Business community urging Senate to reject NLRB nominee as Biden administration nears close

The state and national business community is urging the U.S. Senate, including Arizona Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I) and Mark Kelly (D) to reject the nomination of Lauren McFerran to the National Labor Relations Board in the waning days of the Biden administration.

About McFerran

On the first day of his term, President Biden named Lauren McFerran chairman of the National Labor Relations Board. The president last May nominated her for another term. 

She has held several positions as a staff member on the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee, serving as senior labor counsel for Senators Ted Kennedy and Tom Harkin from 2005 to 2010, as chief labor counsel for the committee from 2010 to 2014, and as deputy staff director from 2012 to 2014.

Business community concerns

The national business community is concerned that if McFerran is reappointed as chairman more harm to businesses and workers will continue. 

Harmful actions taken during her term: 

• She voted in favor of the NLRB’s joint employer rule, which would hold employers responsible for workers they do not directly employ and for workplaces they do not oversee.
• The NLRB has injured the First Amendment rights of employers.
• The NLRB’s inspector general released a critical report on a 2022 mail ballot election, concluding that there was severe mismanagement that could significantly harm the NLRB’s ability to fulfill its statutory mission. Furthermore, the IG found that NLRB staff attempted to conceal its misconduct.
• The NLRB’s Cemex ruling, which McFerran voted for, poses a threat to the secret ballot election process, a longstanding fair and trusted method for workers to choose union representation.

What business groups are saying

In a statement on the situation, Glenn Spencer, senior vice president of the Employment Policy Division at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce posted, “Overall, the NLRB no longer appears to be an agency that is well-run and conscious of its statutory mission and limitations. The Senate needs to take a serious look at these matters and insist on some accountability.”

“Freedom of speech would mean little if the government had the power to force Americans tospeak government-approved messages or to disseminate the speech of others on pain of punishment,” Home Depot argued in an appeal against the NLRB. The appeal was in response to the NLRB finding Home Depot in violation of the National Labor Relations Act.