Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives

In response to President Obama’s re-nomination of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board, all forty-seven Republicans in the U.S. Senate submitted a letter to Mr. Obama on February 1 urging him to withdraw Becker’s nomination.  Becker’s July 2009 nomination to the Board failed in the Senate in the spring of 2010, but the President gave Becker a controversial recess appointment that allows him to serve from his swearing-in on April 5, 2010 until the end of the Senate’s 2011 session, despite the Senate’s rejection of his nomination.  President Obama’s re-nomination of Becker, if successful, would allow Becker to serve until December 16, 2014.

In yet another pro labor move under the Obama administration, the National Mediation Board (“NMB”), which oversees labor affairs of airlines and railroads, has issued a final rule that will make it easier for unions to organize airline and railroad employees.  Under the new rule, unions must obtain votes from a majority of all workers who cast ballots in order to be recognized.  This is a significant change from the old rule, which had governed these elections for the past 76 years.  In the past, unions had to obtain votes from a majority of all workers eligible to cast ballots in order to be recognized.  Essentially, the old rule allowed workers who did not cast a ballot to effectively count as a “no” vote.  As a result, in most cases the new rule will decrease the number of votes unions must obtain to win recognition.  Most companies, which are governed by the National Labor Relations Act, follow the same majority requirements as the new rule.

Last week, the AFL-CIO commenced a major new attack on the nation's largest banks and to push for a new "transaction tax" to raise money for a national jobs program.  The labor federation's "Call to Action on Jobs" Campaign, which formally began on March 15th, is expected to target the nation's six largest financial institutions.