A lawyer for the union says the company is aligning itself with right-wing ideologues who want to destroy the regulatory state.
Trader Joeās is facing a litany of union-busting charges before the National Labor Relations Board. The agencyās prosecutors have accused the company of illegally retaliating against workers, firing a union supporter and spreading false information in an effort to chill an organizing campaign.
But in a hearing last Tuesday, the grocerās attorney briefly summarized a sweeping defense it intends to mount against the charges: The labor board itself, which was created during the New Deal and has refereed private-sector collective bargaining for nearly 90 years, is āunconstitutional.ā
The argument would appear to fit inside a broader conservative effort to dismantle the regulatory state, which has taken aim at agencies tasked with enforcing laws to protect workers, consumers and the environment.
The exchange, a transcript of which HuffPost obtained through a public records request, came at the start of a trial to determine whether Trader Joeās violated workersā rights. Trader Joeāsā attorney, Christopher Murphy of the law firm Morgan Lewis, informed the judge, Charles Muhl, that there was āone final thingā the grocery chain wanted to add to its defense before proceedings began.
I donāt think the politicians ever actually believed what they were saying. Itās dog whistles and straight up lies all the way downā¦.
Some regular Joeās on the street might ābelieveā in the ideals of small government but itās far easier to say things like family values and small government, words that without policy donāt actually mean anything.