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Benjamin Sachs discusses the need for labor-law reform and explains how state and local governments can increase worker power.
In a conversation with The Regulatory Review, Benjamin Sachs, the Kestnbaum Professor of Labor and Industry at Harvard Law School, shares his perspective on necessary reforms to the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the state of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and potential state and local regulatory actions to increase worker protections.
The NLRA, enacted in 1935, aimed to protect the rights of workers and encourage collective bargaining, the process by which employees and their employers negotiate for terms and conditions of employment. As part of the NLRA, Congress created the NLRB to enforce its protections.
On January 27, President Trump removed Gwynne Wilcox as an NLRB member. The NLRB then had only two members. The Supreme Court held in New Process Steel v. NLRB that the Board needs at least a three-member “quorum” to exercise its authority. As a result, the NLRB could not rule on labor disputes or otherwise regulate labor activity until her reinstatement or replacement. On March 6, a federal court ordered that Wilcox be reinstated.
The Court has established that state and local governments are preempted, or prevented, from regulating labor-management relations that are arguably covered under the NLRA. The NLRA governs employees’ rights to bargain collectively and prohibits certain...
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