The agency charged with implementing and enforcing our nation’s labor laws – the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) – has been limping along for several years without its full board of five members. Currently it has two members and is barely functioning. U.S. labor laws are already some of the weakest and least enforced in the industrial world and this situation is nothing less than an embarrassment and a disgrace. Corporate America is quite satisfied with this situation, which allows them to violate worker rights on an even bigger scale than usual.
When working people went to the polls in droves in November 2008 to elect the Obama-Biden ticket, fixing this problem was one of the key reasons which motivated many union members. So, what’s taking so long to get the NLRB Board up and running?
The answer is simple: President Obama has chosen to allow several Republican Senators to block a fully-qualified nominee for the board – Craig Becker. But, rather than appoint Becker to the NLRB Board during the current Congressional recess as he is permitted to do, President Obama has knuckled under to the anti-union Republican attack.
Here’s what we need to do today:
1. Call the White House at 202-456-1111 or 202-456-1414.
2. Leave the message that you expect President Obama to appoint Craig Becker to the NLRB during the Senate recess this week.
3. Feel free to let the president know how disappointed we are that he – so far – has chosen to waste his first year in office seeking one impossible compromise after another with fanatic anti-labor Republicans. We didn’t elect him to surrender. We elected him to fight back!
Tell President Obama to Staff the NLRB - Today!
February 15, 2010