The National Labor Relations Board ruled on Wednesday that companies may not compel workers to attend meetings on the downsides of unionization, a tactic that unions say stifles worker organizing.
The decision, the latest in a slew of labor board rulings under the Biden administration aimed at supporting workers’ right to unionize, stems from a complaint over Amazon’s conduct before a successful union election in 2022 at a Staten Island warehouse, the first Amazon warehouse in the nation to unionize. The company held hundreds of meetings there and at another location to discourage workers from supporting a union.
The N.L.R.B.’s ban on so-called captive audience meetings is a precedent with potential impact beyond Amazon, though it could be reversed after President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office. Facing a wave of union campaigns since the onset of the pandemic, large employers including Starbucks, Trader Joe’s and REI have held such meetings in what labor regulators and unions have described as an effort to clamp down on organizing. The companies have denied accusations of anti-union campaigns.
These meetings, which employees are often required to attend, give employers “near-unfettered freedom to force their message about unionization on workers,” Lauren McFerran, the Democratic chairman of the labor board, said in a statement. She added that they undermine employees’ ability to choose whether they want union representation, a right guaranteed under federal law.
“Today’s decision better protects workers’ freedom to make their own choices in exercising their rights,” Ms. McFerran said, “while ensuring that employers can convey their views about unionization in a noncoercive manner.”
Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The N.L.R.B. voted 3 to 1 to issue the ban, which overrules a decades-old standard that paved the way for mandatory meetings about unionization to become widespread. The Democratic majority voted in favor of the decision, while the board’s one Republican member dissented.
Deeming captive audience meetings unlawful is “a long overdue win for workers,” said Kara Deniz, a spokeswoman for the Teamsters union, which is pushing to unionize workers across Amazon’s business, from warehouses to delivery routes. Amazon “can look at this ruling as an opportunity to redirect the tens of millions it spends on union busters each year back into the rightful pockets of workers,” Ms. Deniz said.
Whether the labor board ruling will survive under Mr. Trump remains unclear.
Labor experts predict a sharp shift away from the largely pro-union stance taken by the Biden administration’s N.L.R.B., potentially reversing some decisions. Notably, Mr. Trump could oust Jennifer Abruzzo, the general counsel, who has taken an aggressive approach to wielding the agency’s authority on behalf of workers seeking to unionize.
“She’s been a general counsel who has taken the position seriously in enforcing the National Labor Relations Act to its fullest extent,” said Risa Lieberwitz, a professor of labor and employment law at Cornell University. “It certainly is likely that once Trump is in office, he will remove her, and appoint someone who is more akin to Trump’s politics on labor.”
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