Feds say Amazon CEO violated labor law in comments about unions

GARNER – As Amazon workers at one of the largest company facilities in North Carolina seek to establish a union, a complaint filed on Wednesday by the National Labor Relations Board claims that Amazon’s CEO violated federal labor laws with what he said recently about unions.

The violation came during comments made by Andy Jassy, Amazon’s CEO, during an interview in April with CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin and an additional interview in June at the Bloomberg Tech Summit, according to a story published by CNBC.

During the April interview, Jassy said that should employees vote in a union they might become less empowered. Specifically, that they would be “much slower” and “more bureaucratic,” the CNBC report cites.

At the Bloomberg event, Jassy reportedly said the company’s workforce would be “better off without a union,” CNBC wrote.

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What’s happening

CNBC reported that Ronald Hooks, regional director of the NLRB’s Seattle office, said in the complaint that Jassy’s comments resulted in the CEO “interfering with, restraining, and coercing employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed” under the National Labor Relations Act.

Amazon, in response to a request from WRAL TechWire, dismissed the complaint.

Kelly Nantel, an Amazon spokesperson, said via email:

“These allegations are completely without merit, and the comments in question are clearly protected by express language of the National Labor Relations Act and decades of NLRB precedent. The comments lawfully explain Amazon’s views on unionization and the way it could affect the ability of our employees to deal directly with their managers, and they began with a clear recognition of our employees’ right to organize and in no way contained threats of reprisal. We believe our employees, their families, and other stakeholders benefit from a full understanding of the facts on important topics like this. We’re committed to ensuring everyone understands our perspective and to explaining it respectfully and transparently.”

Workers at an Amazon facility in California withdrew a petition to unionize last week, CNN reported recently.

But workers at an Amazon facility in Garner known as RTP1 continue efforts to establish a union. Members of the group’s steering committee told WRAL TechWire last month that company employees who work at other facilities in North Carolina had reached out to the group, known as Carolinas Amazonians United for Solidarity & Empowerment, or C.A.U.S.E.

The company must respond to the complaint by November 8, CNBC reported.