Craig Becker

Harold Craig Becker (born November 14, 1956), known professionally as Craig Becker, is an American labor attorney, a former member of the National Labor Relations Board, and currently the General Counsel of the AFL-CIO.

Early life and education

Craig Becker was born to Ruth and Sam Becker; his mother, who had fled Nazi Germany through England in 1939, was a nurse and community activist, and his father was a World War II veteran who became a professor and chair of the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Iowa.[1] Becker graduated from Yale University in 1978, and Yale Law School in 1981. He was an editor of the Yale Law Journal.

Work experience (through 2009)

Becker clerked for Judge Donald P. Lay from 1981 through 1983. He then worked at Kirschner, Weinberg & Dempsey (1983–1989), a law firm located in Washington, D.C., and represented members of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees and its affiliates, including the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers.[2] He was a faculty member at UCLA Law School (1989–1994) and has also taught at Georgetown University Law School (1987–1988, 2012), the University of Chicago Law School (1994–95), and Yale Law School (2016, 2017, 2019).[3] He has been Associate General Counsel to the AFL-CIO[4] and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Throughout his career, he has argued many cases in court, including in front of the Supreme Court of the United States. In 2009, he was a member of the Obama transition team, assisting with the review of the United States Department of Labor.[5]

Appointment

Becker was nominated by President Barack Obama for a seat on the National Labor Relations Board; a 13-10 vote by a Senate panel on Feb 4, 2010 allowed his nomination to move to the Senate floor.[6] However, his nomination failed to move to a floor vote on a vote of 52-33, falling eight short of the votes needed to block a Republican filibuster.[7] On March 27, 2010, President Obama made a recess appointment of Becker to the National Labor Relations Board.[8] The president's action enabled Becker to serve without Senate confirmation until the chamber adjourned at the end of 2011.

On January 26, 2011, Obama renominated Becker to the same seat, which was to expire in December 2014.[9] However, Becker's nomination remained stalled in the Senate, and with Becker's recess appointment drawing to a close, Obama withdrew the nomination on December 15, 2011.[10] As such, Becker's term on the board ended at the end of December 2011. His recess appointment was upheld, under Noel Canning, by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2014.[11] After leaving the National Labor Relations Board, he taught at Georgetown Law School and is now General Counsel of the AFL-CIO.

Personal life

Becker resides in Washington, D.C. with his wife, Amy Dru Stanley, a history professor at the University of Chicago. He has two sons.

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References
  1. "STATEMENT OF CRAIG BECKER NOMINEE FOR MEMBER, NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD" (PDF). help.senate.gov. February 2, 2010. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
  2. Hart, Melissa R. (1988-11-02). "Harvard Asks NLRB To Extend Deadline". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 2018-07-10.
  3. "Becker biodata" (PDF). senate.gov.
  4. Greenhouse, Steven. "Labor Panel Is Stalled by Dispute on Nominee". nytimes.com.
  5. "Barama transition team info". change.gov. Archived from the original on 2016-10-13. Retrieved 2011-06-27.
  6. Senate panel approves labor board nominee Craig Becker, Los Angeles Times, February 4, 2010 Archived February 8, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  7. Ifill, Sherrilyn (2010-02-09). "Senate blocks Labor Board nominee". Politico. Retrieved 2018-07-10.
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-10-22. Retrieved 2010-03-27.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. "Presidential Nominations Sent to the Senate". whitehouse.gov. 2011-01-26. Retrieved 2018-07-10.
  10. Tau, Byron (2011-12-15). "Obama withdraws labor lawyer's nomination". Politico. Retrieved 2018-07-10.
  11. "D.C. Cir. Says Appointment of NLRB's Becker During 17-Day Recess in 2010 Constitutional | Bloomberg Law". Bna.com. November 10, 2014. Archived from the original on July 10, 2018. Retrieved 2018-07-10.
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