Teamsters claim another Amazon win in Indiana; Amazon says not so fast

The Teamsters say they've unionized Transportation Operations Management drivers at Amazon's OIL9 facility in Merrillville, Indiana — and Amazon says no such thing happened. That's the whole story in two sentences, and it's a familiar standoff.

In a prepared statement, the Teamsters said the TOM drivers had "marched on the boss" to demand Amazon recognize their union and bargain a contract. The union said it previously organized TOM workers at Amazon's SDF9 facility in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, and MCI9 in Liberty, Missouri. TOM drivers move trucks within the boundaries of an Amazon facility and are W-2 employees of Amazon itself — unlike DSP drivers, who deliver packages to homes and are employed by third-party delivery service providers.

Amazon's response to FreightWaves was blunt. The company called the latest declaration part of a "false narrative" and said the Teamsters "continue to intentionally mislead the public, claiming to be the bargaining representative of Amazon employees and drivers who deliver on our behalf." The statement ended with a flat denial: "the Teamsters are not a certified bargaining representative at a single Amazon facility." The Teamsters did not respond to FreightWaves' emails about the announcement.

What route did the union take?

No NLRB-administered election appears on the board's webpage of unionization votes for the Indiana site. That points to card check — if a majority of workers present signed authorization cards, the union can demand recognition from the employer.

Card check has had NLRB backing since August 2023, when the board handed down the Cemex precedent in a case involving Cemex Construction Materials Pacific. Administrative Law Judge Michael Silverstein, in an earlier Teamsters-Amazon case, said Cemex "created a new pathway for labor organizations to obtain recognition without filing a representation petition." In practice, Amazon and its DSPs — reportedly under strict Amazon guidance — usually ignore card check petitions.

Is the legal footing solid?

Barely. The Cemex precedent has taken two hits this year. In August, NLRB General Counsel Crystal Stowe Carey sent a memorandum to colleagues asking the board to "revisit certain precedents," including Cemex. In March, a divided Sixth Circuit appellate panel ruled in a Teamsters case against liquor distiller Brown Forman that the NLRB had exceeded its authority — the first federal court to reject the Cemex rule.

None of that caution appeared in the Teamsters' statement. "Amazon Teamsters are proud to expand our national footprint and welcome OIL9 TOM Team drivers to our movement," said Randy Korgan, director of the Teamsters Amazon division. "It is never easy being the first group of workers in a state to join a union, but they are displaying the courage and strength it takes to be a Teamster."

Driver Charles Hurd was quoted as saying the company "wasn't going to listen to us as individuals, so the only option was to join together as Teamsters. We look forward to winning our first union contract."

What does this change for shippers?

For now, very little operationally. Amazon has never signed a collective bargaining contract with any union, and the Staten Island workers who won a genuine NLRB vote years ago are still fighting for one in federal court. Until a contract exists, Amazon's freight machine keeps running as-is.

Meanwhile, the Teamsters' conventional election record over the past two months shows real momentum elsewhere: four wins in five votes — at Shelby Transport in Indianapolis, DP World Contract Logistics in Detroit, Comprehensive Logistics in Philadelphia, and MV Transportation in Raleigh, North Carolina — with the lone loss at U.S. Foods in Arizona.

For the Merrillville drivers, the practical question isn't recognition. It's whether a legal foundation under active challenge at the board and in the courts can carry them all the way to a signed contract.