Senate Republican leaders introduced legislation Wednesday to reform the way the National Labor Relations Board operates, saying their aim is to turn the panel “from an advocate to an umpire.”
Republicans long have accused the NLRB, the federal agency that enforces labor laws, of unfairly siding with the interests of labor unions over business. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the chairman of the Senate’s labor committee, said their bill would prevent the board’s general counsel from operating as an “activist” and prevent the board from making “politically motivated decisions and controversial regulations.”
“It’s time to restore balance and bipartisanship” to the board, McConnell said. “The NLRB Reform Act would help turn the board’s focus from ideological crusades that catch workers in the crossfire to the kind of common-sense, bipartisan solutions workers deserve.”
Last month, the NLRB adopted a rule that requires votes by workers on whether to unionize be scheduled about two weeks after the board authorized them. Previously, the process took one to two months. A coalition of business groups has filed suit against the measure.
The measure would increase the number of board members to six from five, requiring an even split between Republicans and Democrats. All decisions would require the agreement of four board members, resulting in consensus from both sides.
The five-year terms of the board members also would be synched up so that a Republican and Democrat seat are up for nomination at the same time.
The bill would give the parties in a case 30 days to seek review of a general counsel’s complaint in federal district court and would create new rights allowing them to obtain documents relevant to the complaint within 10 days.
In an attempt to speed up the board’s decision-making process, the measure would allow for either party in a case to petition a federal appeals court if the board failed to reach a decision within one year.
And to further incentivize speedy decision-making, funding for the NLRB would be reduced 20 percent if the board isn’t able to decide 90 percent of its cases within one year over the first two-year period post-reform.
The Supreme Court last year sided with Senate Republicans in an NLRB dispute with President Obama, saying he exceeded his authority when he appointed three members to the board during a congressional recess in 2012.
Presidents can circumvent required Senate approval of nominations if the chamber is in recess, a move Obama deemed necessary because Republicans repeatedly were blocking his nominees to the NLRB.
But the justices said the Constitution’s recess appointments clause gives Congress — not the president — the power to decide when it is in recess, and that there was no recess when Obama acted.
