A former member of the top US labor watchdog has sued Donald Trump over her firing last week, describing it as an “unprecedented and illegal” attempt to strip the agency of its independence.
Gwynne Wilcox said her removal from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) was a “blatant violation” of the National Labor Relations Act in a lawsuit against the president and Marvin Kaplan, whom Trump installed to chair the watchdog.
Wilcox’s abrupt departure left the board with only two members, short of the quorum of three which the NLRB needs to issue significant decisions on US labor disputes. She is seeking an injunction for her immediate reinstatement so the board can continue functioning as a congressionally mandated independent agency.
Should her termination stand, Wilcox would be the first and only board member to be removed since the board’s inception in 1935, the lawsuit notes.
Wilcox was dismissed for a “blatantly political purpose that flies in the face of the NLRB’s independent status”, the filing states, noting that the president failed to cite examples of “neglect of duty or malfeasance in office”, as required when firing the agency’s board members.
The White House claimed her removal and those of the NLRB general counsel were because “these were far-left appointees with radical records of upending longstanding labor law, and they have no place as senior appointees in the Trump administration”.
The move triggered a chorus of condemnation, including from former chairs of the NLRB, who criticized the termination in interviews with the Guardian.
“It was unprecedented to have a sitting board member terminated because of her positions that she’s taken in cases. That is clearly contrary to law,” said Lauren McFerran, chair of the NLRB until last month, when her reappointment was blocked in the US Senate.
Wilma B Liebman, who chaired the NLRB from 2009 to 2011, under Barack Obama, and before that served as a board member under Bill Clinton and George W Bush, called Wilcox’s termination “brazen and shocking, contrary to long-existing supreme court precedent, the clear language of the statute (the NLRA), and decades of custom”.
after newsletter promotion
William B Gould IV, NLRB chair from 1994 to 1998, claimed Wilcox’s termination was an attempt to weaken the labor movement.
“Trump is playing a role, that he is well used to, and that is the role of usurping the rule of law,” he said. “I think it’s usurpation and an attack on the rule of law to politicize in a way which Congress and the constitution never intended, to allow for the dismissal of board members when the president doesn’t like what they’ve done.”
