Amazon, a company that employs more than 1.54 million people, has claimed that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency responsible for protecting workers' rights, is unconstitutional. Amazon made the claim in a legal document filed Thursday as part of a case in which prosecutors from the board of directors accused the e-commerce giant of discriminating against workers at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island who voted to unionize. According to to New York times.
Amazon is not the first company to challenge the constitutionality of the board. Last month, Elon Musk's SpaceX filed a lawsuit against the NLRB after the agency accused the company of illegally firing eight employees and called the agency “unconstitutional” in the lawsuit. Weeks later, grocery chain Trader Joe's, which the NLRB accused of union busting, said the NLRB's structure and organization were “unconstitutional.” Bloomberg mentioned. In separate lawsuits, two Starbucks baristas independently challenged the agency structure as they sought to dissolve their unions.
Amazon's claim is similar to existing claims made by SpaceX and Trader Joe's. In the lawsuit, the company's lawyers said the NLRB's “structure violates the separation of powers” by “obstructing the executive authority provided by Article II of the United States Constitution.” Additionally, Amazon claimed that NLRB hearings “could seek statutory damages beyond what would be permissible without a jury trial.”
Seth Goldstein, the attorney representing the unions in the Amazon and Trader Joe's cases Tell Reuters These challenges to the NLRB increase the chances of the case reaching the Supreme Court. That could prompt employers to stop negotiating with unions in the hope that the courts will eventually strip the federal agency of its powers, Goldstein said. Amazon has a controversial history with the NLRB, which said the company violated federal labor laws last year.
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