How Trump's Impact On Labor Rights Could Be 'Potentially Catastrophic'

Brian Petruska can’t help but sound alarmed by the possibility of another Donald Trump presidency. He’s still witnessing the legal fallout from Trump’s first term.

“We’re looking at going back to pre-1930s labor law in this country,” Petruska, a lawyer for the Laborers’ International Union of North America, told HuffPost. “I’m not exaggerating. That’s literally what’s happening.”

Petruska was referring to efforts by employers — including Elon Musk, the richest man in the world and a surrogate for Trump amid his 2024 White House bid — to wreck the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency established in 1935 that enforces collective bargaining rights. 

Corporations like Musk’s SpaceX are challenging the constitutionality of the NLRB’s structure to defend themselves against charges of unfair labor practices. Some Trump-appointed judges have already shown they’re receptive to the companies’ argument, and the question could end up before the Supreme Court, where a conservative supermajority shaped by Trump would decide the board’s fate.

The way Petruska sees it, another four years under Trump would only bring more attacks on workers’ rights, and more judges willing to rule in corporations’ favor.

“The changes — not to engage in hyperbole — are potentially catastrophic,” he said. “Almost all worker protections you can think of are threatened. They’re on the table and they’re in danger.”

Trump has indicated that his election this year would lead to an immigration crackdown; a rollback of environmental protections; pardons for rioters convicted over the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection; and legal retribution for his political opponents, among other things. He hasn’t outlined his plan for workers’ rights, but it’s not hard to imagine what he would do with the NLRB, an independent agency run by presidential appointees.

The labor board has been a hotbed for progressive policy reforms under President Joe Biden. Its top prosecutor, General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, is often named in the same breath as Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan as one of Biden’s most consequential appointments. Abruzzo’s policies have helped boost unionism and turned her into a star on the left — putting a bull’s-eye on her back for any incoming Republican administration.

Abruzzo outlined her philosophy while speaking to reporters Tuesday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., describing the law as “pro-worker” rather than pro-union or pro-employer.

“We promote workers’ ability to elevate their voices and be heard and seek the respect and the dignity that they deserve,” she said, “and get a piece of the pie for the value that they add to their employers’ operations.”

It’s not exactly a vision shared by Trump, who recently praised Musk as someone who would fire striking workers, which is generally against the law.

Trump would almost certainly get rid of Abruzzo, perhaps on his first day in office, as the conservative transition blueprint Project 2025 recommends. With her would go the pieces of her agenda she hasn’t managed to implement yet, like banning mandatory anti-union meetings at work, chipping away at the use of noncompete agreements and preventing employers from permanently replacing strikers.

The NLRB has a five-member board separate from its general counsel, currently led by its Democratic chair, Lauren McFerran. As Biden did, Trump could flip party control of the board as its staggered seats opened up. Working in concert with an employer-friendly general counsel like Trump’s last one, the board could then reverse the most consequential reforms of the past four years.

That includes the board’s landmark Cemex decision, which discourages illegal union-busting and makes it easier for workers to form unions. The Biden board has also sped up the union election process, giving employers less time to run anti-union campaigns; extended collective bargaining rights to more workers, like independent contractors; and increased compensation for workers who are illegally fired. All such changes could be on the chopping block.

Asked by HuffPost if she worried that these kinds of policies would be undone by Trump appointees, Abruzzo steered clear of politics and tried to sound somewhat hopeful.

“If you take on the job, per your congressional mandate, you are required to protect workers’ rights in this country,” she said.

But a change in leadership could easily dampen the rise in workplace activism that’s taking place. Union election petitions have more than doubled in the Biden years as more workers try to organize their workplaces. Employees are also filing far more charges of unfair labor practices, showing a willingness to challenge their bosses.

There are a lot of factors that could play into that activism surge, like Americans’ increasingly favorable view of unions and a resilient labor market that has given employees leverage. But workers also might be more eager to assert their rights because they sense that the current labor board will have their backs, said Jon Schleuss, the president of The NewsGuild-CWA.

“I’ve seen the difference [between] the Trump administration and the Biden administration,” Schleuss said.

He noted that the labor board recently went to federal court seeking an injunction against the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette after it refused to bargain with the Guild and unilaterally cut workers’ health care benefits. That’s the sort of move Schleuss expects to see less of under a Trump board.

“We’ve been much more focused on filing unfair labor practice charges, because we know that there is a board and a general counsel and board agents who are interested in actually enforcing the [law],” he said.

Reversing policies isn’t the only way Trump and his appointees could undermine the labor board’s work — they could also try to cut its budget, push out existing staff members and let the agency atrophy, just as Trump’s first NLRB general counsel was accused of doing. To that end, Project 2025 calls for a hiring freeze at the board and other labor agencies. Inadequate funding and low staffing have already left the NLRB struggling to handle its rising caseload.

Of course, those problems seem less pressing than a constitutional challenge to the board itself heading toward a Supreme Court that’s steadily chipping away at the administrative state. Abruzzo said cases brought by companies like SpaceX were merely a distraction from their own alleged legal violations, but warned that everyone will pay a price if they manage to succeed.

“Their goal is to just stop us from doing our jobs,” she said. “We are the only federal agency that enforces the only federal labor law in this country. It would be chaos if the agency was not allowed to perform its functions and do it properly.”