US labor board prosecutors are trying to compel Amazon.com Inc. to collectively bargain with its San Francisco warehouse workers, boosting the Teamsters union’s efforts to organize the e-retail giant.

In a complaint issued Monday, a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board alleged the company violated federal law by refusing to negotiate after employees at a San Francisco warehouse signed up with the Teamsters last fall. The complaint viewed by Bloomberg News seeks an order requiring the company to recognize and bargain in good faith with the union, potentially creating a new labor foothold at a company that has overcome most past organizing efforts.In an emailed statement, Amazon said it looked forward to showing the case had no merit. “This complaint is predicated on a baseless legal theory which undermines employee rights, disregards decades of NLRB practice, and ignores Supreme Court precedent,” spokesperson Eileen Hards said. The NLRB declined to comment.

Complaints issued by NLRB regional directors are considered by agency judges, whose rulings can be appealed to labor board members in Washington, and from there into federal court. In 2023, the agency’s prosecutors issued a complaint accusing Amazon of illegally refusing to collectively bargain at the New York City warehouse where employees won a landmark unionization election the prior year; the dispute remains tied up in litigation, and the NLRB’s proceedings in that case were put on hold after the company filed a lawsuit alleging the agency’s structure is unconstitutional.The California complaint was issued on behalf of President Donald Trump’s acting NLRB general counsel William Cowen, who has the authority to dictate what cases the agency’s prosecutors do or don’t pursue. But the case’s future is uncertain. Trump’s nominee to be the agency’s permanent general counsel, Crystal Carey, is a partner at a leading law firm that has been representing employers such as Amazon, as well as Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. and SpaceX, in labor disputes. The Teamsters, while hailing some of Trump labor nominees, have denounced his choice of Carey, who if confirmed would have the opportunity to withdraw, amend or settle cases brought by her predecessors.

The San Francisco complaint rests on an NLRB precedent created during Joe Biden’s administration, in a 2023 ruling against a unit of the Mexican cement maker Cemex SAB. Under the Cemex standard, if a union signs up the majority of a workforce, the employer can either recognize the labor group, or petition the government to hold an election testing workers’ support. The complaint alleges Amazon did neither at the San Francisco warehouse.

“This groundbreaking decision paves the way for more Amazon workers to organize with the Teamsters across the country,” the union’s president Sean O’Brien said in an emailed statement.

If the case reaches the NLRB members in Washington, it could be a chance for the agency to revisit or reverse the Cemex precedent once Trump installs a Republican majority there. The board currently lacks the quorum required to rule on cases, following Trump’s January firing of Democratic member Gwynne Wilcox. In a message firing Wilcox as well as Biden’s NLRB general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, Trump said he lacked confidence they would treat employers fairly. A federal district court judge ruled Wilcox’s termination was illegal, but an order this month from Chief Justice John Roberts allows Trump to temporarily oust her while the litigation over her case continues.

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