The National Right to Work Foundation (NRTWF) is sounding the alarm about a Wednesday Senate vote engineered by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, which seeks to secure Democrat and union control over the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for the entirety of President Donald J. Trump's second administration.
10 a.m., Tuesday, December 10, 2024
— U.S. Senate Updates (@SenateFloor) December 10, 2024
Senate resumes consideration of the nomination of Lauren McGarity McFerran, of the District of Columbia, to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board for the term of five years expiring December 16, 2029. https://t.co/7iScGvjuI5…
From a December 10 NRTWF email to RedState:
News reports indicate that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has set the stage for a vote tomorrow (12/11) in the Senate to attempt to reconfirm National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Chairman Lauren McFerran through to another 5 year term. McFerran is a union boss partisan who was first appointed to the NLRB by President Obama in 2014 and elevated to Chairman by President Biden in 2021.
If McFerran is confirmed to another five-year term, Schumer and other union boss allies in the Senate will maintain a Biden-appointed pro-Big Labor majority on the Board until August 2026, likely stifling any reforms President-Elect Trump’s administration could make to protect the rights of independent-minded workers to be free of union boss influence.
RedState spoke with NRTWF President Mark Mix about the flurry of activity on Capitol Hill and their fight to see this vote tanked.
The expectation is there will be a vote tomorrow on whether or not McFerran will get another five-year term, Mix said. Which would make her probably one of the longest-serving NLRB members in America. This will be her third term; so, 15 years on the Board, which is transformative indeed.
With the added threat of former Oregon Republican Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer as the nominee for Secretary of Labor, the already adversarial relationship the United States Department of Labor (US DOL) and the NLRB have with independent professionals, small businesses, and franchisers will only grow worse, and the NLRB will cement havoc in employer and employee relations for decades.
If Chairman Lauren McFerran is confirmed to another 5 years at the @NLRB, the Board will be under the control of Democrats pushing the agenda of organized labor until 2026. The Senate should reject this nomination as the future of America's 800k franchise businesses are at risk.
— Franchise Action Network (@FranchiseAction) December 10, 2024
As Mix noted, under the Biden-Harris administration both the NLRB and the US DOL imposed their pro-union power mandate over the nation's workforce. "It has changed the definition of employee, something the Department of Labor has already done under acting Secretary Su."
So, should, God forbid, Chavez-DeRemer be confirmed, and McFerran be re-nominated, it would "keep that philosophy of, hey, we want to put our thumb on the scale and favor a Union-official power, not worker power," Mix said.
A December 1 Wall Street Journal opinion piece said pretty much the same thing about the potential pitfalls of McFerran retaining the NLRB chairmanship.
Donald Trump is vying for Big Labor’s support, but Democrats are ready as usual to outbid Republicans. They’re racing to embed a pro-union enforcer on the National Labor Relations Board and extend their majority by an extra year. If Democrats succeed, the agency will continue treading on employer and worker rights through much of Mr. Trump’s term.
The window for Democratic nominations will close when Republicans run the Senate in January, and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer isn’t sparing any time. “Confirming the NLRB nominees is one of our highest priorities,” he said last weekend on X, committing to a vote by the end of the year. The goal is to reconfirm Lauren McFerran, the board’s current chairman and a reliable vote for union coercion.
Mr. Schumer’s sense of urgency is in part a reaction to Mr. Trump, who has nominated pro-union Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer to run the Labor Department. By extending the NLRB’s union-friendly majority, Democrats are taking orders from AFL-CIO leaders.
And right on cue, the vested union interests are thirsty to see this occur.
The WGAE urges @Sen_JoeManchin @lisamurkowski @SenDanSullivan and @SenatorCollins to VOTE YES for Lauren McFerran to serve another term on the NLRB.
— Writers Guild of America East (@WGAEast) December 10, 2024
In McFerran, Americans have found someone who will make informed decisions that center working people and their workplace rights.
McFerran has already waged war on workplace harmony, reversing policies in favor of union bosses and coercive tactics, such as the infamous Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, LLC case, where the NLRB ruled that union bosses can take over a workplace without allowing workers a vote in a secret ballot election. Even if there is an election and the union loses said election, the union could still manipulate that vote through charges against the employer, as they sought to do at the Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Mercedes-Benz plant, where they filed claims of unfair labor practice and allegations that management and anti-union consultants tried to intimidate workers.
Biden seeks to reappoint Lauren McFerran to chair the National Labor Relations Board.
— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) June 11, 2024
Her agenda includes steps to make disgruntled and bad employees unfireable and force unwilling employees into unions.
There are few bigger threats to American prosperity than such policies. pic.twitter.com/KNwNSNbAlW
With the allowance of these types of tactics, McFerran gifted union bosses the unilateral ability to disenfranchise employees who not only don't want a union but who want to vote out their present union. McFerran also eliminated the workers’ right to challenge card check unionization with a secret ballot vote.
Less than 10 percent of the American workforce belongs to a labor union, but as Mix warned, "the NLRB is the primary mechanism for power of union officials over the workers. We’ve seen that dramatically over the last four years." So, an agency that dictates policy for 10 percent of the workforce holds unchecked power to adversely effect the other 90 percent. This should not be the case.
Schumer invoked cloture on Monday to bypass any floor arguments and pushed for the Wednesday vote. Due to Republican senators' preoccupation with setting up for their majority, many have been absent for floor votes. Schumer is banking on these absences to get McFerran confirmed.
Chuck Schumer and Bernie Sanders are gambling on Senate Republican absences to reconfirm Lauren McFerran, which would put Trump's NLRB under Democrat control until August 2026.
— Tom Hebert (@TomHebertDC) December 10, 2024
Senate Republicans should show up to ensure that Republicans control the Trump NLRB. pic.twitter.com/6hM9c1oFep
Mix urged all Americans to "Call your senators as many times as you can between now and lunchtime tomorrow (Wednesday); that’s important. Trump supporters should be heard here."
The NRTWF Committee is also collecting petitions to deliver to the senators in opposition to this vote.
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