Sanders urges Biden to block 'anti-union' companies like Amazon from federal contracts
The senator from Vermont called Amazon the 'poster child' for why an anti-union busting executive order is needed
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Sen. Bernie Sanders is pressuring President Biden to take action against corporations that engage in union-busting, specifically calling out Amazon while urging him to ban such entities from receiving federal contracts.
In a Tuesday letter to Biden, Sanders asked him to fulfill a campaign promise to cut off union-busting companies or those that break federal labor laws from obtaining federal contracts by signing an executive order.
Most of the two-page letter focused on Amazon, which has engaged in aggressive campaigns to stop its workers from unionizing.
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Amazon JFK8 distribution center union organizer Jason Anthony waves as he speaks to the press about preliminary results regarding the vote to unionize, outside the NLRB offices in Brooklyn, New York. (Reuters / Reuters Photos)
"Mr. President: It is abundantly clear that time and time again Amazon has engaged in illegal anti-union activity," Sanders wrote. "Amazon may be a large and profitable corporation, it may be owned by one of the wealthiest people in America, but it cannot be allowed to continue to violate the law and the rights of its employees."
He called Amazon the "poster child" for his anti-union busting executive order. Fox News has reached out to the tech giant.
Amazon recently spent millions to fend off a union drive at one of its New York City facilities, where workers voted to form the company's first union. In Alabama, workers at an Amazon facility voted against forming one.
Amazon labor organizers and supporters celebrate outside the National Labor Relations Board offices in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (Photographer: Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
In his letter, Sanders said Amazon has more than 50 unfair labor practice cases against it. He said current and former employees have alleged harassment and discrimination based on race, gender and sexual orientation and that delivery drivers are often classified as independent contractors instead of employees as part of a company effort to avoid paying taxes, fair wages and benefits, he said.
Jeff Bezos, the founder of the company and one of the world's richest men, has come under pressure from lawmakers and labor rights supporters over Amazon's practices.
"Since 2004, Amazon has received thousands of federal contracts worth billions of dollars," Sanders wrote. "The Washington Post, also owned by Mr. Bezos, reported that Amazon is in line to receive a cloud contract from the National Security Agency worth up to $10 billion – a contract that it should not receive as long as it continues to violate labor laws. Another Bezos-owned company, Blue Origin, may also receive a contract from NASA worth up to $10 billion to fly a spaceship to the moon after more than 20 current and former employees alleged that this company repeatedly discriminated against workers and did not adhere to safety protocols."
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks at a rally outside an Amazon facility on Staten Island in New York. Sanders is pressuring President Biden to cut off anti-union companies from federal contracts. (AP / AP Newsroom)
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"Mr. President: Taxpayer dollars should not go to companies like Amazon and multi-billionaires like Jeff Bezos who repeatedly break the law," he added.
Sanders in a recent memo did not rule out running against Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2024.