OBAMA MUST FIX INTERNAL STRIFE AT NLRB

Washington, D.C.-- The NLRB's internal battles are heating up, reports Tim Mak: "Business and labor are at war over the troubled National Labor Relations Board, a site of many such previous clashes but now the flashpoint for unprecedented contentiousness."

About 200 cases, many of which would expand the power of unions, will be stalled in 2012 when an appointment expires and the five-member board loses a quorum and with it the ability to take action - unless President Barack Obama makes a controversial recess appointment sometime in the coming weeks. However, from the perspective of anti-labor and business groups, recent NLRB decisions have been so harmful to their interests that they probably prefer a non-functional board.

Without a functioning NLRB, workers who are illegally dismissed or disciplined for union activity will not be able to seek a remedy before the board, a number of employers can’t recognize unions, since there is no force of law without the NLRB, and no new labor rules will be issued. Let's hope the President takes a leadership role to protect worker rights by keeping the NLRB whole.