Amazon Teamsters marched on the boss in New York the day before Thanksgiving after a corporate union buster hired by the trillion-dollar company verbally assaulted and repeatedly used a homophobic slur against an Amazon driver as he arrived for work.
Observed by multiple witnesses, including Amazon management, union buster Juan Carlos Cervantes of Government Resources Consultants of America attacked the Amazon employee during the morning of Nov. 26, at the company’s DBK4 facility in Queens. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters are filing unfair labor practice (ULP) charges against Amazon over the assault, as well as formal complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
During the incident, Cervantes verbally threatened the Amazon delivery driver with physical violence at work before loudly calling the Teamster a homophobic slur multiple times as he prepared for work. The driver was able to begin making deliveries as work got underway on Tuesday but was notified by Amazon management later in the day that the e-commerce giant was suspending him pending an investigation into the attack.
“Amazon hired this union buster to come harass me at work and call me a homophobic slur,” said Emmanuel T., the assaulted Amazon driver. “Amazon is creating an unsafe workplace for me and my co-workers, especially my fellow Teamsters who identify as LGBTQ. We don’t need harassment and homophobia. What we need is for Amazon to follow the law and negotiate a Teamsters Union contract that provides the pay and safety we deserve.”
Amazon drivers at DBK4 overwhelmingly organized with the Teamsters on Sept. 16. In the months since, Amazon has refused to recognize the union, leading to the filing of numerous ULP charges against the company for worker retaliation, union-busting, and blatant labor law violations. Amazon is legally obligated to bargain a first contract with the Teamsters drivers under federal law, though Amazon continues to break the law.
Following the worker’s suspension, Amazon drivers marched on the boss at DBK4 earlier today to demand his reinstatement and for the immediate removal of Cervantes and other union busters that Amazon has brought into the facility. As of Wednesday afternoon, Amazon told the Teamsters Union the worker remains suspended but would not respond about the union buster.
“I came in on my day off to stand with my co-worker, Emmanuel, and tell Amazon that this is unacceptable,” said Latrice Shadae Johnson, an Amazon Teamster and driver at DBK4. “I have a lot of family and friends in the LGBTQ community. It hurts to know that Amazon is paying this union buster way more than they pay us. We are not backing down in our fight for Amazon to recognize us as Teamsters.”
Between 2022-2023 alone, Amazon spent more than $17.2 million hiring corporate union busters to swarm its delivery stations, warehouses, and fulfillment centers to try to intimidate or threaten workers from joining the Teamsters. Cervantes was paid $75,000 during a previous anti-union campaign, according to union-busting watchdog group LaborLab.
Despite the abuse or explicit attacks such predators wage against working people, thousands of Amazon workers nationwide continue to join the movement to unionize. Amazon workers at five facilities nationwide have all united to join the Teamsters in recent months, including workers at Amazon’s DGT8 facility in Atlanta earlier this week. Since September, warehouse workers in San Francisco and Amazon drivers in New York and Southern California have all organized and demanded Amazon recognize the Teamsters.
Meanwhile, workers at the company’s largest air hubs in Kentucky and California have walked off the job in protest of the company’s unfair labor practices. In June, Amazon Labor Union members at JFK8 in Staten Island voted to affiliate with the Teamsters by a near unanimous 98.3 percent in favor.
As momentum builds, workers across Amazon’s national network of 280,000 drivers continue to become Teamsters and demand their worth from the one of the world’s largest, greediest employers.
This report originally appeared on the International Brotherhood of Teamsters’ website.
