The removal of the National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel had been expected. But the firing of a Democratic member stops it from protecting workers’ rights, for now.

President Donald Trump has removed a Democratic member of the U.S. National Labor Relations Board from office, an unprecedented move that will escalate an ongoing legal battle over the scope of the president's powers to control federal agencies.

After dismissing 17 independent inspectors general earlier, Trump fired a half dozen National Labor Relations Board and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission officials in a bid make them ideologically compatible.