Trump taps veteran labor lawyer to fill out Republican NLRB majority

ReutersApr 13, 2026 10:17 PM

James Macy joined Labor Dept last year after 40 years in private practice
Would give Republicans three votes to overrule NLRB precedent
Trump also tapped lone Democrat Prouty for second term

By Daniel Wiessner

April 13 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump has nominated James Macy, a longtime management-side labor lawyer who took a job at the U.S. Department of Labor last year, for a seat on the National Labor Relations Board, the White House said on Monday.

If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Macy would give Republicans a 3-1 edge on the five-member board and allow them to roll back a series of Biden-era NLRB decisions that boosted union organizing and have been criticized by business groups.

Trump has also nominated David Prouty, a one-time union lawyer and Democrat who joined the labor board in 2021, for a second term, the White House said. By tradition, the board is made up of two Democrats, two Republicans, and a chair from the president's party. Trump has yet to nominate a candidate to fill the board’s remaining open seat.

Macy could not immediately be reached for comment and the board did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Prouty.

Macy joined the Labor Department in September as the acting head of the Wage and Hour Division, which enforces federal wage laws, though he is also listed on the agency's website as the director of its Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs. On the social networking site LinkedIn, Macy identifies himself as a senior counsel to the secretary of labor.

Macy was previously in private practice representing employers and municipalities for more than 40 years, most recently at Wisconsin-based von Briesen & Roper.

The labor board lacked a quorum of at least three members for most of last year after Trump took the unprecedented step of firing Democrat Gwynne Wilcox. The Senate in December confirmed two Trump nominees, Boeing labor counsel Scott Mayer and career NLRB staff lawyer James Murphy, for seats on the board. Trump last month named Murphy chair.

Trump's appointees are expected to target a series of labor board policies favored by unions that have helped fuel a spike in union organizing in recent years. But board rules require three members to vote in favor of overruling existing precedent, and Murphy and Mayer said during confirmation proceedings that they would not break with that practice.

Murphy and Mayer have already revived a rule adopted by the NLRB during Trump's first ⁠term that makes it more difficult to hold companies liable as the "joint employers" of contract and franchise workers, and relinquished jurisdiction over a case involving Elon Musk's SpaceX to a ⁠different federal labor agency.

Trump taps NLRB member, career staffer Murphy as agency's chair

US Senate confirms Trump nominees for labor board paralyzed after member's firing

US senators question independence of Trump's NLRB picks after member's firing

NLRB poised for major policy shifts in 2026 with new Trump-appointed majority

Trump nominates two lawyers to seal Republican control of US labor board

NLRB resurrects rule from Trump's first term limiting 'joint employment'

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