Amazon Refuses to Recognize Whole Foods Union Citing NLRB Purge

Samuel Messidor

Amazon filed an objection on February 3 against the recent union certification vote win by Whole Foods workers in Philadelphia, PA, alleging that Trump’s removal of National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox invalidated the company’s ability to appeal the vote. The objection effectively derails the union vote, which won certification under the NLRB by 130-100 in late January. It became the first Whole Foods location to win—and also the first to hold—an NLRB certification vote since Amazon acquired the company in 2017.

Though the NLRB’s regional directors are empowered to certify unionization elections, Amazon argued that Wilcox’s firing removes the Board’s ability to make decisions—including any appeals that the company may make against regional decisions—because there are not enough members for a quorum.

Trump fired Wilcox earlier this month as part of his purge of federal labor regulation agencies, alleging he was removing “far-left appointees with radical records of upending long-standing labor law.” His firing goes against the long-standing rule that the executive does not have the power to remove Labor Board members through executive order, but rather through a due process which shows dereliction of duty or malfeasance. The firings form part of Trump’s efforts to further centralize power around the Executive Branch, an aspect of reactionization taking place as a response to, and effect of, imperialism’s decomposition.

Labor lawyers and experts cited by monopoly media say the Trump firings and Amazon’s objection together make the NLRB frozen and powerless. The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), under which the Philly Whole Foods workers organize, released a statement to monopoly media saying they fully expected Amazon to refuse to recognize the union, though it is unclear what plans for future struggle the union has.

While Amazon said they respect the results of the vote, their filing tells the opposite story. Amazon has refused to recognize and bargain with the Amazon Labor Union in Staten Island, NY since 2022 when workers there won the first NLRB certification election at a US Amazon location. Despite the NLRB having a quorum and decision-making power, the union was never recognized and eventually joined the Teamsters in the hopes of increasing their bargaining power.

The Board was already powerless to enforce union recognition before Trump’s purge, as the Staten Island case shows, where Amazon delayed recognition and contract negotiation for years through filing repeated objections with the Board. In effect, legal union recognition rests on the company accepting election results freely—or rather, on workers’ ability to force the company to the negotiating table through struggle.

Amazon, as well as Elon Musk’s SpaceX, filed challenges against the constitutionality of the NLRB to federal courts last year, attempting to undermine the legalization of workers’ rights to organize through the courts. For her part, Wilcox has sued, alleging her firing is illegal. According to monopoly media analysts, her suit may itself lead to a Supreme Court ruling on the Board’s constitutionality.

Photo: UFCW union members picket outside of Whole Foods. Retrieved from UFCW Local 1776.

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