Jennifer Ann Abruzzo is an American attorney and government official who serves as General Counsel at the

National Labor Relations Board The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States with responsibilities for enforcing U.S. labor law in relation to collective bargaining and unfair labor practices. Under the Natio ...

(NLRB). She previously was Special Counsel for Strategic Initiatives for

Communications Workers of America The Communications Workers of America (CWA) is the largest communications and media labor union in the United States, representing about 700,000 members in both the private and public sectors (also in Canada and Puerto Rico). The union has 27 loc ...

(CWA), the largest media and communications

union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

in the United States. She had previously worked for the NLRB for over 20 years in a number of positions, including Deputy General Counsel and Acting General Counsel.

Early life and career

A native of

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, Abruzzo was raised in a "large

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

family". Abruzzo began her nearly 23-year career at the

(NLRB) as a field attorney in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, eventually rising to the position of Deputy General Counsel during the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...

. Abruzzo later served as acting general counsel in advance of the confirmation of

Peter B. Robb Peter Barr Robb (born January 24, 1948) is an American lawyer who was the general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). He was appointed to the position by President Donald Trump. He was fired by President Joe Biden on January ...

to the position. Abruzzo became special counsel for strategic initiatives at

(CWA) in February 2018. In 2019, the

AFL–CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO) is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 12 million ac ...

recommended Abruzzo for a vacant Democratic seat on the NLRB. During the

presidential transition of Joe Biden The presidential transition of Joe Biden began on November 7, 2020 and ended on January 20, 2021. Unlike previous presidential transitions, which normally take place during the roughly 10-week period between the election in the first week o ...

, she served as an advisor to the President-elect on matters of labor policy.

General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board

Nomination

President Joe Biden nominated Jennifer Abruzzo to become the General Counsel of the NLRB on February 17, 2021 after firing the previous General Counsel,

. Following her confirmation hearing, Abruzzo was confirmed by the Senate in a 51-50 vote, with all Democrats voting in favor and all Republicans voting against, and Vice President

Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who is the 49th vice president of the United States. She is the first female vice president and the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history, as well ...

breaking the tie in favor of Abruzzo's confirmation. She is the second woman to ever serve as NLRB general counsel, after Rosemary Collyer. The confirmation of Abruzzo received support from unions, and she is expected to improve the investigative and enforcement capacity of NLRB lawyers by reversing budget cuts and staffing reductions implemented during the tenure of her predecessor, as well as ratify actions taken by acting general counsel Peter Sung Ohr after Robb was fired.

Tenure

As General Counsel Abruzzo issued a memo declaring that college athletes have the right to organize. In office, Abruzzo has pushed for the NLRB to protect immigrants' rights to organize, regardless of their immigration status. In October 2021, Abruzzo stated that employees who participated in Black Lives Matter protests were protected under federal labor law. The success of the

Amazon Labor Union The Amazon Labor Union (ALU) is an independent labor union specifically for Amazon (company), Amazon workers, created on April 20, 2021. On April 1, 2022, the Amazon workers at a warehouse in Staten Island, JFK8, backed by the ALU became the firs ...

organizing drive at the company's JFK8 facility in

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

has been attributed in part to Abruzzo's leadership at the NLRB. In April 2022, Abruzzo issued a memorandum calling for the NLRB to find

captive audience meeting A captive audience meeting is a mandatory meeting during working hours, organized by an employer with the purpose of discouraging employees from organizing or joining a labor union. It is considered a union busting tactic. Critics allege that capt ...

s unlawful.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abruzzo, Jennifer Living people Year of birth missing (living people) National Labor Relations Board officials Biden administration personnel Women government officials American labor lawyers Communications Workers of America people People from Queens, New York