It was legal for Amazon CEO Andy Jassy to say that unionization would make it tougher for employees to have direct connections with their managers, according to National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge.
However, Jassy violated labor law when he said, in multiple public interviews, that unionization would make employees less empowered, and would make it harder to get things done quickly, Judge Brian D. Gee ruled Wednesday.
“[E]mployees could have reasonably understood Jassy to be saying that, without a union, they would be more empowered and could achieve improvements at work faster and with less bureaucracy—two assertions unsupported by objective fact—and thus be better off,” Gee wrote. “I thus conclude that Jassy’s words relied on coercion to dissuade employees from supporting unions.”
The ruling illustrates the fine line that corporate leaders sometimes walk in their public comments on nuanced legal issues like unionization. However, Amazon says the judge’s decision goes too far in restricting speech.
“We strongly disagree that any part of these comments were inappropriate and intend to appeal,” said Mary Kate Paradis, an Amazon spokesperson. “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 a reasonable discussion on these issues where all perspectives have an opportunity to be heard.”
Jassy made the comments in 2022 on CNBC Squawk Box,” at the Bloomberg Technology Summit, and at the New York Times DealBook Summit, as outlined in the charges filed by the Amazon Labor Union, which prevailed in a landmark union vote at the company’s Staten Island, New York, warehouse that year.
His comments were similar in all of the interviews. Here’s what he said on CNBC.
You know, first of all, of course, it’s employees’ choice whether or not they want to join a union. We happen to think they’re better off not doing so for a couple of reasons at least. You know, first, at a place like Amazon [that] empowers employees, if they see something they can do better for customers or for themselves, they can go meet in a room, decide how [to] change it and change it. That type of empowerment doesn’t happen when you have unions. It’s much more bureaucratic, it’s much slower. I also think people are better off having direct connections with their managers. You know, you think about work differently. You have relationships that are different. We get to hear from a lot of people as opposed to it all being filtered through one voice.
The ruling, if upheld, would require Amazon to cease and desist from the comments that were determined unlawful, and post a notice at its facilities nationwide.
That notice would read, in part, that the company “WILL NOT threaten you by saying that you would be less empowered if you unionized, that you would find it harder to get things done quickly since unions are slower and more bureaucratic, and that you would be better off without a union.”
Read the full ruling here or below.
NLRB Administrative Law Judge Ruling on Amazon CEO Andy Jassy's union comments by GeekWire on Scribd
