Trump’s Unionbusting
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Its five-seat board, which hears disputes and oversees union elections, requires at least three members to issue a ruling. But days after regaining power, Trump fired Gwynne Wilcox – an unprecedented decision – from the board, leaving it without this crucial quorum to make decisions.
Across the labor movement, many workers, in Philadelphia and far beyond, have been enshrouded in uncertainty ever since.
Rather than recognize the result of the vote, Whole Foods objected, triggering a long process of delays and legal challenges. While a regional NLRB director sided with the union, ruling against Whole Foods’ objections, a spokesperson for the chain told the Guardian it “strongly” disagrees with the regional director’s decision, and claimed UFCW 1776, the union behind the unionization drive, “illegally interfered” with the vote.
It continued to appeal, taking the case all the way to the top of the paralyzed NLRB, where it’s sat ever since – in limbo. In 2024, the board issued around 150 decisions on labor disputes. Over the past 11 months under Trump, it has issued six.
“The Trump administration thus far seems to have been treating the agency with this kind of combination of hostility and aggressive neglect,” said Lauren McFerran, who served as chair of the NLRB under Joe Biden. “This is an administration that professes to be very pro-worker in its orientation, but we haven’t had a functional agency to resolve labor disputes and to protect workers rights … in a year.”
In an interview, the NLRB’s acting general counsel denied the agency has been neglected – and compared its decision to scrap certain policies amid budget constraints with a family, spending carefully. “You can’t always go to Disney World,” said William Cowen.
Simply put, Donald Trump is the worst president for workers in American history, even surpassing Calvin Coolidge and Grover Cleveland. The vast majority of union members know this. Remember, that union members were just about the only demographic that voted for Kamala Harris at higher rates in 2024 than they did for Joe Biden in 2020. But Teamsters president Sean O’Brien, I mean he and Josh Hawley can laugh about deported immigrants, so there’s a worker leader!