President Trump ousted the general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board late Monday, the agency said, signaling a shift away from the Biden administration’s relatively expansive approach to enforcing workers’ rights.
Jennifer Abruzzo, the agency’s former top attorney, is widely seen as having taken a more aggressive approach than her predecessors in carrying out the N.L.R.B.’s mandate to enforce private sector employees’ rights to unionize and take collective action.
Ms. Abruzzo, who had been serving as the board’s lead prosecutor since July 2021, elicited backlash from many corners of corporate America for scrutinizing noncompete agreements, banning mandatory anti-union meetings and raising pressure on companies to bargain with unionized employees, among other actions in support of workers.
In a statement announcing her departure, Ms. Abruzzo lauded the agency’s efforts under the Biden administration to empower workers to collectively seek improved wages, benefits and working conditions. Under her leadership, the N.L.R.B. prosecuted complaints against companies including Starbucks, Amazon and Tesla.
“There’s no putting that genie back in the bottle,” Ms. Abruzzo said. “If the agency does not fully effectuate its congressional mandate in the future as we did during my tenure, I expect that workers with assistance from their advocates will take matters into their own hands in order to get well-deserved dignity and respect in the workplace.”
Labor law experts had widely expected President Trump to fire Ms. Abruzzo, given his appointment of comparatively business-friendly officials during his first term in the White House. President Biden ousted Peter Robb, a lawyer who served as general counsel of the N.L.R.B. during President Trump’s first term, shortly after his inauguration in 2021.
Mr. Trump removed Ms. Abruzzo only hours after the first high-profile union election of the second Trump administration. Workers at Whole Foods Market in Philadelphia voted on Monday to form the first union in the Amazon-owned grocery chain.
Amazon found itself in the cross hairs of the N.L.R.B. multiple times during Ms. Abruzzo’s tenure. The e-commerce giant was hit with a formal complaint finding that it is a joint employer of subcontracted delivery drivers, an issue that is likely to carry into the second Trump administration.
The N.L.R.B. declined to say when President Trump would appoint a new general counsel to fill Ms. Abruzzo’s role. His decision to shake up leadership at the N.L.R.B. comes amid a broader purge of federal officials since his inauguration last week.
