Labor board blasts Amazon's "flagrant" attempt to flout court order
Published Date: 12/1/2022
Source: axios.com

Amazon's fight against warehouse workers in New York who voted to unionize is heating up.

What's happening: A court last week ordered the company to tell workers at JFK8 in Staten Island that they can't be fired for unionizing, but Amazon has "made of mockery" of the ruling, the National Labor Relations Board said in a scathing motion filed in court on Wednesday.


  • Instead of having a person read the cease-and-desist order out loud, the company originally planned on showing workers a video, during times of the day when shifts are changing and workers are less likely to see it, according to the motion.

The latest: On Thursday, Amazon did have a person read the order out loud, according to a video viewed by Axios.

  • "While we disagree with aspects of the judge's order, we are complying with it," Mary Kate Paradis, an Amazon spokesperson, told Axios in an email.

Big picture: This is one of the first actions Amazon's been required to carry out since these workers voted to unionize — and the intensity of the response from the NLRB shows how ferocious the fight against the union could get.

  • The labor board calls Amazon's reasons for not reading this order in person "absurd" and a "flagrant" violation of the court's purpose in issuing its ruling.

What's next: The board is looking for the judge to compel Amazon to do this differently.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with details of Amazon reading the court's cease-and-desist order out loud.