NEWSROOM

ABC March 29 strongly objected to President Obama’s appointment of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) while Congress was on recess. Becker, who was serving as general counsel to both the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union until the appointment, was rejected by a 52-33 bipartisan vote in the Senate on Feb. 9.  

The NLRB is the federal agency that supervises and conducts union representation elections and rules on unfair labor practice charges filed by unions, employees and employers. The NLRB enforces and interprets the National Labor Relations Act - the law that governs private sector labor-management relations – and is designed to offer impartial judgment.  

Following Obama’s announcement of Becker’s appointment, ABC 2010 National Chairman Jim Elmer, president of James W. Elmer Construction Co., Spokane, Wash., called Becker’s appointment “a political payback to big labor,” and noted that Becker’s radical theories on labor law are one of the reasons his nomination failed in the Senate.  

Elmer pointed out that it is unlikely Becker “will administer our nation’s labor laws in an unbiased manner.”  Becker is the first person to sit on the NLRB who worked directly for a labor organization.  

“Radical partisanship has no place in a federal board designed as an independent agency to serve the public interest,” said Elmer. “Allowing Craig Becker a seat on the National Labor Relations Board will disrupt years of established precedent and the delicate balance in current labor law.”  

Becker has written law review articles and journals, which reveal his extreme views on labor law.  Among other things, he has proposed significantly restricting, if not essentially banning, employers from communicating with employees about unions during an election and significantly restricting employer involvement in NLRB hearings.  

In addition to Becker, Obama also recess appointed Mark Pearce, another union lawyer, to the NLRB.