It's the Brian Laris show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. Now we continue our WNYC

Centennial series, 100 years of 100 things. It's thing number 62, almost 100 years of the National

Labor Relations Board. But rather than start in 1925, as we ordinarily would, we're going to start

in the present because the Trump election was fueled by the votes of working class Americans,

very much so, including some unions.

But given Trump's actual record, one of the big questions for the new administration is whether

he is really for the working class and will empower workers differently from past Republican

presidents, or will he be exposed to many of his supporters as kind of a fake populist

in this regard? For example, as our guest will tell us, Elon Musk filed a lawsuit challenging

the constitutionality of the very existence of the NLRB, the National Labor Relations Board,

after it accused him of firing some workers illegally.

And here's a clip of Trump at an event in August talking to Musk and supporting the idea of firing workers who go on strike.

I mean, I look at what you do.

You walk in and you just say, you want to quit? They go on strike.

I won't mention the name of the company, but they go on strike and you say, that's okay, you're all gone.

You're all gone. So every one of you is gone. And you are the greatest. You would be very good.

Oh, you would love it. Trump in August with Musk, chortling in response. So what is the National Labor Relations Board?

Well, it was created by President Franklin Roosevelt and Congress in 1935 as part of the National

Labor Relations Act, which established a right to organize and go on strike. The law also became known as the Wagner Act

because it was sponsored by U.S. Senator Robert F. Wagner of New York.

Here's a clip of Wagner from back in that time advocating for the bill.

The National Labor Relations Bill I introduced is not new in principle.

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