Agency is fully functional for first time in a decade
Senate OKs former union counsel Griffin to top NLRB post
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S.
Senate on Oct. 29 confirmed former In-
ternational Union of Operating Engi-
neers attorney Richard Griffin as gen-
eral counsel to the National Labor
Relations Board (NLRB). It gives the
NLRB its first full complement of con-
firmed political appointees in over 10
years.
Griffin was sworn in Nov. 4.
The NLRB is a little-known agency
that administers the National Labor Re-
lations Act. It has two parts: The Office
of the General Counsel conducts work-
place union elections and investigates
and prosecutes unfair labor practice
charges; and the five-member board it-
self functions as a kind of “Supreme
Court” of labor law.
In recent decades, the board compo-
nent has swung back and forth, ex-
panding or restricting workers’ union
rights depending on who’s in the White
House. By law, the president fills three
of the five board seats with individuals
from his political party. Democratic
presidents have appointed pro-labor
majorities, while Republicans have ap-
pointed pro-management majorities.
For the last five years, anti-union
Senate Republicans — asserting that
the nominees were too pro-union —
have used the silent filibuster to block
virtually every nominee put forth by
Gay workplace rights bill
passes in the U.S. Senate
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Em-
ployment Non-Discrimination Act
(ENDA) passed the Senate Nov. 7,
with 64 senators voting in favor.
The bill makes it illegal for employ-
ers to discriminate against workers
based on their sexual orientation or
gender identity. The bill contains an
exemption for religious organizations.
Currently, 29 states allow workers
to be fired for being gay and 33 states
allow workers to be fired for being
transgender.
ENDA was first introduced 20
years ago, but this is the first time it has
been successful in the Senate. A simi-
lar bill passed the House in 2007.
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) was the
lead sponsor of the bill that advanced
Nov. 7.
Senate Democrats were joined by
10 Republicans and two independent
lawmakers supporting the bill.
“Let the bells of freedom ring,” Sen.
Merkley said. “Deeply embedded in the
constitution are notions of freedom and
liberty, and discrimination is the an-
tithesis of those founding values. Every-
one should have the right to work hard
and earn a living. No one should be
fired for who they are or who they love.”
The bill now heads to the House,
where its prospects are more unclear.
Observers such as Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) think
there are enough votes to pass the leg-
islation if Speaker John Boehner (R-
Ohio) were to allow it to come to a
vote. He has expressed opposition to
the bill, so it may not be brought up.
President Barack Obama.
Obama, like all presidents before
him, reverted to recess appointments to
keep the NLRB operational. But earlier
this year, big business groups and their
GOP allies challenged the constitution-
ality of Obama’s recess appointments.
The matter is now before the U.S.
Supreme Court.
As Huffington Post reported earlier
this year:
“With Senate Republicans using the
filibuster to block board members’ con-
firmations, and with the board func-
tioning solely because of Obama’s re-
cess appointments, it was possible the
agency would go dark when one board
member’s term expired at the end of
August — killing the board’s quorum
and making it unable to issue deci-
sions.”
It was at that point Democrats, who
control the Senate, threatened to change
the rules on using filibusters. Wanting
to avert such a change, Republicans
agreed to let Obama’s nominees to all
federal agencies proceed. As part of
that deal Obama agreed to withdraw his
two nominees to the NLRB — Sharon
Block and Richard Griffin, both of
whom were serving under recess ap-
pointments.
Obama’s new slate of five board
nominees was confirmed in July. They
are Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce, a
former union lawyer whose term ex-
pires in August 2018; Kent Y. Hi-
rozawa, former chief counsel to Chair-
man Pearce and also a former union
lawyer whose term expires in August
2016; Nancy J. Schiffer, former associ-
ate general counsel of the AFL-CIO
and former deputy general counsel of
the United Auto Workers, whose term
expires in December 2014; Philip A.
Miscimarra, a former management-side
lawyer from Chicago whose term ex-
pires in December 2017; and Harry I.
Johnson, a former management-side
lawyer from Los Angeles whose term
expires in August 2015.
Following the board confirmations,
Obama nominated Griffin to be the
NLRB’s general counsel. Senate Re-
publicans were furious. They quickly
filibustered the nomination — breaking
their agreement with Democrats not to
block nominees to federal agencies.
A vote was made possible only af-
ter Democrats got seven Republicans to
cross over and allow the nomination to
come to a vote. The Senate voted 62-37
to end the filibuster, and 55-44 to con-
firm Griffin. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-
Alaska) joined all Senate Democrats
and two independents in approving
Griffin.
“The National Labor Relations
Board is the guardian of rights en-
shrined in the National Labor Relations
Act, including the right to form and join
a union and bargain for fair wages,
good benefits, and safe working condi-
tions,” Senate Labor Committee Chair-
man Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), said during
debate. “Workers themselves cannot
enforce the NLRA. The board is the
only place workers can go if they have
been treated unfairly and denied the ba-
sic protections that the law provides.
“The general counsel serves as the
top prosecutor for violations of this
country’s labor laws. Given his depth
of experience and knowledge of labor
law, Griffin is an exceedingly well-
qualified candidate for this position,
and I am confident he will work to
fairly enforce our nation’s labor laws
for workers, unions and employers,”
Harkin said.
Top Republican Lamar Alexander
(R-Tenn.), led the opposition to Griffin,
though he also voted against filibuster-
ing Griffin’s nomination.
Speaking on the Senate floor,
Alexander said he and other Republi-
cans would “introduce legislation to re-
store balance to the board — a proposal
that will retain the rights of workers and
employees, but reduce the swing” in
board decisions “that occurs from ad-
ministration to administration based on
who is in power.”
Griffin replaces Lafe Solomon, who
has served as acting general counsel
since 2010.
(Editor’s Note: Press Associates Inc.
contributed to this report.)
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NOVEMBER 15, 2013