300 Bush-Era Labor Policy Rulings In Doubt

[sabra]

Source: CBS New/AP

2 Federal Appeals Courts Issue Vastly Different Opinions About Their Validity

(AP) The status of some 300 decisions by the leading federal agency that referees labor-management disputes fell under a legal cloud Friday with conflicting federal appeals court rulings issued virtually simultaneously.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington held that all the decisions handed down last year by the National Labor Relations Board are invalid because they were made by just two members. But the U.S. Court of Appeals located in Chicago took the opposite position, ruling within the same hour that the votes were appropriate and binding.

The board normally is supposed to have five members. But it had worked with three vacancies for a year because Democrats who controlled Congress objected to President George W. Bush's labor policies and refused to confirm nominees considered too pro-business.

With the appeals court decisions at odds, the Supreme Court is more likely weigh in on appeal on what Clark University industrial relations professor Gary Chaison called "a terrible mess."

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/05/01/business/main4983001.shtml?tag=topHome;topStories

[niyad]

1. of course, it is all the dems' fault.

[kimmylavin]

3. Of course it is.

It wouldn't have ANYTHING to do with the fact that Bush's picks were the equivalent of the fox guarding the henhouse.

These people amaze me...

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. Aka the "Pitchfork Defense."

[No Elephants]

4. I would love to see a year's worth of Bush labor decisions set aside. If so, though, this is going

to be a problem whenever Congress and the President ae from different parties. And predictability is important. So, I have mixed feelings.