Amazon CEO Andy Jassy must answer to the National Labor Relations Board for assertions made during media interviews earlier this year that joining a union would put employees at a disadvantage at the company and that their relationships with supervisors would be better if they’re not part of a union.
In doing so, Jassy “has been interfering with, restraining, and coercing employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed” under federal labor law, according to an Oct. 25 letter to Jassy from NLRB Regional Director Ronald Hooks. A hearing on the matter, which is based on a complaint from the Amazon Labor Union, is scheduled for Feb. 7.
Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel defended Jassy’s comments as a lawful explanation of the company’s views on unions. “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,” Nantel said in an emailed statement.
The charges outlined in the NLRB complaint cite statements Jassy made during interviews with CNBC and Bloomberg.
In an April interview with CNBC, he said that if employees were represented by a union they would be less empowered in the workplace, that it would be more difficult for them to have direct relationships with management and that things would be done less quickly and more bureaucratically, according to the agency’s letter. And in his June interview with Bloomberg...
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