Labor News & Commentary January 28 Utah on verge of banning public-sector unions & more

[Omaha Steve]

https://onlabor.org/january-28-2025/

By John Fry

John Fry is a student at Harvard Law School.

In today’s news and commentary, Trump fires NLRB Member Wilcox; Abruzzo fired as NLRB GC; Whole Foods workers unionize in Philadelphia; Nebraska state employees ratify new contract; and Utah on verge of banning public-sector unions.

President Trump has fired NLRB Member Gwynne Wilcox, the first political firing of a Board Member in the 90-year history of the NLRB. Without Wilcox, a Democratic appointee, the Board will have only two Members remaining, leaving it unable to function. The NLRA states that the President may remove NLRB Members “upon notice and hearing, for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office, but for no other cause.” Whether this provision of the law is constitutional has been the subject of extensive litigation across the country. The Wilcox firing is likely to expedite the Supreme Court’s consideration of those constitutional questions.

President Trump also fired NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo late on Monday. President Biden fired Trump’s NLRB General Counsel, Peter Robb, on inauguration day in 2021, an unprecedented move that many expected Trump to return in kind last week. Abruzzo’s firing is the latest of several mixed signals that the new Trump administration has sent regarding unions. Trump has nominated Teamsters-backed Lori Chavez-DeRemer for Labor Secretary, but as Esther reported, Chavez-DeRemer appears to have recanted her support for the PRO Act, a bill which would majorly boost union organizing.

FULL story at link above.