October 1, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, chaired by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), held a full committee hearing to consider the nominations of Scott Mayer and James Murphy to be members of the National Labor Relations Board. Mayer currently serves as Chief Labor Counsel at The Boeing Corporation, and Murphy is a former career official with the National Labor Relations Board. Both are supported by IEC and the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace.
The five-member NLRB has lacked a quorum of three members and has been unable to rule in hundreds of pending cases since Trump in January fired NLRB Member Gwynne Wilcox, an appointee of Democratic President Joe Biden.
It was the first time since the board was created in 1935 that a member had been removed.
The NLRB, which hears private-sector labor disputes and oversees union elections, will have a 2-1 Republican majority if Mayer and Murphy are confirmed. It currently has one member, Democrat David Prouty, after President Trump removed Wilcox and the expiration of Republican Marvin Kaplan’s term in August.
The U.S. Supreme Court in May allowed Wilcox’s removal pending the outcome of her legal challenge, which could set an important precedent on the president’s ability to remove members of agencies designed to be independent from the White House.
Cassidy said during Wednesday’s 90-minute hearing that Mayer and Murphy would help restore stability to the NLRB after President Biden’s appointees overturned decades of precedent and “weaponized its authority against workers.”
On July 16, the Senate HELP Committee held a hearing examining the Trump administration’s nomination of Crystal Carey to be the General Counsel of the NLRB. IEC and CDW submitted a letter of support for Carey April 15. President Trump fired the Biden administration’s NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo in January. Of note, in 2021, the Biden administration fired the Trump-era NLRB General Counsel Peter Robb and Robb’s replacement, Deputy General Counsel Alice Shock, an unprecedented move at the time.
The confirmation of Mayer, Murphy, and Carey is not yet a sure thing. Mayer in particular faced tough questions during a Senate HELP Committee confirmation hearing Wednesday, including from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO.), whose vote he would need to approve his nomination out of committee.
A committee vote on all three nominees was held on October 9th. Murphy and Carey were confirmed and will advance to a confirmation vote on the Senate floor at a date yet to be determined. However, Mayer’s confirmation vote was tabled because Hawley indicated he would vote with all committee Democrats against Mayer’s nomination. It is uncertain when or if Mayer’s confirmation will be reconsidered.