Labor News & Commentary August 13, 2024 Teamsters win the right to picket Amazon in Kentucky & more

https://onlabor.org/august-13-2024/

By John Fry

John Fry is a student at Harvard Law School.

In today’s news and commentary, an ALJ rules against the ACLU; Teamsters win the right to picket Amazon in Kentucky; and Illinois’ captive audience ban is being challenged.

An NLRB administrative law judge ruled last week that the ACLU illegally fired an employee for voicing her concerns about the nonprofit’s managers. The ACLU has attracted widespread criticism for the legal positions it has taken throughout the unfair labor practice proceeding, including its argument that forced arbitration clauses should prevent employees from filing ULP charges with the NLRB, even when those employees lack the protection of a union grievance system. While the ACLU asserted that the fired employee’s public criticism of her bosses as “incompetent” and “abusive” was driven by racism, the ALJ found no merit to the nonprofit’s argument.

A federal judge in Kentucky has sided with the Teamsters in their growing battle with Amazon (which Esther has covered), ruling last week that the union had the right to picket outside an Amazon air hub, despite the rules imposed by a local airport board. The Kentucky air hub, a major distribution site for the company’s logistics chain, has been the focus of union organizing efforts for years. In response to these efforts, Amazon has been accused of illegally firing union supporters and prohibiting the display of union signage. Last week’s ruling was against the airport board, not Amazon, holding that no security risk or other rationale could justify the board’s restrictions on picketing along the side of a road, which the court described as First Amendment activity in a public forum.

Illinois’ recent law banning captive audience meetings in the workplace is under fire, as a conservative nonprofit claims the law violates the First Amendment. The nonprofit’s complaint only raises a First Amendment challenge, but similar laws in other states have also been challenged on the theory that the National Labor Relations Act preempts any such state law. The Illinois law, which Luke has covered, broadly prohibits mandatory workplace meetings about “an employer’s position on religious or political matters,” of which anti-union captive audience meetings are the best-known example. The NLRB has long held that Section 8(c) of the NLRA grants employers the right to hold these meetings. While NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo has been asking the Board to change this doctrine, the Biden Board has thus far declined to address the issue.