Trump pushes U.S. labor board toward
Republican control
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[June 28, 2017]
By Daniel Wiessner
(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump
said on Tuesday he had picked an employment lawyer who has represented
companies and business groups for a vacancy on the National Labor
Relations Board.
The selection of William Emanuel, 75, to fill one of the two vacancies
at the agency brings it closer to having a Republican majority, which is
expected to undo a series of recent decisions seen as favoring unions.
The five-member NLRB oversees union elections and disputes between
workers, unions, and employers.
Emanuel, a Los Angeles-based partner at law firm Littler Mendelson, has
worked with Republicans in Congress and major trade groups from an array
of industries, and has for decades defended employers in cases before
the board.
He is a member of the conservative Federalist Society, an influential
group of lawyers credited with pushing Trump to nominate U.S. Supreme
Court Justice Neil Gorsuch to the high court.
Emanuel said in a statement that it is an honor to be nominated.
Industry groups such as the National Retail Federation and the National
Restaurant Association hailed Emanuel's nomination, saying he would help
repair damage done to businesses by rulings from the NLRB during the
Barack Obama administration.
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Trump last week said he intended to nominate fellow Republican Marvin
Kaplan, a lawyer with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Review
Commission, to another vacancy on the board. The positions require
confirmation by the U.S. Senate.
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The NLRB has been controlled by Democrats for nearly a decade and
they currently have a 2-1 majority.
When it has no vacancies, the board typically includes three members
from the president's party and two from the opposing party. Under
Trump, lawyers and business groups expect the board to roll back a
series of policy changes adopted during the administration of former
President Barack Obama.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Jun/28/images/ads/current/ldn_lda_CONTEST_2017.png)
They include rules designed to speed the union election process and
a 2015 decision that made it easier for companies to be held liable
for legal violations by contractors, staffing agencies, and
franchisees.
It was not clear when the Senate could vote on Trump's nominees but
several lawyers and other experts said the process could stretch
into the fall.
Kaplan previously worked for Republicans in the U.S. House of
Representatives crafting employment-related legislation.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Alexia
Garamfalvi and Bill Trott)
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