Bloomberg Businessweek: Business Groups Urge Obama Against Naming Becker to Labor Board

March 23, 2010- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce led 20 business lobbying groups in urging President Barack Obama not to use his executive power to appoint union lawyer Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board.

“We urge you to respect” the “overwhelming sentiment of our members throughout the business community,” groups including the American Trucking Association, the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Retail Federation said today in a letter to the president. Tens of thousands of members have written to oppose Becker, the letter said.

Becker, a lawyer for the Service Employees International Union and the AFL-CIO, failed to win Senate confirmation last month after two Democrats joined Republicans in blocking a vote on his nomination. The groups told Obama “not to disregard the bipartisan Senate vote against moving forward” on Becker.

U.S. presidents have the power to circumvent the Senate by making appointments during a congressional recess. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis told the AFL-CIO this month that unions “will be very pleased” by Obama’s actions on Becker in the next congressional recess, which begins next week.

The National Labor Relations Board was created in 1935 to remedy unfair labor practices and certify union elections. The five-member board has had three vacancies for more than two years, and has more than 200 cases pending, including a matter involving MGM Mirage’s New York New York Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

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