Obama makes new push to fix labor board
This week President Obama announced a bipartisan group of nominations aimed at allowing the National Labor Relations Board to resume its work – but GOP obstruction threatens to derail the plan.
Obama announced on Tuesday the nominations of two Republicans and one Democrat to the board. Along with the existing nominations of two other Democrats, this would fill all five positions on the board, giving it a 3-2 split in favor of Democrats.
The latest batch of nominations includes the NLRB’s current chairman, Mark Pearce, whose term will end in August 2013. The other Democratic nominees are Sharon Block and Richard Griffin – Republicans have been blocking their nominations for months.
Even though Obama’s slate of nominees includes two Republicans, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has already said he will refuse to allow consideration of Block and Griffin and said the president needs to submit two new Democratic nominees “at a minimum.”
But if history is any guide, the reality is that nothing President Obama does will satisfy Republican demands and, despite being in the minority in the U.S. Senate, they will continue to filibuster any nominees to the NLRB.
Under President Obama, the NLRB has often sided with workers in labor disputes and also implemented rules to make it easier and faster for workers to organize – something Republicans and their corporate backers deeply oppose.
In fact, the NLRB has been the target of repeated attacks by Republicans in Congress. In 2011 alone, Republican congressmen introduced 25 bills and amendments to defund the board, weaken workers' rights to free and fair union elections and undermine the board's enforcement authority. Radical tea party legislators in the House are trying to pass a bill that would stop the NLRB from acting unless the NLRB nominees in the Senate are confirmed.
"These politicians have been on a Big Business-financed tirade over the past few years to destroy the NLRB, so they can rig the system against workers," said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. "Workers face retaliation all the time for simply supporting a union, and the NLRB provides one of the few means for workers to hold corporations legally accountable. It's no wonder right-wing extremists in the House are trying to shut down the agency."
President Obama is pushing the Senate to confirm his nominees after a federal appeals court, in January, ruled that his 2012 recess appointments of Block and Griffin were illegal. Even though presidents of both parties have used this power for decades, the court ruled Obama’s appointments invalid because, at the time, the Senate was holding “pro forma” sessions that lasted only minutes at a time. Because the GOP-led House had refused to adjourn, the Senate was forced to hold one of these sessions every three days.
Though the White House is appealing the court’s ruling, the issue may not be settled for months. The nominations Obama announced this week are aimed at allowing the NLRB – which addresses private sector unions and labor disputes – to function in the meantime.
"The NLRB has been critical in standing up for the rights of all working families. Corporate CEOs have too much power as it is," Trumka said. "Let's not let them grab anymore."
It’s important that your senators hear from you – the NLRB is too important to working people to be stuck in limbo. Sen. Mark Kirk can be reached at (202) 224-2854. Tell him it’s time to give the president’s nominees to the NLRB the vote they deserve!