UPDATE: The U.S. Senate has blocked the renomination of Lauren McFerran to the National Labor Relations Board. Sens. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Arizona) voted with Republicans to make it a 50-49 vote. Republican Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas did not vote.
"The Senate just blocked this radical nominee," Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) posted on social media. "This is great news for the workers in West Virginia and across the country."
McFerran
| File photo
ORIGINAL STORY:
CHARLESTON – The West Virginia Chamber of Commerce is urging U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito and Joe Manchin to oppose the renomination of Lauren McFerran for another term on the National Labor Relations Board.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce also has issued a letter to all U.S. Senators asking them to reject McFerran’s renomination.
McFerran was nominated by President Joe Biden for this post, and outgoing Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is planning to schedule a vote on her nomination before the newly-elected Republican majority is seated in January. The vote could happen as early December 11.
“There are a number of problems with the late movements by Senator Schumer to try and ram this nomination through at the last minute,” West Virginia Chamber President Steve Roberts said. “The American people spoke clearly and decisively in November in desiring a change for the direction of our country.
“Notably, the elections produced a change in majority control for the United States Senate.”
During McFerran’s tenure as NLRB chairwoman, the board has seen its share of controversy, such as decisions on the definition of an independent contractor, allowing workplace behavior that disregards Civil Rights Laws, restricting employer speech rights and undermining secret ballot elections.
“Senator Schumer has had ample time to act on this nomination,” Roberts said. “Acting in such fashion in the final few weeks of the Biden Administration and a Democratic Senate Majority clearly disregards the will of the American people.
“That is why we are urging our two senators, Senator Capito and Senator Manchin, to reject this nomination.”
Capito is a Republican, and Manchin is now an Independent but still caucuses with Democrats. Manchin voted against Democrat Gwynne Wilcox for a second five-year term last year, but he says he still is undecided about McFerran.
Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has said he isn’t sure if the caucus would vote in unison for McFerran.
In its letter to all Senators, the U.S. Chamber also noted the July 2023 “scathing report” from the NLRB Inspector General regarding the manner in which the board has conducted mail ballot elections stating that such conduct “could have a significant adverse impact on the NLRB in performing its statutory mission.” The board has not taken constructive action to correct these failings, even after the IG noted that NLRB officials had lacked “candor” during its investigation.
The U.S. Chamber also said numerous federal courts have rebuked the NLRB and overturned a number of its decisions, including earlier this year when a District Court invalidated the Board’s joint employer rulemaking. Recently, the NLRB dropped its attempt to appeal this ruling.
The U.S. Chamber also said the NLRB has “pursued radical changes in labor law” under McFerran, including reinterpreting more than 80 years of settled labor law in a manner that could force workers into unions without a vote.
“It also has infringed upon the free speech rights of both employers and individuals and prevented employers from maintaining workplaces free of harassment,” the U.S. Chamber letter noted. (EDITOR’S NOTE: The U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform owns The West Virginia Record.)
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Biden’s NLRB “has worked overtime to pollute employer-employee relations across the country with vague new standards, distort long-standing free speech principles, and wage all-out war on small-business franchisers.”
“The NLRB member who’s held primary responsibility for executing on the Biden-Big Labor agenda is its chair, Lauren McFerran,” McConnell said Tuesday. “And she’s up for confirmation to another term.
“If the board’s public actions over the last four years aren’t telling enough, I’d urge our colleagues to consider the gross mismanagement on Ms. McFerran’s watch that took an independent Inspector General report to uncover – serious violations of electoral procedures and cover-up attempts, to boot.
“This is to say nothing of the fact that her confirmation would give a lame-duck President control of an independent board well into his successor’s term!
“In this case, there are any number of reasons not to reward bad behavior. And whichever our colleagues choose, I hope they’ll join me in opposing the McFerran nomination tomorrow.”