SpaceX and Amazon lawsuits aim to shake up federal labor authorities: NPR

In the nearly four years since Joe Biden became president, the National Labor Relations Board has taken an aggressive (some would say too aggressive) approach to protecting workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively. It’s here.

Now, SpaceX and Amazon are at the forefront of a company-led effort to transform the Department of Labor. Lawyers for both companies will try Monday to convince a panel of judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the Labor Department, created by Congress in 1935, is unconstitutional.

Their case is one of more than two dozen challenges filed by companies who argue that the NLRB’s structure gives it unlimited authority to enact and enforce labor laws.

A ruling in favor of companies could make it more difficult for workers to form unions and take collective action to improve wages and working conditions.

This is a major setback for labor groups, which have received unprecedented support from the Biden administration, but a victory for companies, which have spent significant resources trying to keep unions out of the workplace over the past four years. Probably.

Complicating matters, President-elect Donald Trump has selected SpaceX founder and chief executive officer to co-chair a new commission focused on dismantling government bureaucracy and cutting spending and jobs. The fact is that they have appointed Elon Musk as CEO. It remains unclear whether the NLRB is one of the agencies Musk advises.

Ultimately, these cases could reach the Supreme Court.

Board defects discovered at Amazon and Space X

The lawsuit filed by Amazon and SpaceX comes after the NLRB filed its own complaint. An investigation by authorities found that the company had violated the rights of its employees.

At Amazon, the company’s refusal to engage in collective bargaining with the Amazon labor union became an issue. Workers at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York, have voted to form a union in 2022.

SpaceX’s complaint alleges that eight employees were fired in retaliation for speaking out against Musk.

Both companies argue that the Labor Department’s structure violates the separation of powers.

“While the NLRB regularly exercises its authority to prosecute alleged violations of federal labor laws, establish legal standards governing prosecution, and consider the facts necessary to make a finding of violation, Article 3 “There has been only limited judicial review by the courts,” SpaceX’s lawyers wrote. Documents filed with the court.

The companies also blame the president for failing to remove the five-year NLRB board member and, in SpaceX’s case, an administrative law judge.

Additionally, they argue that the NLRB’s system for adjudicating cases denies them the right to a trial by jury.

NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, a Biden appointee, called the lawsuit a distraction, pointing to the agency’s 90-year history of governing labor relations.

“We are trying to hold violators accountable,” she told the National Press Club in October. “If government agencies are not allowed to perform their functions and perform them properly, there will be chaos.”

Enforcement is expected to slow down

Labor groups are bracing for a slowdown in labor law enforcement under the second Trump administration.

First, Trump is expected to use the powers he has to immediately fire Abruzzo. (Biden fired a Trump appointee to the position on his first day in office.)

Mr. Abruzzo, who has served as an NLRB prosecutor since 2021, takes a broad view of the protections that labor law provides to private sector employees. She has worked to remove barriers to organizing, most recently leading the board to outlaw “restricted audience” meetings, or forced meetings where employers try to dissuade workers from forming unions. won the decision.

President Trump is expected to appoint someone friendly to employers to replace Mr. Abruzzo and take a new approach to enforcement. President Trump’s previous choice for the job was Peter Robb, a management labor lawyer who served as President Ronald Reagan’s chief lawyer during the air traffic controllers’ strike.

In the case between SpaceX and Amazon, there are widespread expectations that the general counsel appointed by President Trump will not challenge the ruling in favor of both companies. However, the court’s decision could be contradicted if similar cases were filed elsewhere in the country.