During a recent webinar in our Laying the Groundwork: Strategic Insights for a Shifting Washington series, our lawyers discussed how these changing dynamics could affect National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or the Board) policy, congressional activity, collective bargaining, and employer strategy through the midterm elections and into 2028.
LABOR RELATIONS THEMES TO WATCH
- Traditional labor alliances are becoming less predictable. Unions are increasingly engaging across party lines on issues such as trade, protectionism, and economic populism, while some Republican policymakers are supporting policies historically associated with organized labor.
- NLRB policy changes may be ahead. Changes in Board composition and General Counsel priorities could lead to reconsideration of precedents involving bargaining orders, employer speech, workplace rules, remedies, severance agreements, protected activity, and other labor-management issues.
- Courts may play a larger role in shaping federal labor policy. Questions involving presidential removal authority, constitutional challenges to the NLRB, and increased judicial scrutiny following Loper Bright could affect both the Board’s authority and the durability of its decisions.
- The midterm elections could alter the labor policy agenda. Changes in US House of Representatives or US Senate control could affect congressional oversight, appropriations, NLRB nominations, committee leadership, and the Board’s trajectory heading into 2028.
- Labor policy is increasingly bipartisan—and local. The Faster Labor Contracts Act illustrates how labor proposals can attract support across traditional party lines, while state and local initiatives involving subcontracting, worker classification, joint-employer concepts, and sectoral bargaining may create additional obligations for employers.
- The 2028 election cycle could overlap with major labor disputes. Significant agreements expire in 2028, potentially placing strikes, supply chains, trade, automation, and job preservation at the center of national political debate.
A CHANGING NLRB LANDSCAPE
Changes at the NLRB in 2026 could lead the Board to reconsider significant labor law precedents. General Counsel Memorandum 26-04 identified numerous areas for potential reconsideration, including bargaining orders under Cemex, employer speech, workplace rules, enhanced remedies, severance agreements, dues obligations, and the scope of protected activity.
These potential changes come amid broader questions about the Board’s institutional authority. Constitutional challenges, questions concerning presidential removal authority, and recent appellate decisions could reshape how the NLRB operates and how courts evaluate its decisions.
NEW POLITICAL ALIGNMENTS
The Faster Labor Contracts Act provides one example of labor policy crossing traditional partisan lines. The legislation would accelerate negotiations for first collective bargaining agreements and, if negotiations and mediation fail within specified periods, provide for binding arbitration. The measure passed the US House of Representatives on June 9 and was received in the Senate on June 10, where it remains pending.
Employers should also watch state and local developments. Initiatives addressing subcontracting, worker classification, joint-employer concepts, and sectoral bargaining demonstrate how labor policy may increasingly develop outside Washington, potentially creating a more fragmented regulatory environment for multistate employers.
LOOKING TOWARD 2028
The 2028 presidential election will coincide with several significant collective bargaining events, including the expiration of major agreements. High-profile negotiations could place labor disputes, supply chains, trade policy, and job preservation directly into the presidential campaign.
AI and automation could add another dimension. Unions may increasingly seek notice requirements, bargaining rights, retraining commitments, staffing guarantees, or contractual restrictions on new technologies. These issues could make technology strategy and workforce planning increasingly important components of collective bargaining.
LOOKING AHEAD
The politics of organized labor are becoming more fluid, even as traditional partisan divisions remain relevant. Employers should monitor developments at the NLRB, in Congress, in the courts, and at the state and local levels while preparing for the intersection of political change, technology, and collective bargaining through 2028.
A longer-term labor strategy that accounts for these overlapping developments can help employers anticipate changes rather than respond to them after they occur.
