Employer Coalition Warns on NLRB Nomination

WASHINGTON, D.C. // JANUARY 27, 2011 // Today the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW) decried President Obama’s renomination of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board. The coalition warned that the decision has put the president’s recent statements on the importance of jobs and unburdening business directly at odds with his actions.

Based on wide-ranging concerns amongst business and elected leaders, the Senate has already rejected the president’s nomination of Becker to the NLRB once, but the administration nevertheless appointed him during a recess. As groups such as CDW warned, the former SEIU lawyer has taken on a radical agenda that has empowered Big Labor at the expense of employees, employers and job growth.

During Becker’s 10-month tenure, the Board has pushed unprecedented and disruptive changes to labor laws, including: stripping the right to secret ballots in cases where an employer signs an agreement; providing union agents access to an employer‘s property, even where the union is there simply harm the business; potentially opening the door to card check drives charter schools; and even authorizing the NLRB’s General Counsel to sue states in which voters have attempted to protect secret ballots. CDW warned that a renewed fight over Becker’s nomination to the NLRB, along with his continued presence, would directly contradict the president’s latest statements in support of employers and increasing jobs.

“The president said some encouraging words in his State of the Union address about the need to unburden business,” said CDW Chair Geoffrey Burr. “Unfortunately, no one has embodied government overreach like Craig Becker, who has used his seat on the NLRB to push Big Labor’s agenda at the expense of employees and small business.”

Burr continued, “Americans want some pretty simple things, including more jobs, a better economy, and basic fairness. The renomination of Big Labor’s man on the NLRB dooms all three of those goals. The president should rescind Mr. Becker’s nomination. Until he does, CDW and the broad employer community is going to be united in our opposition.”

About the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace
The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace is a coalition of workers, employers, associations and organizations who are fighting to protect the right to a federally supervised private ballot when workers are deciding whether or not to join a union.