10 Education and Work Issues at Stake in the 2024 Election

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent federal agency tasked with protecting private sector workers from unfair labor practices. Under the leadership of Biden-appointed General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, the Board has significantly stepped up its efforts to protect workers compared to previous administrations, both Republican and Democratic. Those efforts, in turn, are beginning to bear fruit as petitions for union recognition increase and union-busting employers face stiffer resistance.

Since taking the helm of the NLRB in June 2021, Abruzzo has directed NLRB lawyers to take a more aggressive approach in enforcing worker protections, including issuing stronger penalties for employers who engage in unfair labor practices or routinely misclassify their workers as independent contractors. She has also advocated for protecting workers’ right to free speech and imposing stricter limits on the use of arbitration agreements by employers.

Abruzzo has also begun to address two of the most effective strategies employers use to prevent workers from organizing: (1) captive audience meetings, in which employees are required to listen to presentations on why they should not unionize, and (2) employer-imposed delays on union recognition and first-contract bargaining. In 2022 she issued a memo to NLRB field offices to say that, moving forward, the Board will find captive audience meetings to be a violation of workers’ rights under the National Labor Relations Act. She also issued a memo calling for the revival of the “Joy Silk Doctrine,” under which the NLRB can recognize a union without an election or employer recognition if the union can present evidence of majority support among workers. In 2023, the Board issued a decision in Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, LLC that provides a framework for this new path to union recognition.

Over recent years there has been a significant uptick in union organizing, often in sectors such as retail and hospitality where union density is low. Since the Cemex decision, union representation petitions to the NLRB have noticeably increased. The strong economy has also emboldened unions to demand—and win—better contracts. In 2022, strikes by private-sector unions reached a 20-year high. Public opinion has also been moving in favor of the labor movement, with 71 percent of Americans approving of unions, the highest level since 1965.

Despite the clear interest from workers, support from the public, and a more aggressive NLRB, the path to unionization remains difficult in the United States. According to the Economic Policy Institute, in 2023 more than 60 million workers wanted to join a union but couldn’t do so. The enthusiasm for unions and organizing successes have yet to translate into a significant increase in union density. In part, that is because it takes time to travel from shop-floor organizing to union recognition to the first contract. Many workers appear to be in that process right now. It also can take years for a case to make its way through the NLRB, leaving workers little protection in real time. Private sector employers have been oiling their union-busting machines for decades, and four years is simply not enough time for the new NLRB decisions to translate into tangible progress in unionization rates.

A second Trump administration will almost certainly replace the current general counsel with a pro-business appointee who would reverse many of the decisions and memos issued by Abruzzo. If this happens, the NLRB will move from being a source of protection for new worker organizing to an obstacle.

Peter Robb, who previously held the position under Trump, was openly pro-management and hostile to unions. He helped the Reagan administration break the union representing air traffic controllers. During his tenure at the NLRB, the agency heard fewer cases than it had previously, and vacancies went unfilled, reducing capacity and creating a backlog of cases. Robb also issued decisions and guidance that restricted protections for organizers and shop stewards.

In the period since Robb’s firing, private sector employers, including Amazon, Starbucks, and Tesla, have stepped up their attacks on workers’ rights and on the NLRB. It is likely that a second Trump administration will include a general counsel hostile to labor who will work to reverse decisions and guidance issued by General Counsel Abruzzo. Given how vulnerable organizers and unions already are to employer resistance, a Trump-led NLRB will likely have a major chilling effect on organizing efforts, despite strong support from workers and the general public.

Learn more about our work on good jobs and the future of work.

Updated at 2:00 p.m. on July 26, 2024: This brief has been changed to reflect that Kamala Harris is the 2024 presidential Democratic nominee.