Dismissals of Unfair Labor Practice Charges Have Surged Under Trump

A new report by the Center for American Progress has found that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has been far more likely to dismiss workers’ and unions’ charges of unfair labor practices since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term.

According to research by the Center for American Progress, which analyzed over 40,000 cases brought before the NLRB, the agency dismissed 34.7 percent of unfair labor practice charges by unions between January 1, 2025 and April 29, 2026 – a 14.2 percent increase from 2024. In the same period, the NLRB also dismissed 67.4 percent of charges filed by workers against their employers, a 10.7 percent increase.

On the other hand, workers who filed charges against their unions were only 0.5 percent less likely to have their charges dismissed, indicating a shift in favor of employers.

The report, published on July 1, states that the Trump administration has changed procedures to make it easier for charges against employers to be dismissed. The report also says that the administration has let staffing levels flounder at NLRB offices that investigate unfair labor practices.

New procedures require documentation to be submitted more quickly, with dismissals sent out if documents are not submitted quickly enough. And, according to the report, most types of priority charges can only be filed against unions, not employers.

Workers have depended on the NLRB to address unfair labor practices, which include interfering with workers’ right to organize or form a union, or union-busting activities like offering raises on the condition that workers vote against a union.

Teke Wiggin, research director at LaborLab, a workers’ rights watchdog that tracks union-busting activity, told Truthout, “Some unions aren’t even bothering to file ULP [Unfair Labor Practice] charges over illegal union-busting, given the declining capacity and shift in priorities under Trump’s NLRB.”

“Similar capacity issues and bias have also plagued the Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS),” he said. “Annual reports filed by anti-union consultants plummeted 40 percent between 2024 and 2025 after steadily increasing the previous four years – pointing towards growing confidence among union-busters that they won’t be held accountable to reporting requirements.”

“The degraded capacity and bias at the NLRB and OLMS have created perfect-storm conditions for union-busting,” Wiggin added.

The Center for American Progress report comes in the wake of Monday’s Supreme Court decision in Trump v. Slaughter, which ruled that the president has the constitutional power to remove heads of independent agencies at will. The decision gives Trump a green light to fire heads of agencies like the NLRB, further weakening the NLRB and the organization’s ability to defend workers.

Indeed, at the start of his second term, Trump replaced NLRB leadership with lawyers who previously represented management. He also fired Gwynne Wilcox, the first Black woman to serve on the board, leaving the NLRB without quorum for nearly a year. While Wilcox has been challenging her firing in court, she is now even less likely to be reappointed — despite a judge calling her firing “blatantly illegal” last year.