- The National Labor Relations Board has ruled against Amazon
- Amazon can no longer hold mandatory anti-union meetings
- The meetings were found to violate worker’s rights
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ruled Amazon can no longer impose mandatory ‘captive audience’ meetings on staff, as it were found to be using these events to ‘coerce’ employees with anti-unionization objectives.
The decision passed 3-1, with the NLRB General Counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, arguing the meetings violated worker’s rights, as they were forced to attend and be subjected to the company’s anti-union messaging.
Abruzzo affirmed companies should be free to make their case against unions, but workers shouldn’t be forced to listen.
Wins for workers
This is the latest development in a string of conflicts between Amazon and its workers, with the retailer aggressively opposing organizing efforts and unionization in its warehouses.
Tech workers have some of the lowest union membership rates of any industry, and efforts by Amazon to dissuade workers from organizing have proved effective. However, the law states that workers must be able to freely choose whether to debate union representation, and when and how they do it.
“Ensuring that workers can make a truly free choice about whether they want union representation is one of the fundamental goals of the National Labor Relations Act. Captive audience meetings—which give employers near-unfettered freedom to force their message about unionization on workers under threat of discipline or discharge—undermine this important goal,” said Chairman Lauren McFerran.
“Today’s decision better protects workers’ freedom to make their own choices in exercising their rights under the Act, while ensuring that employers can convey their views about unionization in a noncoercive manner.”
Despite the considerable opposition from the retail giant, workers in Staten Island won a historic victory by voting to create the Amazon Labor Union, a huge step in their struggle for better working conditions and protections.
Via Engadget