Firedoglake: McCain Wins Again: Craig Becker to Have Hearing for NLRB Nomination

[Omaha Steve]

http://workinprogress.firedoglake.com/2010/01/29/mccain-wins-again-craig-becker-to-have-hearing-for-nlrb-nomination/



By: Michael Whitney Friday January 29, 2010 11:52 am

nlrbCraig Becker, one of Barack Obama’s three nominations to the National Labor Relations Board will have a hearing before the Senate HELP Committee next week, marking a victory for John McCain and the Republicans.

John McCain is two for two. After placing a hold on Craig Becker’s nomination to the National Labor Relations Board last year, the Senate returned Becker’s nomination to the White House. And after Becker’s Obama renominated Becker, McCain again insisted on the nearly unprecedented step of a formal hearing for a member of the NLRB. The last time an NLRB nominee had a hearing was in 1994 for a new Chairman of the Board. Becker, by contrast, is up for one of three regular vacancies.

McCain’s chief complaints with Becker in his letter seeking a hearing are that he favors workers’ rights – a ridiculous complaint to make about a union attorney nominated by a Democratic President to the National Labor Relations Board.

With the new opportunity afforded to us by Mr. Becker’s nomination being resubmitted to the Senate, it is critical that we conduct a full committee hearing on this important nomination.

The NLRB is a bipartisan body that has the crucial task of overseeing, in a balanced fashion, our nation’s workplace laws government by the National Labor Relations Act. The NLRB supervises union organization campaigns and addresses unfair labor practices by unions and employers. Through its rulings and activities the NLRB, in essence, forms the nation’s labor-management relations policy for employers and unions.

As you know, Mr. Becker has a long career of writings and activities that suggest his views concerning labor-management relations are far outside the mainstream in America. As such, I have serious questions about whether Mr. Becker has the ability to fairly consider important cases that come before the NLRB.

FULL story at link.

[Union Yes]

1. K&R Thanks for the heads up OS. nt