Labor union Teamsters to vote towards unionizing Amazon workers

REUTERS: The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a labour union in the US and Canada, said on Tuesday it is set to vote for a resolution to unionise workers at Amazon.com Inc by creating an Amazon-specific division to aid workers.

At its 30th international convention, representatives from 500 local unions, representing 1.4 million workers across the United States, will come together to discuss how it can support and help improve livelihoods of Amazon workers, Teamsters said in a statement.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Amazon, one of the largest private employers in America, has for decades discouraged attempts among its over 800,000 US employees to organise, showing managers how to identify union activity, raising wages and warning that union dues would cut into pay.

In April, Amazon Alabama workers voted against forming a union, stemming from factors such as the company's fierce resistance to unionisation, scepticism among workers that organising could get them a better deal and decisions on election parameters, which marks an important loss for US organised labour.