Chicago-Style Politics at the NLRB

Democrats on the NLRB are plotting to change union election rules before recess appointments expire.

(CNS News) — The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is set to vote Wednesday on a package of controversial changes to the rules governing union elections while the Board still has a Democratic majority.

Designed to ease the process of unionizing a workplace, the changes come as Democratic member Craig Becker’s recess appointment expires at the end of the year.

The NLRB’s lone Republican, Brian Hayes, said the two Democrats on the Board are “committed” to changing the rules before Becker is forced to leave at the end of the current congressional session. “Indeed, I was advised of this fact by the Board’s Chairman,” Hayes wrote in a November 18 letter to House Education and Workforce Committee chairman Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.).

Currently, only three people — two Democrats and one Republican — serve on the five-member NLRB because President Obama has not found nominees who would be approved by Senate Republicans.

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