Washington Post: "Defanged" NLRB

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From the Washington Post

Amazon and SpaceX aim to defang the federal labor board. Trump may help.

More than two dozen corporations are pursuing legal action against the agency that protects labor organizing as Trump weighs challenging its legal structure by firing Democratic board members.

By Caroline O'Donovan
and
Lauren Kaori Gurley
November 21, 2024 at 8:30 a.m. EST

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Trump advisers have separately discussed taking the exceptional step of firing Democratic members of the five-person labor board, according to two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions.
Taken together, the moves threaten to weaken or even eliminate an agency that under the Biden administration has taken a more active role in safeguarding unions and expanding their opportunities, but has been criticized by corporations for bias in favor of unions and legal overreach.







federal agencies.
joked this summer in a conversation with Trump on the social media platform X about firing striking workers.
SpaceX, Musk and a spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Amazon declined to comment. Its founder, Jeff Bezos, owns The Washington Post.
The NLRB oversees unionization votes by workers and adjudicates allegations of illegal union busting. It has a staff of administrative law judges and regional directors that monitor and investigate activity in its purview, under the supervision of its five board members in D.C.


About 15,000 claims were filed with the NLRB in the fiscal year that ended in September, including by unions and employers, agency data shows. About 40 percent resulted in settlements or board rulings.



Abruzzo is viewed as one of the most union-friendly people to serve in her role. Trump is widely expected to fire her, just as Biden fired
If the NLRB loses much or all its power, workers would be at higher risk for retaliation from employers, said attorney Dan Ocampo with the nonprofit National Employment Law Project.

The flood of legal challenges against the NLRB began when SpaceX sued the board in January. The suit followed a board complaint alleging that SpaceX illegally retaliated against employees who claimed they had been wrongfully fired in 2022 for signing a letter accusing its chief executive, Musk, of bullying and intimidation.

The company claims that the law that created the NLRB in 1935 improperly prevents the president from removing its staff, including board members and judges, and gives officials an unconstitutional mix of judicial, executive and legislative powers.




Federal agencies structured similarly to the NLRB are increasingly being targeted by lawsuits, legal scholars say, because recent rulingsby the conservative-dominated high court suggest it is willing to remove cornerstones of the administrative state.







The union has since June led the effort to unionize Amazon and said it will rely on actions such as strikes and walkouts rather than filing charges or holding union elections under the jurisdiction of the NLRB.


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By Caroline O'Donovan
Caroline O'Donovan covers Amazon for the tech team. Before joining The Washington Post, she covered tech and labor for BuzzFeed News. follow on X ceodonovan
By Lauren Kaori Gurley
Lauren Kaori Gurley is the labor reporter for The Washington Post. She previously covered labor and tech for Vice for three years. follow on X @laurenkgurley

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