March 29, 2010 – Washington, D.C. – Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) 2010 National Chairman Jim Elmer, president of James W. Elmer Construction Co., Spokane, Wash., today issued the following statement in reaction to President Obama’s March 27 recess appointment of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The nomination of Becker, currently associate general counsel for the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union, was rejected Feb. 9 by a 52-33 bipartisan vote in the U.S. Senate:
“It is well known that Becker has advocated for the most radical theories of labor law far outside the mainstream – including severely restricting the free speech rights of employers – which is one of the many reasons why his nomination failed in the Senate,” said Elmer. “We object to this move by President Obama to ignore not only Congress, but the will of the people in favor of a political payback to big labor.
“Becker is the first person ever to sit on the National Labor Relations Board that has worked directly for a labor organization. Those with business before the board have a right to face a fair and impartial panel, but it is highly doubtful that Becker will administer our nation’s labor laws in an unbiased manner.
“Radical partisanship has no place in a federal board designed as an independent agency to serve the public interest,” said Elmer. “Allowing Craig Becker a seat on the National Labor Relations Board will disrupt years of established precedent and the delicate balance in current labor law,” Elmer said.
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Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) is a national association with 77 chapters representing 25,000 merit shop construction and construction-related firms with two million employees. Visit us at www.abc.org.