Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, STRATEGIC PERSPECTIVES—Ogletree Deakins’ Practical NLRB Advisor takes a deep dive into the current state of the NLRB, (Oct 9, 2025)
Organizations Mentioned:Labor Relations | Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart, PC
By Marjorie Johnson, J.D.
In his 1975 State of the Union address, then-president Gerald Ford made the bleak observation that “the state of the union is not good.” The same problematic assessment is very likely applicable to today’s NLRB, this issue of the Advisor observes.
In the Fall 2025 issue of the Practical NLRB Advisor, attorneys in the Ogletree Deakins’ Traditional Labor Relations Practice Group take a deep dive into the host of challenges, both internally and externally, that the NLRB is currently facing. From a legal perspective, several of these challenges are arguably existential. However, wholly apart from the constitutional reassessment of the agency and its structure, there is an even more compelling policy debate that is asking if the agency and the statute that it enforces are misaligned and out of step with today’s workplace.
The prospect, however, of any immediate or significant change in the law or enforcement structure for labor/management relations nonetheless remains remote, this issue of the Advisor observes. The subject continues to have a low priority among legislators, and its economic impact remains marginal given the low degree of private sector union density. However, there are growing voices for reform. Those voices have been amplified by the Board’s own oscillating decision-making as well as judicial and popular pushback against bureaucracy. These may be enough to push the impetus for change past the tipping point.
This issue of the Advisor also examines the Fifth Circuit’s approval of preliminary injunctions that halted NLRB unfair labor practice proceedings against three employers and the court’s finding that the structure of the NLRB is likely unconstitutional, the changes in Board leadership under the Trump administration, and the acting general counsel’s slew of consequential memoranda.
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