ALG Joins Senate Republicans in Urging Obama to Rule Out Recess Appointment of Becker

March 25th, 2010—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today joined with the Senate Republican caucus in urging Barack Obama to rule out a recess appointment of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

According to the letter signed by all 41 Republican members of the Senate, “We urge you not to ignore the bipartisan Senate vote by giving Mr. Becker a recess appointment to the NLRB. Taking this action would place a rejected nominee in an appointed term to the NLRB, setting an unfortunate precedent for all future nominations and future administrations.”

Becker’s nomination was blocked in the Senate on February 9th, with Democrat Senators Blanche Lincoln and Ben Nelson joining 31 other Republicans against the nominee.

“Craig Becker is a radical of the first order, and the Senate was more than justified in blocking his appointment,” Wilson said, citing Becker’s advocacy of making substantial changes to the National Labor Relations Act via the National Labor Relation Board without any Congressional approval.

According to a report published by Americans for Limited Government, “Militant on a Mission,” Becker wrote that “The [National Labor Relations] Board should return to the principle that a union election is not a contest between the employer and the union... Unlike the other proposals, however, it could be achieved with almost no alteration to the statutory framework.”

According to the ALG report, “This unilateral imposition of his views regardless of Congressional approval may apply to Card Check legislation as well.”

Under current law, the National Labor Relations Act, workers have a right to a secret ballot when unions are organized. Unions have lobbied the Obama administration and Congress for a “card check” system in the EFCA that would eliminate the employer's right to request a secret ballot election, allowing unions to be organized without any ballot.

Becker’s highly controversial views resulted in Senate Republicans’ opposition against the nomination, and in their letter write, “Mr. Becker’s writings clearly indicate that he would use his position on the NLRB to institute far-reaching changes in labor law far exceeding the Board’s authority and bypassing the role of Congress.”

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