Originally published in the Winter/Spring 2025 edition of the Virginia Defender, issue 76, printed March 26. Reproduced here for accessibility and archival purposes. To find other stories in the Winter/Spring 2025 issue or to download the full PDF, see this post. For other issues dating back to 2012, see the Full Issues page.

Staff Report

On Jan. 27, the Trump administration fired National Labor Relations Board Acting Chair Gwynne Wilcox and General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo.

Wilcox, the first Black woman member of the NLRB, was appointed by President Joe Biden in December 2024.

On March 6, Judge Beryl Howell ruled that Wilcox was illegally fired and ordered her reinstated. The Trump administration is appealing the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Wilcox’s firing was unprecedented and if upheld, would be a major blow for workers because it would leave the five-member board without a quorum. The board already had two vacancies. Wilcox’s firing brought it down to just two members. It requires three to make decisions.

For the 38 days Wilcox was not in her position, the NLRB was unable to perform vital functions like certifying union elections and ruling on illegal labor practice cases. If Wilcox were permanently removed it would be immobilized again, and Trump could either fill the vacancies with labor-hostile members or just leave the board nonfunctional.

Wilcox is back in her job now, but will likely face another court battle for her job.

The National Labor Relations Act, which established the board, specifies that members may only be removed for “neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.”

No neglect of duty or malfeasance was alleged in this case. Instead, the letter from Office of Presidential Personnel Deputy Director Trent Morse, who terminated Wilcox and Abruzzo, said the women had not “been operating in a manner consistent with the objectives of my administration.”

In other words, they weren’t anti-worker enough for Trump.

Perhaps Jennifer Abruzzo said it best, in a statement she released the day after her firing:

“If the Agency does not fully effectuate its Congressional mandate in the future as we did during my tenure, I expect that workers with assistance from their advocates will take matters into their own hands.”