NLRB Nominations Considered by the Senate HELP Committee

By Edwin S. Hopson

As part of the agreement regarding the Senate filibuster rules, on July 23, 2013, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held about a two hour hearing on the President’s recent nominations of Kent Yoshiho Hirozawa and Nancy Jean Schiffer to be Members of the National Labor Relations Board.  Both faced stiff questioning from Republican Senators on the Committee.  On July 24, 2013, the Committee is scheduled to vote on the nominations, to be followed by a vote by the full Senate later in the week on the nominations of Hirozawa, Schiffer and current NLRB Chairman, Mark Pearce.  It is not clear whether the full Senate will also vote on the confirmation of Republicans Harry Johnson and Philip Miscamarra, whose nominations were earlier favorably voted out of committee.

NLRB Members Griffin and Block to be Replaced as Part of Filibuster Deal

By Edwin S. Hopson

Politico.com and other media are reporting that on July 16, 2013, as part of the agreement to resolve the deadlock over possibly changing the filibuster rules in the Senate, Democrats in consultation with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka agreed that Recess-Appointee Members Richard Griffin and Sharon Block of the NLRB would be removed and replaced by Nancy Schiffer, former Associate General Counsel at the AFL-CIO, and Kent Hirozawa, currently Chief Counsel to NLRB Chairman, Mark Pearce.  A hearing is to be scheduled the week of July 22 before the Senate HELP Committee to approve Schiffer and Hirozawa.  The GOP also agreed not to block the nominee for an opening next year on the NLRB. 

This agreement does not affect the pending case before the Supreme Court in Noel Canning v. NLRB regarding the validity of the President’s recess appointments to the NLRB in January 2012.

See http://www.politico.com/story/2013/07/white-house-consults-with-afl-cio-head-on-nlrb-picks-94280.html#ixzz2ZJKIhWik