Amazon Lies? No!!!!

I for one am amazed that Amazon would openly lie to senators about their labor practices:

Amazon has been caught lying to lawmakers yet again about its labor practices, according to a bipartisan Senate letter.

Led by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), the group of 31 Democrats and three Republicans sent a letter reprimanding Amazon CEO Andy Jassy for submitting what they describe as misleading and “self-contradictory” information regarding the company’s third-party contractors, known as Delivery Service Partners (DSPs), that conduct “last-mile” transporting of packages.

“Andy Jassy and Jeff Bezos think they can lie to the American people and break the law without consequences,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien in support of the letter.

Amazon’s joint-employer arrangement with DSPs has come under fire for forcing lower pay and poorer working conditions onto a major segment of Amazon’s affiliated workforce, without the company being directly accountable under law. It’s also been used as a union-busting tactic, since drivers can only unionize their third-party employer, not Amazon, which gives the tech giant immense leverage. For example, when a group of Amazon DSP drivers at Battle-Tested Strategies in Palmdale, California, unionized with the Teamsters last year, Amazon simply terminated their DSP contract, which may potentially be unlawful. The National Labor Relations Board hasn’t acted yet on an unfair labor practice petition submitted by the Teamsters.

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As the senators’ letter points out, investigations by the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division into DSPs suggest a clear joint-employer relationship. One example is that Amazon enforces worker surveillance practices, such as placing AI-powered surveillance cameras in the vans and making drivers agree to biometric consent forms. At Amazon’s directive, drivers are kept as at-will employees and can face job loss at any time. Flat delivery rates are another stipulation forced upon Amazon’s DSP contractors, which leads to lower wages for workers.

The senators asked for further clarification about the exact contract specifications with Amazon’s DSPs dictating hiring practices and on-site conditions.

Amazon also claimed that its DSPs are not required to sign no-poach agreements, despite both managers and workers saying they have been forced to. No-poach agreements are restrictive covenants where competing employers in a given labor market agree not to hire one another’s employees, locking them into their jobs even if they could find better pay with their relevant job skills somewhere else.

Based on Amazon’s answers, the company may be skirting safety and reporting data required by the Department of Transportation for its vehicles. For oversight purposes, DOT requires trucks to carry a licensing number, but Amazon claims its delivery vans have both their own DSP number and a separate Amazon number. The senators raise concerns that this may lead to confusion or even “provide opportunities to distort or otherwise mask safety data.” They request further answers clarifying which safety and other data is being submitted to which DOT licensing number.

The 3 Republicans who signed the letter are Vance, Hawley, and Roger Marshall. I have no idea about Marshall’s interest in this. I am curious as to what Vance and Hawley are doing. Bezos is basically as far right as they are now–probably won’t see this coverage in the WaPo! I do know that the Teamsters have donated to Hawley at least. Given that those guys like to talk big about “labor” while hating actual unions and that their supposed tech enemies now all have the same politics they do….well, I dunno.