Facing the possibility of 80 million private-sector workers losing access to workplace protections and labor law enforcement before Labor Day, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and allies today held a Day of Action, calling on the Senate to confirm the five current nominees to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The Give Us 5 campaign also is working to end Senate Republicans’ tactics to cripple the NLRB, including legislation to defund the board, shut it down and curtail its work, and legal challenges that have stalled justice for many workers. 

In 1934, there were more than 1,800 strikes involving more than 1.4 million workers. General strikes followed walkouts by dock workers in San Francisco, truckers in Minneapolis and auto parts workers in Toledo.

In reaction, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Democratic-controlled Congress enacted the National Labor Relations Act in 1935. A key piece of this new labor policy: a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with clear, strong enforcement powers.

In several actions around the country Tuesday—including a rally outside the U.S. Chamber of Commerce headquarters in Washington, D.C.—workers and their allies will tell the U.S. Senate it’s time to confirm President Obama’s bipartisan package of five nominees to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Congress is due back to work July 8 and the nominees—three Democrats and two Republicans—must be confirmed before August, when the term of one of the current NLRB members ends and the board will be without a quorum.