When Trump was sworn in, only three of the NLRB’s full complement of five seats were occupied. Two NLRB members were Democrats, with one Republican.
By tradition, members of the president’s party occupy three seats. Republicans in the Senate, which must approve NLRB appointments, successfully blocked President Obama’s most recent nominees, leaving two seats vacant.
Trump has moved swiftly to restore a 3-2 Republican majority, with new members William Emanuel and Marvin Kaplan expected to join the board in fall 2017.
That means several recent pro-union NLRB rulings may be ripe for overturning.
Regulations that sped up the union election process—so-called ambush elections—might be the first to go. (Read background at www.thehrspecialist.com/NLRB-ambush-rules.)
Almost certainly in the reconstituted board’s crosshairs will be the Browning-Ferris decision, which made it easier to establish joint-employer liability for unfair labor practices when two entities influence how workers perform their jobs.
The 2015 decision affected relationships between franchisers and franchisees in the food service industry and temp agencies and their clients in many sectors.
Another likely target for reversal: The NLRB’s 2011 Specialty Healthcare decision, which granted unions the right to carve out departments or functions from a larger workforce for the purpose of creating a collective bargaining unit.
