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Goldberg Kohn Principal Meredith Kirshenbaum is quoted in “Unionizing Set to Fall Due to Economic, Political Headwinds,” published in the Feb. 2, 2026, edition of Bloomberg Law. The article reports on Bloomberg Law’s analysis of recent labor data and includes commentary from several expert attorneys.
Meredith represents employers in unfair labor practice charges and in other matters pending before the National Labor Relations Board. She also counsels employers during union organizing campaigns, defends employer interests throughout the union-election process, and negotiates union contracts
Bloomberg Law found that the number of union elections fell to 1,372 last year, down from 1,938 in 2024, which is the fewest elections since 2021. Union wins also sank by nearly 27 percent in 2025 compared to 2024, the first downturn since 2020. That drop in election wins led to the number of new workers organized via NLRB elections to fall nearly 40 percent year-over-over to just 65,542 workers in 2025, according to the data.
The article also states that The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ annual union membership report, traditionally released in January but delayed until mid-February, will likely show a modest decline in union membership from 2024.
While volatile economic conditions and increasingly hostile federal oversight drove new union membership down in 2025, the NLRB’s lack of a quorum for much of 2025 and the upheaval of the federal workforce have also contributed to less organizing.
Meredith Kirshenbaum says that with the board’s Republican-majority that is likely to be more business-friendly, unions might start to focus on organizing smaller workplaces that are less likely to litigate.
A $5 million proposed cut to the agency’s budget—coupled with the NLRB’s case backlog—could also create challenges for unions going forward.
“Not that $5 million is such a big number, but I think any effort that impacts the capacity of the board is going to create potentially more backlog,” says Meredith. “If it takes a year or two years to get an unfair labor practice charge resolved, then I think unions are going to be less interested in pursuing the administrative process.”
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