Thursday, February 12, 2009
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) was created in 1935 to strengthen the rights of employees to bargain collectively. Its mission shifted dramatically in favor of employers during the presidency of Ronald Reagan and again during the presidency of George W. Bush. On his first day as President of the United States, Barack Obama demonstrated that he intended to reverse this anti-labor tendency by appointing Wilma B. Liebman chairman of the NLRB. Liebman takes charge of an agency in turmoil, with three vacancies on its five-member board.
A native of Philadelphia, PA, Liebman earned a BA from Barnard College in New York City and a JD from the George Washington University Law Center. From 1974 to 1978, she served as staff attorney with the NLRB’s Division of Advice, and from 1978-1980, she worked in the NLRB’s Oakland, California, regional office. Then, for nine years, Liebman served as legal counsel to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. From 1990-1993, she was labor counsel for the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen.
From 1994-1996, she served as special assistant to the director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). In this role, she mediated the baseball strike of 1994, and she was a member of the Mediator Task Force on the Future of FMCS, an 18-member employee group charged with “articulating a vision and recommendations to lead the agency into the 21st century.” She also served for two years as deputy director of the FMCS, acting as the chief operations officer and overseeing arbitration, alternative dispute resolution, international affairs and labor-management cooperation grants programs. In addition, Liebman advised the FMCS director on issues involving major labor disputes and participated in negotiations as needed.
In 1997, President Bill Clinton appointed Liebman to the NLRB. She was reappointed by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate to a second term that expired on August 27, 2006, and to a third term that will expire on August 27, 2011.
Liebman is an elected member of the executive board of the Industrial Relations Research Association and of The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, Inc.
Liebman has donated $8,650 to Democratic candidates, including President Obama, since 1995, according to OpenSecrets.org.
National Labor Relations Board (AllGov)
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