Washington, DC – On October 27, the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) General Counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, continued her assault on free speech rights with her complaint against Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. Abruzzo alleges Jassy violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by discussing in media interviews his opinion of the ongoing union effort to organize Amazon facilities. Jassy’s comments clearly fall within the NLRA protected employer speech provisions in Section 8 (c), which states:

The expressing of any views, argument, or opinion, or the dissemination thereof, whether in written, printed, graphic, or visual form, shall not constitute or be evidence of an unfair labor practice under any of the provisions of this subchapter, if such expression contains no threat of reprisal or force or promise of benefit.

The NLRA speech rights are an extension of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.

The following statement can be attributed to CDW Chair Kristen Swearingen:

“The NLRB general counsel Abruzzo is on a crusade to cancel any debate on the pros and cons of unionization and is willing to trample the First Amendment in the process.  Workers have a right to hear from both sides – the union and the employer – on what unionization could mean for them and their work lives, including about the possible disadvantages of a specific union attempting to organizing their workplace or union representation generally. The government should ensure workers are fully informed of their options when deciding the critical question of whether or not they want union representation in the workplace, not try to keep workers in the dark through an unconstitutional attempt to muzzle employers.

“Abruzzo’s attempts to silence CEOs and companies benefits no one but unions hoping to collect more dues.”