Striking UAW workers walk the picket line outside the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Mich. on Sept. 16, 2023. (Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)
President Donald Trump ousted National Labor Relations Board Member Gwynne Wilcox on Monday in an unprecedented move that paralyzes the board while teeing up a constitutional challenge that could further weaken it.
With Wilcox gone, the five-seat board now has just two members and lacks the necessary quorum to hear cases on alleged unfair labor practices in the private sector (although functions lower down in the agency may continue).
NLRB members are supposed to be shielded from presidential removal, and Wilcox — a Biden appointee and one of two Democratic members — says she plans to challenge her removal. NLRB members may only be fired for neglect or malfeasance, and Wilcox was supposed to serve until 2028. But as Bloomberg reported, Trump ally Elon Musk’s SpaceX has argued that the restriction on firing NLRB members is unconstitutional as part of a broad assault on the board by businesses including Starbucks, Amazon and Trader Joe’s.
Trump also fired NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, which was expected and in line with presidential transitions. The general counsel runs the enforcement arm of the agency, and Abruzzo — who spent her career at the agency — was one of the fiercest advocates for workers in Biden’s administration. She pushed for banning mandatory anti-union “captive audience” meetings, ending noncompete agreements and expanding workers’ freedom of speech at work.
“These moves will make it easier for bosses to violate the law and trample on workers’ legal rights on the job and fundamental freedom to organize,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler wrote in a statement decrying the firings.
In Trump’s first term, the NLRB general counsel was Peter Robb, who served as President Ronald Reagan’s lead counsel during the air traffic controllers’ strike in 1981, which was as a momentous defeat for organized labor.
Attorney Matt Bruenig, who writes a newsletter following the NLRB, published the termination letter sent to Wilcox and NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo. The letter cites a part of the Constitution that conservatives believe empowers the president to remove NLRB board members. Bruenig also notes that the letter refers to both of them as board “members” and “commissioners” even though Abruzzo was the general counsel.
Trump has sent somewhat mixed messages on labor in his second term. His pick for labor secretary, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, was celebrated by the Teamsters and other unions.
Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com.
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