Amazon CEO Andy Jassy broke federal labor law with anti-union remarks

Amazon
CEO
Andy
Jassy
violated
federal
labor
law
in
comments
he
made
to
media
outlets
about
unionization
efforts
at
the
company,
a
National
Labor
Relations
Board
judge
ruled
Wednesday.

NLRB
Administrative
Law
Judge
Brian
Gee
cited
interviews
Jassy
gave
in
2022
to
CNBC’s
“Squawk
Box,”
Bloomberg
Television
and
at
The
New
York
Times’
DealBook
conference.
The
interviews
coincided
with
an

upswing
in

union
campaigns
in
Amazon’s
warehouse
and
delivery
operations.

Jassy told
CNBC in
April
2022
that
if
employees
were
to
vote
in
a
union,
they
may
be
less
empowered
in
the
workplace
and
things
would
become
“much
slower”
and
“more
bureaucratic.”
Similarly,
in
the
Bloomberg
interview,
Jassy
remarked,
“if
you
see
something
on
the
line
that
you
think
could
be
better
for
your
team
or
you
or
your
customers,
you
can’t
just
go
to
your
manager
and
say,
‘Let’s
change
it.'”

At
the
DealBook
conference,
Jassy
said
that
without
a
union
the
workplace
isn’t
“bureaucratic,
it’s
not
slow.”

Gee
said
the
comments
“threatened
employees
that,
if
they
selected
a
union,
they
would
become
less
empowered
and
would
find
it
harder
to
get
things
done
quickly.”

The
NLRB

filed
the
complaint
against
Amazon
and
Jassy
in
October
2022.
In
his
ruling
Wednesday,
Gee
said
Jassy’s
other
comments
that
unionization
would
change
workers’
relationship
with
their
employer
were
lawful.
But
the
Amazon
chief’s
other
remarks
that
employees
would
be
less
empowered
and
“better
off”
without
a
union
violated
labor
law,
“because
they
went
beyond
merely
commenting
on
the
employee-employer
relationship.”

Amazon
spokesperson
Mary
Kate
Paradis
said
in
a
statement
that
the
company
disagrees
with
the
NLRB’s
ruling
and
that
it
intends
to
appeal.

“The
decision
reflects
poorly
on
the
state
of
free
speech
rights
today,
and
we
remain
optimistic
that
we
will
be
able
to
continue
to
engage
in
a
reasonable
discussion
on
these
issues
where
all
perspectives
have
an
opportunity
to
be
heard,”
Paradis
said.

The
judge
recommends
Amazon
be
ordered
to
“cease
and
desist”
from
making
such
comments
in
the
future,
and
that
the
company
be
required
to
post
and
distribute
a
notice
about
the
order
to
employees
nationwide.