In 2022, Andy Jassy claimed that unions cause firms to become “far slower” and “more bureaucratic.”
Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon, embarked on a media blitz in 2022 to warn of the workplace-altering terrors of labor unions. This was a continuation of the old American tradition of affluent corporate bosses making comments that were hostile toward unions. There is no doubt that the fact that his urgent public service announcement coincided with an increase in organizational efforts at Amazon is a fortuitous coincidence. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is still in existence in the United States, and according to CNBC, the board issued a ruling on Wednesday stating that Mr. Jassy’s anti-union comments violated federal labor rules. His situation is unfortunate.
In the month of April 2022, Jassy appeared on CNBC and stated that if workers voted for and joined a union, they would experience a decrease in their level of autonomy and could anticipate that things would become “much slower” and “more bureaucratic.” He continued by saying, “If you see something on the line that you think could be better for your team or you or your customers, you can’t just go to your manager and say, ‘Let’s change it.'” This was said in an interview with Bloomberg.
His union-busting trifecta culminated at a conference hosted by The New York Times DealBook, where the CEO stated that a workplace that does not have unions is not “bureaucratic, it is not slow.”
In the lengthy history of Amazon’s actions, this is the most recent instance of union-busting.
According to Judge Brian Gee of the National Labor Relations Board, Jassy’s statement that employees would be “better off” or less empowered without a union was a violation of labor regulations. Gee, on the other hand, stated that the CEO’s other comments regarding the shifting relationships between workers and employers were legal. According to the judge, the difference lies in the fact that the remarks that were more forceful “went beyond merely commenting on the relationship between the employee and the employer.”
The comments, according to Gee, “threatened employees that, if they selected a union, they would become less empowered and find it harder to get things done quickly.” Gee noted that this was a concerning statement. According to the judge’s recommendation, Amazon should “cease and desist” from making statements of a similar nature in the future. In addition, the corporation is obligated to publish and distribute a notice regarding the judge’s ruling to all of its employees in the United States.
During the month of December, Jassy’s Amazon shares were valued at $328 million, which helped him become one of the wealthiest CEOs in the United States.
A representative from Amazon sent a statement to CNBC in which they stated that the judge’s decision “reflects poorly on the state of free speech rights today.” For the simple reason that, hey, what kind of a free democracy do we even have if a retail billionaire is unable to give low-income people terrifying bedtime stories about the dangers of voting in order to empower them in the workplace?