Under pressure from unions, Amazon increases wages for subcontracted delivery drivers

Amazon gives its employees another pay raise Subcontractors for delivery drivers in the USA in the face of growing pressure from unions.

Drivers who Amazon’s delivery service partnersor DSPs, will earn an average of nearly $22 an hour, 7% more than the previous average of $20.50, the company said Thursday.

The Wage increase is part of a new $2.1 billion investment by the Seattle-based online retailer in the delivery program. Amazon does not employ drivers directly, but relies on thousands of Third party companies which deliver millions of customer packages every day.

The company also gave drivers in the US a raise last year, and last week it announced it would raise wages for service workers in the UK by 9.8 percent or more.

Amazon said the DSP program has created 390,000 driver jobs since 2018 and that the $12 billion in total investments since then will help with safety programs and provide incentives for participating companies.

US labor regulators are increasingly scrutinizing Amazon’s business model, which has created a disconnect between the company and the workers who drive its ubiquitous gray-blue delivery trucks.

The Teamsters and other unions argue that Amazon exercises extensive control over the contract workers, including by setting their routes, setting delivery targets and monitoring their performance. They say the company should be legally classified as a joint employer, something Amazon has resisted.

However, labor inspectorates are increasingly turning against the company.

Last week, a prosecutor with the National Labor Relations Board in Atlanta ruled that Amazon should be held jointly liable for allegedly making threats and other unlawful statements to DSP drivers seeking to unionize in the city. Meanwhile, prosecutors with the NLRB in Los Angeles ruled last month that Amazon was a co-employer of subcontracted drivers who delivered packages for the company in California.

If no agreement is reached in those cases, the agency could file a lawsuit against Amazon, which would be heard under the NLRB’s administrative law system. Amazon has the option of appealing a judge’s order to the agency’s board and ultimately to federal court.