With Battista Gone, NLRB Deadlocks

On the stroke of midnight on Dec. 16, the term of NLRB Chairman Robert J. Batista expired, effectively bringing to an end the board's pro-corporate, anti-union Republican majority.  Prior to being appointed to the NLRB, Battista served as a management attorney for a law firm that played a prominent role in helping management at the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News bust their workers' unions in the 1990s.

With Batista gone, the five-member NLRB is now deadlocked, with two Republican and two Democratic members. 

Another board shakeup occurs in January when the terms of two other members, Republican Peter N. Kirsanow, and Democrat Dennis P. Walsh, both expire. This will leave the NLRB with just two sitting members, Democrat Wilma J. Liebman, who has strongly objected to the board's attacks on workers' rights, and Republican Peter C. Schaumber.

To prevent the president from making recess appointments – circumventing congressional approval – to restore a GOP majority, Senate Democratic leaders will keep Congress open in "pro forma session" until the current session of Congress ends in January.

After January, Bush can nominate a new NLRB chair and name candidates to fill the other vacancies, but each nominee must first be confirmed by the Senate, now controlled by the Democrats.  An ideological standoff on the board is expected to remain until a new administration takes office.

"Given the recent history of this board, we're better off with an NLRB that can't act versus one that can," said CWA President Larry Cohen.  "But even more important, we must dig even deeper in mobilizing over the next 18 monlths to enact the Employee Free Choice Act and bring back workers' rights."