazon facilities in the five boroughs of New York City and “will have access to the financial and organizational resources of the Teamsters International Union, the Teamsters Amazon Division and Teamsters Joint Council 16 in New York.”

ALU President Chris Smalls said: “Our message is clear. We want a contract and we want it now. We are putting Amazon on notice that we are coming. It is time to bargain.”