Amazon Transportation Operations Management (TOM) drivers at Amazon’s OIL9 site in Merrillville, Indiana, have joined Teamsters Local 142 and are seeking recognition and a first contract, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said. Pay and workplace safety are among the issues the union says workers want addressed.
The union said drivers staged an action at the site to press management for recognition and bargaining. Its Oct. 23 announcement said the march took place that morning, while The Times of Northwest Indiana reported a rally on Oct. 22. The reports give different dates for the public action. The Teamsters said the Indiana workers were the first Amazon TOM unit in the state to join its ranks.
TOM drivers hold commercial driver’s licenses and transport loads between Amazon sites before the final delivery leg, according to the Teamsters. The union says Amazon directly employs these drivers, while last-mile delivery workers operate through the company’s Delivery Service Partner model.
The Times reported the OIL9 unit has 21 employees, citing Local 142 Recording Secretary Matt Tchoukaleff, who said a majority had signed union authorization cards. The newspaper also reported that Local 142 had asked Amazon for voluntary recognition and planned to seek an election through the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) if Amazon declined. Amazon had not responded to the newspaper’s request for comment as of the article’s Oct. 22 publication.
Charles Hurd, an OIL9 TOM Team driver and new Local 142 member, said he saw Amazon’s expectations as high and his pay as barely enough to live on. “We want the recognition we deserve,” he said.
The union previously announced that Amazon TOM groups at SDF9 in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, joined in November 2025, and at MCI9 in Liberty, Missouri, in June 2026. The Teamsters said OIL9 workers are seeking better pay and safer practices but did not detail proposed wage rates or contract terms.
