Senate to OK McFerran to NLRB seat

WASHINGTON (PAI) – The Senate planned to vote on Dec. 8 on President Obama’s nomination of Lauren McFerran to a National Labor Relations Board seat. Confirmation came after she cleared a key hurdle on Dec. 4: Senators shut off a planned GOP filibuster against her, on a party-line vote.

McFerran, now the Senate Labor Committee’s chief labor counsel under retiring chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, would succeed Nancy Schiffer, whose term ends December 16.

AFL-CIO Legislative Director William Samuel praised McFerran and again criticized the GOP for blocking Obama’s nomination of former NLRB “recess appointee” Sharon Block to Schiffer’s seat.  He said the GOP “wrongly denied” the seat to Block “because of politics.”

“Ms. McFerran is highly qualified to serve on the NLRB” from her nine years as the committee’s labor counsel and work at a labor law firm, he said. “She has broad knowledge of federal labor and employment laws, including the National Labor Relations Act, and a proven ability to work in a bipartisan manner. McFerran’s experience handling a wide range of issues under the NLRA for the Committee will serve her well as a member of the NLRB.”

Photo: Supporters of Sharon Block (pictured) note that she was wrongly denied a seat on the NLRB by Republican senators. dol.gov


CONTRIBUTOR

PAI
PAI

Press Associates Union News Service provides national coverage of news affecting workers, including activism, politics, economics, legislation in Congress and actions by the White House, federal agencies and the courts that affect working people. Mark Gruenberg is Editor in chief and owner of Press Associates Union News Service, Washington, D.C.

Comments

comments