72% Win Rate
Union election win rates climbed from 62.7% in 2008 to 73.8% in 2024. Workers at Starbucks, Amazon, Apple, and hundreds of other companies voted to organize. The 10-year-high win rate reached in 2023 reflected a labor movement that was winning.
The administration’s response was not to change labor law through Congress. It was to gut the agency that administers it.
345 Days Without a Quorum
The NLRB’s five-seat board requires three members for a quorum. The administration fired pro-worker leaders and left the board without the three members it needs to function for 345 days.
345 days without a quorum. 30% fewer elections. 59,000 fewer workers voted. The board that enforces labor law could not meet.
During the vacancy, the board published no decisions for months at a time. No decisions in February 2025. Three decisions in March when a member was temporarily reinstated. No decisions from April through July after that member was removed again.
The total number of NLRB-overseen union elections fell to 1,498 in 2025, a 30% decrease from the previous year. 59,000 fewer workers cast ballots, a 42% decline.
The Function of the Vacancy
When the NLRB cannot meet, it cannot certify elections, rule on unfair labor practices, or enforce workers’ rights. Employers who violate labor law face no consequence because the body that adjudicates the cases has no quorum to decide them.
A worker who is fired for organizing cannot get a ruling. A union that wins an election cannot get certified. An employer who refuses to bargain cannot be compelled. The law still exists. The agency that enforces it does not function.
This is the Step 2 pattern. Gut the civil service. The CFPB went from 1,700 to 200. The SEC froze enforcement. The EPA dropped 87%. The NLRB was left without a quorum. Same mechanism. Different agency. Same result. The rules stop being enforced.
The Workers Are Still Winning
The win rate in 2025 was still 69.8%, above pre-pandemic levels. Workers who managed to get elections held still won them at high rates. The drop was in how many elections happened, not in how many workers wanted them.
The $7.25 minimum wage has been frozen for 17 years. The teacher pay penalty is 27%. Workers are organizing because the policy alternatives are not coming. The NLRB gutting is the response to that organizing.
Read more on the Economy hub and the minimum wage brief.