The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has not been spared the sweeping changes ushered in during the early days of the new Trump administration. The NLRB was established in 1935 for the express purpose of enabling private sector employees to organize in unions and to provide mechanisms to enforce the rights granted to them by statute (through filing unfair practice charges) in the event of employer violations. The Act was later amended to enable employers to file unfair practice charges against unions. During fiscal year 2024, the Board processed 3,287 representation petitions and 21,300 unfair practice charges.
President Trump quickly moved to fire the Board’s General Counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, who previously had been appointed by President Biden. On February 3, 2025 President Trump appointed William B. Cowen as the Board’s Acting General Counsel. Mr. Cowen previously served as the Regional Director in Los Angeles (Region 21) and served as a Board member from January to November 2002. President Trump also designated Board Member Marvin Kaplan as the new Board Chairman. However, at the same time, President Trump fired Board Member Gwynne Wilcox whose term was not scheduled to expire until 2028; an act which is unprecedented and all but certain to be challenged in court. The result of these actions is that the Board is left without a quorum and, therefore, is unable to act upon cases which may appealed to the Board level.
Given the lack of a quorum, the Board issued a statement on its website to inform the public that, pursuant to the Act and supporting regulations, the office of General Counsel’s Field Offices are able to continue functioning by processing representation and unfair practice cases. The statement also states that the General Counsel can continue to seek injunctions and compliance orders for violations of previous orders. However, it is apparent that no business will be conducted at the Board level.
This situation is fluid and there undoubtedly will be further changes forthcoming which may affect the workings of the Board.