Amazon argues that national labor board is unconstitutional, joining SpaceX and Trader Joe’s
Amazon argues in a legal filing that the 88-year-old National Labor Relations Board is unconstitutional, echoing similar arguments made this year by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and supermarket chain Trader Joe’s in disputes over worker and organizational rights.
The Amazon filing, filed Thursday, came in response to a case before an administrative law judge overseeing a complaint from agency prosecutors who allege the company unlawfully retaliated against workers at a New York warehouse City who voted to unionize almost two years ago.
In its filing, Amazon denies many of the allegations and asks for the complaint to be dismissed. The company’s lawyers then go further, arguing that the agency’s structure—particularly its restrictions on the dismissal of administrative judges and five presidentially appointed board members—violates the separation of powers and infringes on executive discretion. powers set out in the constitution.
The attorneys also argue that NLRB procedures deny the company a trial by jury and violate its due process rights under the Fifth Amendment.
An NLRB spokesperson declined to comment on the filing. Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Seth Goldstein, an attorney representing both the Amazon Labor Union and the Trader Joe’s United union, said the trend was “very frightening.”
“Since they cannot defeat the successful union organization, now they just want to destroy the whole process,” he said.
The legal argument from Seattle-based Amazon, which has long resisted organizing efforts and is seeking to regain the only union victory in its U.S. warehouses, follows similar claims made by SpaceX and Trader Joe’s in a separate filing last month lawsuit and an agency hearing.
SpaceX sued the NLRB in early January, arguing that the agency’s structure is unconstitutional. The lawsuit came a day after the Labor Department accused the company of unlawfully firing employees who wrote an open letter critical of Musk and giving the impression that employees’ activities were being monitored.
During a January hearing on allegations that Trader Joe retaliated against union activism, an attorney for the supermarket chain said the NLRB and its panel of administrative law judges are unconstitutionally structured.