Just a week after his inauguration to a second term as U.S. President, Donald Trump sent an encouraging signal to National Right to Work Committee members and the many other Americans who share their view that unionism should always be fully voluntary.
On the evening of January 27, Mr. Trump became the first President ever to dismiss a sitting National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) member for failing to even-handedly protect employees’ statutory rights under the National Labor Relations Act.
Former New York union lawyer Gwynne Wilcox, the rabidly anti-Right to Work Biden appointee dismissed by Mr. Trump that evening, has legally challenged her dismissal. But on May 22, her challenge was dealt a severe setback when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to order her reinstatement while the case is pending.
A few weeks prior to Mr. Trump’s inauguration, strong opposition from Right to Work supporters had already helped in December 2024 defeat then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s attempt to secure another term for forced-unionism zealot Lauren McFerran, whom President Biden had elevated to the chairmanship.
With the Wilcox firing and Ms. McFerran’s departure, there are no longer enough Biden appointees left for the NLRB to continue to issue anti-worker rulings. The NLRB requires at least three board members to issue decisions.
With only Republican Marvin Kaplan and Democrat David Prouty now remaining, the NLRB cannot begin the critical work of repealing the destructive decisions issued by Biden appointees until sound nominees are confirmed.
Mr. Trump nominated Crystal Carey, an attorney with a pro-Right to Work record, to serve as the NLRB’s chief prosecutor back in February, yet she isn’t expected to receive a vote in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee until September at the earliest. On July 17, the President nominated attorneys Scott Mayer and James Murphy for two open NLRB seats. At Newsletter press time, Right to Work staffers were still reviewing these nominees’ records.
HELP Committee approval is only a precursor to confirmation on the Senate floor, which will require additional time.
One reason for the delay for Ms. Carey appears to be anti-Right to Work Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). Because of the HELP Committee’s 12-11 partisan split, he can team up with Big Labor Democrats to tank any nomination he doesn’t like.
Mr. Hawley grilled Ms. Carey at a July 16 Senate hearing because she said she is willing to rethink anti-worker Biden board decisions. “I’m pretty concerned about your record,” Mr. Hawley said.
“Josh Hawley and his Big Labor backers would prefer that Crystal Carey leave intact all the pro-union boss decisions issued by the Biden NLRB,” said Committee Vice President Greg Mourad.
“Ms. Carey stood firm at the hearing, insisting she would prosecute cases based on the law, not the Biden board’s distortions of the law.
“The Senate should quickly confirm Ms. Carey, and it should work with the President to give the board a functioning majority that will overturn the Biden NLRB’s disastrous rulings.”
The first Trump NLRB reformed the agency’s “blocking charge” policy, so that unions could no longer halt union decertifications simply by accusing employers of unfair labor practices.
The 2020 “election protection rule” simply upheld workers’ right to remove an unwanted union guaranteed to them by the National Labor Relations Act.
But the Biden NLRB first undermined and then overturned the rule, replacing it with one that brought back blocking charges.
Perhaps the most damaging step the Biden NLRB took was its 2023 Cemex decision, which handed Big Labor sweeping power to impose itself on workers without their ever being allowed to vote in a secret-ballot election.
The Biden NLRB began issuing such “Cemex bargaining orders” in June 2024, when it demanded that Red Rocks Casino bargain with a union that claimed to represent casino employees, even though they had voted 627-534 against unionization. “Until the Senate confirms a new, fair-minded NLRB, the Biden board’s precedents will continue hurting workers and businesses,” said Mr. Mourad. “Time is of the essence.”
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