A U.S. Appeals court is likely to rule against Amazon and SpaceX for questioning the constitutionality of the structure of the National Labor Relation’s Board (NLRB) on Monday, citing that the move may have been done in haste.
Different attorneys from both companies argued separately, presenting their cases to a panel of three judges at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal in New Orleans, Lawyer Monthly reported.
The appeal was made after the NLRB filed charges against them concerning alleged illegal labor practices, particularly in relation to union organizing and workers’ rights.
Both Amazon and SpaceX wish to block the NLRB cases against them. The appeals court was also under the impression that the companies should have given the lower courts sufficient time to hear the case before raising the appeal, the Associated Press reported.
Amazon and SpaceX are just among the rising number of companies that have opted to challenge the labor agency’s structure. Lawsuits against the NLRB have been filed around the country, stating that a number of the processes violated U.S. Constitution. The case of Amazon and SpaceX are just among those that already reached the appellate court.
If the courts would rule in favor of the companies, it could be debilitating for the agency, which has been mandated to settle labor-related issues, particularly those filed by workers against employers.
A lawyer for the NLRB noted that the companies brought the issue to the appellate court only after the lower courts were not able to rule as per their requested deadline.
SpaceX’s attorney Michael E. Kenneally then responded that the government was “relying so much on the procedural objections” since its legal arguments were weak. The claim of Kenneally elicited some degree of pushback from the judges, who seem to be frowning upon the dispensation of the court’s procedural processes vis-a-vis the merits of the case.
Judge James E. Graves Jr. said, “that sounds to me like the argument ‘procedure doesn’t matter if I win on the merits.”
SpaceX filed the lawsuit in January after the NLRB accused them of unlawfully firing their employees. It also argued that the proceedings at the NLRB was a deprivation of the company’s right to a trial by jury.
On the other hand, the lawsuit of Amazon against the labor agency is connected with the objection of the company to a union election in April 2022 where the tech giant claimed that the agency interfered in the whole process. At the time, the Amazon Labor Union won the election but the company did not meet them at the negotiating table.
Before the hearing on Monday, NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo said, “nothing new for big companies to challenge the authority of the NLRB to enforce workers’ rights so as not to be held accountable for their violations” of the laws in labor.
