NLRB Picks Pledge Autonomy From Trump Despite Firing Threat (1)

President Donald Trump’s nominees to fill two of the four empty National Labor Relations Board seats told a Senate panel that they’ll decide cases independently, regardless of Trump’s prior termination of a board member.

“If the Supreme Court ultimately decides that the president has the removal authority that he claims to have, I will continue to interpret the National Labor Relations Act as I always would have done so and the president can just discharge me,” James Murphy, a longtime NLRB staffer who came out of retirement to become a board member, testified Wednesday.

Scott Mayer, chief labor counsel at the Boeing Co., said he agreed with Murphy.

The nominees appeared to navigate their hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions without saying anything guaranteed to doom their chances to join the NLRB, although Mayer did face tough questions about an ongoing strike at a Boeing facility that’s raised the ire of a Republican on the panel.

The next step for Murphy and Mayer will be obtaining the panel’s approval before moving to the full Senate for a confirmation vote. The committee has advanced some nominees this year as quickly as about a week after their nomination hearings.

The NLRB has been below the minimum number of members needed to fully operate following Trump’s dismissal of Democratic member Gwynne Wilcox. The NLRB dropped to just one member—David Prouty (D)— at the end of August, when then-Chair Marvin Kaplan’s second term expired. The board is currently without a chair.

The issue of member independence looms large in light of Wilcox’s unprecedented dismissal, as well as Trump’s February executive order claiming direct control of independent agencies like the NLRB—including their interpretation of the law.

HELP Committee Ranking Member Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) asked Murphy whether he’d succumb to a Trump order to rule in favor of SpaceX or Amazon.com Inc. in opposition to their workers’ rights.

“It’s a hypothetical that I hope never comes to pass, sir,” Murphy replied. “I would have to contemplate all options.”

Sanders cut in, saying that “the moment we are living in, a lot of things we didn’t think would pass are passing” and asked if he’d have the independence to defy Trump.

“I might say—depending upon the circumstances, sir—that I question that directive under the law I’m obliged to apply,” and if the Supreme Court gives Trump the power to fire NLRB members, “then the president would have that option.”

Boeing

Sanders didn’t probe Mayer’s views on independence, and instead hit him with a series of questions about a strike at a Boeing facility in St. Louis involving 3,200-members of the International Association of Machinists.

Mayer mostly demurred, saying he’s not involved in that negotiation, though he pointed out that the company and union had reached an agreement—though Sanders noted the workers rejected it.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) also pressed Mayer on the Boeing strike, asking him what a fair resolution would look like.

“The concept of fairness is an elusive one,” Mayer said, again highlighting that the company and union had reached a deal.

Hawley said Boeing’s CEO made $32.8 million in 2024—a 45% increase over the prior year—when the company’s “planes were literally falling out the the sky in pieces, and you weren’t paying your workers. Is that fair?”

Mayer said he can’t discuss executive compensation.

Backlog

Two Republican senators raised the issue of the backlog of cases at the NLRB, asking what caused it and what can be done to clear it away.

The nominees cited the NLRB’s loss of a quorum, the surge in filings in recent years, and the heightened standards for settling cases during the Biden administration.

Murphy said resolving the backlog—which he clocked at 500 cases pending before the board—is his “primary objective” and the deciding factor in why he came out of retirement.

The board should focus first on “low-hanging fruit” that can be decided unanimously, before turning to other cases, with older matters taking precedence, said Murphy, who logged 47 years at the agency before he retired at the end of 2021.

Mayer didn’t offer any specifics on how to tackle the backlog, instead deferring to those with experience.

“I’ve never been on the board side, I’ve never worked for the board, so it’s kind of a black hole for me,” he said. “I’d be relying on both, if I’m confirmed, both Mr. Murphy and Mr. Prouty for guidance, and working together to clear out the backlog.”