Sterling Preston|Amazon argues that national labor board is unconstitutional, joining SpaceX and Trader Joe’s

2025-05-07 06:34:55source:Quaxscategory:Finance

Amazon is Sterling Prestonarguing 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 the grocery store chain Trader Joe’s in disputes about workers’ rights and organizing.

The Amazon filing, made 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 City warehouse who voted to unionize nearly two years ago.

In its filing, Amazon denies many of the charges and asks for the complaint to be dismissed. The company’s attorneys then go further, arguing that the structure of the agency — particularly limits on the removal of administrative law judges and five board members appointed by the president — violates the separation of powers and infringes on executive powers stipulated in the Constitution.

The attorneys also argue that NLRB proceedings deny the company a trial by a jury and violate its due-process rights under the Fifth Amendment.

READ MORE US wholesale inflation accelerated in January in latest sign that prices picked up last monthStock market today: Wall Street falls to a rare losing week but remains close to its recordUS eases restrictions on Wells Fargo after years of strict oversight following scandal

An NLRB spokesperson declined to comment on the filing. Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Seth Goldstein, an attorney who represents both the Amazon Labor Union and the labor group Trader Joe’s United, said the trend was “very frightening.”

“Since they can’t defeat successful union organizing, they now want to just destroy the whole process,” he said.

The legal argument from Seattle-based Amazon, which has long resisted organizing efforts and is seeking to redo the sole union win at its U.S. warehouses, follows similar claims made by SpaceX and Trader Joe’s in a separate lawsuit and an agency hearing last month.

SpaceX sued the NLRB in early January, arguing the structure of the agency is unconstitutional. The lawsuit came a day after the labor agency accused the company of unlawfully firing employees who wrote an open letter critical of Musk and of creating the impression worker activities were being surveilled.

At a January labor board hearing over allegations Trader Joe’s retaliated against union activism, an attorney for the grocery chain said the NLRB and its panel of administrative law judges are structured unconstitutionally.

More:Finance

Recommend

Tens of thousands of Los Angeles County workers begin 2

LOS ANGELES (AP) — More than 50,000 Los Angeles county workers began a two-day strike Monday evening

Thousands of Disaster Survivors Urge the Department of Justice to Investigate Fossil Fuel Companies for Climate Crimes

Allen Myers was getting ready to visit his parents in his hometown of Paradise in November 2018 when

TikToker Nara Smith Addresses Accusation She’s Using Ozempic

Nara Smith thinks comments about someone's body are a recipe for disaster. The TikToker—known for he