For Biden’s NLRB, a public, profanity-laced tirade against a colleague isn’t sufficient cause for firing — if a union says so.
For Biden’s NLRB, a public, profanity-laced tirade against a colleague isn’t sufficient cause for firing — if a union says so.
W orkers, beware. Labor unions now have the green light to abuse you with demeaning, insulting, and offensive language — the kind of explicit comments that would normally get someone fired. It’s the latest proof that in the Biden administration, nothing is out of bounds when it comes to forcing workers into unions.
New York City, which has a reputation for explicit language, is at the center of this story. On January 29, a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) judge issued an opinion forcing Amazon to rehire a worker the company had previously fired at the company’s Staten Island warehouse. Amazon fired the worker in 2020 after he launched a vulgar tirade against a coworker.
How bad was the tirade? Using a bullhorn so everyone could hear, he called his coworker a “gutter b****,” a “crackhead a**,” a “crack ho,” and the “queen of the slums” — to name just a few of the insults he lobbed during his loud and lengthy rant.
The whole episode was live-streamed, sparking outrage far and wide. So Amazon did the right thing: It fired the abusive employee. That’s the obvious response for any company that wants to protect its workers. No one should be subjected to such extreme verbal assaults from their coworkers. Who wants to work in an environment where they can be called a “gutter b****” without consequence?
That should have been the end of the story, but it was just the beginning. Union allies quickly filed charges against the company. But the real development came nearly two years later — after the Biden administration had taken power. That’s when the NLRB filed a lawsuit for an injunction against Amazon.
Republican leaders at the House and Senate labor committees made it clear that the timing was intentional. In a letter to the NLRB’s general counsel, they wrote that this action was taken “a week before a union election” at the warehouse. They said it was clearly “an attempt to influence unduly the outcome of the election.” Sure enough, the union narrowly won.
Yet while the timing was bad enough, the NLRB’s argument was worse. It said the fired aggressor was within his rights when he called his female coworker vile and offensive names. Why? Because he was participating in a union protest, and, apparently, anything goes when the union’s involved. The NLRB got its way, and now, more than two years later, Amazon is being forced to reinstate the abusive worker — and even give him back pay.
The NLRB knows exactly what it’s doing. Since assuming office, President Biden has packed the board with union activists and allies, and the results are predictably bad for workers while being good for unions. Biden’s board has repeatedly sent this case back to court in order to get its desired result. A federal judge even called out the NLRB’s “often cavalier and enabling approach” toward the “demeaning misconduct.” But the Biden administration doesn’t seem to care, since unions stand to benefit.
It didn’t used to be like this. Before the Biden administration, the NLRB refused to protect abusive employees like the one Amazon fired. That was, and is, the right call. Workers have a right to unionize, but they also have right to be free from workplace bullying — including by the unions who want to represent them. The Biden administration, however, through the NLRB, is actively condoning attacks on workers.
Workers’ rights are more important than union demands. In New York City and everywhere else, workers deserve better than being called a “gutter b****” or worse in front of their colleagues. They deserve a safe and respectful workplace — not one where the union can get away with saying anything to anyone. Alas, what workers need is the last thing that unions and their allies in the Biden administration want.