Amazon CEO Andy Jassy violates federal labor law with anti-union comments | Wilnesh News

Amazon A National Labor Relations Board judge ruled Wednesday that Chief Executive Andy Jassy violated federal labor law by making comments to the media about the company’s unionizing efforts.

NLRB Administrative Law Judge Brian Gee cited Jassy’s 2022 interviews with CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Bloomberg Television and The New York Times’ DealBook conference. The interview coincides with the rise of a union movement in Amazon’s warehouse and delivery operations.

Jassy told CNBC in April 2022 that if employees voted in a union, they would likely have less power in the workplace and things would be “much slower” and “more bureaucratic.” Likewise, Jassy told Bloomberg, “If you see something that you think might be better for your team, you or your customers, you can’t just go to your manager and say, ‘Let’s change it. Bar.

At the DealBook conference, Jassy said that without unions, workplaces would be less “bureaucratic and less slow.”

Gee said the comments “threaten employees that if they choose to unionize, they will have less power and find it harder to get their jobs done quickly.”

The NLRB filed a complaint against Amazon and Jassy in October 2022. But the Amazon CEO’s other comments, saying workers would have less power and “be better off” without unions, violated labor laws “because they were not just commenting on an employee’s relationship with their employer.”

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

“This decision reflects poorly on the state of free speech rights today, and we remain optimistic that we will be able to continue to have reasonable discussions about these issues so that all perspectives have a chance to be heard,” Paradis said.

The judge recommended ordering Amazon to “cease” such comments in the future and requiring the company to post and distribute a notice of the order to employees nationwide.