Amazon to Pay Gig Workers $61.7 Million for Stealing Tips; RWDSU Responds to Bezos Transition Announcement

Amazon has agreed to pay $61.7 million to settle allegations that it stole its Amazon Flex drivers tips over a two-and-a-half year period, the Federal Trade Commission said on Tuesday.

"Today, the FTC is sanctioning Amazon.com for expanding its business empire by cheating its workers," FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra wrote in a statement. "Amazon stole nearly one-third of drivers’ tips to pad its own bottom line." Read more here.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos this week announced that he will transition to Executive Chair in the fall, prompting this response from Stuart Appelbaum, President of the RWDSU, which is conducting a unionization drive for the workers at the Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama:

“Jeff Bezos' business model for Amazon was feasting on public subsidies, paying little or no taxes and dehumanizing and mistreating his employees. The appropriate legacy for him should be workers coming together in Bessemer, Alabama and organizing a union and creating change in Amazon's model of employee relations. Bezos's model for treating workers must not become the model for the future of work.”

Meanwhile, in Alabama, Amazon’s anti-union blitz is stalking warehouse workers everywhere, even the bathroom, and the company is still seeking to block workers from voting by mail in a pandemic. Follow @ABamazonUnion for updates!