The Trump administration has swiftly moved to undermine worker rights and enhance employer power with a series of anti-worker executive orders since the beginning of Trump’s second term.
In the first two weeks of his presidency, Trump quickly targeted LGBTQIA+ employees and revoked civil rights protections. He dismissed two Democratic commissioners from the five-member Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), including Chair Charlotte Burrows, whose term was intended to last until July 2028, and Vice Chair Jocelyn Samuels, whose term was set to continue until July 2026. He also terminated EEOC General Counsel Karla Gilbride, who was not expected to leave until 2027.
These actions leave the commission without a quorum, rendering the body responsible for enforcing federal job discrimination laws effectively powerless.
A 60-year-old executive order that equipped the Department of Labor with the tools necessary to safeguard the civil rights of federal contract workers has been reversed, and the department has been instructed to halt ongoing civil rights investigations. Additionally, more than a dozen inspectors from various government agencies, including the Department of Labor, have been dismissed.
The executive order titled “Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” constitutes a direct assault on transgender individuals, particularly in the workplace. It directs agencies like the Department of Labor and the EEOC to retract their revised workplace harassment policies, which provided protections for transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals.
Additionally, the administration enacted an order prohibiting transgender individuals from military service, potentially displacing nearly 15,000 individuals due to their identity; revoked a Biden-era executive order that encouraged employers to bolster protections for LGBTQ individuals; directed federal employees to remove their pronouns from email signatures; and eliminated documents regarding LGBTQ protections from the EEOC website.
Gutting the Federal Workforce
The president has implemented a federal hiring freeze, required nearly all remote federal employees to return to in-person work, and reclassified thousands of government workers to make termination easier. He has even sent a government-wide email encouraging federal workers to resign as part of a “deferred resignation program” providing financial support until September.
A coalition of unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), AFGE Local 3707, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and the National Association of Government Employees, is suing Trump over this program.
“We are filing this lawsuit to prevent the removal of competent professionals from the federal workforce. These actions are not only illegal but also detrimental to our communities,” stated AFSCME President Lee Saunders. “These workers handle everything from ensuring families receive their Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security benefits to safeguarding our drinking water, food supply, and national security. Unchecked chaos could have severe repercussions for working individuals.”
“A climate of fear makes our workplaces and communities less safe. Mass deportation policies threaten civil liberties, encourage racial profiling, separate families, and induce significant economic and emotional harm.”
The Wall Street Journal reports that the administration is close to carrying out an executive order that will lead to the dismissal of thousands of federal health workers, and Trump has initiated steps to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, which employs 10,000 individuals.
He has also proposed regulations aimed at diluting federal worker protections, signed an executive order to shrink the federal workforce, and dismissed a Democratic member of the federal employee appeals board.
According to Margaret Poydock, Senior Policy Analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, these actions are “designed to weaken the federal workforce and politicize the career civil service.”
NLRB Immobilized
Labor advocates expected Trump to overhaul the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to align with his administration’s corporate interests, but the specific approach remained uncertain until he took office.
He immediately dismissed NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, which was anticipated. However, rather than appointing a partisan majority through standard procedures, he also terminated Democratic board member Gwynne Wilcox, the first Black woman to serve in that role. This unprecedented move is not only unlawful but Wilcox has announced her intention to explore all legal options to contest her dismissal. On February 1, Trump dismissed Abruzzo’s successor, Acting General Counsel Jessica Rutter.
These dismissals reduced the board to two members, meaning that, similar to the EEOC, it lacks a quorum and cannot issue decisions or regulations, allowing companies to sidestep labor law by stalling cases needing board rulings.
Employers are already exploiting this situation. After Whole Foods employees voted to unionize in Philadelphia, the company requested the NLRB to invalidate the election result. “In the absence of a Board quorum, the Regional Director lacks statutory authority to investigate objections or certify the results, or engage in representation case procedures, including investigating objections or conducting the objections process,” states the filing.
Mark Joseph Stern of Slate suggests that these firings may serve a purpose beyond merely obstructing a federal agency.
A weakened NLRB positions Trump to potentially overturn the 1935 precedent set in Humphrey’s Executor, which protects independent agencies from partisan encroachment and prevents the president from dismissing agency members. Although the GOP-controlled Supreme Court has been inching closer to altering this precedent, it has primarily only applied to multi-member commissions thus far.
“If the Supreme Court abolishes Humphrey’s, it would likely trigger a wave of firings across other independent agencies,” writes Stern.
Jack Goldsmith, former head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel during the Bush administration, suggested to The New York Times that the Trump administration’s actions might have been designed to stimulate legal challenges.
“On one level, this seems intended to provoke a judicial response since much of it is illegal and the overarching message is an unlimited interpretation of executive power,” Goldsmith remarked. “However, they are clearly establishing test cases.”
Undermining the NLRB has long been a goal of billionaire Trump advisor Elon Musk. In January 2024, Musk’s SpaceX launched a lawsuit against the board after being accused of illegally terminating employees. In November 2024, SpaceX and Amazon sought to appeal in the Fifth Circuit Court, claiming that the NLRB is unconstitutional.
Crackdown on Immigrant Workers
Alongside the escalation of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, the Trump administration has also enacted legislative measures targeting immigrants. In January, Trump enacted the Laken Riley Act, which garnered bipartisan approval in the House weeks before he took office and in the Senate mere hours after Joe Biden vacated his position. Marketed by lawmakers as a measure to protect individuals from violence, the law allows states to weaponize the legal system against the most vulnerable community members. Following its enactment, enforcement officers have the authority to detain immigrants indefinitely without bail, based solely on accusations of nonviolent, low-level offenses.
“A climate of fear makes our workplaces and communities less safe. Mass deportation policies threaten civil liberties, facilitate racial profiling, tear families apart, and create immense economic and emotional strain for millions of working individuals nationwide,” stated the AFL-CIO during a recent Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing. “The atmosphere generated by raids and targeting results in fewer individuals reporting crimes, seeking medical care, or sending their children to school — all of which jeopardizes community health, safety, and well-being.”
Fighting Back
As observed during Trump’s first term, many opponents will seek to confront his political agenda through the courts and congressional corridors. However, past legal challenges did not prevent Trump from reclaiming power, and many consider the Democratic response to his overreach insufficient.
Some of the most crucial battles will unfold in workplaces and on the streets.
Recent instances illustrating this disconnect include the Democrats’ inability to extend the term of former NLRB Chair Lauren McFerran, their tendency to propose task forces instead of concrete plans, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’s assertion that the party lacks the leverage to counter Trump.
While the efforts of progressive legislators and attorneys will undoubtedly play a significant role in the forthcoming years, the most critical struggles will transpire in workplaces and on the streets. Direct actions and collective pressure are already proving effective.
In Chicago, the immigrant rights movement has initiated educational campaigns to combat the impending ICE raids.
“City-wide networks of workers’ centers, unions, and community organizations have spent months preparing, distributing flyers and cards, and conveying the message to residents: Don’t engage with ICE,” wrote Sarah Lazare and Rebecca Burns in an article for In These Times. “The two-hour training held at Arise Chicago’s offices the night before marked the organization’s sixth in-house training session that month, part of numerous initiatives occurring throughout the city to protect immigrant residents.”
Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan has voiced frustration that such educational efforts hinder ICE’s ability to deport individuals. “Sanctuary cities are creating significant challenges,” he stated on UJ. “Take Chicago for instance … they’ve been informed on how to resist ICE, how to evade them.”
Following disclosure by labor reporter Kim Kelly that Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) planned to infiltrate the Department of Labor’s internal systems, numerous workers protested outside the Frances Perkins Building. “This is a matter of our health,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler addressed the crowd. “This is about our safety. This pertains to our jobs,” she asserted. “Mine workers, construction laborers, and nurses — all rely on protections from the DOL. Thanks to the individuals in this building, we are able to stand strong.”
On the same day, a coalition of unions lodged a lawsuit aimed at preventing Musk’s team from accessing Department of Labor records.
In reaction to the backlash, Musk’s initial “kickoff meeting” at the Department of Labor was reportedly transitioned from an in-person gathering to a virtual format, demonstrating that even slight resistance can disrupt the administration’s plans.
A recent article in the Washington Post describes how some federal employees are engaging in workplace resistance to counteract the situation, including creating an encrypted chat to protect sensitive data from the administration and marking emails from Trump as spam — “just to irritate them.”
“The 2.3 million civilian federal employees find themselves at the forefront of Trump’s campaign against the bureaucracy, and, in various ways, both trivial and significant, some are mounting a defense,” the article notes.
The past few weeks have been eventful, yet the Trump administration is only beginning to roll out its policy agenda. The next four years will likely witness ongoing struggles for the working class, the nature of which remains to be seen.
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