Bush gives nod to anti-worker NLRB chair

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WASHINGTON (PAI) -- AFL-CIO President John Sweeney blasted anti-worker GOP President George W. Bush for re-nominating anti-worker labor lawyer Robert Battista to a new 5-year term as National Labor Relations Board chairman.

“Battista has been Bush's point man for his war on workers. Bush's re-nomination of Battista for another term is a clear effort to stack the deck in favor of Big Business over working people,” Sweeney said.

“Under the Bush board, the National Labor Relations Board abandoned its statutory mission to protect workers' rights to form unions and promote collective bargaining. In a series of results-oriented decisions, the Bush board stripped workers of their rights while protecting employers--and with breathtaking bias,” he added.

The NLRB’s party-line 3-2 rulings under Battista led to nationwide labor-led protests in November and a formal AFL-CIO complaint to the International Labor Organization that the agency is violating international rules. ILO is investigating the charges.