In an indication that federal labor officers are carefully scrutinizing administration conduct throughout union campaigns, the National Labor Relations Board knowledgeable a lawyer representing employees at Amazon this week that it had discovered benefit in accusations that the corporate had violated labor legislation.
The labor board discovered benefit to costs that the corporate had required employees to attend anti-union conferences at an enormous Staten Island warehouse the place the Amazon Labor Union received a surprising election victory final month. The willpower was communicated to the union Friday by an legal professional for the labor board’s regional workplace in Brooklyn, based on Seth Goldstein, a lawyer representing the union.
Such conferences, usually generally known as “captive audience” conferences, are authorized below present labor board precedent. But final month, the board’s basic counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, issued a memo saying that the precedent was at odds with the underlying federal statute, and he or she indicated that she would search to problem it.
In the identical submitting of costs, the Amazon Labor Union accused the corporate of threatening to withhold advantages from staff in the event that they voted to unionize, and of inaccurately indicating to staff that they may very well be fired if the warehouse had been to unionize and so they didn't pay union dues. The labor board additionally discovered benefit to those accusations, based on an e mail from the legal professional on the regional workplace, Matt Jackson.
Mr. Jackson stated the company would quickly situation a criticism reflecting these accusations except Amazon settled the case. The criticism can be litigated earlier than an administrative legislation decide, whose choice may very well be appealed to the labor board in Washington.
Mr. Goldstein applauded Ms. Abruzzo and the regional workplace for taking “decisive steps ending required captive audience meetings” and stated the proper to unionize “will be protected by ending Amazon’s inherently coercive work practices.”
. A spokeswoman for the board confirmed the findings. Kelly Nantel, an Amazon spokeswoman, stated in an announcement that “these allegations are false and we look forward to showing that through the process.”
