Amazon.com announced on Friday that it will ask a U.S. appeals court to prevent the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from making a ruling on whether the company must negotiate with a union at a New York City warehouse, while Amazon continues to challenge the NLRB’s structure.
In a notice of appeal filed in San Antonio, Texas, Amazon argued that U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez’s delay in deciding on a temporary injunction request amounted to a “constructive denial,” which the company believes is subject to review by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
Amazon filed for a preliminary injunction on September 10, shortly after it sued the NLRB. Rodriguez, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush, held a hearing on the matter earlier this week.
The NLRB is currently considering allegations that Amazon has unlawfully refused to bargain with a union representing workers at the JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island, the first Amazon facility in the company’s history to successfully unionize. In August, the board upheld the results of the 2022 union election at JFK8, dismissing Amazon’s claims that the election was tainted by demonstrations and alleged bias by board officials overseeing the vote.
Amazon has faced numerous NLRB complaints accusing the company of illegal union-busting activities, such as firing union supporters, making threats, and conducting mandatory anti-union meetings. The company has consistently denied these allegations.
Amazon’s legal team stated that the final brief in the JFK8 case was due on Friday, and the NLRB could issue a ruling as early as Monday. Amazon argued that once the NLRB makes its decision, the damage would be irreversible, which is the harm the company seeks to prevent through its appeal.
An NLRB spokesperson declined to comment on the case. The board has requested that Rodriguez transfer Amazon’s lawsuit to the Eastern District of New York, which has jurisdiction over the Staten Island warehouse at the center of the dispute.
This lawsuit is one of about 20 pending cases across the country challenging the constitutionality of the NLRB’s in-house enforcement processes. Companies, including Amazon, are seeking to block administrative cases from proceeding before the board.
SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, has similarly requested that the 5th Circuit review what it calls the “constructive denial” of an injunction by a judge in Texas in one of two lawsuits it has filed against the NLRB. Other federal judges in Texas, however, have granted temporary injunctions in similar cases, while courts in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Detroit, and Connecticut have rejected comparable arguments brought by businesses.
The case is Amazon.com Services v. NLRB, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, No. 5:24-cv-01000.
