Mark Mix Urges President Trump to Nominate Another NLRB Member
Last December, a majority of U.S. senators effectively ended the rabidly pro-union boss Biden era at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) by confirming as new members attorneys Scott Mayer and James Murphy, whom President Trump had nominated for open seats five months earlier.
The same majority coalition of senators simultaneously heeded National Right to Work Committee members’ pleas by confirming as NLRB general counsel Crystal Carey, a qualified labor attorney whom Mr. Trump had nominated back in March 2025
Workers Bear the Cost of NLRB Appointment Delays
The three NLRB appointments offered a ray of hope to the many independent-minded workers and small business owners whose statutory rights had been trampled by Biden NLRB radicals. But the process of actually overturning these radicals’ lawless pro-forced unionism decisions will likely not begin until at least one more Trump nominee is confirmed.
That is because Mr. Mayer and Mr. Murphy have made it clear they will honor an unwritten NLRB rule by not issuing any decisions that overturn past precedents without at least three members in agreement. Because the third member on the 2-1 NLRB is a Biden-appointed Big Labor partisan, David Prouty, the current Board will not issue any major, pro-worker decisions.
Until President Trump staffs the five-seat NLRB with at least three appointees who are willing to overturn the Biden Board’s precedents, workers’ cases challenging unjust union-boss actions will remain in limbo.
Workers around the country who would like to remove an unwanted union from their workplace are being hamstrung by the Biden Board’s so-called “blocking charge” policy.
Blocking charges are unfair labor practice allegations that union officials often file with the NLRB for the sole purpose of indefinitely delaying a worker-requested election to remove an unwanted union.
NLRB Blocks Union Removal Attempts For Dubious Reasons
Under the Election Protection Rule issued by NLRB members appointed during the previous Trump Administration, mere allegations of employer misconduct could not block employees from having the decertification vote they requested. In most cases, elections were conducted and the vote tally was immediately released.
“Often, biased NLRB officials will not even pretend to know which alleged misbehavior by an employer suffices to deny workers their right to vote,” noted Committee President Mark Mix.
“Darrell Dunlap and his colleagues, construction materials workers in Fresno, Calif., were prevented from holding the decertification vote they requested because union lawyers filed a mountain of complaints, some of which were mere speculations about employer activity that theoretically could have aided the workers in their efforts to decertify.
“The NLRB didn’t even explain to the workers which of these charges justified blocking the election, and appears to have ruled against the workers based solely on the large number of complaints the union filed against the employer.”
Teamster Bosses Benefit From Backlog They Helped Create
The two new Trump NLRB appointees are expected to restore some version of the Election Protection Rule, but not until a third member is confirmed. Until then, people like Mr. Dunlap will be trapped in unions they oppose.
A major reason why it took nearly a year after Mr. Trump’s 2025 inauguration for the first NLRB appointees of his second administration to be sworn in was the political power of Teamster union bosses. They have made inroads with the Senate HELP Committee, which must confirm all labor nominees before they reach the Senate floor, and the White House.
Missouri GOP Sen. Josh Hawley has in recent years become an unabashed opponent of Right to Work laws and voluntary union dues. He recently worked with Teamster President Sean O’Brien to introduce legislation that would take so much power away from workers during the union bargaining process that even one union organizer has admitted it undermines “the whole point of a union.”
Missouri Republican Hawley Aiding and Abetting Union Bosses’ Schemes
Mr. Hawley sits on the HELP Committee, which has a one-vote partisan margin, meaning he serves as a swing vote and can threaten to vote with Big Labor when he doesn’t get his way.
Mr. Hawley attacked Trump NLRB nominees during their hearings, and is widely perceived to be responsible for the months-long delays between their hearings and their eventual confirmations
“The Teamsters have become what those inside the D.C. Beltway call an important ‘stakeholder,’” said Mr. Mix.
“That’s Washington-speak for an entity which, because of its political connections, gets consulted any time a decision that might affect it is due to be made. The Teamsters prefer the Biden NLRB to the Trump NLRB, and stand to benefit from a slow NLRB nominations process that takes years to produce a fully capable majority.
“Lo and behold, that is exactly what has happened.”
Teamster-Controlled Employees Face Illegal Threats
With the NLRB sitting dormant over the past year, cases brought by workers like Alexus Villanueva were sidelined.
Ms. Villanueva, who works for a California medical waste management firm, was told by Teamster officials that she would be fired if she didn’t join and pay dues to the union.
Although workers in California lack Right to Work protections, and can be forced to pay union dues, they still have First Amendment rights and cannot be compelled to formally join the union as a member. And the union must discount nonmembers’ dues by the amount it admits to spending on politics.
But Teamster officials will often simply ignore these limited protections, and, as Ms. Villanueva experienced, they will illegally threaten workers with being fired for refusing to become full members and contribute to nakedly political union activities.
Justice for Ms. Villanueva has been delayed by the NLRB’s case backlog, and so will justice for countless workers across the country who are trying to get out from under Teamster control.
‘Join and Pay Full Dues, or Be Fired!’
“Teamster kingpins are collecting extra dues that they are not entitled to by lying to workers about their rights,” said Mr. Mix. “They’re collecting forced dues from workers who want to oust the Teamsters, but can’t because of blocking maneuvers made possible by the Biden NLRB’s lingering precedents.
“But Donald Trump can remedy this situation with the stroke of a pen by heeding the calls of Right to Work supporters across the country and naming a third, pro-worker individual to the NLRB — and then urging the Senate HELP Committee to confirm him or her immediately.”
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