Scoop: US labor board prosecutors are backing off from a case against Amazon in Georgia, defusing another “Who’s the boss?” dispute over the company's responsibility for subcontracted staff www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

"This is the first case litigated after Cemex alleging the commission of an unfair labor practice simply because the employer did not file an RM-petition and declined to recognize the union upon the presentation of a demand for recognition," judge wrote www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Scoop: NLRB judge rules Amazon must collectively bargain with @teamsters.bsky.social union at a warehouse in San Francisco. Ruling applies the Biden-era Cemex precedent, which Trump labor board appointees could overturn in this case www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Excited to be back for #IRE26. Eager to talk journalism (and/or working at @Bloomberg) with others here. And would love to see folks at our FOIA panel Friday @suzykhimm.bsky.social & Kate Martin with on getting to documents via people, and vice versa...

Excited to be back for #IRE26. Eager to talk journalism (and/or working at @Bloomberg) with others here. And would love to see folks at our FOIA panel Friday @suzykhimm.bsky.social & Kate Martin with on getting to documents via people, and vice versa...

Teamsters President Sean O'Brien was re-elected for another 5 year term after no opponent garnered enough support to get on the ballot, the union announces. "The Teamsters is now the most aggressive, effective, and respected labor union on Earth," O'Brien says in statement.

Scoop: In unanimous bipartisan ruling, NLRB rejects Amazon's challenge to landmark Whole Foods unionization vote in Philly www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Control freaks and sham contracting: Amazing reporting by @josheidelson.bsky.social on how Amazon, deliverer of 9 billion items daily, escapes responsibility for employment while controlling every aspect of their work. urldefense.com/v3/__https:/...

"Did you direct any regional staff to pursue a settlement with Amazon in Palmdale, California?" @ilhanmn.bsky.social asked at US House committee hearing today (bloomberg.com/news/article...). "Yes, that is my job," NLRB GC Crystal Carey answered.

New: Citing our reporting, lawmakers today grilled Trump’s NLRB general counsel over her deal to settle a landmark case against Amazon, her former client www.bloomberg.com/news/article... Gift link to that Businessweek investigation: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Amazon tells vendors drivers should “help validate the customer’s investment by greeting them with a smile, being enthusiastic & thanking the customer for choosing Amazon” and also should be careful online to “avoid the mistaken impression that they work for Amazon” www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Amazon requires delivery vendors to adhere not only to its existing policies but also to whatever future ones Amazon imposes, which would then become “a part of your company’s contract with Amazon as if they were written in their entirety in this Agreement” www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Amazon creates leaderboards for each of its delivery vendors, ranking each of their subcontracted drivers bloomberg.com/news/feature... Amazon’s systems also use bright yellow, orange or red to mark “areas where a driver has spent excessive amounts of time,” records we reviewed show

Amazon requires its contract drivers be “neat and clean", including “prevention of unpleasant breath or body odor, modest perfume/cologne, & clean teeth, face/ears, fingernails & hair.” It says each driver "represents Amazon to our customers," records show www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Amazon told prospective "delivery service partners" - vendors it hires to haul packages - to be careful what they call their company, because “Amazon may require you to change” any name it finds offensive or too close to its own lingo— such as using the word “Smile” www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Morgan Lewis - the firm where Trump NLRB GC Crystal Carey was a partner who’d personally represented Amazon- is currently defending Amazon in a Cali lawsuit involving some of the same issues, at the same Amazon vendor, as the big NLRB case Carey’s pushing to settle www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

New Businessweek feature: A landmark case was unearthing new revelations about Amazon's intimate, intensive regulation of drivers it claims aren't its employees. Then Trump put Amazon's former lawyer in charge www.bloomberg.com/news/feature... Based on 1000s of pages of records and 50+ interviews

"the agency’s decisions meant businesses could pocket millions they’d already agreed to refund to consumers, and avoid costly monitoring & compliance. Companies also may have escaped penalties from ongoing lawsuits that alleged billions of dollars in consumer harm" www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

I know every profession has its weird lingo, but I can't help but think there's a better term than "unpublished decision" for a type of decision that is, um, published

“One of the lies people tell is, ‘I don’t like to say I told you so.’ It is in fact one of the few pleasures that improve with age. I don’t have to take a pill before, during or after I do it,” Barney Frank told me at the start of a 2013 interview www.salon.com/2013/10/15/b...

"The most generous package would award him 1 billion restricted shares if SpaceX’s market capitalization exceeds $7.5 trillion... But SpaceX must have first established a permanent human colony on Mars, with at least 1 million people" www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

“Before saying hello, I say: ‘Volume growth, positive mix, consistent growth margin expansion for profit growth in hard currency’” www.bloomberg.com/news/feature... @matthewboyle.bsky.social

US district court judge rules "removal provisions governing the NLRB’s adjudicatory structure are unconstitutional and that the administrative adjudication of the legal claims & remedies at issue violates the 7th Amendment": www.bloomberglaw.com/public/deskt... news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/j...

The new 22-person bargaining unit described in this New York Times story as part of "a string of recent micro-unionizing efforts" is actually larger than the median, according to government data www.nytimes.com/2026/05/09/n... In FY 2025, the median was 20 workers www.nlrb.gov/reports/nlrb...

The new 22-person bargaining unit described in this New York Times story as part of "a string of recent micro-unionizing efforts" is actually larger than the median, according to government data www.nytimes.com/2026/05/09/n... In FY 2025, the median was 20 workers www.nlrb.gov/reports/nlrb...

turning 42 today #YOLO

“'For me to emerge as a national leader,' he says, voters 'have to see me as a traitor to my class'” www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Joined Michigan's All Things Considered on to discuss this scoop (www.bloomberg.com/news/article...) on the collapse of Chipotle's sole US union: www.wkar.org/wkar-news/20...

Scoop: The Teamsters union has formally disclaimed interest in representing staff at the Michigan Chipotle that unionized in 2022, forfeiting the sole union foothold at the company after three years without winning a contract www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Senators Warren and Blumenthal just wrote to NLRB general counsel asking about agency's abandoning its big SpaceX case (www.bloomberg.com/news/article...). Says they want "to determine if the decision to drop the case may have been based on political considerations" ct.symplicity.com/t/wrn/95342a...

one time I reported that someone had rolled their eyes at something during our interview; before publishing, I included that in a fact-checking email in case they wanted to dispute whether their eyes in fact rolled

LATE NIGHT JOINT EMPLOYER NEWS!!!

Scoop: Trump's NLRB general counsel is proposing a settlement defusing one of the agency's most consequential Amazon cases, averting a potential landmark ruling on the company's responsibility for contract drivers it claims not to employ www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

one time I reported that someone had rolled their eyes at something during our interview; before publishing, I included that in a fact-checking email in case they wanted to dispute whether their eyes in fact rolled

Scoop: Starbucks union has filed new labor board case accusing company of negotiating in bad faith in the contract talks that resumed this week – a rocky start to the first negotiations in a year www.bloomberg.com/news/article... Union alleges Starbucks backtracked on tentative agreements

“Trump has expressed frustration and disappointment with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer — and is pondering making additional changes to his Cabinet” www.politico.com/news/2026/04...

As long expected, President Trump has named NLRB member James Murphy as the labor board's chairman, the agency just announced. In statement, Murphy says he looks forward to working with colleagues "to protect and advance the rights of American workers."

Scoop: Amazon is offering $1,000 prizes for subcontracted delivery drivers who share stories about why they love their jobs www.bloomberg.com/news/article... Drivers are asked to consent to having their words and image “used by Amazon in external and internal communications”

“‘Unfortunately, he used some of his great leadership to abuse women and children — it’s really awful,’ [Dolores] Huerta said.” www.nytimes.com/2026/03/18/u...

Scoop: Atlassian told judge it had the right to fire an engineer because she suggested its billionaire CEO is a "rich jerk" www.bloomberg.com/news/article... NLRB alleges she was fired for repeatedly speaking up about workplace issues, in the spirit of Atlassian's own “No Bullshit” philosophy

Breaking: Starbucks and its union are working to revive long-stalled contract negotiations, @sbworkersunited.org says. The union sent the company a new comprehensive contract proposal last month, and the two sides are discussing how to get back to the table: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Scoop: REI has told staff it plans to cut pay for future hires and reduce benefits for current staff. REI has also told its union, UFCW, that it plans to unilaterally impose terms from its final offer at recently-unionized stores. Union says that's illegal www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

"WE WILL NOT unlawfully surveil or interrogate you regarding distribution of union materials in non-work areas...during non-work time," says notice Mercedes will be required to distribute. "WE WILL NOT threaten you with the closure and/or relocation..." www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Scoop: Mercedes has settled US labor board case over alleged union-busting in the lead-up to 2024 vote in Alabama. Mercedes will make promises including not threatening to move to Mexico. NLRB general counsel office approved settlement despite objections of the UAW www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Scoop: Trump Labor Dept. "will give greater scrutiny to employers whose market power permits them to dominate their respective labor markets in ways that can facilitate employment-law violations," labor solicitor Jonathan Berry told staff in a memo today www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Scoop–CFPB just fired employee alexisgoldstein.bsky.social for allegedly disrupting &documenting a meeting a year ago between CFPB & DOGE www.bloomberg.com/news/article... She says she's being retaliated against after asking DOGE visitors who they were & if they'd completed training on handling info

Couldn’t have imagined this is where this story would land back in 2022.

"The legal system doesn’t feel like it’s working like it’s supposed to, and it doesn’t feel like it’s protecting workers the way it's supposed to… I think that this is a sign of worse things to come in declawing the NLRB" www.bloomberg.com/news/article... Context: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Scoop: The US labor board is giving up oversight over Elon Musk's SpaceX, and abandoning its yearslong case over the firing of engineers behind an open letter that criticized Musk www.bloomberg.com/news/article... NLRB prosecutors now say NMB, not NLRB, has jurisdiction over SpaceX