Amazon has filed a lawsuit challenging the structure of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), alleging that the agency improperly influenced the outcome of a union election at a company warehouse over two years ago. The lawsuit, submitted Thursday to a federal court in San Antonio, echoes legal arguments Amazon previously made before the NLRB.
The company contends that NLRB prosecutors accused it of maintaining policies that hindered worker organization and retaliated against those who attempted to unionize.
The complaint refers to a March 2022 lawsuit filed by the NLRB against Amazon, shortly before a union election at a Staten Island warehouse. Amazon argues that the agency’s lawsuit, which sought to reinstate a union organizer, improperly affected the election’s outcome and cites this as a key objection to the historic election where workers voted for union representation for the first time in the U.S. The NLRB’s board had recently denied Amazon’s appeal to review its objections to the election.
In its new filing, Amazon claims that the structure of the NLRB, where board members are protected from presidential removal, is unconstitutional and violates its due process rights. Other companies, like SpaceX and Trader Joe’s, have also challenged the NLRB’s structure.
NLRB spokesperson Kayla Blado noted that while these challenges can delay justice, the agency’s constitutionality was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1937. The company is requesting that the court halt any “unconstitutional” administrative proceedings while the case is ongoing.
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