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Amazon in a filing made with the National Labor Relations Board
(NLRB) on Thursday said it plans to argue that the agency's
unique structure violates the company's right to a jury trial.
The company also said that limits on the removal of
administrative judges and the board's five members, who are
appointed by the president, are unconstitutional.
The filing came in a pending case accusing Amazon of illegally
retaliating against workers at a warehouse in the New York City
borough of Staten Island, where employees voted to unionize in
2022. Amazon, which has faced more than 250 NLRB complaints
alleging unlawful labor practices across the country in recent
years, has denied wrongdoing.
SpaceX is making similar claims against the board in a lawsuit
filed last month, one day after the labor board accused the
company of firing eight engineers for criticizing CEO Elon Musk
in a letter to company executives.
Trader Joe's raised the arguments later in January at a hearing
in an NLRB case, and two Starbucks baristas seeking to dissolve
their unions have challenged the board's structure in separate
lawsuits.
An NLRB spokeswoman declined to comment.
The board's general counsel issues complaints against employers
alleging violations of federal labor law. Those cases are heard
first by administrative judges and then the five-member board,
whose decisions can be appealed in federal court.
The growing number of challenges to the labor board make it more
likely the issue will reach the U.S. Supreme Court, whose
conservative majority has signaled its skepticism of other U.S.
agencies’ in-house proceedings, said Seth Goldstein, a lawyer
who represents unions in the Amazon and Trader Joe’s cases.
Goldstein said the pending cases also could embolden other
employers to refuse to bargain with unions on the belief that
courts will strip the NLRB of its enforcement powers.
“I’m very concerned that this is going to cause real problems in
collective bargaining for both new and established unions," said
Goldstein, a partner at law firm Julien Mirer Singla and
Goldstein in New York.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; editing by
Jonathan Oatis)
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