US labor board prosecutors have concluded that Amazon.com Inc. illegally used subpoenas to coerce staff and try to interfere with labor activism at a New York warehouse.
(Bloomberg) — US labor board prosecutors have concluded that Amazon.com Inc. illegally used subpoenas to coerce staff and try to interfere with labor activism at a New York warehouse.
A regional director of the National Labor Relations Board has determined that, in doing so, the e-commerce giant violated employees’ rights, agency spokesperson Kayla Blado said. Absent a settlement, the director will issue a complaint on behalf of the labor board’s general counsel, Blado said in an email.
The dispute stems from Amazon’s ongoing effort to overturn the Amazon Labor Union’s historic election victory last spring at an 8,000-employee facility on Staten Island. ALU attorney Seth Goldstein says Amazon sought in that case to obtain extensive records including text messages among employees, which had a chilling effect on workers’ willingness to be involved with the organization.
“They violated their rights by requesting protected information,” Goldstein said Monday. “They asked for everything in their fishing expedition to overturn the election.”
Amazon denied wrongdoing. “Requesting information through subpoenas is standard practice and necessary to support our objections in this case,” spokesperson Mary Kate Paradis said in an emailed statement. “There was no unlawful activity and we look forward to showing that as this process continues.” The company is currently appealing a ruling from another NLRB regional director who rejected its objections to the Staten Island election –- a conflict which could stretch on for years and end up in federal court.
Complaints issued by NLRB regional directors are considered by agency judges, whose rulings can be appealed to labor board members in Washington, and from there to federal court. The agency has authority to order companies to change policies, but not to make them pay any punitive damages for violations of the law.
(Updates with Amazon comment in fifth paragraph)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.