ABC - ABC Urges Senate Committee to Vote No on Becker for National Labor Relations Board

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ABC URGES SENATE COMMITTEE TO VOTE NO ON BECKER FOR NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD (02/02/2010)

Contact: Gail Raiman, (703) 731-7281                               For Immediate Release
             Gerry Fritz, (703) 300-0547                                 February 2, 2010

Washington, D.C. – Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) today urged members of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to oppose the nomination of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Becker, a former Service Employees International Union and AFL-CIO associate general counsel, has stated in the past that the NLRB should strip employers “of any cognizable interest in their employees’ election of representatives,” including employers’ right to file objections to union misconduct or challenge the makeup of a proposed bargaining unit.

“We are very concerned over Becker’s positions on a number of issues, including the extent he would restrict the free speech rights of employers,” said 2010 ABC National Chairman James (Jim) W. Elmer, founder and president of James W. Elmer Construction Co., Spokane, Wash. “His view on labor law appears to be well outside the mainstream, and we urge committee members to reject his nomination.”

In an article Becker wrote in 1993, he stated that the NLRB should prevent employers from observing polls at workplace elections. Currently, employers and the union are allowed an equal number of observers at the polls, but under Becker’s suggestion, only union observers would be able to witness the voting procedure. In other parts of the article, Becker advocates for measures that would curb employer communication with employees about unions, as well move elections away from the worksite, a change that would almost assuredly reduce voter turnout.

“Radical partisanship has no place in a federal board designed as an independent agency to serve the public interest,” said Elmer. “Allowing Craig Becker a seat on the NLRB would disrupt years of established precedent and the delicate balance in current labor law.”

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Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) is a national association with 77 chapters representing 25,000 merit shop construction and construction-related firms with two million employees. To find out more about ABC, visit www.abc.org.