AMAZON, US grocery chain Trader Joe’s and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, a defence, space craft and satellite manufacturing company — three companies with records of anti-union activity and which face accusations of labour law violations — are attempting to have the entire US system by which workers can seek to secure union rights ruled unconstitutional.

The National Labour Relations Board (NLRB), while cumbersome and subject to abuse by anti-union employers, was set up by the 1935 Wagner Act. This was amended in 1947 through the Taft-Hartley Act (which weakened the law) and in 1959 through the Landrum-Griffin Act.

The main functions of the NLRB are to decide, when petitioned by employees, if an appropriate bargaining unit of employees exists for collective bargaining; to determine by secret-ballot elections (conducted by the NLRB) whether the employees in a business or industry wish to be represented by labour unions; and to prevent or correct unfair labour practices by employers and unions. The US president appoints the five board members and the board’s general counsel.