Amazon Joins Companies Arguing US Labor Board Is Unconstitutional
Source: US News and World Report/Reuters
Feb. 16, 2024, at 10:19 a.m.
(Reuters) - Amazon.com has joined rocket maker SpaceX and grocery chain Trader Joe's in claiming that a U.S. labor agency's in-house enforcement proceedings violate the U.S. Constitution, as the retail giant faces scores of cases claiming it interfered with workers' rights to organize.
Amazon in a filing made 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 said that limits on the removal of administrative judges and the board's five members, who are appointed by the president, are unconstitutional.
The filing came in a pending case accusing Amazon of illegally retaliating against workers at a warehouse in the New York City borough of Staten Island, where employees voted to unionize in 2022. Amazon, which has faced more than 250 NLRB complaints alleging unlawful labor practices across the country in recent years, has denied wrongdoing.
SpaceX is making similar claims against the board in a lawsuit filed last month, one 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's structure in separate lawsuits.
Read more: https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2024-02-16/amazon-joins-companies-arguing-us-labor-board-is-unconstitutional
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LiberalFighter
(52,167 posts)The employees decide. It is an organization restricted to union members.
Throck
(2,520 posts)The Constitution is about individual rights. Other laws might apply.
Kennah
(14,407 posts)Mittens didn't start this. It began with Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Co. in 1886.
GiqueCee
(793 posts)... that are aware of that case, or that it was a dispute over a fence being used as an excuse to get the case in front of the Supreme Court in hopes of getting a favorable opinion regarding the 14th Amendment. It is also worth noting that Chief Justice Wait was a career railroad toady prior to his appointment to the SCOTUS. As I understand it, Wait stated that, "The court does not wish to hear argument on the question whether the provision in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which forbids a State to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, applies to these corporations. For these purposes, we will assume that it does."
The full story of this case is a dense read, and my memory of it has faded a bit with age (mine!), but it still pisses me off.
Kennah
(14,407 posts)I think I first heard about it in the documentary "The Corporation". This was back in the days of Netflix mailing discs. There was a lot of extra info, and I watched all of it. The stuff about the Santa Clara County case was very dense stuff. I had to play sections of it over a couple of times.
I think they said the vast majority of 14th Amendment cases heard before the Supreme Court had been focused on corporate personhood and not the original intent.
Bluethroughu
(5,264 posts)Response to BumRushDaShow (Original post)
Fullduplexxx This message was self-deleted by its author.
GreenWave
(7,310 posts)There it is! UNION! It says right there, so piss off
wolfie001
(2,547 posts)SleeplessinSoCal
(9,312 posts)They have more than a friendly SCOTUS. Bought and paid for via stealing and cheating.
Smilo
(1,945 posts)these corporations not want a labor board?
For workers it will mean fewer protections, less job security, tougher working conditions & lower wages.
For the shareholders & owners it will mean less oversight and responsibility, more freedom to exploit and threaten workers & more money in their bank accounts.
We can't let this happen, but sadly too many Americans see unaware of how unions protect them.
pecosbob
(7,630 posts)This is what the billionaire's want...immunity from lawsuits and immunity from regulation.
Orrex
(63,444 posts)And blueprints for guillotines are readily available online.
Hermit-The-Prog
(34,216 posts)Diraven
(606 posts)They will definitely be coming after all the other agencies that make and enforce rules and regulations. The basically want to abolish the administrative state so future dictator Trump can rule by decree.
Quiet man
(11 posts)After the extreme court gets rid of the labor unions they are coming after social security.
Bluethroughu
(5,264 posts)This is all right-wing wet dream history.
The good old days where the father went to work, and never came home because he was turned into a hotdogs, the mother burned up at a sewing table and the children lost limbs in textile machines.
Pack the court and take back our country before these rapists, paid for by the billionaires, dismantle this country of laws.
LudwigPastorius
(9,511 posts)This has been settled law for 87 years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NLRB_v._Jones_%26_Laughlin_Steel_Corp.
hobby10113
(51 posts)My fear is that SCOTUS will find some excuse to find the Wagner act unconstitutional. I have a union job and my employer would love to break the union.
turbinetree
(24,793 posts)Puppyjive
(520 posts)How much money and control does Bezo's need? Give the workers a break. Carnegie was a monster. He lived with the guilt of his worker exploitation. It won't go well for Bezo's. Greed has a funny way of infecting it's host. Karma will be knocking on his door.
SouthernDem4ever
(6,618 posts)He has his money.
sinkingfeeling
(51,712 posts)We don't need no thought control....
Wonder Why
(3,661 posts)![](/emoticons/sarcasm.gif)
We actually want better new days where billionaire owners have their personal assets taken when they violate labor laws and the government sends U.S. Marshals to arrest them.
dlk
(11,711 posts)They sound like cranky children who dont get their way. Unfortunately, the level of destruction they can cause is enormous.
LudwigPastorius
(9,511 posts)They did when they passed the National Labor Relations Act.
Now fuck off, you corporate scumbags!
A little history:
https://local150.org/newsroom/labor-history-lesson-nazis-destroy-labor-unions-in-1933/