Dear John,

Amazon has now joined a disturbing trend with Trader Joe’s and Elon Musk’s SpaceX. All three companies are now arguing in separate cases that, after nearly 90 years of operation, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is unconstitutional.

It’s not the first time this argument has been made. In 1937, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the 1935 National Labor Relations Act. Deciding in favor of the NLRB against Jones & Laughlin Steel, the court held that Congress has the power to regulate employers whose actions affect interstate commerce.

Amazon’s current case echoes the 1937 case. Then as now, the steel company had fired several workers based on their union leadership, and then as now, the NLRB ordered the companies to rehire the workers and give them back pay.

It’s no accident that Amazon, SpaceX, and Trader Joe’s are making this argument now, as their unions are building a resurgent labor movement, and as the court’s far-right supermajority seems likely to be willing to upend nearly 90 years of labor law. If they do, they will throw every current case before the NLRB into turmoil.

That’s why we need to stand up for protecting workers’ rights. Defend the National Labor Relations Board from attacks now.

Since these companies are unable to beat the unions’ growing success in organizing, they instead want to throw the whole game board in the air. A decision against the NLRB would enable any company with a labor dispute to ignore the NLRB entirely, rendering all labor complaints toothless.

Attorney Seth Goldstein, who represents both the Amazon Labor Union and Trader Joe’s United, says such a decision would be “earth shattering” because an injunction for any one of these companies would automatically take effect nationally.

Former NLRB chairman William Gould IV, says such a decision “would create havoc,” resulting in a state of lawlessness in labor law, which is designed to support workers and collective bargaining.

An argument this radical, with the power to upend nearly 90 years of labor law, would never have been brought if the court had any ideological balance.

We need to send a message loud and clear that America supports the legitimacy of the NLRB, the most important pro-worker institution in the United States. Please add your name now.

Thank you for supporting the right of workers to organize without fear of retaliation.

Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action