The National Labor Relations Board, established in 1935 to administer the National Labor Relations Act and govern private sector relations between labor union, employers and employees, is currently operating with only 2 members on the 5-member Board.  Wilma Liebman, Chairperson, (Bill Clinton appointee) and Peter Carey Schaumber (George W. Bush appointee) are the current Board members. 

The Board has been criticized by both labor unions and management as being influenced to a greater extent by the political winds of change that flow periodically through Washington, D.C. than by the National Labor Relations Act itself or the Board precedent interpreting that act.  The winds of change that descended upon our nation’s capitol in January have ushered in an opportunity for President Obama to shape the Board.

With three vacancies on the Board, President Obama is looking to fill those posts.  To that end, he announced on April 24 his intention to nominate as Board members Craig Becker and Mark Pearce to fill two of the vacancies.

Craig Becker is the current Associate General Counsel to the Service Employees International Union (“SEIU”) as well as the AFL-CIO.  A graduate of Yale College in 1978, Becker went on to earn his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1981.  On its website, the SEIU touts that Becker has already been working in the White House having written one of President Obama’s first executive orders on labor policy: “Notification of Employee Rights Under Federal Labor Laws.”

Nominee Mark Pearce has worked as a labor lawyer his entire professional career.  A founding member of the Buffalo, New York law firm of Creighton, Pearce, Johnson & Giroux, Pearce practices union-side labor and employment law in state and federal courts and before various agencies.  He also served, from 1979 to 1994, as an attorney and District Trial Specialist for the Buffalo, New York office of the National Labor Relations Board.  Pearce received his J.D. from the State University of New York and his B.A. from Cornell University.