- January 28, 2025
Senator Murray Statement on Trump Illegally Firing EEOC Commissioners and NLRB Members
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement on the illegal firings of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Commissioners Charlotte Burrows and Jocelyn Samuels and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Member Gwynne Wilcox, as well as the firing of EEOC General Counsel Karla Gilbride and NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo.
“I am extremely alarmed by the unprecedented firings of EEOC Commissioners and NLRB Members without cause—these are yet more lawless actions by a president who thinks he is above the law and clearly could not care less about the rights of workers.
“Congress intended for the EEOC to be bipartisan, for
commissioners from both parties to work together to defend workers’
rights and create fairer workplaces—and the NLRB plays an absolutely
vital role in safeguarding employees’ rights to organize for better
wages and working conditions, and preventing unfair labor
practices. These brazen firings undermine not only the will of Congress
but these agencies’ critical work fighting on behalf of workers across
the country.
“President Trump has been in office barely a week and already he is taking an axe to longstanding civil rights protections—from illegally firing EEOC commissioners and NLRB members to dismantling a 60-year agency charged with protecting federal contract workers from illegal discrimination. Trump and Republicans are hell-bent on launching an all-out assault on working people and their rights—they’re just hoping we don’t notice.”
Throughout her career, including as the top Democrat on the Senate Labor Committee from 2015-2022, Senator Murray has championed the vital work and mission of the EEOC and the NLRB, including working to quickly confirm Jocelyn Samuels to the EEOC and Gwynne Wilcox to the NLRB, and promptly considering and advancing out of committee Kalpana Kotagal’s nomination to the EEOC.
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