Marshall Joins Bipartisan Group of Senators In Pressing Amazon For Answers On Mistreatment Of Delivery Drivers

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. joined Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and 32 of their colleagues in pressing for answers from Amazon on the reports of mistreatment of their delivery drivers.  

This is the second letter that Marshall, Murphy, and the bipartisan group of senators have sent to Amazon CEO, Andy Jassy. The members first letter, sent on January 10, 2024, questioned the company’s Delivery Service Partner (DSP) program after employees reported that Amazon is actively trying to avoid legal liability for the persistent mistreatment of its DSP drivers.

Amazon’s response to the members’ January letter was unhelpful. Amazon evaded the Senators’ questions and appeared to contradict publicly available data and reporting.

This follow-up letter presses Amazon to answer the questions, take responsibility, or present evidence that these claims are not true. 

“Unfortunately, Amazon’s response to our letter follows a familiar pattern of Amazon providing evasive and non-specific answers to questions from Congress and gives little if any new information on the DSP Program. Previous inquiries – much like ours – have been met with Amazon’s refusal to share important information on the company’s operations,” the senators wrote. “As we noted in our initial letter, Amazon is facing allegations of flagrant violations of the National Labor Relations Act. As members of Congress, we have the responsibility to ensure that Amazon is working to address shortcomings in the DSP program and placing the utmost importance on workers’ rights and safety.”

In their letter, the senators demand Amazon to answer specific questions about the relationship between the company and DSPs and called into question Amazon’s claim that drivers are not Amazon employees and the company does not restrict drivers’ ability to choose their employer. They also requested more information about how Amazon tracks and reports its safety data after the company provided insufficient evidence to support its claim that the accident rates for DSPs are lower than the industry average. 

“Your response will inform ongoing discussions between the signatories of this letter, and the oversight staff of the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and will help us determine whether additional oversight is required to receive answers to these serious questions of public concern,” the senators added.

Full text of the letter is available HERE.

Amazon’s response letter is available HERE. 

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