On Jan. 25, 2013, a unanimous panel of the D.C. Circuit ruled that President Obama had unconstitutionally appointed three board members to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). According to the D.C. Circuit, the NLRB has lacked its required quorum of three members for the past year, calling all of the board’s decisions into question. This ruling comes as huge blow to the Obama administration and especially to the NLRB, while it provides a boon to companies with cases before the NLRB and for companies who have recently lost before the board.
Labor unions have been continuously losing membership; in fact, according to new figures from the Department of Labor, union membership is now at a new postwar low. At their peak in the mid-1950s, unions represented roughly one-third of employed workers. Today, unions represent 11.3 percent of employed workers — and only 6.6 percent of private sector workers. Public-sector employees have become the backbone of the labor movement, with 35.9 percent unionized.