Joyce Goldstein, attorney at Joyce Goldstein and Associates, appeared on the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and spoke about the National Labor Relations Board, which has not delivered major rulings that favor workers and organized labor.
In 2021, President Joe Biden named Jennifer A. Abruzzo National Labor Relations Board General Counsel. Goldstein explained that Abruzzo was tasked with resetting the NLRB's agenda to align with its congressional purpose of advancing workers’ rights and collective bargaining. As the board’s prosecutor, she can only bring cases with labor violations for the NLRB for them to rule on; she cannot rule on the cases.
Goldstein said that once Biden’s appointments to the NLRB took their seats, it was nearly two years before decisions were made on big cases. In August 2023, there was a flurry of decisions within a month that altered or clarified precedent.
However, a year later, the NLRB has declined to rule on a number of important issues that she feels were “teed up” for a favorable ruling. Goldstein called the board’s lack of action disappointing and questioned whether the Supreme Court’s ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which overturned the Chevron doctrine, has made the NLRB think their rulings must be air-tight or face getting those decisions thrown out by the courts on appeal.
For more from Goldstein, listen to the show above.