In an effort to repay some of its most valuable political allies, the Biden administration has been frantically hiring former employees of the country’s largest labor unions. This creates dangerous conflicts of interest, especially when these union partisans are responsible for holding union officials accountable. Particularly troubling is President Joe Biden’s appointment of Jennifer Abruzzo, a top lawyer for the Communications Workers of America, to be the general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board.
The NLRB handles disputes between workers and labor unions. As general counsel, Abruzzo would have unreviewable authority to prosecute, or not prosecute, charges brought by workers against the CWA and other unions.
At a Senate hearing, Abruzzo refused to commit to recusing herself from cases involving her former employer and its many affiliates. If Abruzzo is confirmed, workers would have to go through a former CWA lawyer to bring charges against CWA officials.
Abruzzo probably intends to use the same flimsy defense as Obama-appointed NLRB Board Member Craig Becker, a former AFL-CIO and SEIU lawyer who argued he wasn’t obligated to recuse himself from any cases against those unions’ local affiliates because they were separate entities from the national union.
This is a remarkably weak argument for brushing aside serious conflict of interest concerns, especially given the structure of large unions like the CWA. When local unions collect dues from workers, they are required to kick a portion up to their national affiliates. CWA “locals” that don’t abide by all decisions of the national union’s executive board can be taken over by the national union or even disbanded.
NLRB charges are usually brought against union locals because they deal directly with workers, so recusal only from cases involving the CWA’s national arm is meaningless. Abruzzo’s inherent conflicts of interest should already be reason enough for the Senate to reject her nomination, but there’s an additional disqualifying issue.
Abruzzo was part of the transition team that helped the Biden administration prepare to take control of the federal labor agencies, including the Department of Labor and the NLRB. On his first day in office, Biden fired the NLRB’s general counsel and later nominated Abruzzo as a permanent replacement.
No NLRB general counsel had ever been fired this way. All previous counsels have served out their four-year, Senate-confirmed terms even when they’ve overlapped with new administrations. Congress created a four-year term for the general counsel to ensure the prosecution of unfair labor practices would occur without direct political influence.
At her confirmation hearing, Abruzzo was asked if, as a member of the Biden labor transition team, she had anything to do with the unprecedented decision to fire the very person whose job she was now seeking.
She said, “I was asked to volunteer on the Department of Labor agency review team during the transition, and I was happy to take on that role and help the impending administration. There were many other teams, and I was one member of about 25.”
However, Abruzzo’s testimony under oath, downplaying her role, is contradicted by NLRB emails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act regarding the transition team. In fact, the designated NLRB official responsible for coordinating between NLRB staff and the Biden-Harris Agency Review Team referred to the entirety of the team as “consisting of Jennifer Abruzzo and Seema Nanda.” Despite telling senators she was merely “one member of 25,” Abruzzo was actually half of the team overseeing the NLRB transition.
When pushed by Sen. Richard Burr, Abruzzo conceded she had supported firing her predecessor but said she and “others” had merely elevated the concerns of unnamed “stakeholders” who wanted the incumbent general counsel gone. Those “stakeholders” undoubtedly included union bosses who had publicly called for the incumbent’s ouster even before Biden was elected.
Abruzzo’s evasive and ambiguous answers show she thinks she has something to hide. Rather than directly address her role in her predecessor’s firing, Abruzzo focused attention on her colleagues on the transition team and other mysterious “stakeholders.”
As a former big labor lawyer who will almost certainly show partiality to her former employer at the expense of rank-and-file workers who bring charges against the CWA, Abruzzo already faced a tough battle for confirmation. Since it appears she intentionally misled the Senate during her confirmation hearing, senators of all stripes should join together to reject her nomination.
Mark Mix is president of the National Right to Work Committee, a 2.8 million-member public policy organization. He also serves as president of the Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
