Research Briefing

Meet Obama’s Nominee To The National Labor Relations Board

“Senators Should Ask [Becker] To Explain Why Someone Who Wants To Rig The Rules To Favor Unionization Should Sit On A Panel That Is Supposed To Enforce Fairness In Union Elections.” (Editorial, “Andy Stern’s Go-To Guy,” The Wall Street Journal, 5/14/09)

OBAMA RE-NOMINATED BECKER TO JOIN POWERFUL NLRB

“Labor Lawyer Craig Becker Was Re-Nominated To The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Last Week.” (Kevin Bogardus, “Nominee To Labor Board Heats Up Card-Check Fight,” The Hill, 01/25/10)

NLRB Powerful “Independent Federal Agency” That Creates And Enforces Rules Regarding Union-Employer Bargaining. “The National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1935 to administer the National Labor Relations Act … guarantees the right of employees to organize and to bargain collectively with their employers, and to engage in other protected concerted activity with or without a union, or to refrain from all such activity.” (National Labor Relations Board, NLRB.gov, Accessed 2/2/10)

AS LAWYER FOR SEIU AND AFL-CIO, BECKER IS “LABOR’S SECRET WEAPON”

Becker Works As Lawyer For Both SEIU And AFL-CIO. “Becker, an associate general counsel to both the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the AFL-CIO, is being treated by business trade groups as someone who could institute parts of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) through executive action if confirmed ...” (Kevin Bogardus, “Labor Board Nominee Heats Up Battle Over Union-Organizing Rules, The Hill, 01/25/10)

WSJ Editorial: “Andy Stern’s Go-To Guy: Meet Craig Becker, Labor’s Secret Weapon.” (Editorial, “Andy Stern’s Go-To Guy,” The Wall Street Journal, 5/14/09)

Becker Wants Employers To Be “Stripped” Of Their Rights.” “Becker has argued that employers ‘should be stripped of any legally cognizable interest in their employees’ election of representatives.’ In practice, this means that employers could no longer oppose union organizing drives through NLRB or other administrative proceedings but would instead become mere bystanders in that process, removing one of the most powerful tools in the employer arsenal of antiunion strategies.” (Dmitri Iglitzin and Steven Hill, “Obama’s Pro-Union Nominations to Labor Relations Board Stalled,” The Huffington Post, 01/25/10)

BECKER WILL USE NLRB TO IMPLEMENT UNIONS’ JOB-KILLING AGENDA WITHOUT CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL

Just As Obama Issued Executive Orders To Benefit Unions, Becker Will “Issue Rulings” To Do The Same. “Early on, executive orders from the president made in-roads in changing labour rules, including provisions that would mandate the use on more government projects of companies that enter into collective bargaining deals with unions. Meanwhile, Craig Becker, the SEIU’s former associate general counsel, was nominated to the National Labor Relations Board, which has leeway to interpret labour law and issue rulings.” (Tom Braithwaite, “Union Boss Loses Patience With US Reform Delays,” The Financial Times, 01/11/10)

Becker’s Confirmation Will Mean “Much Of What Organized Labor Hopes To Accomplish Via EFCA Will Be Realized Through The Rule-Making Power Of The NLRB.” (Dmitri Iglitzin and Steven Hill, “Obama’s Pro-Union Nominations to Labor Relations Board Stalled,” The Huffington Post, 01/25/10)

• And Provisions From EFCA Could Kill 1.5 Million Jobs Per Year. "The precise effect on unemployment will depend on the degree to which EFCA increases union density, but for every 3 percentage points gained in union membership through card checks and mandatory arbitration, the following year’s unemployment rate is predicted to increase by 1 percentage point and job creation is predicted to fall by around 1.5 million jobs." (Anne Layne-Farrar, "An Empirical Assessment of the Employee Free Choice Act: The Economic Implications," SSRN.com, 3/4/09)

Becker Could “Rule That Existing Labor Law” Can Allow Unions To Take Away Secret Ballot Elections. “Business groups’ concern about Becker is that a pro-union labor board with him in place could rule that existing labor law allows employees to form a union by signing authorization cards, rather than through a secret ballot. That interpretation would allow the Obama administration to put in place the most contentious provision in the card-check legislation.” (Kevin Bogardus, “Labor Board Nominee Heats Up Battle Over Union-Organizing Rules, The Hill, 01/25/10)

• And “Overturn A Number of Key Decisions” That Protect Workers’ Rights. “To understand what is at stake, it’s necessary to understand the potential power of the NLRB … an NLRB on which Obama appointees constitute a majority could overturn a number of key decisions … drastically shorten the time frame for holding union elections; eliminate cumbersome pre-election procedures that allow employers to dispute who is eligible to vote in such elections; require the employer to turn over employee names, addresses and phone numbers early in any union organizing drive; require equal access to both workers and the workplace for unions during campaigns; and increase the penalties on companies that violate their workers’ legal rights.”  (Dmitri Iglitzin and Steven Hill, “Obama’s Pro-Union Nominations to Labor Relations Board Stalled,” The Huffington Post, 01/25/10)

AND BECKER’S SEIU BOSS, ANDY STERN, CALLS WHITE HOUSE HOME, AND BLASTS SENATORS BLOCKING HIS JOB-KILLING AGENDA “TERRORISTS”

“Service Employees International Union President Andrew Stern Holds Sway At The White House, Where He’s Listed For 22 Visits—The Top Number On The Logs.” (Susan Davis, “SEIU’s Stern Tops White House Visitor List,” The Wall Street Journal, 10/30/2009)

Stern: “There Are A Lot Of Terrorists In The Senate Who Think We Are Supposed To Negotiate With Them When They Have Their Particular Needs That They Want Met ...” (Holly Rosenkrantz, “‘Campaign Finance Ruling A ‘Disaster,’ Labor Leader Stern Says,” Bloomberg, 1/26/10)

“SEIU President Andy Stern Also Charged That The Reason Senate Democrats Find Themselves In Their Current Predicament On Health Care Is Because Some Senators (Read: Ben Nelson, Joe Lieberman) ‘Acted Like Terrorists.’” (David Chalian, “Labor Chief: Senators ‘Acted Like Terrorists’ On Health Care,” ABC News, 1/26/10)