Labor board headed for gridlock again

Some Republicans say they are simply adopting the same tactics that Senate Democrats used during former President George W. Bush's second term, when they stayed in session to prevent recess appointments.

From 2008 to 2010, the labor board endured a record 27 months when it had too few members to operate. Senate Democrats had refused to fill vacant seats during Bush's final year in office, angered by a series of pro-business rulings. Then it was Senate Republicans' turn to stall when Obama sent up his own nominees, deemed too sympathetic to labor.

During that time, the board's two members, one Democrat and one Republican, decided cases on which they could agree and postponed - sometimes for years - those on which they couldn't. But the Supreme Court ruled last year that two members were not enough to decide any case before the board.

Obama finally made two recess appointments in March 2010, including Craig Becker, a former union lawyer whose views Republicans considered too radical. Becker's recess appointment will expire at the end of this year, and Republicans have made clear they will block an effort to confirm him through the regular nomination process.

White House spokesman Eric Schultz declined to comment on the GOP tactics.

Both Republican and Democratic presidents have made recess appointments to bypass the Senate's authority to confirm nominees. President George W. Bush made more than 170 such appointments in his two-term presidency. Obama has made 28 recess appointments so far.

Without a quorum of three members, NLRB staff can still carry out the agency's core functions, such as issuing complaints, investigating labor law violations and overseeing union elections. About 95 percent of cases are resolved without ever being appealed to the five-member board.

But the board still hears appeals on hundreds of cases each year, some of which can lead to new policies or change existing case law. Democrats warn that businesses caught violating labor laws could simply appeal their cases to delay fines and penalties, knowing they would never be heard while the board lacks a quorum.

It could also prevent the board from ruling on the Boeing case. The action is currently being heard by an administrative law judge in Seattle, but any ruling would not be effective until the full board ruled on appeal.

The Associated Press


