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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2013)
NLRB will continue to enforce labor law despite court ruling WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI) — The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will continue to issue rulings enforcing the nation’s labor law, de- spite a Jan. 25 federal appeals court rul- ing saying President Barack Obama il- legally appointed three of its members and that a case they ruled on should be thrown out. The judges, all Republican ap- pointees, also ruled the NLRB doesn’t have a quorum. Their decision, if it stands, tosses the agency into a legal limbo where it can’t decide labor-man- agement disputes because it lacks a quorum to do so. NLRB Chairman Mark Pearce re- sponded that the judges’ ruling applies to just one case. The NLRB will con- sult with the Justice Department about ...Filibuster reform fails (From Page 1) With Democrats in control of the Senate in the 113th Congress, Merkley, Udall and Harkin introduced Senate Resolution 4 on opening day. [Under the U.S. Constitution, the Senate can change its operating rules on the first day of the legislative session with the support of a simple majority.] The res- olution had 18 co-sponsors (no others from Oregon or Washington) and, ac- cording to Udall, enough votes to pass. It was at that point Reid went to work on his “compromise” plan, going so far as to delay opening day by several weeks (using a parliamentary procedure calling for a recess at the end of the first day instead of adjournment) to allow time to work out the details with Mc- Connell. “It isn’t filibuster reform,” Shane Larson, a legislative aide to the CWA, told the Daily Beast blog. “And to call it filibuster reform is mislabeling it. It doesn’t change the filibuster at all. It is a procedural reform that speeds up the Senate, and that is all.” While campaigning for reform, Merkley agreed that “without a talking filibuster, obstructionist senators will still be able to silently stall any piece of legislation they want without any ac- countability.” A day after the Jan. 25 Senate vote, McConnell’s campaign launched a new fundraising pitch to conservatives tout- ing the senator’s work in stopping the reform, The Hill newspaper reported. “We beat the liberals,” the pitch read. “A group of the Senate’s most liberal senators, fueled by left-wing groups like MoveOn, have been pushing a dan- gerous scheme to change the rules of the United States Senate and funda- mentally alter the checks and balances of our system,” read the email, written by campaign manager Jesse Benton. He goes on to declare that Mc- Connell, “stopped that scheme dead in its tracks.” CWA’s Cohen said filibusters could sidetrack much of what labor wants from the new Congress. whether and where to appeal the court ruling, but that decision “may be up to the Justice Department,” added NLRB Communications Director Nancy Clee- land. “The Board respectfully disagrees with the decision and believes the pres- ident’s position in the matter will ulti- mately be upheld,” Pearce said. “This order applies to only one specific case, Noel Canning, and similar questions have been raised in more than a dozen cases pending in other courts of ap- peals. “In the meantime, the Board has im- portant work to do,” he added. Unions, workers and companies “who come to us seek and expect careful considera- tion and resolution of their cases, and for that reason, we will continue to per- form our statutory duties and issue de- cisions.” Union leaders backed the Board’s stand that the recess appointments are legal, and that the Board is acting legally. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said the court’s ruling is “radi- cal and unprecedented.” Change To Win Chairman Joe Hansen called it “misguided.” “The real issue here is the Senate’s inability to confirm qualified nomi- nees,” Hansen added. “Senate Repub- licans, aided by a broken rules system, are carrying the water of big business and denying workers and unions a fair shake” by filibustering NLRB nomi- nees, forcing Obama into recess ap- pointments. Both the Senate and House Repub- licans filed friend of the court briefs on the side of the company and challeng- ing the NLRB. The case itself pitted Noel Canning, a Yakima, Wash., Coca Cola distribu- tor, against the Board. The NLRB said the firm broke labor law in declaring an impasse in 2010 bargaining with Team- sters Local 760, and wanted to enforce its bargaining order. But the basic case got lost in the constitutional issue of Obama’s recess appointments to the NLRB. The firm argued the appointments were illegal and the Board didn’t have a quorum and thus could not decide the case. The three-judge panel of the U.S. EE R F Circuit Court of Appeals for D.C. — the court that handles almost all federal agency cases — agreed. The judges said Obama named three NLRB members, using his power to fill agency positions when the Senate is in recess, when it wasn’t in recess. The Senate had been meeting in 1- minute-or-less sessions, every three days. That means it was technically not in recess, appellate Judge David Sen- telle, a GOP appointee, wrote. Thus, Obama’s appointments were not constitutional, the NLRB didn’t have a quorum and it could not decide the case, Sentelle added. BARGAIN COUNTER Free classified ads to subscribers DEADLINE: Friday prior to publication Published 1st and 3rd Fridays Now accepting e-mails Send to: Michael492@comcast.net Mail to: NWLP, PO Box 13150, Portland OR 97213 (Please include union affiliation) • 15-20 words • No commercial or business ads • 1 ad per issue • All lower case (NO CAPITAL LETTERS, PLEASE) • Ads MUST include area code or they will not be published A UTOMOTIVE 4 Mastercraft tires (for taurus) 205/55r16, $200; 4-16" wheels, $100; 4 Dunlop studless 195/60r15, $200. 360- 931-3895 H OUSING rOcKaWaY ocean front 503-777-5076 5 bdrm, 2 bath, call for fisherman’s special, http://home.comcast.net/~rockaway.beach rOcKaWaY BeacH rental, 3 bed, 2 bath, sleeps 10, Jacuzzi, 5 min to beach/shops. 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