Posts tagged Senate
States’ substitutes for NLRB falter in court
January 5, 2026 // Troy Nunley, the chief judge in the Eastern District of California, ruled that the bulk of the state statute is in conflict with the National Labor Relations Act and therefore is preempted by federal law. “In some respect, the Board’s inability to fully function due to the lack of quorum shows the NLRA is operating as intended,” wrote Nunley, an Obama appointee. “The Court thus cannot conclude the loss of quorum equates to the NLRB ceding its jurisdiction over any particular matter.”
Trump’s Cuts to U.S. Labor Board Leave Festering Disputes and a Power Struggle
December 17, 2025 // “There is no room for parallel or complementary state legislation,” said William B. Cowen, the labor board’s acting general counsel. Mr. Cowen said the agency remained effective despite the lack of a sitting board, because the vast majority of cases are resolved in earlier stages. In the 2024 fiscal year, according to the board’s data, regional offices settled 96 percent of cases that advanced past filing. “I’m not saying that what the board does is unimportant. It’s very important. They decide the most important, the most contentious issues,” Mr. Cowen said. “It is a very small percentage.”
House passes bill to restore collective bargaining for federal employees
December 15, 2025 // “The president has been fighting back against the deals that public sector unions have negotiated for themselves, at the expense of the American taxpayer, by invoking an existing legal authority,” said Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the Oversight committee. “[This bill] directly threatens that progress by overturning the president’s executive order that exercises one of the few tools available to him under the law to more effectively manage the federal workforce.”
New Jersey’s GOP congressmen make rare break with Trump on collective bargaining
December 15, 2025 // New Jersey is one of the nation’s most heavily unionized states, and the state’s powerful unions frequently support politicians of both parties. Smith and Van Drew have received backing from the New Jersey AFL-CIO in recent re-election campaigns; during Kean’s 2024 campaign, meanwhile, the AFL-CIO chose to stay out of the race, which was seen as a victory for the congressman in a district that Democrats hoped to flip. Notably, though, none of New Jersey’s Republicans were part of the original effort to bring today’s collective bargaining bill to the floor in the first place. A discharge petition to force a vote on the bill got signatures from every House Democrat and five Republicans, but Kean, Van Drew, and Smith did not sign on.
Unions back amendment to shield Pentagon employees
November 24, 2025 // Rep. Donald Norcross (D-N.J.) is pushing to include Section 1110 in the National Defense Authorization Act, which would reinstate bargaining rights for the department’s civilian staff, countering President Donald Trump’s March and August executive orders. The measure has drawn enough GOP interest that more than a dozen House Republicans urged Armed Services committee leaders in both chambers to keep the language in the final bill. Unions including the American Federation of Government Employees have argued that the Trump administration’s actions leave the largest segment of the federal workforce without the ability to bargain. “It affects a huge workforce,” Daniel Horowitz, AFGE’s legislative director, told Shift. “It’s 250,000 bargaining-unit employees for us at the Defense Department, and other unions have thousands more. So it’s really important in terms of restoring collective bargaining.”
Federal shutdown heads for record-longest; local union says workers feeling financial pain
November 6, 2025 // Senators from both parties, Republicans and Democrats, are quietly negotiating the contours of an emerging deal. With a nod from their leadership, the senators seek a way to reopen the government, put the normal federal funding process back on track and devise some sort of resolution to the crisis of expiring health insurance subsidies that are spiking premium costs from coast to coast.
A Republican-Led NLRB May Soon Revisit Expanded Remedies and Other Labor Precedents
October 30, 2025 // The HELP Committee’s approvals signal a likely realignment in the months ahead but not an immediate one, as it remains unknown as to when or whether the NLRB will have a quorum. A new NLRB majority may act quickly once seated to revisit recent precedents—not only Thryv, but also rules governing joint-employer status, independent-contractor classifications and union election procedures. The coming months will be a period of heightened uncertainty for employers navigating ongoing unfair labor practice matters.
Commentary: Trumpworld thinks overturning this Biden labor rule gives GOP a double-digit midterm elections boost
October 29, 2025 // Only 22% of respondents in Fabrizio’s poll supported the NLRB’s 2023 rule “that allowed unions not to use secret ballots,” with 64% opposed. Fabrizio wrote that Republican Congressional candidates “would benefit significantly from supporting overturning this unpopular rule.” “The initial generic ballot is a statistical dead heat, 44% Democrat – 43% Republican (D+1), but if the Republican candidate supported overturning the NLRB rule so workers could once again rely on secret ballots when voting to unionize, the Republican pulls into a 47% – 36% (R+11) lead, a 12-point shift,” the memo reads. “Among Swing voters, the Republican goes from 1-point ahead to 17-points.”
U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions titled “Labor Law Reform Part 2: New Solutions for Finding a Pro-Worker Way Forward.”
October 20, 2025 // Wednesday, Oct. 22, I4AW's Vinnie Vernuccio will testify at a labor hearing held by the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions titled "Labor Law Reform Part 2: New Solutions for Finding a Pro-Worker Way Forward."
US Transportation Secretary threatens to fire absent air traffic controllers
October 14, 2025 // Last week, the president said some employees who are not at work might not receive retroactive pay once the government reopens. Air traffic controllers, though, are considered "essential workers" and are still required to carry out their duites. "When you come to work you get paid," Duffy said. "If you don't come to work, you don't get paid. That's the way we're going to do it."