Continuing the long American custom of rich business overlords making union-busting remarks, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy went on a media blitz in 2022 to alert of the workplace-altering fears of labor unions. (Surely, it’s a regrettable happenstance that his immediate PSA accompanied an uptick in arranging efforts at Amazon) Unfortunately for Mr. Jassy, the United States still has a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and CNBC reports that the board ruled Wednesday that his anti-union remarks broke federal labor laws.
Jassy appeared on CNBC in April 2022 to state that if staff members chose and signed up with a union, they would end up being less empowered and might anticipate things to end up being “much slower” and “more governmental.” In an interview with Bloomberghe included, “If you see something on the line that you believe might be much better for your group or you or your clients, you can’t simply go to your supervisor and state, ‘Let’s alter it.'”
He topped off his union-busting trifecta at The New York Times DealBook conference, where the CEO stated that a work environment without unions isn’t “governmental, it’s not slow.”
It’s the current in Amazon’s long history of union-busting habits
NLRB Judge Brian Gee stated Jassy broke labor laws by recommending workers would be less empowered or “much better off” without a union. Gee stated the CEO’s other remarks about worker-employer relationships altering were legal. According to the judge, the distinction is that the more aggressive quotes “exceeded simply discussing the employee-employer relationship.”
Gee included that the remarks “threatened staff members that, if they chose a union, they would end up being less empowered and discover it more difficult to get things done rapidly.” The judge suggests that Amazon “stop and desist” from making comparable remarks in the future. The business is likewise needed to publish and share a note about the judge’s order with all of its United States workers.
In December, Jassy’s Amazon shares were valued at $328 million, making him among America’s most affluent CEOs.
In a declaration to CNBCan Amazon representative stated the judge’s judgment “shows improperly on the state of complimentary speech rights today.” Since, hi, what type of complimentary nation do we even have if a retail tycoon can’t inform low-income employees frightening bedtime stories about the hazards of voting to empower themselves in the office?