A Manhattan-based appeals court threw out a 2022 order Wednesday requiring Amazon to hold back from firing pro-union employees, according to court filings, after the judges on the panel previously expressed concerns about the specificity of the order.
The 2022 order was spurred by the 2020 termination of a union organizer at Amazon’s JFK8 warehouse ... [+]
A three-judge panel in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the 2022 decision did not sufficiently explain why the order was necessary, saying the district court “abused its discretion in issuing the cease-and-desist order.”
U.S. District Judge Diane Gujarati issued the order in November 2022, which required Amazon to cease retaliation, including terminating, against pro-union employees, in response to the 2020 firing of Gerald Bryson, an Amazon union organizer who was terminated after a protest of alleged unsafe COVID-19 protocols in Amazon’s JFK8 Staten Island warehouse.
Gujarati’s decision, brought by a petition from the National Labor Relations Board, partially granted and denied the request, as Bryson was not reinstated.
Representatives for Amazon and the National Labor Relations Board did not immediately respond to Forbes’ requests for comment.
The JFK8 Amazon warehouse became the first U.S. Amazon facility to unionize in April 2022, which Amazon has since tried, and failed, to overturn. The NLRB accused Amazon of illegally firing Bryson in December 2020, though the retail giant claimed it fired him for making vulgar comments during the COVID-19 protocol protest. A judge ordered Bryson be reinstated and receive lost wages shortly after the warehouse unionized in 2022, but Amazon appealed the decision—which was upheld by Gujarati in November 2022. This past November, the appeals court judges expressed concerns regarding the specificity of the order, per Reuters.
The Amazon Labor Union formally affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters last week, according to a June 5 press release. Amazon union members will vote on ratification with the Teamsters within “the coming weeks,” the Teamsters said.
Amazon’s first U.S. labor union moves to affiliate with Teamsters (CNBC)
Judge orders Amazon to reinstate fired worker, pay lost wages (The Washington Post)
Amazon’s first U.S. union faces an uphill battle after historic win at Staten Island warehouse (CNBC)
Inside an alleged Amazon union-busting campaign in Kentucky: 'They want to scare us' (ABC News)
Amazon Warehouse Union Victory Upheld: Here’s What It Means Organizing Efforts Across The Company (Forbes)