The Obama administration’s protracted effort to name former AFL-CIO and Service Employees International Union Associate General Counsel Craig Becker to the five-member National Labor Relations Board suffered a critical setback on Capitol Hill
Sources: U.S. Chamber of Commerce, HR Policy Association, Washington, D.C.; CP staff
The Obama administration’s protracted effort to name former AFL-CIO and Service Employees International Union Associate General Counsel Craig Becker to the five-member National Labor Relations Board suffered a critical setback on Capitol Hill. We applaud the Senate’s bipartisan vote against Craig Becker’s nomination [as] his views are well outside the mainstream and would disrupt years of established precedent in current labor law, noted U.S. Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice President of Labor, Immigration, and Employee Benefits Randel Johnson in a Feb. 9 statement.
Addressing the potential for the White House to sidestep the Senate by a (limited term) recess appointment, he added, We urge the President to respect the democratic process and nominate a new candidate to replace Becker in the mold of the other two NLRB nominees. Brian Hays, a Republican, and Mark Gaston Pearce, a Democrat along with Becker, remain subject to Senate confirmation. Presently operating with one Democrat and one Republican, the Board customarily has three members affiliated with the political party controlling the White House and two members representing the other party.
Business groups, including the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, have tracked Becker’s nomination since it was announced in mid-2009. The prospect of the longtime labor-side attorney enforcing the National Labor Relations Act elicited a Policy Brief, NLRB Nominee Craig Becker Would Eviscerate the Role of Employers in Union Representation Elections, from the HR Policy Association.