{"id":36246,"date":"2024-09-18T12:12:35","date_gmt":"2024-09-18T19:12:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=36246"},"modified":"2024-09-18T12:12:36","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T19:12:36","slug":"alarm-as-trump-judge-sides-with-company-claiming-nlrb-is-unconstitutional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/09\/18\/alarm-as-trump-judge-sides-with-company-claiming-nlrb-is-unconstitutional\/","title":{"rendered":"Alarm as Trump Judge Sides With Company Claiming NLRB Is Unconstitutional"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"NLRB\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The National Labor Relations Board headquarters are seen at 1099 14th Street N.W. in Washington, D.C. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Photo: Geraldshields11\/WikiMedia Commons\/CC BY-SA 3.0)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is yet another move by a Trump-appointed judge in favor of wealthy corporations.”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

JULIA CONLEY<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sep 17, 2024 (CommonDreams.org)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Labor Relations Board was prevented on Tuesday from moving forward with an unfair labor practices case against the social services tech company Findhelp, after a Trump-appointed judge granted the Texas-based firm’s request for a temporary injunction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Northern District of Texas, U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman ruled<\/a><\/strong>in favor of Findhelp’s claim that administrative law judges at the NLRB have unconstitutional protections from being dismissed by the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The argument has been used by other large companies including billionaire Elon Musk’s aerospace firm SpaceX <\/a>and a subsidiary of the fossil fuel giant Energy Transfer<\/a>, which have both also obtained preliminary injunctions from Trump appointees in Texas, shielding them from labor rights cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the SpaceX case, the NLRB argued<\/a> that “granting an injunction would encourage any employer or labor union unhappy with scrutiny of their labor practices to seek preliminary injunctions against NLRB proceedings.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starbucks<\/a>, Amazon<\/a>, and Trader Joe’s<\/a> have also joined the corporate effort to strip the NLRB of its ability to carry out its duties as a federal agency tasked with protecting workers from unfair labor practices. The companies have claimed<\/a> that the agency’s structure, which was established by the New Deal’s National Labor Relations Act nearly a century ago, violates the president’s “removal powers” under Article II of the U.S. Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Prior to the New Deal, judges claimed things like overtime and child labor rules were unconstitutional,” said journalist Ryan Grim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/x.com\/ryangrim\/status\/1836022853486928016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1836022853486928016%7Ctwgr%5E2ef315d3bfa372ee29b5c357b7f60672c8131374%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fnlrb-cases<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawyers for the NLRB argued in the Findhelp case that the company is not entitled to relief from a court until the president tries to remove the administrative law judge assigned to Findhelp’s case, but Pittman said<\/a> he was “unpersuaded by the NLRB’s arguments.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pittman cited a precedent established by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which ruled in 2022 that removal protections for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s judges were unconstitutional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This month, two federal judges\u2014one appointed<\/a> by former President Barack Obama and one <\/a>by President Joe Biden\u2014have rejected other corporate challenges claiming the NLRB is unconstitutionally structured, teeing up a potential U.S. Supreme Court case to settle the matter in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday’s ruling comes 18 months after the Office and Professional Employees International Union filed a complaint<\/a> with the NLRB, saying Findhelp had illegally fired and coerced workers who were involved in organizing their workplace. The employees had voted 95-52 in favor of joining the union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Pittman’s injunction in place, an NLRB administrative hearing on whether Findhelp unlawfully fired organizers and surveilled employees will not move forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The NLRB protects Americans’ right to unionize, fight unjust firings, and collectively bargain for higher wages,”\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0the U.S. Congressional Progressive Caucus. “Without it, employers can ignore labor laws and deprive workers of their rights. This is yet another move by a Trump-appointed judge in favor of wealthy corporations.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JULIA CONLEY<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Julia Conley is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The National Labor Relations Board headquarters are seen at 1099 14th Street N.W. in Washington, D.C.  (Photo: Geraldshields11\/WikiMedia Commons\/CC BY-SA 3.0) “This is yet another move by a Trump-appointed judge in favor of wealthy corporations.” JULIA CONLEY Sep 17, 2024 (CommonDreams.org) The National Labor Relations Board was prevented on Tuesday… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36246"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36246"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36247,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36246\/revisions\/36247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}