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The National Labor Relations Board has rescinded nearly all guidance put forth by the previous administration’s general counsel (POLITICO Pro). 
 
What’s going on: “Acting General Counsel William B. Cowen ordered the NLRB’s regional offices to halt work on the guidance out of concern for the agency’s growing caseload, effectively ending work on the board’s previous memoranda on non-compete agreements,” union organization methods and other issues.  

Why it’s important: Among the nearly dozen memoranda fully rescinded by Cowen are several that the NAM urged the administration to rethink: guidance giving NLRB attorneys the authority to charge employers with unfair labor practices for noncompete agreements and the partial reinstatement of “card check.”

• The NAM has long opposed card check for the process’ inherent unfairness and lack of security, and has called for the rescission of this NLRB guidance and other harmful labor policies. 
• In 2023 then-NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued a memo stating that noncompete agreements limit workers’ rights and might infringe on the National Labor Relations Act. The guidance allowed the NLRB to charge companies that require their employees to sign noncompetes with unfair labor practices.
• That same year, in a decision involving building supplies firm Cemex Construction Materials, the board brought back an abridged version of “card check,” the union-organization method that allows employees to sign cards rather than hold secret-ballot elections. 

The NAM says: “Manufacturers welcome [the NLRB]’s decision to roll back Biden-era guidance that threatened the employer–employee relationship and harmed manufacturers’ competitiveness,” Managing Vice President of Policy Charles Crain wrote in a social post Wednesday. 

• “We appreciate the administration listening to our concerns and taking swift action to combat the regulatory onslaught our industry is facing.”