Democratic U.S. senators grilled President Donald Trump s picks for the National Labor Relations Board on Thursday over their ability to assert impartiality in disputes at the agency between companies and workers rights.
U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee members also questioned Patrick Pizzella, the nominee for Deputy Labor Secretary, about his former employment ties to the convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and also how he would wrangle the department s mission with proposed steep budget cuts.
NLRB nominees William Emanuel of Littler Mendelson and Marvin Kaplan, a federal agency lawyer, were asked if they would fairly uphold the mission of the agency to protect workers rights. Emanuel, a management-side attorney at Littler Mendelson in Los Angeles, in particular, was criticized for fighting against unions during his decades-long career.
You have spent your career at one of the country s most ruthless, union-busting law firms in the country, said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts. How can Americans trust you will protect workers rights when you ve spent 40 years fighting against them?
Emanuel pledged in response he was dedicated to being honest and objective in all his decision-making. Kaplan, who works at a division in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, made a similar promise when he was asked about any influence politics might play in his decisions. He said he would go in with blinders on and take each case in an impartial manner.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, urged his colleagues to confirm the nominees and move away from partisan divides. But it was clear that the NLRB will continue to be seen as a political agency. Democrats said Trump s two nominees to the labor board are a sign that unions will further be weakened.
Several issues certain to divide parties were brought up during the hearing, including the issue over who qualifies as a joint employer for liability and bargaining purposes, the ability to form micro-units , arbitration agreements and the right of graduate students to form unions. Emanuel and Kaplan indicated they would approach each issue in a fact-sensitive manner.
Business-friendly and GOP groups have said they hope the new NLRB members will bring balance to what they believe was a radical board under the Obama administration. Workers rights and union advocates say the new members are inappropriate for the agency and will likely push ideological rulings in support of corporations at the expense of workers.
It s critical we are doing everything we can to make sure that every worker has a fair shot, said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington. She said she has strong questions about Emanuel s ability to protect workers, since he spent a career fighting them. She said she could not find any example in Kaplan s career at government agencies where he supported unions.