Organizing Your Organization During the Second Trump Presidency.
What to expect and how to navigate the challenging road ahead for nonprofit unions and the wider labor movement.
As we brace ourselves for a second Trump presidency, there are likely profound changes to the labor movement and nonprofit work coming our way. It won’t be easy, but this work rarely is. And we can’t prepare without considering what’s possible – good and bad. There’s plenty of thinking about this out there already, and we link to a lot of additional, worthwhile information you can explore. Below are some possible scenarios for the years ahead that are on our minds, and some ways we can build power in the face of those changes.
How will the second Trump presidency impact labor organizing?
Despite his faux-populist rhetoric and tacit support from some areas of organized labor, we expect the incoming Trump administration to be incredibly hostile to unions and wider labor organizing. (Management-side lawyers and consultants are already publishing the changes they want and expect!)
Here’s what we imagine will go down under Trump 2.0:
Personnel changes: Trump will likely fire National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, appoint an anti-union General Counsel, and appoint anti-union members to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) as vacancies arise.
Rolling-back of pro-labor precedents: Once flanked with Trump’s anti-union appointees, General Counsel and NLRB members will be tasked with unwinding the General Counsel memos and NLRB decisions that have made unionizing easier under President Biden. Some examples of what might be on the chopping block include: Cemex bargaining orders; prohibitions on captive audience meetings; prohibitions on non-disclosure agreements; and procedural rules that made NLRB elections quicker, easier, and more efficient.
New anti-labor legislation: Among other likely anti-union bills that will be introduced, JD Vance and Marco Rubio have already introduced the Teamwork for Employees and Managers (“TEAM”) Act of 2024, which would directly undermine the collective bargaining rights of unionized workplaces by allowing managers to make separate agreements with individuals within bargaining units. Project 2025 calls for the reintroduction of the TEAM Act under a Republican-controlled Congress.
We can’t know the exact timeline for many of these changes. Some, like the firing and appointment of a new NLRB General Counsel, may be pretty immediate. However, while it is possible Trump may attempt to remove Biden-appointed NLRB members immediately, it will otherwise take several years for the NLRB to consist of a Trump-appointed majority.
More dramatic changes to the powers, authority, and jurisdiction of the NLRB itself are also possible. Shamefully, the National Audubon Society – along with other notoriously anti-union employers like Amazon, Trader Joe’s, and Tesla – have recently challenged the constitutionality of parts of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). If the courts side with Audubon et al, this would likely weaken the NLRB. Attempts to abolish the NLRB or repeal the NLRA cannot be ruled out, but would be a more extreme outcome that is tempered by the recent news that Trump will nominate Lori Chavez-DeRemer (who has supported the PRO Act) as Secretary of Labor.
How will the second Trump Presidency affect the nonprofit sector?
We can expect both the executive and legislative branches of government to go after nonprofits – and the foundations who fund them – who support policies, entities or causes that oppose Trump’s agenda. We have already seen this phenomenon play out with pro-Palestine advocacy on college campuses, and in response to the Stop Cop City protests in Atlanta, Georgia. In the immediate wake of Trump’s election, a bill is already making its way through Congress that would give a Trump-appointed Secretary of the Treasury largely unchecked authority to revoke the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit it designates a “terrorist-supporting organization.”
The spillover effects of these attacks for everyday nonprofit workers may result in an intensification of the Nonprofit Industrial Complex, where philanthropic foundations become more conservative in what they fund, impose more conditions on their funding, increase reporting requirements, and even withdraw funding from more politically-charged advocacy. This would place pressure on nonprofit workers to do more with less, and could result in management restructuring programs and/or downsizing their workforce.
Could progressive-branded nonprofits embrace unionism?
Governmental attacks on nonprofit advocacy could produce a reckoning within the progressive-branded nonprofit sector, which could result in more concerted efforts at bridging the divides between progressive causes and the labor movement. Inspiration could be taken from the UAW strikes in 2023, where automakers tried and failed to drive a wedge between environmental groups and unions. However, such a shift would require nonprofit bosses to finally embrace unionism within nonprofit workplaces, and work to dismantle the increasingly top-heavy funding structure of the sector by building a more diffuse, community-driven fundraising base.
We are not holding our breath. Many nonprofit leaders are more likely to respond to Trump the way they did in 2016: explicitly fundraising off of casting themselves as leading of the “resistance” to Trump’s agenda, and doubling-down on existing defensive strategies for opposing Trump’s agenda (e.g. litigation). This is because many of the organizations we work for are incentivized to fundraise off of Republicans being in power.
How can workers get organized?
No matter what happens, workers need to find ways to protect ourselves and build the future we need.
If you are already in a union, now is the time to become more active in that union. Rank-and-file pressure may hold the key to ensuring unions and labor federations commit to external organizing. Become an organizer yourself and help workers in other organizations form their own unions. Talk with your coworkers about negotiating your next contract (or even renegotiating your current contract) so as to protect against Trump-led attacks on healthcare, reproductive rights, and immigration (i.e. Bargain for the Common Good). Talk with them also about strategically aligning your contract’s expiration date with other workplaces and sectors. If your current contract contains references to current U.S. labor laws or rules (i.e. referencing the current FLSA standards to set your overtime rate) we suggest writing those out directly in case those laws or rules change.
If you do not have a union in your workplace, the first thing you should do is think about forming one. At this very moment, the legal and political environment for organizing a union and negotiating a collective bargaining agreement are the most favorable you can expect them to be. While the NLRA remains the law of the land, having a union will give you the right to negotiate over sudden layoffs, restructures, and other workplace disruptions that may result from attacks on progressive organizing — even before you have a contract.
While there are many horror stories of nonprofit union busting, there are just as many reasons why unionizing in our sector can and should be easier than in other sectors. Nonprofit leadership’s desire to maintain their progressive reputation can give nonprofit workers a strategic organizing advantage not found elsewhere. Successful, positive union recognition campaigns – take Western Watersheds Project’s recent example – can inspire workers at other workplaces and in other sectors.
While the conditions for organizing may become more challenging in the coming years, there is historical evidence that organized labor can build power and increase union density even under an anti-labor President. To shift the electoral landscape will require organized labor to commit resources to external organizing, and to place less priority on safeguarding existing members’ interests. Union members in more progressive sectors – like nonprofit workers – will need to agitate for this to happen.
Forming a union is not just an act of courage for yourself and your coworkers. It is for workers everywhere, and gives you a direct say in the direction and future of the U.S. labor movement. It also builds solidarity with your coworkers and community – relationships that will be needed to resist a far-right regime. As we face the Trump Presidency, now is the time to start asking our coworkers and bosses: Which Side Are You On?
If forming a union right now is not feasible, there are still ways that you can support and help strengthen the labor movement. Follow unions on social media, join union-affiliated or union-adjacent organizations in your area (e.g. DSA, EWOC, tenants unions). Show up to picket lines and find other ways to support strike actions. Get involved in politics and organizing at the local government level, where, even in this electoral cycle, there were examples of labor unions exerting significant influence in securing progressive governing majorities.
It will take all of us workers, working together, to successfully oppose Trump and Trumpism. Thankfully and not coincidentally, this is also exactly what is needed to form a union and build the labor movement. And OYO will be here to support each step of the way.