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John,
What do Trader Joe’s, Amazon, and Elon Musk have in common?
All three corporations have all been found responsible for unlawful, anti-union behavior by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) – so now, their lawyers are arguing that their union-busting, anti-worker decisions were legal because the NLRB itself is unconstitutional.
Trader Joe’s is using the same legal argument that Amazon and Musk are taking to the Supreme Court: that because the NLRB is unconstitutional, they cannot be required to rehire workers who were fired for their organizing activities.
“This is one of the most audacious and bold attempts to reverse the decisions of the 1930s and the way in which American labor law has operated for nearly 90 years,” said Stanford Law professor and former NLRB chair, William Gould IV. “This would raise havoc with the effective administration of labor law in our country, which is designed to be for the benefit of workers and the collective bargaining process.”
An argument this radical, seeking to upend nearly 90 years of labor law, would not have been brought if the Court had any ideological balance. We need to make sure the Supreme Court tosses these arguments, and protects one of the most important pro-worker institutions in the United States.
Sign the petition to demand the Supreme Court protect workers’ rights and uphold the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Board.
The NLRB was founded in 1935 to implement the National Labor Relations Act (NRLA). The Board says the Act exists “to encourage collective bargaining by protecting workers’ full freedom of association… [It] protects workplace democracy by providing employees at private-sector workplaces the fundamental right to seek better working conditions and designation of representation without fear of retaliation.”
Trader Joe’s lawsuit sought to prevent Trader Joe’s United from using the union’s logo - an upraised fist holding a boxcutter - on swag such as reusable grocery bags. U.S District Court Judge Hernan D. Vera threw out the case ”in its entirety,” saying the company had tried to “weaponize the legal system against its workers … to gain advantage in an ongoing legal labor dispute.”
The judge found that the suit “comes dangerously close to the line of Rule 11,” which allows the sanctioning of attorneys for filing a case for an “improper purpose.”
Former NLRB field attorney Cathy Creighton said, “They’re trying to kill the movement… There’s a whole body of NLRB case law that it is a violation of federal labor law to sue as a means to prevent organizing and bargaining, so there will be NLRB charges brought in this regard if there haven’t been already.”
Trader Joe’s must understand that there’s a reputational cost to joining the full-on attack against union organizing by Elon Musk and Amazon.
Please sign the petition to demand the Supreme Court affirm the NLRB’s legitimacy in the upcoming case.
And thank you for supporting the right of workers to organize in this resurging labor movement.
- Amanda
Amanda Ford, Director
Democracy for America
Advocacy Fund
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