The Trump-Vance administration continued to focus its policy initiatives on attacking the federal workforce and government services, beginning the week with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issuing a memo ending all federal grants and loans. That action—which would have ended funding for things like Head Start programs’ early childhood education services and cancer research—was temporarily blocked by a federal judge, leading the administration to rescind the memo. But the memo made clear the administration’s desire to halt funding for programs it deems to be out of line with its political ideology.
Similar political purges occurred at two key independent worker protection agencies: the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). While some agency positions are susceptible to political churn, President Trump fired EEOC commissioners and NLRB officials confirmed by the Senate to serve terms that stretched beyond 2025. The firings set up potential legal challenges. Both agencies now lack the quorum required to engage in certain enforcement actions, leaving workers who depend on the agencies without recourse.
The impact of firing a board member at the NLRB is significant. The Trump-Vance administration has robbed U.S. workers of their ability to enforce their right to a union and collective bargaining. There is no private right of action under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). This means that, as of the second week of the Trump-Vance administration, workers illegally fired in retaliation for supporting a union have no ability to win back their job.
The move, while unprecedented, should not be shocking. Consider that SpaceX and Amazon, companies owned by Trump allies Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos respectively, have been challenging the constitutionality of the NLRB to suppress efforts by workers in their companies to unionize. While those lawsuits continue, President Trump has delivered an immediate victory to Musk and Bezos in that the NLRB will not be able to enforce workers’ rights to a union after his firing of a board member.
Since 2021, petitions for union elections at the NLRB have more than doubled. Further, unfair labor practice charges filed at the NLRB have increased by 40% and public support for unions is near a 60-year high at 70%. Research shows that 60 million workers would join a union if they could. This growing momentum around union organizing signals a powerful push by workers to improve wages, working conditions, and workplace rights. However, despite campaign rhetoric to the contrary, in week two, the Trump-Vance administration has made it nearly impossible for workers to enforce their union and collective bargaining rights and have gone a long way to implementing the goals of Project 2025 and rewarding billionaire donors.
You can find a comprehensive catalogue of all policies relevant to working people and the economy at Federal Policy Watch, an EPI online tool documenting actions by the Trump administration, Congress, federal agencies, and the courts. You can subscribe to daily Federal Policy Watch updates here.
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