Following the Noel Canning decision in which the D.C. Circuit Court held three appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (“Board”) were invalid, President Obama announced on April 9, 2013, the three nominees he intends to nominate to the Board. The remaining two Board members, Richard F. Griffin, Jr. and Sharon Block, are up for renomination.
As for the three nominees, the first is the current Board Chairman, Mark Gaston Pearce, who has been serving in that position since August 2011. Prior to his appointment to the Board, he was an attorney at a union-side law firm and before that as an attorney and district trial specialist for the Board in Buffalo, New York. Pearce’s term is up on August 27 of this year. Pearce is currently the only Board member who was confirmed by the Senate.
The second nominee is Harry I. Johnson III, a Republican and management-side attorney, who has been a partner at Arent Fox LLP since 2010, and previously at Jones Day. The third nominee is Phillip A. Miscimarra, also a Republican and management-side attorney, who has been a partner at Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP since 2005. Miscimarra testified before the House in June 2011, criticizing the Board’s issuance of a complaint against Boeing in an unfair labor practice proceeding regarding the company’s decision to build a factory in another state, a decision that has been heavily criticized.
What this means is there will be five Board nominees that are waiting for Senate approval at one time. Hopefully, the constitutionality of the appointment of the Board’s members will be resolved soon.
Brody and Associates regularly advises its clients on union-related matters and provides union-free training. If we can be of assistance in this area, please contact us at info@brodyandassociates.com or 203.965.0560.
