Senate votes on several of President Obama’s nominees to vital cabinet and agency positions, including Secretary of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) members, could come as soon as Monday. Republicans have blocked those and other nominations through Senate rules and filibuster threats.

Check out this great clip from "All In With Chris Hayes" featuring Panera Bread worker Kathleen Von Eitzen. Von Eitzen and her co-workers voted to join the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Local 70 in Battle Creek, Mich., but Panera Bread refused to bargain with them. Even though the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled the company had to negotiate with Von Eitzen and her co-workers, their case is in limbo because of a federal circuit court of appeals ruling that President Obama's recess appointments to the NLRB are "invalid."

While many of today's prominent Republican elected officials point to former President Ronald Reagan as their patron saint, they've moved so far to the right that their positions are way out of line with what Reagan actually did as president. For instance, this year Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) said the National Labor Relations Board was the most "out-of-control agency in Washington" because it made rulings that favored workers. Previously he said, "Given its recent actions, the NLRB as inoperable could be considered progress."

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka appeared together Wednesday at a Center for American Progress event to call on the U.S. Senate to move forward on confirming President Obama's nominations to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). If those confirmations fail to be approved, the board would fall below a quorum on Aug. 1 and no longer would be able to do its job of protecting America's workers.

The workplace rights of millions of working people will be at risk if the U.S. Senate does not approve President Obama’s five bipartisan nominees to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). This morning, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka joined Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) for a discussion of the NLRB’s role as an advocate for all U.S. workers, how the board can function in the face of Republican attempts to prevent it from doing its job and potential Senate rule changes to end the obstructionism that’s blocking NLRB nominees. The discussion was held at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C.

Stay tuned for a video of the discussion!

For 78 years, the National Labor Rights Board (NLRB) has safeguarded the rights of workers to organize and collectively bargain to improve their wages, benefits and workplace environment. Next month, the NLRB’s power to protect more than 80 million private-sector workers could be further limited when the term of one of the current members is set to expire, leaving the board inoperable and without a quorum.

An editorial in the South Jersey Times calls on the U.S. Senate to approve President Barack Obama's nominations to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to ensure nurses at Memorial Hospital of Salem County have their rights to collective bargaining protected.  More than two years ago, the nurses voted to form a union and attempted to enter into contract negotiations with Community Health Systems (CHS), the owner of the hospital.  CHS refused to recognize the union and the appealed the election to the NLRB. The case remains in limbo because of a federal appeals court decision that is obstructing the work of the NLRB by severely limiting the president's authority to make recess appointments when Congress won't act on nominees. 

The workplace rights of millions of working people will be at risk if the U.S. Senate does not approve President Obama’s five bipartisan nominees to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). On July 10, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will join Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) for a discussion of the NLRB’s role as an advocate for all U.S. workers, how the board can function in the face of Republican attempts to prevent it from doing its job and potential Senate rule changes to end the obstructionism that’s blocking NLRB nominees.

Facing the possibility of 80 million private-sector workers losing access to workplace protections and labor law enforcement before Labor Day, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and allies today held a Day of Action, calling on the Senate to confirm the five current nominees to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The Give Us 5 campaign also is working to end Senate Republicans’ tactics to cripple the NLRB, including legislation to defund the board, shut it down and curtail its work, and legal challenges that have stalled justice for many workers. 

In 1934, there were more than 1,800 strikes involving more than 1.4 million workers. General strikes followed walkouts by dock workers in San Francisco, truckers in Minneapolis and auto parts workers in Toledo.

In reaction, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Democratic-controlled Congress enacted the National Labor Relations Act in 1935. A key piece of this new labor policy: a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with clear, strong enforcement powers.