NEW: White House official confirmed for me that Joe Biden just fired Peter Robb after he refused to resign as NLRB general counsel.

For those who haven't been following, this sets a new precedent. Unions wanted Robb gone immediately -- they think he's that bad -- but the gen counsel typically serves out their full 4-year term even when it spills into a new presidency. Background here: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-biden-peter-robb-nlrb-unions_n_6000a47cc5b62c0057bb6301

Robb is a long-time mgmt-side attorney who helped break the famous PATCO strike. As gen counsel he drove unions crazy, getting McDonald's a friendly settlement in a big Fight for $15 case, going after 'neutrality' agreements, and even picking a fight with @ScabbyTheRat

There was a lot of angst inside the agency too, among lawyers who hated the restructuring Robb was doing. I spoke to some over the past few years. They felt like it was getting harder to pursue big cases and carry out the mission of protecting collective bargaining rights.

This is without a doubt norm-busting. Will unions and Democrats regret it in four, eight or 12 years, when a Republican president shoves out a Dem gen counsel on day one? Hard to say. I guess they can always tell themselves that Republicans would have done it anyway.

But the labor people I spoke to in the last couple weeks, including SEIU president @MaryKayHenry, described the current situation as an emergency that needed to be dealt with. They seemed to believe it wasn't worth fretting about future political scenarios if Biden could do this.

Anyway, I have been thinking about whatever Biden chooses to do here as something of a bellwether. And we didn't even have to wait a full day for the answer.