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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (March 1, 2013)
Obama nominates Block, Griffin to regular NLRB seats WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI) — President Barack Obama has nomi- nated Sharon Block and Richard Griffin Jr. to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), setting up yet another confrontation with Senate Republicans over the Board, its powers, decisions, and future. Griffin, a former general counsel for the Operating Engineers, and Block, a former top aide to the late Massachu- setts senator Edward M. Kennedy, have been serving on the Board since Janu- ary 2012. They were appointed by the president during a congressional break, after Republicans blocked their confir- mations. The five-member NLRB oversees enforcement of the laws governing union organizing drives, strikes, and contract negotiations in the private sec- tor. Republicans have been trying to hamstring the agency for years — but with much more fervor since the Board charged The Boeing Company with il- legally retaliating against Machinists District 751 in Washington after it de- cided to build a multi-million aircraft assembly plant in right-to-work South Carolina. The union complaint was withdrawn in December 2011 after the Machinists reached agreement on a new contract. Broadway Floral for the BEST flowers call 503-288-5537 1638 NE Broadway, Portland However, attempts to dismantle the NLRB have continued. Republican senators have filibus- tered every nominee put forth by the president. That’s because without a quorum the agency can’t operate. [In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court con- cluded in a 5-4 decision that the Board was not authorized to make rulings with less than three members.] The NLRB lost its quorum early in January 2012, when the term of Craig Becker — also a recess appointee — expired. Becker was general counsel to Harley tickets now on sale; Unions for Kids Poker Run is June 8 Mark your calendars for Saturday, June 8, for the 11th annual Unions for Kids Motorcycle Poker Run & Chili Cook-Off, a benefit for Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. In 10 years, the event has donated $326,000 to the kids of Doernbecher. In addition to the motorcycle run, there is a raffle to win a Harley David- son motorcycle autographed by the Zac Brown Band. This year’s bike is a 2013 candy orange/beer bottle Heritage Sof- tail Classic valued at over $21,000. Raffle tickets are currently on sale for $10 each, with only 5,000 sold. A silent auction the day of the event will feature a guitar autographed by rapper Snoop Dog aka, Snoop Lion. For more information, call Lee Duncan at 503-260-5905. both the AFL-CIO and Service Em- ployees International Union. With Congress in a break, Obama named Block, Griffin, and Terry Flynn to the Board. Block and Griffin are De- mocrats. Flynn is a Republican. The Board was whittled to three members in May 2012 when Flynn resigned. Flynn quit after the NLRB’s inspector general found that he had leaked inside infor- mation to outside sources — some of it to former Board member Peter Schaumber, a labor adviser to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. Then, in January 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the NLRB was operating without a quorum. The court ruled that the Senate technically wasn’t in recess when Obama made the appointments. [The Senate had been meeting in 1- minute-or-less sessions, every three days — a Republican strategy to prevent the president from making any “recess” ap- pointments]. It ruled that Obama’s ap- pointments were not constitutional, the NLRB didn’t have a quorum and, thus, it could not decide on cases. The case on appeal before the D.C. Circuit arose from an unfair labor prac- tice charge brought against Washington soft drink distributor Noel Canning by the Teamsters Union. The NLRB had ruled in favor of the union. The Hill newspaper called the D.C. Circuit ruling an “extraordinary deci- sion” that, if upheld, will nullify decades of NLRB appointments. The Hill reported that President Carter made the first recess appointment in 1980, when Republicans filibustered his nom- ination. Since then, five presidents have made 26 NLRB recess appointments. Only three of these appointments — one by Bush I, two by Clinton — would be valid under the (D.C. Court) ruling. George W. Bush made the most NLRB recess appointments, seven, none of which were constitutional, according to the D.C. Circuit. The Obama Administration dis- agrees with the ruling and is expected to appeal the decision. Meanwhile, the Chamber of Com- merce is advising employers to appeal unfavorable decisions from the past EE R F year to the D.C. Circuit “as quickly as possible” because other Federal Courts might uphold the recess appointments. In the U.S. Senate, Labor Commit- tee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) supported the nominations of Block and Griffin. He also urged Obama to nomi- nate Democrat Mark Gaston Pearce to a new term as the Board’s chair, and to quickly nominate two Republicans to vacant minority-party seats so his com- mittee can move all the names at once. Pearce has said the NLRB plans to move forward with business as usual despite the court ruling. 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