Isakson Votes Against Labor Lawyer to Serve on National Labor Relations Board
Concerned Becker Will Use Position to Unfairly Favor Labor Unions Just as New Nominees to National Mediation Board Have Done 

WASHINGTON (February 4, 2009) – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., today voted against nominee Craig Becker, because he believes Becker will use his position on the National Labor Relations Board to bypass Congress and manipulate the federal regulatory process to favor labor unions if he is confirmed. 

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved Becker’s nomination by a 13-10 vote. Becker must now be confirmed by the full Senate, and no date has been set for the vote.

In charging that Becker and the labor unions are conspiring to use the NLRB to impose pro-union rules that they can’t get passed in Congress, Isakson pointed to comments by Stewart Acuff, chief of staff and assistant to the president of the Utility Workers Union of America, who wrote today in the Huffington Post that, “If we aren't able to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, we will work with President Obama and Vice President Biden and their appointees to the National Labor Relations Board to change the rules governing forming a union through administrative action.”

“It is clear that labor groups intend to use Craig Becker’s position on the NLRB to make changes to labor law that they cannot get passed through Congress,” Isakson said. “The NLRB has a history of trying to maintain a delicate balance of current law on union organizing that provides advantages and restrictions for both sides. It is imperative that this balance continues, regardless of which party controls the White House.”

During Becker’s nomination hearing before the Senate HELP Committee, Isakson questioned Becker about his past writings that have indicated a belief that the NLRB has the authority to make dramatic changes to the National Labor Relations Act without congressional action, including changes denying workers a secret ballot. 

Isakson is strongly opposed to the so-called Employee Free Choice Act, also known as Card Check, which would eliminate the rights of workers to participate in a secret-ballot election in order to certify the creation of a union. Instead, the legislation would force employees to make a public declaration of their preference by allowing union organizers to bypass elections if a majority of employees sign cards authorizing a union. 

Becker is currently associate general counsel to both the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union. The five-member NLRB to which he has been nominated supervises union elections, investigates labor practices and issues rulings that interpret the National Labor Relations Act. 

Isakson noted that pro-union members of another federal labor panel – the National Mediation Board – are also using their positions to impose pro-union rules. In 2009, the Senate confirmed two of President Obama’s nominees to the National Mediation Board only to watch them overturn 75 years of precedent by fiat just weeks after their confirmation. 

“The actions of these new members of the National Mediation Board are nothing less than manipulation of the federal regulatory process to favor one special interest group,” Isakson said. “I remain concerned that Mr. Becker will follow their lead if he wins confirmation and compromise fairness to grant favors to the labor unions that currently employ him.”