Our own Phil Wilson commented in an article for The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) about the recent ruling of a San Francisco administrative law judge (ALJ) for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) who recently found comments about unions made by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy to be unlawful. Whether that ruling will be upheld on appeal is questionable. Employers should be free to articulate and lead their company’s workplace culture.
According to Wilson:
“…the ruling is an “extreme infringement” not just on the First Amendment but also on Section 8(c) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which gives management representatives broad leeway to state opinions about how they prefer to work with employees. That section provides that expressing any views, argument, or opinion should not constitute an unfair labor practice, if such expression contains no threat of reprisal or force and no promise of benefit.
No reasonable person could view Jassy’s comments about unionization as threatening or coercive, Wilson said, calling Jassy’s remarks “well within the bounds found to be lawful” by courts. He predicted that even if the NLRB affirms the board ALJ’s decision, which Amazon has announced it will appeal, an appeals court later will rule in Amazon’s favor.”
