Hours after reaching a tentative deal to boost pay and benefits for hundreds of thousands of United Parcel Service Inc. workers, the brash head of the largest private-sector US union is turning attention to Amazon.com Inc.
Sean O’Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, told Bloomberg TV Wednesday that the internet retail giant is now a “target” as labor leaders attempt to organize warehouse workers. The union plans to use the momentum from its win in the UPS talks, which headed off a potential strike with a deal the Teamsters estimate will add $30 billion of new money for workers over a five—year span.
The UPS contract is “a template to show the Amazon workers what they will receive when they join the team,” O’Brien said. “We put some more energy into the labor movement, but also we got the largest deal done without having to strike.”
--With assistance from Tom Keene and Lisa Abramowicz.
