Amazon CEO Andy Jassy speaks during the GeekWire summit in Seattle on October 5, 2021.
David Ryder | Bloomberg | getty images
Amazon A National Labor Relations Board judge ruled Wednesday that CEO Andy Jassy violated federal labor law in comments he made to media outlets about unionization efforts at the company.
NLRB Administrative Law Judge Brian Gee cited interviews Jassey gave in 2022 on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Bloomberg Television and The New York Times’ DealBook conference. The interviews coincided with a move upward in union campaign In Amazon’s warehouse and delivery operations.
Jassy told cnbc in April 2022 that if employees had to vote into a union, they might be less empowered in the workplace and things would become “much slower” and “more bureaucratic”. Similarly, in a Bloomberg interview, Jesse commented, “If you see something on line that you think might be better for your team or you or your customers, you can’t just go to your manager. And say, ‘Let’s change it.’
At the DealBook conference, Jassy said that a workplace without a union “isn’t bureaucratic, it’s not slow.”
Gee said the comments “threatened employees that, if they chose to form a union, they would be less empowered and find it harder to get work done quickly.”
nlrb filed a complaint Against Amazon and JC in October 2022. In his ruling Wednesday, Gee said JC’s other comments that unionization would change workers’ relationship with their employers were legitimate. But the Amazon chief’s other comments that workers would be less empowered and “better off” without a union are a violation of labor law, “because they went beyond simply commenting on employee-employer relations.”
Amazon spokeswoman Mary Kate Paradis said in a statement that the company disagrees with the NLRB’s decision and intends to appeal.
“This decision reflects poorly on the state of the right to free speech today and we remain optimistic that we will be able to continue a fair discussion of these issues where all viewpoints have the opportunity to be heard,” Paradis said.
The judge recommended ordering Amazon to “cease and desist” from making such comments in the future, and require the company to post and distribute a notice about the order to employees nationwide.