US NewsAmazon CEO accused of labor violations amid surging profits

Amazon CEO accused of labor violations amid surging profits

According to cnbc.com, the court found that Amazon's CEO, Andy Jassy, violated labor laws by suggesting that employees would be "less empowered" if they voted for a union.

Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon

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9:37 AM EDT, May 2, 2024

The judge referenced interviews Jassy gave in 2022 to CNBC, Bloomberg, and The New York Times.

The court concluded that CEO Andy Jassy breached federal labor laws by commenting to the media about the company's development of unions.

In an interview with CNBC in April 2022, Jassy claimed that unionizing could result in employees having "fewer rights in the workplace," and things would proceed "much slower" and "more bureaucratic."

CNBC reported that Amazon disagrees with this conclusion and intends to appeal.

Amazon's Performance

Amazon's revenue increased by 13 percent year-over-year, reaching $143.3 billion. This surpassed the market's first-quarter revenue expectations of $142.5 billion.

Amazon projects revenues between $144 and $149 billion for the second quarter, marking a 7 to 11 percent increase. This falls short of analysts' projections of a 12 percent increase to $150.1 billion.

Significant cost-cutting measures, changes in order fulfillment operations, and stabilized cloud expenses partly drove Amazon's profit growth. CEO Andy Jassy has been more disciplined with spending while expanding into profitable services like advertising, cloud computing, Prime membership, and the third-party marketplace.

Since 2022, the company has laid off over 27,000 employees, with reductions continuing into 2024. Amazon laid off hundreds of employees in its health and AWS departments in the first quarter alone.