Controversy continues to brew over one of President Obama’s appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, the administrative body tasked with enforcing the National Labor Relations Act.  Last spring, the President nominated two Democrats and one Republican to join the five-member Board.  For the past two years, only two of the Board’s five seats have been filled.  If approved by the Senate, the President’s nominees would have created a labor-friendly majority on the Board for the first time in a decade.

Congressional pushback has centered around the nomination of Craig Becker, associate general counsel for the Service Employees International Union and the AFL-CIO.  Becker’s opponents point to his past statements that employers “should be stripped of any legally cognizable interest in their employees’ election of representatives.”  The Wall Street Journal labeled him “labor’s secret weapon.”  Senators McCain and Hatch have suggested that if appointed, Becker would need to recuse himself in any case involving the SEIU or the AFL-CIO for up to two years following his confirmation.

Although Becker’s nomination passed the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on a vote of 15-8 last spring, Senator John McCain placed a hold on the appointment.  This sent Becker’s name back to the White House in December.  In January, President Obama renominated Becker – a rare event for NLRB appointees.  The full Senate responded by blocking the nomination in a 52-33 vote, with two Democrats breaking ranks to vote, “No.”

However, the fight over Becker is apparently not yet finished.  In a March 3 presentation at the AFL-CIO’s executive council meeting, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis suggested that President Obama might use a recess appointment to put Becker on the Board.