Amazon, a company that employs more than 1.54 million people, claimed that the National Labor Relations Board Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency responsible for protecting workers' rights, was unconstitutional. Amazon made the claim in a legal document filed Thursday as part of a case in which Council attorneys accused the e-commerce giant of discriminating against workers at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island who voted in favor of unionization. according to has The New York Times.
Amazon is not the first company to challenge the constitutionality of the Council. Last month, Elon Musk's SpaceX sued the NLRB after the agency accused the company of illegally firing eight employees and called the agency “unconstitutional” in the lawsuit. A few weeks later, the grocery chain Trader Joe's, which the NLRB accused of union busting, declared the NLRB's structure and organization “unconstitutional.” Bloomberg reported. And in separate lawsuits, two Starbucks baristas independently challenged the agency's structure as they sought to dissolve their unions.
Amazon's claim is similar to existing claims filed by SpaceX and Trader Joe's. In the lawsuit, the company's lawyers argued that “the structure of the NLRB violates the separation of powers” by “obstructing the executive power provided for in Article II of the United States Constitution.” Additionally, Amazon asserted that NLRB hearings “may seek legal remedies beyond what is permitted without a jury trial.”
Seth Goldstein, a lawyer who represents unions in the Amazon and Trader Joe cases said Reuters that these challenges to the NLRB increase the chances that the case will reach the Supreme Court. And they could get employers to stop bargaining with unions in hopes that courts will finally strip the federal agency of its powers, Goldstein said. Amazon has a controversial history with the NLRB, who said the company violated federal labor laws last year.