From Associated Press, “Solis hints of recess appointment for labor board“:

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Obama administration is hinting at a possible recess appointment for a controversial nominee to the National Labor Relations Board.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis told AFL-CIO officials at their annual meeting Wednesday there will soon be positive news on the long-stalled nomination of union lawyer Craig Becker.

Solis then told reporters the unions will be “very pleased” with how the issue is resolved.

Becker is associate counsel for the SEIU and AFL-CIO who has advocated eliminating any employer involvement — things like expressing an opinion — if a union tries to organize a business. Organized labor has pushed for his appointment to the NLRB with several union leaders saying the board could implement parts of the Employee Free Choice Act without Congressional action.

So, yes, labor would be very pleased. And the Big Labor bosses would conclude that political threats work. From the Feb. 19Wall Street Journal, “Unions Push White House to Appoint Becker“:

United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard also wanted a so-called recess appointment—which bypasses the requirement for Senate confirmation—for Mr. Becker, and warned Democrats Thursday that failure to move on labor priorities could cost them in the 2010 elections. “If we don’t get meaningful progress, it will be hard to get people out for the election,” Mr. Gerard said. “Lots of people who worked real hard in ‘08 don’t have a job right now.”

A recess appointment could occur as early as the next Senate break, the Easter/Passover recess from April 6-17.

Earlier posts.

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis appeared Thursday on the public radio program, the Diane Rehm Show, interviewed by guest host Frank Sesno. The day’s economic news, a rise in the 3rd Quarter GDP, and unemployment were big topics.

The odd thing about the discussion was Secretary Solis’ overreliance on talking points about “green jobs,” hybrid vehicles and renewable energy. It sounded as if the Obama Administration thinks U.S. manufacturing should reorient itself to federally subsidized green jobs and nothing but.

There’s more to manufacturing!

Solis: [I] think there are going to be new opportunities too. For example, yesterday a visit I had in Las Vegas with Nevada Energy, through the smart grid we’re making moneys available, $138 million, to help jump start a new infrastructure there that will allow consumers in that state to be able to monitor and meter their use of energy, electricity, which means a great deal for Nevada because, you know, the extreme hot weather there during the summer and also right now as we get into winter, obviously cooling trends. But if people can have information to be available to know how they’re using, consuming energy and how they work to reduce those high costs themselves, that’s a big incentive for all of us.

Sesno: I want to talk more about the whole smart grid and green energy and all of that in a moment, but you mentioned Nevada. Nevada has been slammed, of course, because the property values there have just fallen through the floor, home sales have been stifled, and the tourism industry has taken a big hit because of the rest of the economy as well. So with that particular example, that money you were talking about, does that create in the short term more jobs for Nevada?

Solis: Well, it will, because there will be at least 200 jobs that will be created for individuals who’ll need to be trained in the reading of these new meters that are going to be ….

Sesno…That’s a start…

Solis …situated

Sesno: But that’s still a drop in the bucket

Solis: No. Well, it’s a start, but what happens is there’s additional retail activity that has to happen, or will happen, because people will be purchasing different pieces of equipment that you can attach to your refrigerator that will serve as a thermostat, and that will happen. There will be accountants that have to be hired. There will business managers, there will have to be warehouse people hired, people in trucking industry, they’ll have to help us transport.

We’ve transcribed more from the interview here.

Green jobs? Good. We like them. But they’re not a panacea, and judging from the examples Secretary Solis cited in the interview, the Administration seems to favor the green jobs that require heavy federal subsidies.

(Edited Saturday for grammar.)

Happened again up the June 30th Washington Post interview with Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, part of the paper’s “Voices of Power,” series. The headline, “Solis Hopes to ‘Level the Playing Field’ for Unions.” The conversation seems relevant today since a score of union leaders are headed to the White House to meet with the President on health care. Will we get more of this kind of confusion?

Romano: Doesn’t the Employee Free Choice Act in fact take power away from the employer [and] give that power to the union organizers?

Solis: I don’t think that it takes away power from businesses.

Two words: Binding arbitration.

By definition, arbitration takes power away from the parties involved in the negotiations, but especially from the business side. Employers no longer decide the wages, benefits and workplace conditions; they are all determined by the third-party, ostensibly disinterested arbitrator.

Secretary Solis: “I don’t think that it takes power away from businesses.”

You would think an Obama Cabinet member would avoid bushwah.

The Washington Post ran a piece today that focused on an interview with Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis. Of course, the most controversial labor issue was brought up: the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).

The Secretary asserts that in “many cases, in many cases, workers have been disadvantaged.” She claims, “They’ve been intimidated, they’ve been harassed, and we have case after case after case that we can look at.”

She then makes an argument popular with organized labor, describing “barriers” that have been put in place “over the past few years”. Well, what precisely? Why wasn’t the Secretary pressed for specifics? One can only assume that she is referring to decisions of the National Labor Relations Board. The President has already nominated two individuals to the board who will significantly change the dynamics of the board for years to come.

If there are legitimate violations of the National Labor Relations Act, then let’s have the NLRB rule on them. If there are other barriers, let’s have the NLRB review them. Otherwise, let’s talk facts: Workers who wish to become union members are able to do so. Last year alone unions saw membership increase by 400,000, unions won 67% of the secret ballot elections and these elections took place 95% of the time within 56 days.

Byron York at The Corner, National Review, “Daschle — And Solis, Too,” documenting troubles with the nomination of Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA) to be Secretary of Labor:

Solis had a rough hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee when she declined to answer all sorts of seemingly noncontroversial questions about her positions on basic labor issues. (Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus wrote a frustrated account of the hearing, asking, “How can senators consent if they have no clue what policies they might be consenting to?”) Now, some committee members want to know more about Solis’ relationship with a pro-labor group called American Rights at Work. On the group’s website, Solis is listed as a member of the board of directors, and she also served as Treasurer of the organization from 2004 to 2007. The question is whether Solis, who as a member of Congress is prohibited from lobbying Congress, fully disclosed her relationship with the group….[snip]

No one is accusing Solis of concealing her connection with the group; it was common knowledge in the labor world, and she listed it in the paperwork she submitted for her confirmation hearing. But she did not list it on the disclosure forms she was required to submit to the House of Representatives. It was an unpaid position, so there is no problem with income. But there are questions about whether Solis, as Treasurer, played a de facto role in the group’s lobbying activity; if you’re a member of Congress, you’re not supposed to simultaneously lobby Congress. (Solis has told the Senate that she did not take part in the group’s lobbying activities.) In any event, you’re required to list your affiliation on disclosure documents, which Solis did not do. (On January 29, she filed amended disclosure forms with the House, listing her association with the labor group.) Some Senate Republicans don’t view this as a major issue with the Solis nomination, but they do want to know more about her specific activities for American Rights at Work.

American Rights at Work. Now where have we heard of them before?

UPDATE (9:10 p.m.): AP’s account acknowledges the American Rights at Work issues but suggests they have been resolved.

From the White House blog, Sunday, “Now Comes Lilly Ledbetter”

President Obama has long championed this bill and Lilly Ledbetter’s cause, and by signing it into law, he will ensure that women like Ms. Ledbetter and other victims of pay discrimination can effectively challenge unequal pay.

Unfortunately, the Ledbetter bill (S. 181) does far more than “correct” the Supreme Court’s decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber, as we’ve documented at length at Shopfloor.

The White House website has so far offered little news or other interesting new information; by just being posted, the Ledbetter commentary represents a strong statement.

Senate Democratic leadership pushed through the Ledbetter bill last week, eschewing committee meetings and arranging the mostly partyline defeat of amendments to make the bill the true “narrow fix” of the court’s ruling, rather than an invitation to a flood a litigation.

Why such a push?

Organized labor rallied around the Ledbetter legislation in its campaigns against business and the U.S. Supreme Court last year, using it as an effective issue to mobilize political support with. After the Employee Free Choice Act, Ledbetter was one of the second, but still very high tier of issues for labor.

Democratic leaders in Congress (see comments by George Miller, Nancy Pelosi) are signaling that the Employee Free Choice Act has been put on the back burner. As Sam Stein at the Huffington Post reports, “There is a bubbling concern among officials in the labor community that Barack Obama will not act on their most cherished legislative item within the next year.”

The White House is certainly not sending strong signals about the need for quick action on EFCA. Usually, when a nominee goes up to the Senate for a confirmation hearing, the candidate will have a good understanding of where the White House stands on key issues. Yet Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA), nominated for Secretary of Labor, was unable to provide any clear response to Senators’ questions about the Employee Free Choice Act. (Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post had a good column on Solis’ difficulties, “Hearings and Evasions.“) We read that as an expression of internal White House disagreement…or uncertainty…or too many other things on the plate right now.

So no Employee Free Choice Act anytime soon. You can understand, then, the quick passage of the Ledbetter bill as a consolation prize for organized labor, as well as a political message: Hang in there with us.

So reports AP. Here’s her bio from the NAM’s website:

Born in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, Calif, October 20, 1957; B.A., California Polytechnic University, Pomona, Calif., 1979; M.A., University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif., 1981; White House Office of Hispanic Affairs; analyst, Office of Management and Budget; member of the Rio Hondo, Calif., Community College board of trustees, 1985-1992; member of the California state assembly, 1992-1994; member of the California state senate, 1994-2001; elected as a Democrat to the One Hundred Seventh Congress (November 2000-present).

Here’s her voting record on NAM Key Votes:

110th Congress: 20 percent
109th Congress:   4 percent
108th Congress:   0 percent
107th Congress:   0 percent

Here’s the Congressional biography, from her website:

First elected in 2000, Congresswoman Hilda L. Solis is serving her fourth term in Congress representing California’s 32nd Congressional District, which includes Azusa, Baldwin Park, Covina, Duarte, El Monte, Irwindale, Rosemead, South El Monte, and West Covina and portions of Monterey Park and East Los Angeles. Solis’ priorities in Congress include expanding access to affordable health care, protecting the environment, and improving the lives of working families.

Solis is the first Latina to serve on the powerful House Committee on Energy and Commerce, where she is Vice Chair of the Environment and Hazardous Materials (EHM) Subcommittee and a member of the Health and Telecommunications Subcommittees. From 2003-2006, she served as the Ranking Democratic Member of the EHM Subcommittee. Solis also serves on the House Committee on Natural Resources and in March 2007 was named a member of the newly created House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

Solis also serves as Co-Vice Chair of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. She is a Senior Whip, as well as a Regional Whip for Southern California. Solis is also Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Task Force on Health and the Environment, under which she spearheads annual summits across the country about racial and ethnic health disparities.

She’s certainly not one of the names that had been talked about in political and business circles. Her committees aren’t ones you normally think of as “labor” committees, either.

Oh, it goes without saying that Rep. Solis voted for the Employee Free Choice Act. Only two Democrats voted against it in the House.

UPDATE (1:40 p.m.): That completes President-elect Obama’s Cabinet appointments, doesn’t it? Very impressive, very well organized and presented.

UPDATE (1:55 p.m.): According to the AFL-CIO voting records, she voted with the pro-union point of view 24 out of 24 times, for a perfect 100 percent in 2007. Her lifetime AFL-CIO voting percentage is 97 percent.

Also, from her website, her position on labor and employment issues.