Truth: The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is a nonpartisan government agency charged with deciding whether employers or unions have violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the principal labor law covering private-sector workers’ rights.
Truth: The NLRB is made up of five members nominated by the president. It needs three members to establish a quorum. At present, two of the five seats are vacant and the term of one of the three current board members will expire in August.
Truth: President Obama has nominated a bipartisan package of five experienced lawyers to the NLRB.
Truth: Senate Republicans, more than willing to sacrifice the rights of workers, are obstructing the nomination process and threaten to filibuster the nominees. In fact, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) actually said, “I will continue to block all nominations to the NLRB…. The NLRB as inoperable could be considered progress.”
Truth: An inoperable NLRB hurts working people. Without a functioning NLRB, workers wrongfully fired who should be protected by the NLRA will have no one to turn to for help and no course for redress.
Truth: Many workers are currently waiting for justice. In January, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that President Obama’s recess appointments to the NLRB were unconstitutional. Under the court’s radical logic, hundreds of recess appointments made by both Republican and Democratic presidents to countless agencies—including the NLRB—would have been invalid. The U.S. Supreme Court is taking up the
Noel Canning
case later this year but Senate Republicans are using the decision to claim the current package of nominees is “unlawful.” And the D.C. Circuit is holding up the enforcement of cases the NLRB already decided while the workers who were wrongfully fired wait to be reinstated.
Truth: Workers have the right to fair treatment, but obstructing the NLRB process isn’t fair.
Truth: Your senators need to hear from you. Urge them to confirm the full bipartisan package to the NLRB as soon as possible. Protecting workers’ rights is a fundamental American principle.
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