Worker Policy Watch
Your source for accurate and reliable information on how federal policies are shaping workers’ rights—and what’s at stake for working people nationwide under the Trump administration.
Search tracker
Senate HELP Committee Holds a Confirmation Hearing for Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer
In her confirmation hearing, Rep. Chavez-DeRemer walks back her support for the PRO Act, pledges support for so-called "Right to Work" laws, pledges to review all of the Biden-era regulations, and says that if confirmed as Secretary of Labor, she has no right or ability to weigh in on the issue of raising the federal minimum wage.
Impact:
The Secretary of Labor, by the mission of DOL, is the nation's chief advocate for working people, who deserve a secretary that will put their needs first, not those of corporate America, the DOGE, or any other entity or person who is motivated by greed, or any other agenda that doesn't benefit workers first and foremost.
Under Trump, National Labor Relations Board Rescinds Policy Guidance on the Interaction Between the NLRA and Equal Employment Opportunity Laws
Trump-appointed leadership at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rescinded many of the policy memos issued by former NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo. This rescinded memo (GC 25-04) dealt with instances when the protections for the right to organize provided by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) interact with the protections from discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and other equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws. These laws together form a critical framework that protects workers from exploitation, harassment, and discrimination, and enable workers to act and bargain collectively to prevent those workplace harms.
Impact:
General Counsel memos provide policy guidance to NLRB field staff, workers, and employers that indicates how the general counsel understands the law and plans to apply it. With the rescission of this memo by Acting General Counsel William Cowen, workers and employers will have less clarity on their rights and obligations under the law in these cases. Both labor and EEO laws are integral to ensuring dignity and safety at work, as well as the opportunity to improve working conditions, wages, and benefits.
Under Trump, National Labor Relations Board Rescinds Policy Guidance on Protections for Immigrant Workers
Trump-appointed leadership at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rescinded many of the policy memos issued by former NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo. This rescinded memo (GC 22-01) instructed NLRB officials to pursue every avenue available to them in cases where the rights of undocumented workers to organize are violated, so that employers faced penalties for breaking the law and workers could get the relief to which they are entitled under the law. Union organizing is a critical tool for undocumented workers to fight back against wage theft, unsafe workplaces, and other forms of exploitation on the job.
Impact:
General Counsel memos provide policy guidance to NLRB field staff, workers, and employers that indicates how the general counsel understands the law and plans to apply it. With the rescission of this memo by Acting General Counsel William Cowen, undocumented workers will be more vulnerable to exploitation and retaliation by unscrupulous employers. And all workers will be worse off, because exploitation of any group of workers drives down standards for all workers.
Under Trump, National Labor Relations Board Rescinds Policy Guidance on Employer Use of Bossware Systems
Trump-appointed leadership at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rescinded many of the policy memos issued by former NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo. This rescinded memo (GC 23-02) sought to address the use of intrusive workplace surveillance and algorithmic management systems to disrupt workers right to organize.
Impact:
General Counsel memos provide policy guidance to NLRB field staff, workers, and employers that indicates how the general counsel understands the law and plans to apply it. With the rescission of this memo, workers will be more vulnerable to union-busting efforts aided by sophisticated surveillance systems - just one of numerous harms that electronic surveillance and algorithmic management cause to workers .
Trump Administration Signals Weakening of Accountability at the NLRB for Employers Accused of Unfair Labor Practices
Trump appointed Acting General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), William Cowen, is signaling a shift away from aggressively holding employers accountable for unfair labor practices at the National Labor Relations Board in a new memoranda.
Impact:
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent federal agency that protects the right of workers to collectively bargain and form a union. Acting General Counsel Cowen is signaling in a new memoranda that the NLRB will not be as aggressively seeking to hold bad employers accountable and instead is shifting priorities so that employers may be able to settle labor disputes in ways that are less favorable to workers. After Trump’s likely illegal firing of NLRB members Gwynne Wilcox, Jennifer Abruzzo, and Jessica Rutter, the NLRB currently has only two members and therefore cannot issue any decisions over unfair labor practices at this time.
Under Trump, National Labor Relations Board Rescinds Policy Guidance on Exploitative “Non-Compete” and “Stay-or-Pay” Agreements Between Employees and Employers
Trump-appointed leadership at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rescinded many of the policy memos issued by former NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo. These rescinded memos sought to address unlawful and overbroad “non-compete” and “stay-or-pay” agreements between employers and employees where workers are either restricted in which jobs they can take or forced to pay their employer a monetary fee or payment in the event that they leave their job.
Impact:
Imposing so-called “non-compete” and “stay-or-pay” agreements on workers interferes with an employee’s right to take collective action to improve their working conditions because such agreements are coercive and can have a chilling effect on worker organizing and worker job mobility. Employers now have more ability to impose these exploitative restrictions and payment schemes on their workers.
Trump Administration to Fire 200,000 Federal Workers Still On Probation
The Trump administration orders the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to begin firing federal workers still in the multi-year probationary period, risking severe disruption of critical work across government agencies.
Impact:
Around 200,000 federal workers could be targeted for firing. This is a reversal of an earlier OPM directive that initially ordered agencies to begin firing federal workers on probation for “poor performance.” The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest federal employee union, has pledged to fight back against this latest assault on federal workers.
U.S. Department of Justice Will No Longer Defend Independence of Federal Agencies, Including EEOC and NLRB
In an unprecedented attack on the rule of law, Trump fired members and commissioners of several independent federal agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the National Labor Relations Board as well as agencies that protect civil servants and other federal employees. Trump-appointed leadership at the U.S. Department of Justice changed the department's historic position and now asserts that the rules protecting those officials from being fired for political reasons are unconstitutional.
Impact:
These agencies were designed by Congress to be independent and bipartisan and their officials are not part of the president’s cabinet. Their independence is a core part of their mission to protect working people - just as the independence of the U.S. Department of Justice is a core part of its mission.
Trump Seeks to Turn a Wide Range of Non-Partisan, Civil Service Federal Jobs into Partisan Appointments
The Trump administration has submitted draft regulations to eliminate civil service protections for a wide range of non-partisan, civil service federal employees so that they can be fired and replaced by partisan appointees. Federal employees enjoy civil service protections so they can perform their work objectively, without fear of reprisal for not following a political agenda, and be honest brokers to the general public.
Impact:
The Trump administration is seeking to aggressively gut and control the federal government in unprecedented and apparently unlawful ways, including by gutting civil service jobs. Several lawsuits have been filed by labor unions and worker organizations challenging the Trump administration Executive Order seeking to reclassify federal workers under the so-called “schedule F” making it easier for them to be fired.
Trump Orders More DOGE Oversight and Drastic Reduction of Federal Workforce
The Trump administration’s latest executive order plans for massive layoffs of the federal workforce and authorizes DOGE oversight for hiring of vacant positions within federal agencies.
Impact:
This executive order is another attempt to gut the federal workforce by ordering agencies to prepare for "large scale" layoffs and requiring that agencies “hire no more than one employee for every four employees that depart.” This is all being contemplated without any regard for the civil service protections that these workers have--namely the right to keep their jobs absent just cause to fire them--and without regard for the important functions civil servants perform that protect the health, safety, economic security, and general well-being of the public.