Members of the Teamsters union may picket outside Amazon’s national air cargo hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) without interference from local officials, a federal judge has ruled.
The Teamsters have ramped up efforts to organize Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) warehouse workers and drivers ever since securing a major contract win at UPS last summer. The union has spent the past three months trying to win the support of workers at Amazon’s primary air hub as their representative in collective bargaining. Last month it conducted a protest march outside Amazon’s regional air hub in San Bernardino, California, that included some warehouse and ramp workers who the union claimed walked off the job to participate.
Judge Danny Reeves of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky issued a preliminary injunction last week against the Kenton County Airport Board’s denial of a protest request, saying it likely violated Teamsters Local 89’s free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution.
The airport authority said it had turned down the union’s application for permission to demonstrate against Amazon because the public road outside the air hub isn’t approved for expressive activity and that its rules permit a maximum of 10 individuals in any designated area at a given time, according to court documents. CVG airport has several designated protest areas, including two new ones closer to the cargo area, but they aren’t near the Amazon facility.
About 75 Teamsters and Amazon workers marched with signs outside the Amazon entrance on July 24, despite the denial of the union’s application.
The District Court said higher courts have previously determined that public streets are constitutionally protected areas for groups to express their opinions and that there were no safety reasons that justified forcing demonstrators to use the designated protest areas.
“Designated areas for expressive activity are available in the cargo delivery area at some distance from Amazon’s entrance, but the defendants concede that the plaintiff’s intended audience would be reduced by utilizing these sites. Further, there is no question that limiting the number of picketers to ten reduces the impact of the plaintiff’s message,” the judge wrote.
The Teamsters have filed unfair labor charges with the National Labor Relations Board alleging that Amazon has resisted unionization efforts. Amazon has steadfastly fought all efforts to unionize its workforce around the country.
“This is a significant victory for Amazon workers in Northern Kentucky and around the country who are sick of being silenced by this trillion-dollar corporation. Amazon workers everywhere are coming together to become Teamsters and win the rights and protections they deserve,” said Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien in a news release. “You can be sure the Teamsters will carry this precedent to other communities around the country where Amazon is exploiting loopholes and breaking laws to take advantage of workers and inflate its bottom line. Our union of 1.3 million hardworking members applaud the court for doing the right thing in this case.”
CVG is a critical part of Amazon’s ability to provide one-and-two day delivery for Amazon Prime members.
After initially borrowing space from DHL Express, Amazon opened its own $1.5 billion facility at CVG three years ago. Flights at CVG increased from 57.5 to 63.3 per day in the past 12 months, not including flights by unmarked partner carriers, according to a March report from researchers at DePaul University.
The Teamsters conducted a one-day “strike” outside Amazon’s Western Region air hub at San Bernardino International Airport on July 22 to complain about alleged retaliation against workers for attempting to unionize and the need for better pay and work conditions.
Under federal labor law, workers don’t need to belong to a recognized labor union to strike.
The Amazon Labor Union, a grassroots organization that won a 2022 vote to unionize 5,500 workers at a giant Amazon facility in Staten Island, agreed in June to affiliate with the Teamsters.
About 1,100 DHL Express workers at CVG agreed to a contract early this year after joining the Teamsters union in 2023 and going on strike for 12 days in December.
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