Working Together: Give Us Five: 80 Million Workers Deserve a Fully Functioning NLRB

The Senate is dysfunctional. That's not news to anyone following the long list of legislation never debated and agency, executive branch and judiciary nominations that are going nowhere.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its allies are cheering, much preferring that agencies like the NLRB and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau don't function. Or that important courts like the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals remain packed with Bush appointed pro corporate appointments while qualified candidates to that federal court can't get a vote.

But this is not what democracy looks like!

Working Americans have lost the protections of the National Labor Relations Act because current Senate rules allow the Republican minority to block President Obama's nominees even though they have majority support. That same obstructionism has led to 80 judicial vacancies on federal courts most importantly the DC Circuit Court of Appeals where 4 vacancies have led to a conservative bias. In January 2013, that court ruled that President Obama's recess appointments were invalid, along with those of predecessors Bush and Clinton. Two of the three NLRB members at that time were recess appointees so the US Chamber of Commerce then encouraged more than one hundred corporations to file suit blocking NLRB action on their cases.

Cablevision is taking an even more extreme step, declaring that decisions made by the NLRB regional offices in New York and Brooklyn are invalid. The Regional Board has issued complaints against Cablevision and ordered a hearing; Cablevision responded by filing a lawsuit to block the hearing set for early July.

The NLRB is the only agency that enforces workplace rights for more than 80 million employed in the private sector. That's why workers, whether they're in a union or not, are saying, "Give us five" and confirm all five nominations to the NLRB. We know that even under the best circumstances, justice at the workplace is hard to come by. Now, the Senate is making it virtually impossible to confirm the democratic majority on the five member board so that even those minimal protections are preserved.

Now, we're looking to the Senate majority to do what needs to be done to make sure that workers' rights are protected and labor law is enforced. The Senate Democratic majority must change the rules, as the constitution provides, to allow for an up or down vote on these presidential nominees. That's what democracy looks like, not obstructionism, not valuing Senate "decorum" over the responsibility to constituents to vote on Presidential nominees.

The corporate agenda is all too real. It's visible on Capitol Hill, where the major corporate law firms are lobbying for a split NLRB -- two Republicans and two Democrats. A Board with two Democrats and two Republicans will be completely ineffective; no decisions for workers will be made.

Eight years ago, then Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist threatened to change the Senate rules to get President Bush's judicial nominations confirmed. Rule changes weren't made, but those nominations were confirmed. This is the precedent that the Democratic majority now must follow to get this President's nominees confirmed.

If the Senate fails to confirm all five members of the NLRB before the start of the August recess, Chairman Mark Pearce's term will expire on August. 27. There would be just the two recess appointed Board members remaining, not sufficient for a quorum.

The Senate majority must act, and we and our allies must mobilize NOW to ensure they act.

This issue of the CWA News makes it very clear why the NLRB matters. It matters whether we're bargaining new contracts or preventing employers from violating our current contracts.

CWA filed 175 charges related to bargaining alone in recent negotiations. If we don't get the five presidential nominations confirmed, legal backing for our negotiations disappears. Additionally, organizing rights for workers trying to join our union or any union effectively disappear.

Think about your contract. How would you get management to follow the contract if there isn't a functioning NLRB with the authority to issue complaints, hold hearings and force employers to follow the law? Short answer: there would be no enforcement of federal labor law. That's a nightmare scenario, one we can't allow to happen.

With our partners, Sierra Club, NAACP and others, we've mobilized 1 million people to sign a petition to confirm all five Board members. There have been 10,000 phone calls to Senators and many meetings with lawmakers and their staff. Over the July 4th recess, CWAers have scheduled meetings in their Senators' home offices. A lot is happening, but we need more. Call your Senators and let them know: "Workers deserve a functional NLRB. Change the rules if necessary to confirm all five nominations."