NLRB, unbowed, faces legal and fiscal hurdles

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) continues to be the most activist and controversial of the federal executive agencies. Its open advocacy for unions has brought urgent criticism from employer groups and legislators in both parties. Even neutral parties are concerned that the rapid, wholesale overturning of long-standing workplace laws makes planning—by both unions and managers—all but impossible. The Board seems undaunted and continues to issue new rules, new General Counsel Memos, and new decisions as if courts and Congress were irrelevant. 2024 is likely to bring some new factors into this arena.