Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, ON THE LABOR FRONT—Many NLRA Changes Proposed but Can Any Pass the Senate?, (Dec 4, 2025)

By Michael J. Soltis

Democrats advocate for labor’s interests; however, in an unusual move, a couple of Republican senators have joined Democrats as co-sponsors of labor-friendly changes to the NLRA.

The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), our national labor policy, has been amended just three times in its ninety-year history, most recently in 1974, over fifty years ago. Republican senators have introduced a handful of bills and a framework of some bill concepts to amend the NLRA. While politics is notoriously unpredictable, prediction markets would likely forecast that when the sun sets on the 119th Congress, the NLRA will remain exactly as it is today.

Most Senate votes of late on contentious issues are along party lines, or close to it. Historically, Democrats advocate for labor’s interests. Some of the proposed NLRA changes favor labor’s interests while others are predictably unacceptable to labor. With votes along party lines, none of the changes favorable to labor could pass. However, in an unusual move, a couple of Republican senators have joined Democrats as co-sponsors of labor-friendly changes to the NLRA.

All but one of the bills to amend the NLRA pending in the Senate works against labor’s interests. Will enough Democrats join enough Republicans to muster sixty votes to pass any of them? For a review of pending legislation see Mike Soltis’ latest On the Labor Front article: Many NLRA Changes Proposed but Can Any Pass the Senate?

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