![]() Investigations by BuzzFeed News and ProPublica last year found that Amazon contractors have been involved in dozens of serious crashes, including at least 10 that were fatal. The use of contractors also creates a layer of legal separation that helps Amazon deny liability when things go amiss. Those contractors, recognizable by their ubiquitous cargo vans that roam the streets of almost every community in the country, delivered more than half of the record number of packages Amazon shipped to customers this past holiday season. ![]() To achieve its promise of next-day delivery, Amazon relies on a homegrown network of independent companies that hire their own drivers, rather than employ its own workforce directly. “There are no jobs for these drivers to transition to,” said the owner of one Amazon delivery firm that has not lost its contract and who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal. That’s a particular issue at this time of year, when the holiday rush is over and many delivery contractors say they are not hiring. We care a lot about the communities where we operate and work hard to ensure there is zero or very little net job loss in these communities.”Īlthough Amazon offers laid-off drivers the chance to apply for new jobs with its other delivery contractors, the company’s director of transportation compliance, Carey Richardson, recently acknowledged under oath that it’s rare for more than 60% of those individuals to end up at one of those firms. “When that happens we have a responsibility to terminate those relationships and work to find new partners. “Sometimes the companies we contract with to deliver packages do not meet our bar for safety, performance or working conditions,” Amazon said in a statement. All three of those firms had been involved in accidents resulting in fatalities that were previously reported in investigations by the news organizations. That comes in addition to the layoffs of more than 2,000 drivers from three other terminated delivery firms reported by BuzzFeed News and ProPublica in October. In turn, those contractors told state workforce regulators that they would be forced to lay off at least 3,242 employees, records show. In the past several months, the online retailer has informed at least eight delivery firms that it would be severing contracts with them. ![]() More than 3,200 drivers who deliver Amazon packages to homes and businesses across the country each day will be laid off by the end of April as the e-commerce giant continues a significant shift from large delivery contractors to smaller ones that are cheaper and easier to control.
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