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
The Trump administration stops processing visas for immigrants who came to the United States lawfully from Latin American countries and Ukraine
The people seeking these visas were granted status to apply for them because of humanitarian reasons related to the conditions in their countries.
Impact:
While the exact number of impacted people is unknown, estimates are that thousands of workers who came to this country legally could lose their status and ability to live and work in the United States.
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Trump-appointed leadership at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rescinded many of the policy memos issued by former NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo. This rescinded memo (GC 25-04) dealt with instances when the protections for the right to organize provided by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) interact with the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Trump-appointed leadership at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rescinded many of the policy memos issued by former NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo. This rescinded memo (GC 22-01) instructed NLRB officials to pursue every avenue available to them in cases where the rights of undocumented workers to organize are violated,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 When Employers Are Required To Bargain With Unions
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 24-01) established a new framework for determining when an employer would be required to bargain with unions, including requiring employers that commit unfair labor violations to recognize and bargain with the union.
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, the NLRB is abandoning the union election framework where a majority of employees in a bargaining unit have designated the union as their representative, an employer must either recognize and bargain with the union or promptly file an RM petition seeking an election. The recission also means that if an employer commits unfair labor practices during the election process they are no longer then required to recognize the Union under the NLRB as the previous policy memo had required. This recission represents a huge reversal of what was seen as a major win for workers under the NLRB for union election fairness and collective bargaining rights.
Under Trump, National Labor Relations Board Rescinds Policy Guidance on Student Worker Rights
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 24-06) implemented NLRB case law finding that student workers are covered by the National Labor Relations Act, and how those rights related to other key federal laws.
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. The rescission of this memo by Acting General Counsel William Cowen is a signal that a Trump-appointed majority on the Board will likely reverse course and cease to protect student workers. Trump accelerated the path to achieving a majority on the Board through the unprecedented firing of Board Member Gwynne Wilcox, which is being challenged in court.
Under Trump, National Labor Relations Board Rescinds Policy Guidance on Protected Organizing Activities
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 21-03) provided clarity for workers and employers with a strong definition of activities that are automatically protected by law, even at the early stages of the organizing process.
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. This memo provided workers with greater understanding of activities they could engage in that would always be protected by the National Labor Relations Act, creating space for workers to organize and build power together. With the rescission of this memo by Acting General Counsel William Cowen, unscrupulous employers may take bolder action to unfairly and illegally retaliate against worker organizing, especially in its early stages.
Under Trump, National Labor Relations Board Rescinds Policy Guidance on Unlawful Severance Agreements
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 23-05) provided guidance to employers on implementing the Board’s February 2023 McLaren Macomb decision. In that case, the NLRB ruled that employers cannot force their employees to waive their rights under the NLRA as a condition of a severance agreement.
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. The rescission of this memo by Acting General Counsel William Cowen is a signal that a Trump-appointed majority on the Board will likely reverse course and cease to protect workers from being forced to choose between their legal rights and receiving a workplace benefit. Trump accelerated the path to achieving a majority on the Board through the unprecedented firing of Board Member Gwynne Wilcox, which is being challenged in court.
Under Trump, National Labor Relations Board Rescinds Policy Guidance Making Board Operations More Effective
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 included directives that dealt with improving transparency and efficiency (GC 25-03), tracking employer compliance with Board orders (GC 23-07), fast-tracking important or complex cases to the full Board for resolution (GC 21-04, GC 23-04), administering mail ballots for union elections (GC 21-01), and setting appropriate timelines for resolving cases (GC 22-05). Acting General Counsel William Cowen also rescinded memos related to cooperation with other workplace agencies (GC 22-03) and the handling of requests for case data from other agencies (GC 23-03).
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. These rescinded memos included common sense reforms, like removing arbitrary deadlines and instead setting timelines for case resolution based on the case’s complexity, allowing for higher quality work. The policies dealing with interagency cooperation were also critical to supporting the NLRB’s collaboration with federal agencies to protect undocumented workers who faced unfair labor practices from immigration enforcement, so that workers could come forward and enforce their rights without fear of deportation.