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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (July 19, 2013)
NLRB nominees fall in U.S. Senate showdown By MARK GRUENBERG PAI Staff Writer WASHINGTON (PAI) — Two of Democratic President Barack Obama’s five nominees to seats on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), pro- worker board members Richard Grif- fin and Sharon Block, went down the drain on July 16 (as this issue was go- ing to press), victims of a threatened Senate Republican filibuster. Griffin and Block, who have sat on the board for 18 months as temporary recess ap- pointees, and whom Obama nomi- nated for full regular terms, “were thrown under the bus,” Communica- tions Workers President Larry Cohen told a July 16 telephone press confer- ence. He called them “casualties” in the war against obstructionism. Nominations to the NLRB are im- portant because the board’s rulings govern worker-management relations for 85 million workers, union and non- union, and mostly in the private sector. Without at least three members, the NLRB can’t function. And the terms of IRS PROBLEMS? • Haven’t filed for ... years? • Lost records? • Liens - Levies - Garnishments? • Negotiate settlements. • Prepare offer in Compromise. Call Nancy D. Anderson Enrolled Agent NPTI Fellow/America’s Tax Expert LTC-1807 www.nancydanderson.com 503-244-2577 JULY 19, 2013 Griffin, Block and current NLRB Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce were scheduled to end in August. Two other NLRB seats are vacant. Sacrifice of the two was part of a compromise in which the GOP minor- ity dropped its opposition to Pearce, a Democrat, and GOP-side labor lawyers Harry Johnson and Phillip Miscimarra, plus Obama nominees for other posts. In return, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., abandoned his push for a rules change to end all fili- busters on nominations. Cohen cred- ited Reid for the hard push and getting as much as he could. The Republicans and their business allies “want their pound of flesh from working people, and they will get it be- cause four or five (Senate) Democrats are with them” against Griffin and Block, said Cohen, labor’s point man in the nominations fight. The nomination of Thomas Perez, a top Justice Department official nomi- nated to be Labor Secretary, was part of the deal, with the GOP supposedly dropping its opposition to him, too. But as of mid-afternoon July 16, the compromise wasn’t quite set, since votes had yet to occur on any NLRB nominees or Perez. And Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., tweeted that “In South Carolina, the NLRB is a four-letter word,” signaling opposition. News reports said the deal applies only to the current batch of nominees, including the five for the NLRB, and not to future Obama administration nominees. The Senate’s apparent decision will leave the board, at least right now, with the minimum three members it needs to operate, but with a 2-1 Republican majority, until Obama names replace- ments for Block, a former Labor De- partment official, and Griffin, longtime general counsel of the Operating Engi- neers, and the Senate approves them. Cohen did not name the defecting Democratic senators who would not vote to shut off GOP talkathons against Griffin and Block, or vote for a rules change to end filibusters against all presidential nominees. He said labor will look forward to Obama’s nomina- tion of two more NLRB members and will work hard for quick Senate ap- proval. “This is a horror show, to give up Griffin and Block so the Republicans can go back to their friends at the Chamber of Commerce, K Street lob- byists, and big corporations and show how they’re blocking enforcement of labor law. It’s a disgrace,” Cohen said. “It is a compromise. I think we get what we want, and they get what they want,” Reid said. He credited Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), with brokering the compromise. NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS Other union leaders preferred to hold off commenting on the NLRB sit- uation, pending a final outcome. The first nominee caught in the log- jam, Richard Cordray, the former Ohio attorney general named to head the new Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, went through, 71-29, far more than the 60 votes needed to halt filibusters. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., cast the 60th vote. The CFPB protects workers and con- sumers from further predations by fin- anciers, such as those that caused the Great Recession. PAGE 7
