On Dec. 18, the U.S. Senate approved an en bloc nominations package that included 97 Trump administration nominees. The 53-43 party-line vote was made possible by the Senate’s recent move to lower the threshold for sub-cabinet level positions to just a simple majority, rather than the typical, 60-vote threshold.

Ahead of the vote, ABC and the ABC-led Coalition for a Democratic Workplace supported (more here) the nominations of three NLRB nominees included in the package.

• James Murphy, Member of the National Labor Relations Board
• Scott Mayer, Member of the National Labor Relations Board
• Crystal Carey, National Labor Relations Board General Counsel

With the confirmation of the NLRB nominees, the Board will not only have an ABC-friendly General Council to set the agenda, but it will also have a quorum for the first time in nearly a year. The new 2–1 Republican majority on the NLRB will allow the agency to resume more regular operations. However, longstanding Board practice requires three votes to overturn existing precedent. ABC’s next priority is securing confirmation of a third ABC-supported Board member so the agency can begin unwinding policies implemented during the Biden administration.

Among the other 97 positions, there were several Department of Labor nominees confirmed.

• Rosario Palmieri, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Policy
• Henry Mack, Employment and Training Administration
• Anthony D’Esposito, Department of Labor Inspector General’s Office
• Jeremiah Workman, Assistant Secretary of Labor, Veterans’ Employment and Training Service

On Dec. 4, after being unable to act on their en bloc nominee package that included several labor nominees, Senate Majority Leader Thune, R-S.D., updated the package (S. Res. 532) to include Scott Mayer, President Trump’s nominee to serve as a member of the National Labor Relations Board. Mayer was approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on December 3 in 12-11 vote. On December 4, CDW and 35 other employer organizations sent a letter to Thune urging him to quickly schedule a floor vote on Mayer’s nomination. Our statement on the letter can be viewed here.

The confirmation floor vote has not been scheduled yet but will likely happen in the next week or so.

The package of 97 nominees also includes:

• James Murphy, Member of the NLRB
• Crystal Carey, NLRB General Counsel
• Rosario Palmieri, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Policy
• Henry Mack, Employment and Training Administration
• Anthony D’Esposito, Department of Labor Inspector General’s Office
• Jeremiah Workman, Assistant Secretary of Labor, Veterans’ Employment and Training Service

Should the package pass, the Board would have a 2-1 Republican majority and a quorum, which it hasn’t had for nearly a year, allowing it to function fully. That said, Board tradition dictates that three votes are needed to reverse any precedent. ABC’s next priority would be to get a third Republican on the Board, so the agency can begin to unwind the policies implemented during the Biden administration.

On Dec. 3, the Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted 12-11 to approve Scott Mayer, Chief Labor Counsel at The Boeing Corporation, to serve as a member of the NLRB. Following the vote, the ABC-led Coalition for a Democratic Workplace sent a letter to Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., calling for a swift floor vote for Mayer.

“It is in the best interest of America’s workers and the regulated community to have a fully functioning NLRB, but the Board has been operating without a quorum for nearly a year,” said Kristen Swearingen, ABC vice president of government affairs. “Scott Mayer is well-qualified for the position, and we urge Majority Leader Thune to schedule a floor vote and get him confirmed as quickly as possible.”

The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions voted 12-11 to advance President Donald Trump’s nominations of Crystal Carey as General Counsel to the National Labor Relations Board for a four-year term and James Murphy as a Member of the Board through Dec. 16, 2027. Ahead of the vote, the ABC-led Coalition for a Democratic Workplace sent a letter to members of the Committee, urging them to advance Mayer, Murphy and Carey. 

While the nomination of Scott Mayer, Boeing's Chief Labor Counsel, to the Board was initially scheduled for a vote today, he did not come up for a vote. During the Senate HELP Committee's Oct. 1 hearing to consider Mayer and Murphy, Mayer faced questions from Senator Hawley regarding strikes at Boeing's St. Louis facility. Regarding Carey, Hawley stated that stated he was not pleased with Carey's answers to his questions during her July 16 hearing, but she committed to enforcing the Board's decision in Amazon, leading him to support her nomination.

Carey and Murphy's nominations now move to the Senate floor for consideration. The Committee also advanced the nominations of Rosario Palmieri as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Policy and Anthony D’Esposito as Inspector General at the Department of Labor.

July 24, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions advanced three labor nominees by a party-line vote of 12-11. The nominations will now move to the Senate floor for a final vote at a later date.  

• David Castillo to serve as Chief Financial Officer, Department of Labor  
• Brittany Panuccio to serve as a Member, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 
• Jonathan Snare to serve as a Member, Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission 

Ahead of the vote, the ABC-led Coalition for a Democratic Workplace along with 11 employer organizations, including ABC, sent a letter to the committee expressing strong support for Brittany Panuccio to serve on the EEOC.

On June 25, the Coalition for Workplace Safety sent a letter to the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in support of David Keeling’s nomination to serve as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health. The committee is considering additional nominees at the Department of Education, the Department of Labor, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, including:

• Nomination of Penny Schwinn to serve as Deputy Secretary of Education, Department of Education
• Nomination of Kimberly Richey to serve as Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Department of Education
• Nomination of Daniel Aronowitz to serve as Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of Labor  
• Nomination of Jonathan Berry to serve as Solicitor, Department of Labor
• Nomination of Andrew Rogers to serve as Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division, Department of Labor
• Nomination of Anthony D’Esposito to serve as Inspector General, Department of Labor
• Nomination of Andrea Lucas to serve as a Member, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 
• Nomination of Jeremiah Workman to serve as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Veterans’ Employment and Training, Department of Labor

On Dec. 11, in a win for ABC and its members, the U.S. Senate rejected the confirmation of Lauren McFerran for a third term as chair of the National Labor Relations Board in a 49-50 vote. Her nomination threatened Democratic control of the NLRB through August 2026, two years into President-elect Donald Trump’s term. On Dec. 10, ABC sent a Key Vote letter to U.S. Senators urging them to vote “No” on her nomination

In an ABC statement, Kristen Swearingen, ABC vice president of legislative & political affairs, stated, “Under McFerran’s leadership, the NLRB has issued decisions and expanded interpretations of the National Labor Relations Act that have been rejected by the business community, Congress and federal courts.” In a statement released by the ABC-led Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, Swearingen added, “Her confirmation would have blocked President-Elect Trump from pursuing his policy agenda – an agenda that the voters resoundingly supported in the election.”

 On Dec. 3, the CDW sent a letter signed by 53 organizations to the U.S. Senate expressing concerns with her tenure. ABC members from around the country sent Action Alerts to their senators urging them to vote “No” on her confirmation.

On May 23, President Joe Biden nominated National Labor Relations Board Chair Lauren McFerran to serve a third term, threatening Democratic control of the Board through August 2026, regardless of who wins the presidency in November. McFerran’s tenure has been the subject of congressional hearings and oversight letters as well as numerous press reports and editorials highlighting the agency’s failures. In addition, an Office of the Inspector General report found that the Board was operating under “gross mismanagement.”

On July 25, ABC and the ABC-led Coalition for a Democratic Workplace sent letters to the committee expressing concerns over McFerran’s nomination.

Under McFerran’s leadership, the NLRB has issued decisions and expanded interpretations of the National Labor Relations Act that have been rejected by the business community, Congress, and federal courts, including the Board’s joint employer standard and its revived controversial policies through its Representation-Case Procedures final rule.

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders has opted to proceed to a markup of McFerran’s renomination without a formal confirmation hearing, allowing her record to go unchecked and unquestioned by committee members.

On Oct. 25, the Senate voted 51-46 to confirm Jessica Looman as the administration of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. Ahead of the vote, ABC joined the Partnership to Protect Workplace Opportunity (PPWO) in a letter to Senators, expressing concerns with WHD’s recent policy and procedural decisions under Looman’s leadership as Principal Deputy Administrator and urging them to discuss with Principal Deputy Administrator Looman and the Department of Labor the overtime proposal as part of their consideration of her nomination.

Earlier this year in a letter to the Senate HELP committee, ABC highlighted concerns from the construction industry on rulemakings, such as independent contractor, overtime and radical reforms to Davis-Bacon regulations that will increase the cost of taxpayer-funded construction projects and discourage small businesses from rebuilding America.

ABC joined more than 30 organizations in a letter opposing the nomination of Julie Su to serve as the next U.S. Secretary of Labor. ABC previously sent a letter opposing Su’s nomination and raising her questionable record over the past years as Deputy Secretary and her previous role in California.

Su’s nomination is currently stalled in the Senate as Republicans are united in opposition and moderate Democrats remain hesitant to support her while the White House is attempting a last-ditch effort to get her across the finish line.