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Senate Confirms President Trump's Second NLRB Nominee


At the start of this week, the U.S. Senate confirmed President Donald Trump's second nominee to the National Labor Relations Board by a 49 - 47 vote in favor of confirmation, in spite of opposition from Democratic Senators.  The nominee, William Emanuel, was expected to be confirmed as Republicans hold a majority in Congress.  (Readers might recall that President Trump's first nominee, Marvin Kaplan, was confirmed by a 50 - 48 vote earlier this year.)

Once Emanuel is sworn in, he will become part of a three member Republican majority on the NLRB.  The current Chairman of the NLRB, Philip Miscamarra, is expected to step down after his term expires this December.  However, Republicans are not expected to lose majority control of the NLRB as President Trump would again have the opportunity to appoint another member to the Board (and also select a new Chairman.)

With Republicans having majority control of the Board for the first time in nearly ten years (and a host of pro-union/pro-employee decisions in recent years), NLRB observers have predicted that once Emanuel is sworn in, there is likely to be a wave of pro-employer decisions handed down by the Board. However, as many have pointed out, as there is still a great deal of bureaucratic red tape within the Board, that will likely slow down the process. 


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