WASHINGTON — Doubling down on President Barack Obama’s bold recess appointment of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the White House announced Wednesday that Obama would also use his recess powers to fill three vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency charged with enforcing labor law.
The move is sure to further infuriate Republicans, many of whom feuded all last year with an NLRB they view as overly union-friendly and anti-business.
The labor board lost its quorum yesterday as the term of board member Craig Becker came to an end — essentially crippling the agency, no doubt to the pleasure of many conservatives. Although the recess appointments will probably be challenged legally by business groups, the move could allow the board to continue operating without disruption. According to the White House, Obama plans to appoint union lawyer Richard Griffin, current Labor Department official Sharon Block, and NLRB counsel Terence Flynn.
Labor groups who had applauded the NLRB for many of its recent decisions quickly hailed Obama for the appointments. In a statement, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka commended Obama for “exercising his constitutional authority to ensure that crucially important agencies protecting workers and consumers are not shut down by Republican obstructionism.”
Generally a quiet, relatively little-known agency, the NLRB drew fury from conservatives throughout 2011. From a controversial complaint filed against the Boeing Company to new rules pertaining to union elections, the board issued a string of decisions and rules that conservatives said tilted the playing field toward unions and away from business owners. While Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and some of his colleagues went so far as to threaten to defund the board, labor groups and worker advocates hailed its actions as commonsense and beneficial to the middle class.
In a statement explaining his decision, the president said that “the American people deserve to have qualified public servants fighting for them every day – whether it is to enforce new consumer protections or uphold the rights of working Americans. We can’t wait to act to strengthen the economy and restore security for our middle class and those trying to get in it.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/04/obama-nlrb-recess-appointments-labor-unions_n_1184285.html
Article Courtesy of The Huffington Post
