A lawyer for the union says the company is aligning itself with right-wing ideologues who want to destroy the regulatory state.
Trader Joe’s is facing a litany of union-busting charges before the National Labor Relations Board. The agency’s prosecutors have accused the company of illegally retaliating against workers, firing a union supporter and spreading false information in an effort to chill an organizing campaign.
But in a hearing last Tuesday, the grocer’s attorney briefly summarized a sweeping defense it intends to mount against the charges: The labor board itself, which was created during the New Deal and has refereed private-sector collective bargaining for nearly 90 years, is “unconstitutional.”
The argument would appear to fit inside a broader conservative effort to dismantle the regulatory state, which has taken aim at agencies tasked with enforcing laws to protect workers, consumers and the environment.
The exchange, a transcript of which HuffPost obtained through a public records request, came at the start of a trial to determine whether Trader Joe’s violated workers’ rights. Trader Joe’s’ attorney, Christopher Murphy of the law firm Morgan Lewis, informed the judge, Charles Muhl, that there was “one final thing” the grocery chain wanted to add to its defense before proceedings began.
Republicans won’t be happy until the only regulations are on who you can love, what you can read, where you can (and are required to) worship and how you can dress.
It’s astounding. The original GOP was about small government and personal freedoms. Now, they want government involved in restricting those personal freedoms and have added a new layer of corporate protectionism.
I don’t think the politicians ever actually believed what they were saying. It’s dog whistles and straight up lies all the way down….
Some regular Joe’s on the street might “believe” in the ideals of small government but it’s far easier to say things like family values and small government, words that without policy don’t actually mean anything.
Isn’t trader Joe’s woke? Thought they were all on board with progressivism? Not American, only vaguely aware of their reputation.
There are no “woke” companies in America. Just one’s who believe that messaging and coming off that way would be financially lucrative. At the end of the day, they’re still companies in a capitalist country, and are just chasing the capital.
Patagonia is based in the US isn’t it?
The company which used forced Uyghur labor and other sweatshops?
IF there’s any contenders for “woke” “company”, it’ll be a workers coop. All other companies run on exploitation.
Lol wow. TJ’s just moved themselves from my “avoid if possible” list to my “do not patronize ever” list.
Anyone else know where I can get tempeh for cheap?
