Trump Labor Board To Make It Harder to Form a Union

On December 12, the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency charged with overseeing private sector labor disputes and elections, announced that it plans to revise the rules governing the formation of unions. The majority of the five-member Board are GOP/business representatives; two are Trump appointees. And the General Counsel, who investigates and prosecutes labor act violations, was appointed by Trump.

The Board frames its radical attack on union organizing as "a request for information' about the 2014 changes to election procedures. This is merely a smokescreen. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and GOP extremists have long identified the 2014 on their wish listof changes they demand from a Trump Board. A dissenting member of the Board said the announcement is more accurately characterized as a "Notice and Quest for Alternative Facts."

The decrease in union membership and density are widely accepted as reasons why economic inequality has skyrocketed in recent decades. As such, the implementation of business-backed election rules will only worsen the economic divide across the country, while emboldening employers to harass and mistreat employees.

Union supporters are encouraged to provide written support of the existing election rules and oppose business-backed efforts to strangle organizing.