Revolving Door Project | Why Won’t Democrats Defend Their Legacy On Labor?

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It’s December; the lame-duck period continues to wind down and Democrats are at risk of squandering their little time left in power. Ironically, this comes at a moment when the party is ostensibly interested in reinventing itself for the better.

In the aftermath of last month’s dismal election results, plenty of energy has gone into both retracing the (mis)steps of the Biden administration/Harris campaign and charting the party’s future. Lost in this sea of post-mortems and prospective predictions, however, is the fact that Democrats can start repairing their image with the public right now. They seem reluctant to do so.

Case in point being that Lauren McFerran, Chairwoman of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), is still waiting for reconfirmation with less than two weeks left in her term.

The NLRB has been one of the Biden administration’s few consistent bright spots. In successfully appointing McFerran, Gwynne Wilcox, and David Prouty to the board—along with Jennifer Abruzzo as General Counsel—Biden ensured the agency would be governed by a pro-worker Democratic majority.

Beyond simply reversing the harms wrought during Donald Trump’s first term, these nominees have gone further to help resuscitate the American labor movement more broadly.

Landmark decisions like last year’s Cemex ruling have broken with decades of pro-business precedent by punishing anti-union tactics that long discouraged workers from organizing and collectively bargaining. Likewise, last month’s declaration of captive audience meetings as coercive—and therefore unlawful—represents a genuine step forward in holding bosses accountable for union busting.

It’s no wonder the NLRB is experiencing its busiest year to date! Union petitions and unfair labor practice filings to the agency have consistently risen each year since Biden took office; the former, in particular, having doubled between 2021 and 2024.

What’s also unsurprising is just how well-received this approach to labor policy has been. As Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect recently noted, public support for unions is at its highest point in 70 years. If Democrats are truly committed to regaining the trust of working class voters, defending their incredibly popular record on labor seems like a good place to start.

Yet Senate Democrats have dragged their feet on reconfirming McFerran, whose term ends on December 16. This is despite the fact that Majority Leader Chuck Schumer recently described the task as one of the Senate’s “highest priorities.” Doing so would cement a Democratic voting majority on the agency’s board until 2026, creating a crucial bulwark against the incoming Trump administration’s explicit aims to rollback Biden-era policy.

In contrast to Democratic inaction, Big Business has been on the offensive. The Chamber of Commerce recently voiced its opposition to McFerran’s reconfirmation. Furthermore, firms like SpaceX, owned by Department of Government Efficiency head-to-be Elon Musk, are already attempting to undermine the NLRB by attacking its existence entirely in the courts. Business interests are obviously scared, which is all the more reason why Democrats should act.

McFerran has indicated her willingness to continue advocating on behalf of workers if reconfirmed, the question is whether Senate Democrats are willing to help her do so.

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