January 28, 2025 - Washington DC - Trump fires NLRB’s general counsel, Democrat board member. Unprecedented removal of Gwynne Wilcox from the labor board will test the scope of the president’s powers.
Donald Trump has fired a senior official at the top US labor watchdog, triggering a chorus of criticism from unions and in effect paralyzing the body until a replacement is confirmed.
Gwynne Wilcox, a member and former chair of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), described her dismissal as “unprecedented and illegal” and pledged to challenge the move.
Her removal leaves the board with only two members and leaves it without a quorum of three members required to issue decisions, per a 2010 supreme court ruling.
It wasn't a surprise when President Trump fired National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo late Monday. She was a Biden appointee who had used the agency to expand workers' rights.
But Trump went further, also firing Democratic board member Gwynne Wilcox in an unprecedented move that she has vowed to fight in court. Due to existing vacancies, Wilcox's ouster leaves the board with just two members, short of the quorum it needs to adjudicate even routine cases. (The board, when fully staffed, has five members.)
United Federation LEOS-PBA President Charles Chip Strebeck noted "that the decision to fire both NLRB’s general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, and Democrat board member Gwynne Wilcox leaving only 2 NLRB board members is not only unprecedent, but this decision will now leave only 2 acting NLRB Board members which essentially will halt any pending NLRB decisions which leaves it without a quorum of three members required to issue decisions, per a 2010 supreme court ruling". Based on Trumps actions the NLRB is essentially shut down and is now in total chaos".
Hundreds if not thousands of cases are now pending before the NLRB Board waiting for decisions. This not only includes unfair labor charges but pending elections including several pending unfair labor charges & several elections our Union, United Federation have filed and/or are involved in. Based on the above President Trump has essentially taken away the voice and rights of not only our members, but workers everywhere in the country. 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. This is union busting at its best from the top down". noted United Federation LEOS-PBA President Charles Chip Strebeck.
Trump fires one of the newest Board members, which lowers the number of members to three, which no longer meets quorum requirements. If he chooses to not fill any open seats, then no cases will be heard or decided for four years.
Signaling an end to an era at worker-focused agencies
Since their appointments in 2021, Wilcox and Abruzzo had taken broad views of the protections labor law offers workers.
Wilcox, a former union lawyer, wrote that as the first Black woman to serve on the labor board, "I brought a unique perspective that I believe will be lost."
As the agency's prosecutor, Abruzzo worked to remove barriers to organizing, most recently winning a board ruling outlawing "captive audience" meetings, or mandatory meetings at which employers try to dissuade workers from unionizing.
Her approach toward protecting workers' rights and holding employers accountable has raised the ire of many in the corporate world. The NLRB faces more than two dozen lawsuits brought by companies, including SpaceX and Amazon, who say the agency's structure gives it unchecked power to shape and enforce labor law. Space X was founded by Trump adviser and billionaire Elon Musk.
What happens now? What are the repercussions of this?
The firing creates two issues. First is the issue of: Does the president have the power to do this? Second, it basically paralyzes the board because under 2010 Supreme Court precedent, the board can't do business without at least three members. And right now, the board is left with two members. To the extent that this administration is seeking to paralyze an agency that is viewed as friendly to labor—they've now done that.
Even when they do have enough members to do business, whenever that may be, it's not as if the firing was immediately followed by new appointments—in case anyone didn't notice that. So whenever that may be, the board's going to have a huge backlog of work to catch up on and it's going to be tied up in legal challenges.
This is a developing story.
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