How quickly and thoroughly the second Trump administration can bend labor law in a pro-management direction will likely depend on whether the current head of the National Labor Relations Board can win Senate approval for another five-year term.
Chair Lauren McFerran (D) has been awaiting a floor vote since a Senate committee signed off on her nomination in August. If the full Senate—which is controlled by a razor-thin Democratic majority—reconfirms McFerran, then Democratic board members would retain the majority into 2026.
The NLRB is an independent agency not under the White House’s direct control. Members have five-year terms that can overlap presidential administrations so it maintains some measure of autonomy, although agency leadership reflects the policy preferences of the current president. The board largely sets labor law rules through decisions in individual cases, which are prosecuted by the agency’s presidentially appointed general counsel.
Maintaining a Democratic majority would protect the nearly 20 precedent-setting decisions issued so far during the Biden administration. At the top of the NLRB’s accomplishments is its landmark decision to ease union organizing in Cemex Construction Materials LLC, which McFerran called the most significant ruling from her two terms with the board.
But confirming McFerran to a third term could spark the...
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