Recess appointments: time for Obama to make them and now

Just got this e-mail. Again, members of political action committee should take note and take action. Obama should do the recess appointment and not wait for an "Era of Good Feeling" to decend upon the senate.

In fact, time for the Obama administration to try a new tactic: LEADERSHIP. Yes, I know this is a novel idea.

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Date: Monday, February 15, 2010 7:13 PM
From: Unions for Single Payer HR676

To: SOAR St Louis

Subject: Tell White House to Make Recess Appointments to NLRB

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The email below was sent out by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Below
it is a background story from the Washington Post last Friday.

We urge all our readers to call the White House.

Dear union member:

We've just learned that the Senate and the White House cut a last-minute
deal with obstructionist Republicans to approve some of President Obama's
nominees. But guess who was left out of the deal? Yup, that's right:
working people.

Craig Becker and Mark Pearce, highly respected labor lawyers whom
President Obama nominated for seats on the National Labor Relations Board
(NLRB), weren't included in the deal. Meanwhile, the NLRB, tasked with
protecting American workers' rights, has been handicapped with vacancies
for the past two years.

Enough is enough. Call the White House switchboard today and demand that
President Obama fight Republican obstructionism and use his executive
power to appoint Craig Becker and Mark Pearce to the NLRB during the
Presidents Day recess.

Call the White House Switchboard NOW: 202-456-1111 OR 202-456-1414.

Becker already has received majority backing in the Senate and both won
committee support, but the Republican minority has continually blocked
their appointments.

America's working people are getting short shrift and it's past time to do
something about it. Workers need an NLRB that can enforce the National
Labor Relations Act and protect workers' rights--not an NLRB handicapped
by vacancies.

In solidarity,
Richard L. Trumka
AFL-CIO President


http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/02/afl-cio-urges-supporters-to-co.html

AFL-CIO urges supporters to challenge White House about NLRB
By Alec MacGillis
The Washington Post

In a clear indication that labor unions are running out of patience with
the Obama administration, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka sent out a
sharply worded action alert to its entire e-mail list Friday evening,
urging phone calls to the White House to protest its inaction on two
nominees to the National Labor Relations Board.

Republicans have called one nominee, Craig Becker, a controversial choice
for the board. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he was "the first person
nominated" for the NLRB "who comes directly from a labor organization."
Becker is the associate general counsel for the AFL-CIO and Service
Employees International Union.

After the GOP threatened to filibuster the nomination, senators refused
Tuesday to move to a vote on Becker, killing his confirmation. The White
House has since indicated that President Obama will not appoint Becker to
the position during Congress' recess next week.

That latest news prompted Trumka's e-mail, in which he also objects to the
languishing nomination of labor trial lawyer Mark Pearce to the board.
Larry Mishel, president of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute,
said it was not surprising that the AFL-CIO was taking up arms.

"It is pretty disheartening to see the president not really protecting his
nominees," Mishel said. "People need to see him fighting."

The labor movement has swallowed a lot in the first year of the Obama
administration. Unions had very high hopes after eight years of George W.
Bush, who invited the president of the AFL-CIO across the street to the
White House only once in eight years (when the pope visited).

And organized labor had done a great deal to help elect a Democratic
president and congressional majority, turning out its members to vote for
Obama in key Rust Belt swing states where he struggled with other
working-class voters.

But Congress and Obama have barely budged on labor's biggest priority, the
Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier to organize workers.
The legislation was watered down to pass muster with conservative Senate
Democrats, but the loss of the 60th Democratic vote last month may well
have doomed even the compromise version.

Organized labor's other big agenda item, universal health care, is also in
limbo. Even if a reform bill passes, it's quite possible that it will not
include some of the last-minute concessions that unions won to reduce the
impact on their members. Of the greatest concern is a tax on costly health
insurance plans, a tax that Obama pushed to include in the legislation
over unions' strong opposition.

Distributed by:
All Unions Committee For Single Payer Health Care--HR 676
c/o Nurses Professional Organization (NPO)
1169 Eastern Parkway, Suite 2218
Louisville, KY 40217
(502) 636 1551
Email: nursenpo@aol.com
http://unionsforsinglepayerHR676.org
02/15/10


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And we thank our friends the nurses for their leadership once again.


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