NLRB Down To Four Members Again as Republican Member Peter Schaumber's Term Ends
The term of National Labor Relations Board Member Peter C. Schaumber ends today, leaving only four of the Board's five seats filled. Mr. Schaumber, a Republican appointee, has served on the Board in December 2002, including for almost one year as Chairman.
In a Board press release today, Member Schaumber said of his service:
“It has been a privilege and an honor. I want to thank the Board members with whom I have had the pleasure of serving, my Board staff, particularly my Chief Counsel, Terence Flynn, and my Deputy Chief Counsel, Robert Kane, and all the many distinguished professionals both Board-side and General Counsel-side who demonstrate day-in and day-out their commitment to public service and the implementation and enforcement of the National Labor Relations Act."
Member Schaumber served with current Chairman Wilma Liebman as the Board's only two Members from December 2007 until March 2010. The two issued several hundred decisions during that time despite lacking the statutory quorum of three Members. The Supreme Court's recent New Process Steel decision indicated that the Board was not authorized to act during that time. About this unique period in Board history, Member Schaumber today said:
"It was my good fortune to have served, during the 27-month period in which the Board operated with only two members, with my esteemed colleague Wilma Liebman. Our shared commitment to collaboration and the Agency’s mission enabled us to process scores of cases to resolution, despite our ideological differences. While the Supreme Court ultimately determined that a three-member quorum is necessary to issue decisions, Chairman Liebman and I set a tone for collegiality and dedication to case processing that I hope will carry forward to future Boards.”
The Board had originally planned to have Chairman Liebman and Member Schaumber sit to decide every case returned to the Board following New Process Steel. As of this date, however, the Board has only issued a handful of decisions out of the 554 cases affected.
Member Schaumber's departure leaves three Democrats and only one Republican on the Board. Chairman Wilma Liebman’s term will expire in August of 2011, and Member Craig Becker's recess appointment is due to expire at the end of 2011. Republican Member Brian Hayes' confirmed appointment will expire in December 2012, while Member Mark Gaston Pearce's confirmed term will end in August 2013. President Obama will also soon need to appoint a General Counsel, as Acting GC Lafe Solomon may only serve in that capacity for a finite time.
Forseeing these challenging circumstances, Member Schaumber said earlier this summer:
The Court’s [New Process Steel] decision and the events that precipitated it call for reconsidering the entire process for the selection of Board members, the wisdom of packaging Board nominees and the impact of that practice on the Act’s promise of a National Labor Relations Board composed of “impartial government employees.”
In a related note, the National Labor Relations Board's Facebook page today asked as a "trivia" question: "When Member Peter Schaumber's term expires today, for how many days will the Board have been at a full complement of 5 Members since the year 2007?" The answer -- which may underscore Member Schaumber's thoughts above -- is 59 days... in over two-and-a-half years.
