Biography
Celine McNicholas is the director of policy and government affairs/general counsel at the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that uses the power of its research on economic trends and the impact of economic policies to advance reforms that serve working people, deliver racial justice, and guarantee gender equity. McNicholas assumed the policy director position in October 2021. She has served as EPI’s director of government affairs and labor counsel since 2017.
An attorney, McNicholas leads EPI’s legislative efforts on a wide range of workers’ rights issues, including labor law reform, collective bargaining, and union organizing. Her research has informed policymakers, advocates, and journalists on why unions are good for workers, how current labor law fails to protect the right to unionize, and why workers need legislation like the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act to restore the right to unionize.
Before joining EPI, McNicholas served as director of congressional and public affairs and as special counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). At the NLRB, she counseled presidential nominees to the board and the general counsel throughout the Senate confirmation process. In addition, McNicholas was responsible for the agency’s congressional affairs work including all agency oversight matters.
From 2009 to 2013, she served as senior labor counsel to Ranking Member George Miller (D-Calif.) for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce. In that role, she advised Rep. Miller on legal issues surrounding the Fair Labor Standards Act, National Labor Relations Act, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Davis– Bacon Act, Service Contract Act, and project labor agreements. Before working for the committee, McNicholas was a legislative staffer for both U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak from Pennsylvania and U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas from Massachusetts.
Education
J.D., Villanova University School of Law
B.A., Mount Holyoke College
Areas of expertise
Labor and employment law • Collective bargaining • Union organizing • Regulatory policy
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Trump’s Department of Labor is dismantling key workplace protections
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Corruption in plain sight: How Elon Musk has benefited from the first 100 days of the Trump administration
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Trump is enabling Musk and DOGE to flout conflicts of interest: What is the potential cost to U.S. families?
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100 ways Trump hurt workers in his first 100 days
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A snapshot of the federal workforce that is now under attack from the Trump administration
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This week in Federal Policy Watch: Elon Musk’s DOGE takes over federal government
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This week in Federal Policy Watch: Trump-Vance administration paralyzes worker protection agencies and leaves workers without ability to enforce the right to a union
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16 million workers were unionized in 2024: Millions more want to join unions but couldn’t
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This week in Federal Policy Watch: Trump administration undermines federal workers, immigrants, and DEI programs
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The policies that will determine whether Trump’s labor secretary pick supports workers
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Federal AI legislation: An evaluation of existing proposals and a road map forward
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Proposed federal rule would protect workers from extreme heat
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Flexible work: What workers, especially low-wage workers, really want and how best to provide it
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News from EPI › Supreme Court ruling drastically weakens federal agencies and their ability to protect workers’ rights
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How much do companies spend on union-busters? The Department of Labor has improved reporting requirements and enforcement—but more is needed
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The Biden board: How President Biden’s NLRB appointees are restoring and supporting workers’ rights
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What’s behind the corporate effort to kneecap the National Labor Relations Board?: SpaceX, Amazon, Trader Joe’s, and Starbucks are trying to have the NLRB declared unconstitutional—after collectively being charged with hundreds of violations of workers’ organizing rights
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Workers want unions, but the latest data point to obstacles in their path: Private-sector unionization rose by more than a quarter million in 2023, while unionization in state and local governments fell
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What to know about this summer’s strike activity: What’s spurring the rise in labor actions?
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Unions promote racial equity
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It’s not just the actors—workers across the economy are demanding better pay and safer jobs
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Supreme Court justices’ close ties with business interests threaten workers’ rights
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Workers are winning union elections, but it can take years to get their first contract
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Employers spend more than $400 million per year on ‘union-avoidance’ consultants to bolster their union-busting efforts
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Employers regularly engage in tactics to suppress unions: Examples at Starbucks, Amazon, and Google illustrate employers’ anti-union playbook
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Major strike activity increased nearly 50% in 2022: Upcoming Supreme Court case threatens workers’ ability to strike
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EPI retracts fact sheet on employer violations in union elections
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EPI comments on NLRB’s proposed rulemaking on Fair Choice and Employee Voice
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Unionization increased by 200,000 in 2022: Tens of millions more wanted to join a union, but couldn’t
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EPI response comments regarding the NLRB’s Standard for Determining Joint-Employer Status