From Complaints to Contracts: Funding for the National Labor Relations Board

Updated June 8, 2022

Author: Ross Brennan, Senior Legislative Affairs Associate (ross@progressivecaucuscenter.org)

Introduction

There is renewed energy in the American labor movement. From “Striketober” of 2021 to recent union drives at Amazon warehouses and Starbucks coffee shops, workers are striving for a fundamental reorganization of power in the workplace to amplify their voices and bargain collectively for better working conditions. Polling has found that “[n]early 50% of non-union workers or millions of American workers say they would vote for a union in their workplace.” 

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent federal agency tasked with “[p]rotecting workplace democracy by promoting and enforcing the rights and obligations of employees, unions and employers under the National Labor Relations Act, in order to promote commerce and strengthen the Nation’s economy.” The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protects “the exercise by workers of full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing, for the purpose of negotiating the terms and conditions of their employment or other mutual aid or protection.” Under federal law, employers are required to bargain with a union in good faith if employees decide to bargain collectively, making the NLRB essential to supporting workers seeking to exercise their right to organize their workplaces.

Despite its critical role in upholding workers’ legal rights, the NLRB’s funding, which is appropriated by Congress, has remained flat for nearly a decade. Funding has plateaued even with a greater demand for staff and resources to account for the recent uptick in workers exercising their legal rights under the NLRA. Congress has the opportunity to provide the NLRB with the increased funding necessary to carry out its mission and ensure that workers’ right to bargain collectively exists not only in theory, but in practice. Additional funding would ensure the NLRB can fulfill its mandate and meet the current needs of the re-energized labor movement.