Senate Blocks Obama’s NLRB Pick

Business groups won their battle today to block union lawyer Craig Becker’s confirmation for a seat on the National Labor Relations Board.

With 15 senators not voting due to another snowstorm barreling toward Washington, Democrats managed to get only 52 votes to end debate on Becker’s confirmation, eight short of the 60 needed to thwart a threatened filibuster. Joining Republicans in their votes against the procedural motion were two Democrats, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas.

This means Becker’s nomination is dead, at least in the Senate. It’s possible, however, that President Obama could appoint Becker to the NLRB when the Senate goes on recess next week. Such a recess appointment would last through the end of next year.

Obama said today he is open to recess appointments, at least for nominees that have been denied a vote in the Senate by Republican holds. “If the Senate does not act to confirm these nominees, I will consider making several recess appointments during the upcoming recess because we can't afford to allow politics to stand in the way of a well-functioning government,” Obama said.

Senator Michael Enzi, a Wyoming Republican, said he hopes the president won’t make a recess appointment in Becker’s case. Instead, Obama should withdraw Becker’s name and appoint someone who would receive broad support, Enzi said.

Rightly or wrongly, Becker’s confirmation became a proxy fight over the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation pushed by unions that would make it easier to organize workplaces. The House has passed the bill, but it doesn’t have the votes to pass the Senate in its current form. Business groups and their Republican allies contend that Becker would push the NLRB to adopt the bill’s provisions administratively.

Today’s vote to block Becker “was a vote against job-killing policies promoted by union bosses, namely the Employee ‘Forced’ Choice Act,” said Katie Packer, executive director of the business-backed Workforce Fairness Institute.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called the vote “reprehensible.” “Once again, a Republican-led filibuster has put political interests over the needs of America’s working families,” Trumka said.

The business community’s fear of Becker is based on his close ties to labor and his writings as a law professor, where he advocated restricting the rights of employers in labor disputes. These writings show “his thinking is far outside of the mainstream,” Enzi said.

Becker said those articles were deliberately provocative in order to stimulate scholarly discussion. At a Senate hearing last week, Becker said only Congress, not the NLRB, could implement changes such as allowing unions to organize workplaces if they get a majority of workers to sign cards saying they want to be represented. That provision, which would end the requirement for a secret-ballot election in organizing campaigns, is the heart of the Employee Free Choice Act.

Becker’s statements should have allayed any fears that Becker would use the NLRB to give unions a victory they couldn’t win in Congress, said Senator Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat. “I don’t think he could have been any clearer on his views on this issue,” Harkin said. Republicans don’t like Becker, he said, “simply because he’s a union lawyer and a darn good one.”

Republicans, however, said they weren’t convinced by Becker’s words at his confirmation hearing. They noted that Obama’s nominees for the National Mediation Board, which handles labor issues for the airline industry, assured senators they didn’t have any preconceived positions on issues facing that body. Shortly after they were confirmed, however, they changed the rules on union elections to labor’s benefit.

Burned by this experience, Senator Johnny Isakson, Georgia Republican, said, “Out of an abundance of caution, I will vote no.”

---

Kent Hoover is the Washington bureau chief for bizjournals.