As a new administration took the reins for the first time in eight years, employers, employees, unions, labor lawyers and observers alike all wondered what to expect from President Donald J. Trump. Would he govern much like the traditional Republican politicians he so soundly dispatched during his unconventional run through the primaries? Or would his labor agenda be less doctrinaire and more pragmatic – as his relationships with organized labor often seemed throughout his career as a real estate developer, builder and business operator? In some ways, 2017 brought more questions than answers. In the intense last few weeks of the year, the Board’s new General Counsel and outgoing Chairman helped tee up the answers to some of those questions.

We submit this Year in Review to summarize the most noteworthy developments in 2017 – a year in which disruption, intense partisan struggle and political intrigue was woven through nearly every legal change. Additional information on these topics and more is available at our Labor Relations Today blog (laborrelationstoday.com), where we will continue to chronicle and alert readers to significant changes in the law as they unfold in 2018 and beyond.