GOP, Business Groups Try to Kill Lame-Duck NLRB Confirmations

Republicans and business groups are trying to spike a last-minute attempt to confirm two National Labor Relations Board members and preserve the board’s Democratic majority for another two years.

The Senate plans to vote Wednesday on whether to advance the nominations of NLRB Chair Lauren McFerran, a Democrat, and Joshua Ditelberg, a Republican, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. He filed cloture for the two on Monday evening, setting up a vote to limit debate on the matter.

Confirming McFerran would insulate the NLRB’s Democratic majority until at least 2026, but legal and labor observers have suggested President-elect Donald Trump could break tradition–and possibly the law–by firing leadership at the NLRB and other independent agencies.

Schumer pitched the nominees to his colleagues in a Senate floor speech Tuesday, saying that the board is needed to protect workers’ rights, better pay and the right to organize without retaliation.

“If you truly care about working families then you should be in favor of advancing the NLRB nominees,” he said.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) urged his party members Tuesday to reject McFerran, accusing her of “gross mismanagement” of the agency. McConnell cited a report from the NLRB’s inspector general, which found that officials weren’t “consistently complying” with policies for mail-in elections.

“Our confirmation would give a lame-duck president control of an independent board well into his successor’s term,” McConnell said. “There are any number of reasons not to reward bad behavior, and whichever our colleagues choose, I hope they’ll join me in opposing the McFerran nomination tomorrow.”

McFerran has also come under fire in Congress for several prominent board actions, including decisions in Cemex Construction Materials Pacific LLC, Lion Elastomers, and the 2023 joint employer regulation.

Counting Votes

It remains to be seen whether Schumer and Senate Democrats will have enough votes to squeeze McFerran and Ditelberg through.

Retiring independent Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.)—who both previously caucused with Democrats—have voiced opposition to some of the NLRB’s moves recently, and are considered possible defectors. Schumer could also take advantage of any Republican absences to confirm the NLRB nominees in the event McFerran doesn’t have full support of the Democratic caucus.

“My gosh a lame-duck appointee, I sure hope not,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who is poised to be the next chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, said Tuesday when asked whether the nominees would advance.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the current chair of the HELP Committee, said in a post on X that McFerran had done an “exceptional job protecting workers’ rights & standing up against illegal union busting,” and it was “imperative,” that senators confirm her.

Unions, aligned with Democrats, and business groups, aligned with Republicans, mobilized Tuesday ahead of the vote.

The AFL-CIO urged its members in a statement to call their senators and advocate for McFerran’s confirmation.

“If McFerran is not confirmed in December, Trump will control the board starting in January, and the promised rollback of workers’ rights at the behest of big business will begin,” the statement said. “That is why it is critical that as many pro-worker supporters as possible call their senators to ask them to confirm Lauren McFerran.”

The National Federation of Independent Business said in a statement that McFerran has “failed to be an impartial arbiter of labor disputes” and “tipped the scales in favor of organized labor over the interests of small business owners.”

The group sent a letter to lawmakers in September that outlined its members’ opposition to her post on the board. The National Right to Work Foundation and the International Franchise Association have also spoken out against the NLRB chair since Monday night.