For more than 70 years, unions in the private sector have worked, for better or worse, within the framework of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), originally passed in 1935.
Did the turbulence of the union movement in the 1930s provoke the passage of the NLRA to control the movement, or did it lead to the significant expansion of unions? This debate is unfortunately relevant today because the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), created by the NLRA, may sit in eclipse or could be completely abolished.
Typical NLRB Process
For organizers in the private sector, these developments are extraordinary and could upset the “normal” practices of winning union representation. Typically, organizers go through the ritual dance of collecting authorization cards, putting together a bargaining unit, and filing with the NLRB, which would come into the workplace in a reasonable time frame to hold a secret ballot election.
In many campaigns, workers must even make an enthusiastic demand for union recognition, marching into the boss’s office with a letter demanding recognition. They expect the boss to refuse and that the campaign will turn to the NLRB election process, which can serve as an exciting, more visible moment in the campaign.
Recent Challenges to the NLRB
Organizers have been intimately familiar with this NLRB process for more than 70 years, but the current administration may significantly change it or even dissolve the board entirely. With the political pandemonium today, it’s impossible to predict. The board has already allowed ferocious anti-union campaigns by bosses with minimal penalties for extreme violators of the law.
In February 2025, the NLRB was effectively shut down when President Trump fired Gwynne Wilcox, a board member appointed in 2023. Republicans also blocked the appointment of two other board members in December 2024. This all means Republicans have effectively shut down the board since the law requires it to have at least three members to function. A federal appeals court issued a decision on April 7 to restore Wilcox, but the Trump Administration was prepared to appeal to the Supreme Court for emergency review.
Meanwhile, major U.S. companies are challenging the very existence of the NLRB in the courts. In one lawsuit, Amazon claims that the NLRB structure is unconstitutional because board members are shielded from removal by the president, while the law violates Amazon’s due process rights as well as right to a jury trial. In another case, SpaceX and Trader Joe’s maintain that the NLRA is unconstitutional. Amazon is even asking the court to issue an order that stops the agency from pursuing “unconstitutional” administrative proceedings against the company as the case plays out.
Lessons from Labor History
Workers have organized since the country was founded. Without the protection of federal laws, organizers were considered criminal conspirators and either put in jail or fired and blacklisted for it. In the 1930s, when companies refused to recognize a union, workers seized the workplace and sat in until they got union recognition.
Much of today’s NLRB constitutionality fight echoes the conditions that led to the NLRA in 1935. Employer groups then, such as the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Liberty League, mounted a similar defense, calling it unconstitutional. Only after President Roosevelt threatened to expand the Supreme Court, known as “court packing,” did the court declare the law constitutional.
Instead of endless arbitration cases to settle workplace disputes, workers simply stopped working — a quickie strike that shut down production. Workers prevailed thanks to a commitment to improving their economic situations and, just as importantly, taking control of their workplaces.
Organizing without the NLRB
As we run campaigns, it is important to demonstrate the union’s support and power. Labor organizers may be forced to expand the activities they consider to include recognition strikes and even sit-downs.
You should still prepare your new members for a recognition campaign. You may not want to go as far as taking over your workplace — though that would certainly be a dramatic moment — but consider a short strike or staggered work stoppages to enforce your demand for union recognition. A campaign like this requires careful organizing, intense attention, and strong support from all of the new members.
Sit-Down Strikes
The organizing effort should include a careful examination of your workplace and the supply chains that maintain it so you can see where a work stoppage will be most effective. When workers struck the Fisher Body plant on December 30, 1937, for union recognition with the UAW, they effectively shut down the whole corporation until they won that recognition.
You can do the same; in fact, you may have to. The sit-down strikes for union recognition spread from the auto industry to the female clerks at Woolworth’s. It was so effective, bosses responded by urging adoption of the NLRA to control this surge. If workers conducted sit-down strikes or stoppages today, it’s possible that the administration could suddenly restore the NLRB.
Leveraging Your Power
When workers create a good organizing tactic, bosses move to make it illegal. The Supreme Court affirmed in 1938 that “a sit-down strike was ‘good cause’ for discharging the workers,” and that the National Labor Relations Act did not give the NLRB the authority to force an employer to rehire workers who had violated the law.
Temporary work stoppages, strategically planned in critical areas of your workplace, may give you the leverage to get union recognition — but you’ll need to be prepared to put up a fight.
