Business groups launch blitz against labor board nominee

A coalition of business groups are working to mount an all-out blitz against a key nominee to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Several groups have banded together to push senators to vote against the nomination of Craig Becker, a labor lawyer, to join the NLRB.

The Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI), National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other groups have begun efforts tot mobilize supporters against Becker by sending out a flurry of email petitions and notices on the nomination. 

The business groups say that, if confirmed, Becker and the rest of the NLRB could enact reforms similar to those in the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA, or "card check") bill before Congress, which would revamp labor organizing laws. 

The groups are specifically targeting senators in swing states with muddled stances on the EFCA bill. WFI, for instance, is working to leverage field efforts to mobilize grassroots supporters in Arkansas, Colorado, Nebraska, and Virginia -- all of which have centrist Democrats representing them in the Senate whose votes could be key to the Becker nomination.

The blitz comes as one key labor leader, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, vowed over the weekend that the card check bill would become law this year.