NLRB Chair Pledges to 'Reinvigorate Collective Bargaining'

With four of five seats now filled at the National Labor Relations Board, chair Wilma Liebman said the NLRB would seek a more "dynamic" approach to interpreting the nation's labor laws to help "reinvigorate collective bargaining" in the workplace.

At a national conference on collective bargaining in higher education, Liebman faulted the "static" approach to the law that the NLRB took during the Bush administration, which "had the effect of removing more and more employees from the protections of the law, especially vulnerable contingent workers."

She specifically mentioned the Bush board's decision to eliminate bargaining rights for thousands of graduate assistants and others in higher education.

CWA took the lead in pressing the Obama administration to name Mark Pierce and Craig Becker as recess appointments to the NLRB, after it was clear that the Senate minority would continue to block their nominations. CWA activists convinced 141 members of Congress to sign a petition urging White House action.

The NLRB now has a clear majority of three Democrats who support the law's original intent to encourage collective bargaining and protect workers' organizing rights. The four-member board will also get to work on clearing the huge backlog of cases that the NLRB could not address with two members.

Liebman said the board would look at "not just the words of the law" but the impact of board decisions on conditions affecting workers today.