Labor Watch
Businesses Rejoice: It’s A New NLRB Now
Wiki Commons. Public Domain
America’s employers may have cause to celebrate the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for the first time in a decade.
The Trump administration on June 20 announced its intent to nominate Marvin Kaplan to fill a vacancy at the NLRB. The administration is also reportedly considering William Emanuel for the Board’s second open slot, which it hopes to fill by August.
This represents a huge potential victory for American businesses, which have not enjoyed a pro-employer NLRB since 2007. Kaplan and Emanuel are expected to reconsider critical workplace issues, including the “joint employer” standard set up by the previous administration, collective bargaining rights, National Labor Relations Act expansion, and various Obama-era regulations that have stymied jobs growth and hampered commercial productivity.
The National Law Review reports on these highly-qualified appointees:
Mr. Kaplan currently is counsel to the commissioner of the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. He previously served as the Republican workforce policy counsel for the House Education and the Workforce Committee. Mr. Emanuel is a lawyer in private practice at a management-side law firm in Los Angeles with extensive experience representing employers in labor relations matters.
Emanuel is also a member of the influential Federalist Society, and has extensive experience challenging abuses by Big Labor.
CRC has noted the 2-1 majority the Obama administration’s NLRB enjoyed, and its many attempts to severely limit small business owners from starting and expanding their companies. In 2015, the NLRB savaged the long-held rule distinguishing tiny franchised mom-and-pop stores from enormous corporations–a decision which labor unions hoped would bolster their dues-paying membership rolls.
Now, more than 50 business and trade groups are demanding Congress reverse the NLRB’s anti-growth, anti-employer rule. Coupled with President Trump’s appointees, American business could enjoy a period of revitalization and prosperity.
Trey Kovacs, a labor expert at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, called the appointments “a huge opportunity for reform.”
“In recent years, the NLRB has pushed out job-killing decisions and regulations favoring the interests of organized labor over individual workers. It is imperative for the Senate to confirm President Trump’s nominees so they can bring fairness and predictability to agency decisions.”
Perhaps the old conservative adage that a business-minded president can offer the most to American business will find its champion in President Trump.
