Labor News & Commentary February 2 Black History Month began yesterday with the theme African Americans and Labor

[Omaha Steve]

https://onlabor.org/february-2-2025/

By Elyse Weissberger

In today’s news and commentary, President Trump seeks to nullify recent collective bargaining agreements with federal workers, Trump fired the NLRB’s acting General Counsel, Costco and the Teamsters reach a tentative deal averting a strike, and Black History Month began yesterday with the theme African Americans and Labor.

President Trump instructed agency leaders to reject tentative collective bargaining agreements reached with unionized federal workers during the final 30 days of President Biden’s term. Trump called the agreements “lame-duck CBAs” and said they were purposefully negotiated “in an effort to harm [his] administration by extending wasteful and failing policies beyond its time in office.” It remains unclear how many agreements are impacted by this proposed policy, but specifically cites a Department of Education agreement reached three days before Trump took office. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the union representing many federal workers, issued a statement on Friday night reminding workers that “approved union contracts are enforceable by law, and the president does not have the authority to make unilateral changes to those agreements.” The Union has promised to aggressively defend against violations of its contracts.

However, such challenges against contract violations and unfair labor practices may prove to be a difficult strategy in the years ahead. On Saturday, The National Labor Relations Board confirmed that President Trump had fired acting General Counsel Jessica Rutter. This comes just days after the firing of General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo and the unprecedented removal of Board Member Gwynne Wilcox. Without Member Wilcox, the Board lacks a quorum and is therefore unable to issue decisions until a new member is appointed and confirmed. Trump has yet to announce replacements for these positions.

FULL story at link above.