USA: Trader Joe's claims federal agency prosecuting it for unfair labour practices is "unconstitutional"
"Trader Joe’s argues National Labor Relations Board is unconstitutional"
In defending itself against union busting allegations, Trader Joe’s fired a cannon ball that could sink the ship of modern American labor law.
The grocery store chain is arguing that the federal agency prosecuting it for unfair labor practices — including giving union workers worse retirement benefits and barring workers from wearing union pins on their company-issued Hawaiian shirts — is unconstitutional.
The argument ... is unlikely to be ruled on before an appeal but could pose an existential threat to the National Labor Relations Board, a nearly 90-year-old institution created as part of the New Deal to protect workers’ right to unionize and act collectively to improve their working conditions.
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Trader Joe’s argument follows a similar attack by Elon Musk’s SpaceX — which is represented by the same law firm, Morgan Lewis — in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Texas challenging the constitutionality of the NLRB, which is prosecuting the company for illegally firing eight employees for criticizing Musk in an open letter in 2022.
“This isn’t just an attack to bust Trader Joe’s United, I think this is an attempt by right-wing billionaires and Morgan Lewis and Trader Joe’s and Elon Musk to destroy the American labor movement,” Seth Goldstein, an attorney for the union Trader Joe’s United, said in an interview with the Reformer. “American labor should wake up.”
Trader Joe’s did not respond to messages seeking comment.
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