Amazon CEO Andy Jassy violated federal labor law with anti-union remarks

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy violated federal labor laws in comments he made to the media about unionization efforts at the company, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled Wednesday.

NLRB Administrative Law Judge Brian Gee cited interviews Jassy gave in 2022 on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Bloomberg Television and at The New York Times’ DealBook conference. The interviews coincided with the rise of union campaigns in Amazon warehouses and deliveries.

Jassi told CNBC in April 2022 that if employees had to vote in a union, they might be less empowered in the workplace and things would become “much slower” and “more bureaucratic.” Similarly, in the Bloomberg interview, Jassy noted, “if you see something online that you think might be better for your team or for you or your customers, you can’t just go to your manager and say, ‘ Let’s change it. ‘”

At the DealBook conference, Jassi said that without a union, the workplace is not “bureaucratic, it’s not slow.”

Gee said the comments “threaten employees that if they choose to unionize, they will become less empowered and find it harder to get things done quickly.”

The NLRB filed the complaint against Amazon and Jassy in October 2022. In its ruling Wednesday, Gee said Jassy’s other comments that unionization would change workers’ relationship with their employer were legitimate. But the Amazon chief’s other remarks, that employees would be less empowered and “better off” without a union, violate labor law “because they go beyond simply commenting on the employee-employer relationship.”

Amazon spokeswoman Mary Kate Paradis said in a statement that the company disagrees with the NLRB’s decision and that it intends to appeal.

“The decision reflects poorly on the state of free speech rights today, and we remain optimistic that we will be able to continue to engage in reasonable discussion on these issues where all viewpoints have an opportunity to be heard,” Paradis said.

The judge recommended that Amazon be ordered to “cease and desist” from making such comments in the future and that the company be required to post and distribute notice of the order to employees nationwide.