Amazon CEO Andy Jassy speaks during the GeekWire Summit in Seattle, October 5, 2021.
David Ryder | Bloomberg | beautiful images
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy violated federal labor laws in comments he made to the media about efforts to form a union at the company, an National Labor Relations Board judge said. The jury issued its verdict on 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 one increase union campaign in Amazon’s warehouse and delivery operations.
Jassy told CNBC in April 2022 that if employees voted in unions, they could be less empowered in the workplace and things would become “much slower” and “more bureaucratic.” Similarly, in an interview with Bloomberg, Jassy commented, “if you see something that you think could be better for your team, for you or your customers, you can’t just go to the manager and say, ‘Let’s change it.'”
At the DealBook conference, Jassy said that without unions, workplaces are not “bureaucratic, not slow.”
Gee said the comments “threaten employees that, if they choose a union, they will become less empowered and more difficult to get their work done quickly.”
NLRB file a complaint against Amazon and Jassy in October 2022. In Wednesday’s ruling, Gee said other comments by Jassy that forming a union would change workers’ relationships with their employers they are legal. But the Amazon chief’s other comments that employees would be less empowered and “better off” without a union violate labor law, “because they are not merely commenting on the relationship.” between employees and employers.”
Amazon spokeswoman Mary Kate Paradis said in a statement that the company disagrees with the NLRB’s ruling and that it intends to appeal.
“This decision reflects poorly on the state of free speech today, and we remain optimistic that we will be able to continue to engage in a reasoned discussion on these issues,” Paradis said. , where every perspective has the opportunity to be heard.”
The judge recommended that Amazon be ordered to “cease and desist” from making such comments in the future and that the company post and distribute notice of the order to employees nationwide.
