EDITORIAL: Musk & Bezos Attacks on the NLRB are a Sign of the Troubles to Come

With Donald Trump’s win of the 2024 election, monopoly capital has been emboldened and is poised to attack basic workers’ rights that have been in place since the passing of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935. That is not to say that President Biden was any friend to the working class given his choice to stop railroad workers from striking in 2022, but specific figures such as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are poised to cause significant harm with the election of Trump as they have deemed the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) “unconstitutional”.

Both Tesla and Amazon have been accused of violating federal labor laws in the past with Musk firing workers at a Buffalo, New York plant after they had informed him of their intent to unionize. Amazon has had multiple labor violations brought against it by the Teamsters who are currently organizing Amazon warehouses (including drivers) and continuing to add pressure to get the company to the bargaining table. Given that any federal labor law (and violation) is upheld by the NLRB, it is clear why the two billionaires would seek to dismantle it. This would give corporations an unfettered hand in destroying unions and workers’ rights and can be summed up in two words that Sean O’Brien used at his RNC speech: economic terrorism.

Furthermore, the appointment of Musk to the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) is a clear threat to public sector employees and their ability to collectively bargain. Bezos has gone on record saying that he looks forward to Trump’s administration working to deregulate the economy saying, “we do have too many regulations in this country”. The labor movement has relied on the Democrats for decades to keep it afloat. Now with the threat of the Trump administration and their aims to overturn the NLRB, attack unions, and undermine workers’ right to collectively bargain, unions will have to regain their militancy or they will cease to exist. This represents a unique opportunity for class-oriented trade unionists to take the lead in rebuilding the labor movement in this country.