Obama Makes Controversial Appointment to NLRB

March 30, 2010

The Senate’s vote to oppose President Barack Obama’s nominee for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in February delivered a setback to big Labor’s number one priority: card check. 

However, President Obama's disregard for the Senate confirmation process this past weekend with the appointment of Craig Becker to the NLRB while Congress is on recess gives card check proponents a temporary victory. Recess appointments expire at the end of the next Congressional session. In Becker’s case, unless confirmed by the Senate, the appointment will expire at the end of calendar year 2011.

When big Labor’s number one legislative priority, the Employee Free Choice Act (also known as card check), lost ground to health care in 2009, its proponents saw President Obama’s nomination of Craig Becker as partially satisfying. However, his 2009 nomination and subsequent recess appointment have been overwhelmed by controversy. 

Seven months after Becker's 2009 nomination and after over 400 formal questions from Senators inquiring into his ability to fairly arbitrate labor disputes, the U.S. Senate failed in February by a vote of 52-33, to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the nomination of Mr. Becker to serve on the NLRB.

The NLRB was created by Congress in 1935 to administer the National Labor Relations Act, the primary law governing the interaction of labor and management. Most importantly, NLRB is the key federal agency overseeing workplace organizing.

Mr. Becker’s professional history as a labor lawyer for the Service Employees International Union, as well as other writings indicating his views on workplace organizing, lead to many red flags, particularly in light of the stalled card check legislation. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Ranking Member Michael Enzi (R-Wyoming) noted in his February floor statement that “a review of decades of writings by Mr. Becker have revealed that he has advocated for the most radical theories of labor law, pursuing policies such as mandatory unionization where an employee would choose which union to join, not whether to join a union; and questioning whether an employer has a right to any involvement at all in unionization questions in his workplace.”  

Additionally, Sen. Enzi expressed the driving force behind the dissenting vote when he stated that “this nominee has failed to convince us that he will not attempt to circumvent Congress and impose Card Check-style measures administratively to tilt the playing field against employers.”

NSBA has maintained similar skepticism in regard to Mr. Becker’s ability to fairly arbitrate cases before the NLRB. Indeed, NSBA had joined with others, as part of the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, in writing Congress to oppose his nomination. Card check pursued legislatively or administratively has dire consequences for small businesses.

Check back with NSBA’s Web site or NSBA’s EFCA Resource Center for additional information as it is made available.  Click here to contact your members of Congress to urge their opposition to the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act.