Efforts To Confirm Union Lawyer Craig Becker To National Labor Relations Board Fail By 8 Senate Votes

February 9, 2010 6:43 p.m. EST

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) - Attempts to end a Republican filibuster and to confirm President Barack Obamas nomination of union lawyer Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board failed by eight votes on Tuesday.

Only 52 Senators voted in favor of cloture. Sixty votes were needed to confirm Becker.

Becker is an associate general counsel for the Service Employees International Union and the AFL-CIO. Business has objected to Becker's appointment while big labor unions supported his candidacy.

The NLRB mediates disputes between labor and business

With three of the five seats on the NLRB vacant for the past two years, Obama nominated Becker and two other people to fill the vacancies. About 500 cases have been decided by the two-member board, which brought a legal challenge to the validity of the board's decision, which the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to render a decision on in June.

Obama's other two nominees are Mark Pearce, a Democrat, and Brian Hayes, a Republican.

Although Pearce also comes from a legal background with on the side of labor, he has not attracted as much opposition from the business community as Becker has. But Becker's legal writings, which he has said were formulated to provoke serious debate of issues, has also caused business interests to fear that he might side with making it easier for employees to form unions on job sites.

The nomination of Hayes, who has represented management clients, has not sparked controversy in the business community.