Labor Panel Changes Get Icy Reception in Union Challenge

A federal judge Thursday struggled to accept how a Trump administration plan will streamline the government’s labor relations body by transferring power from its regional directors to a centralized three-person board in Washington.

“You’re taking a caseload that spread across regional directors and putting them on the plate of a three-person national body,” Chief US District Judge Denise L. Casper said during a hearing on dueling requests for judgment in the case.

“I guess I’m not understanding how that streamlines things,” the judge said.

Half a dozen unions in April challenged the Federal Labor Relations Authority’s plan to strip power ...