Major US corporations threaten to return labor to ‘law of the jungle’

It's apt that they called it the law of the jungle and didn't reference The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

The title of Sinclair’s novel describes the savage nature of Packingtown. Jurgis and his family, hoping for opportunity, are instead thrown into a chaotic world that requires them to constantly struggle in order to survive. Packingtown is an urban jungle: savage, unforgiving, and unrelenting.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

In recent weeks, Elon Musk’s SpaceX as well as Amazon, Starbucks and Trader Joe’s have filed legal papers that advance novel arguments aimed at hobbling and perhaps shutting down the NLRB – the federal agency that enforces labor rights and oversees unionization efforts.

Kate Andrias, a Columbia University law professor, said workers would be hurt if the courts issue a sweeping decision that declares both the NLRB and the National Labor Relations Act unconstitutional.

Some worker advocates have voiced surprise that these companies are seeking to hobble the NLRB when, in their view, the labor board is already too weak, its penalties toothless.

SpaceX, Starbucks, Amazon and Trader Joe’s have put forward three main arguments for holding the NLRB unconstitutional: it penalizes companies without a jury trial, exercises executive powers without the president being free to remove board officials, and violates the separation of powers by exercising executive, legislative and judicial functions.

William B Gould IV, who was chair of the NLRB under President Clinton, said anti-union “tech billionaires” like Musk and Jeff Bezos “have fueled these efforts”.

If the labor board is ruled unconstitutional, workers who feel they were illegally fired or otherwise disciplined for backing a union might file a flood of lawsuits in federal courts.

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