Here are some reminders of the first Trump Administration Anti-Labor NLRB rulings:
- GC 19-01 clarified that in cases where the union claims mere negligence based on having lost track, misplaced, or otherwise forgotten about a grievance, (regardless of whether the union committed to pursue it), the union should be required to “show the existence of established, reasonable procedures or systems in place to track grievances, without which, their defense should ordinarily fail.” In other words, a digital record and tracking system.
- The NLRB Republican majority eased the legal restrictions and allowed an employer to cease bargaining prior to the expiration of the CBA and state that it will remove the union when the contract ends.
- NLRB made the significant ruling that companies generally can prohibit employees from encouraging coworkers to support unionization during working time.
Here are Trump’s latest NLRB executive orders since being Inaugurated:
- Fired National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox, leaving the NLRB without enough members to hold companies to account for firing union activists or violating our contracts.
- Fired Jennifer Abruzzo, a former CWA attorney, as the National Labor Relations Board General Counsel.
- Allowed Elon Musk and a group of his employees access to sensitive personnel records for hundreds of thousands of federal workers and taxpayers’ private financial information.
- Illegally cancelled approved union contracts covering federal employees.
- Stripped union protections from groups of workers employed by federal contractors.
On February 3, 2025, the National Labor Relations Board filed a letter with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Space Exploration Technologies Corp. v. NLRB, Consolidated Case No. 24-50627, et al., indicating that it would not address constitutionality arguments raised in SpaceX’s brief. Those arguments were as follows:
- The NLRB’s structure is unconstitutional in that it limits the removal of NLRB Administrative Law Judges and Board Members, and permits Board Members to exercise executive, legislative, and judicial power in the same administrative proceeding.
- The Board’s newly expanded remedies violate employers’ Seventh Amendment right to a trial-by-jury.
The Board’s position follows President Trump’s firing of Board Member Gwynne A. Wilcox, and GC Jennifer Abruzzo which set up a constitutional battle over the President’s removal power under Section 3(a) of the NLRA. That move left the Board without a quorum, which the Board indicated prevents it from reviewing the administrative law Judge recommended findings and orders in the underlying unfair labor practice proceeding at issue in the SpaceX case.
Trump unconstitutionally fires a NLRB board member and a General Counsel…. then the Republican NLRB replacements refuse to rule against SpaceX. As a result of this the AFGE, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) filed suit against the Trump administration, challenging efforts to politicize the civil service through illegal executive orders.
Is your Union ready to meet the challenges of an Anti-Union Administration and NLRB?
- Make sure your union office has the latest Computer Hardware to aid you in storing and retrieving records as efficiently as possible.
- Obtain the fastest internet service you can afford. Slow internet is the enemy of efficiency.
- An Application that automates the Grievance and Arbitration process is mandatory. One that tracks grievances, stores associated records, ensures that they are processed within the correct time constraints, and provides specialized reporting. When the Feds ask you why you don’t have proper records, you can’t use “the dog ate the homework” excuse.
You might see this as a very daunting task. Union Built PC, with over 40 years of Union experience, is ready to assist you:
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