Biden asks for resignation of NLRB counsel: report

The Biden administration has asked the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) general counsel to resign, Bloomberg Law reports.

Peter Robb was a Trump appointee who was sworn into the role in November 2017 for a four-year term. NLRB is an independent agency governed by a five-person board and a general counsel.

President Biden’s pick for the next NLRB general counsel will have to be confirmed by the Senate and the Democratic pick would work alongside the current board that is made up of one Democrat and three Republicans with one vacancy. 

The Biden White House did not initially respond to a request for comment.

Rep. Virginia Foxx (N.C.), the top Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee, criticized Biden’s move on Wednesday, saying his calls for unity and civil discourse are “already proving to be empty aspirations.”

“The Biden administration appears to be rewarding their friends in Big Labor on day one through this inappropriate demand that NLRB General Counsel Robb resign immediately or be forcibly removed,” Foxx said in a statement.

The Service Employees International Union called on Biden in December to fire Robb, accusing him of being anti-union. Robb also was criticized by Democrats in Congress for not spending the entire allocation of NLRB’s annual budget, according to Bloomberg Law.

A NLRB general counsel hasn’t been asked to resign since 1950 when President Truman asked for the resignation of Robert Denham because of an anti-union bill, Bloomberg Law notes.