Amazon joins companies arguing US labor board is unconstitutional

Amazon has joined rocket maker SpaceX and supermarket chain Trader Joe's in claiming that a U.S. labor agency's internal enforcement procedures violate the U.S. Constitution, as the retail giant faces dozens of cases alleging it interfered with workers' rights to organize.

Amazon in a filing filed 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 claimed that limits on the removal of administrative judges and the five board members, who are appointed by the president, are unconstitutional.

The filing came in a pending case accusing Amazon of unlawfully retaliating against workers at a warehouse in the Staten Island borough of New York City, where employees voted to unionize in 2022. Amazon, which has faced more than 250 NLRB complaints alleging illegal labor practices nationwide in recent years, has denied any wrongdoing.

SpaceX is making similar claims against the board of directors in a lawsuit filed last montha 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 structure. in separate trials.

An NLRB spokeswoman declined to comment.

The board's general counsel files complaints against employers alleging violations of federal labor law. Those cases are heard first by administrative judges and then by the five-member board, whose decisions can be appealed in federal court.

The growing number of challenges to the labor board makes it more likely that the matter will reach the U.S. Supreme Court, whose conservative majority has expressed skepticism about the internal procedures of other U.S. agencies, said Seth Goldstein, a lawyer representing unions in the cases of Amazon and Trader Joe.

Goldstein said the pending cases could also encourage other employers to refuse to negotiate with unions in the belief that the courts will strip the NLRB of its law enforcement powers.

“I'm very concerned that this is going to cause real problems in collective bargaining, both for new and established unions,” said Goldstein, a partner at the law firm Julien Mirer Singla and Goldstein in New York.