Oppose Obama’s Pick For NLRB General Counsel

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 – Richard Griffin, one of three members of the National Labor Relations Board who lost their seats when their “recess” appointments were thrown out by the courts, has been appointed NLRB’s general counsel, subject to Senate approval.

Trey Kovacs, labor analyst with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, says it would be a disaster – in addition to a travesty of justice – if Griffin were to be confirmed. Here are his four reasons why:

• A lawsuit filed this month in federal court in California alleges Griffin was complicit in a scheme to cover up embezzlement at the International Union of Operating Engineers. The lawsuit alleges numerous violations of the RICO Act and names Griffin, then IUOE’s general counsel, as a defendant.
• Congress established the NLRB as an impartial body whose members represent the public interest in labor disputes. Even union bosses in the past have said union leaders would be ill-suited to the job because they would be predisposed to certain outcomes. Richard Griffin comes directly from the union movement and has demonstrated willingness to be extremely partisan on behalf of unions.
• Griffin favors card check elections for union representation and opposes workers’ rights to a secret ballot.
• Even after it became clear Griffin’s appointment to NLRB would not survive, he refused to resign and continued to promulgate pro-union regulations and decisions.