Government's top labor lawyer: Workers need to know we'll protect them
CBSN
When former Amazon worker Chris Small recounted his experience leading the first successful union campaign at the online retailer earlier this year, the government's top labor lawyer was listening — and dismayed by what she heard.
"I was frustrated to hear that one of the greatest obstacles he faced was convincing his scared co-workers" that they would not lose their jobs if they joined the effort to unionize workers at an Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, New York, Jennifer Abruzzo, general counsel at the National Labor Relations Board, told CBS MoneyWatch. "We need to do a better job of educating workers that they cannot be retaliated against by their employers for engaging in union activities."
Although few Americans may have heard of Abruzzo, she is playing an instrumental role in mediating the ever-shifting balance of power between millions of worker and their employers. As the top lawyer at the NLRB — an independent federal agency charged with enforcing the nation's labor laws, including the right of private workers to join a union — she has moved quickly to tilt that balance back toward employees.
