Gilbert Placeres is a student at Harvard Law School.
In today’s News & Commentary, two reversals in the Trump administration’s firing of federal labor employees as a judge orders the reinstatement of NLRB Board Member Gwynne Wilcox and the Department of Labor reinstates about 120 employees who were facing termination.
On Thursday, a federal district court judge ordered the reinstatement of NLRB Board Member Gwynne Wilcox, whom President Trump had fired in the first day of his second term. Divya covered the oral arguments in the case last week. In her ruling, Judge Beryl Howell wrote that “the President does not have the authority to terminate members of the National Labor Relations Board at will, and his attempt to fire [Wilcox] from her position on the Board was a blatant violation of the law,” as well as that “an American president is not a king.” The Trump administration has already filed an appeal in the case.
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) announced Friday that about 120 probationary employees in the Department of Labor had been reinstated immediately and told to report back to duty on Monday. The Labor Department employees were reinstated a day after U.S. President Donald Trump told his cabinet members that they, not Elon Musk, had the final say on staffing and policy at their agencies. He also told cabinet members to approach workforce cuts with a “scalpel” instead of a “hatchet.”
Daily News & Commentary
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August 19
Amazon’s NLRA violations, the end of the Air Canada strike, and a court finds no unconstitutional taking in reducing pension benefits
August 18
Labor groups sue local Washington officials; the NYC Council seeks to override mayoral veto; and an NLRB official rejects state adjudication efforts.
August 17
The Canadian government ends a national flight attendants’ strike, and Illinois enacts laws preserving federal worker protections.
August 15
Columbia University quietly replaces graduate student union labor with non-union adjunct workers; the DC Circuit Court lifts the preliminary injunction on CFPB firings; and Grubhub to pay $24.75M to settle California driver class action.
August 14
Judge Pechman denies the Trump Administration’s motion to dismiss claims brought by unions representing TSA employees; the Trump Administration continues efforts to strip federal employees of collective bargaining rights; and the National Association of Agriculture Employees seeks legal relief after the USDA stopped recognizing the union.
August 13
The United Auto Workers (UAW) seek to oust President Shawn Fain ahead of next year’s election; Columbia University files an unfair labor practice (ULP) charge against the Student Workers of Columbia-United Auto Workers for failing to bargain in “good faith”; and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) terminates its collective bargaining agreement with four unions representing its employees.