The general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board took a swipe at SpaceX, Trader Joe’s and Amazon on Friday for challenging her agency’s constitutionality.
Jennifer Abruzzo, a progressive appointee of President Joe Biden, described such companies as “deep-pocket, low-road employers” that were trying to throw the agency off its mission of protecting workers’ rights “because they have the money to do so.”
“It seems to me they would rather spend their money initiating court litigation rather than improving their workers’ lives and their own workplace operations,” Abruzzo said. “So their primary goal, in my mind, is to divert our scarce resources away from protecting workers’ rights to organize and to fight for recognition and respect for the value that they add to their employers’ operations. And that is not going to happen.”
She added that the employers were trying to “divert attention away from the fact that they are lawbreakers who need to be held accountable in a timely manner.”
Abruzzo’s remarks, delivered as part of a panel put on by the Roosevelt Institute think tank, appear to be her first public comments regarding the legal effort to undermine her agency, long a punching bag for Republican lawmakers and anti-union forces.
“It seems to me they would rather spend their money initiating court litigation rather than improving their workers' lives.”
- Jennifer Abruzzo, NLRB general counsel
The NLRB oversees private-sector union elections and investigates “unfair labor practices” committed by employers and unions. It has a prosecutorial arm — now run by Abruzzo — as well as a separate five-member board that interprets the law and rules on cases. The agency was created in 1935 to promote collective bargaining and foster labor peace.
Abruzzo’s office alleges that SpaceX, the aerospace company owned by Elon Musk, illegally fired eight workers who had openly criticized the company’s culture and Musk. SpaceX responded by bringing a case in federal court arguing the board’s structure is unconstitutional and therefore the agency’s charges against it are illegitimate.
If SpaceX succeeds in its challenge, the case could disrupt a collective bargaining system that’s been in place since the New Deal.
“Let’s keep in mind these esoteric legal arguments came about why?” Abruzzo said Tuesday. “Because we dared to issue a complaint against SpaceX after it unlawfully fired eight workers.”
Meanwhile, Trader Joe’s and Amazon — both of which have been fighting their employees’ union campaigns — recently laid out essentially the same argument as SpaceX in legal proceedings at the labor board. The general counsel has accused both those companies of retaliating against workers to snuff out organizing efforts.
Trader Joe’s spokesperson Nakia Rohde noted that the grocer has not joined SpaceX’s lawsuit in federal court and merely offered “an affirmative defense” in an NLRB case.
“This was not an argument; it was an opportunity to preserve all of our legal rights under the law,” Rohde said.
Abruzzo said companies like Trader Joe’s and Amazon were “jumping on the bandwagon” created by SpaceX.
“Others got into the action just because we are trying to hold them accountable for repeatedly violating workers rights to organize and collectively bargain,” she said.
Abruzzo added that she recently spoke to a group of labor attorneys and offered them some advice.
“Just because you could make challenges and arguments does not mean you should,” she said.
This story has been updated with comment from Trader Joe’s.