Amazon is arguing in a authorized submitting that the 88-year-old Nationwide Labor Relations Board is unconstitutional, echoing related arguments made this yr by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and the grocery retailer chain Dealer Joe’s in disputes about employees’ rights and organizing.
The Amazon submitting, made Thursday, got here in response to a case earlier than an administrative regulation choose overseeing a grievance from company prosecutors who allege the corporate unlawfully retaliated towards employees at a New York Metropolis warehouse who voted to unionize almost two years in the past.
In its submitting, Amazon denies most of the prices and asks for the grievance to be dismissed. The corporate’s attorneys then go additional, arguing that the construction of the company — notably limits on the removing of administrative regulation judges and 5 board members appointed by the president — violates the separation of powers and infringes on government powers stipulated within the Structure.
The attorneys additionally argue that NLRB proceedings deny the corporate a trial by a jury and violate its due-process rights below the Fifth Modification.
An NLRB spokesperson declined to touch upon the submitting. Amazon didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
Seth Goldstein, an legal professional who represents each the Amazon Labor Union and the labor group Dealer Joe’s United, mentioned the development was “very frightening.”
“Since they can’t defeat successful union organizing, they now want to just destroy the whole process,” he mentioned.
The authorized argument from Seattle-based Amazon, which has lengthy resisted organizing efforts and is seeking to redo the only union win at its U.S. warehouses, follows related claims made by SpaceX and Dealer Joe’s in a separate lawsuit and an company listening to final month.
SpaceX sued the NLRB in early January, arguing the construction of the company is unconstitutional. The lawsuit got here a day after the labor company accused the company of unlawfully firing employees who wrote an open letter crucial of Musk and of making the impression employee actions had been being surveilled.
At a January labor board listening to over allegations Dealer Joe’s retaliated towards union activism, an legal professional for the grocery chain mentioned the NLRB and its panel of administrative regulation judges are structured unconstitutionally.
