U.S. President Donald Trump has fired two Democratic officials at the National Labor Relations Board, a major shakeup that will bring hundreds of cases accusing companies of unlawful labor practices to a standstill and paves the way for Republican control of the agency.

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.

Federal labor law explicitly limits removal of board members to instances of neglect or malfeasance. The termination is among several early moves Trump has made that push at the boundaries of executive authority.

President Donald Trump purged two National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) leaders known for supporting worker rights on Tuesday, signaling a sharp re-orientation of federal law enforcement towards a management-friendly approach favored by business executives and supporters like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.

After dismissing 17 independent inspectors general earlier, Trump has fired a half dozen NLRB and EEOC officials in a bid to bring the agencies into ideological alignment.

By Daniel Wiessner (Reuters) -Two major unions representing U.S. government employees filed a lawsuit on Wednesday aimed at slowing President Donald Trump's effort to reclassify up to 50,000 federal workers and make it easier to fire them.