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EMPLOYMENT LAW — 8/10/06

Senate confirms nominees to NLRB, FMCS

The Senate has confirmed President Bush's nominations of Wilma B. Liebman and Peter C. Schaumber to serve as Members of the National Labor Relations Board. It also confirmed the appointment of Ronald E. Meisburg to serve as NLRB General Counsel, and Arthur F. Rosenfeld as Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

Liebman was nominated by the President to serve an additional five-year term expiring August 27, 2011. She has served as a Board member since 1997, making her one of the longest-serving Board members in the agency's history. She was first appointed by President Clinton and confirmed by the Senate to a five-year term that expired on December 16, 2002. She was reappointed by President Bush and confirmed by the Senate on August 3, 2006.

Prior to joining the NLRB, Liebman served for two years as Deputy Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). She acted as the chief operations officer, overseeing arbitration, alternative dispute resolution, international affairs and labor-management cooperation grants programs. In addition, she advised the FMCS Director on issues involving major labor disputes and participated in significant negotiations as needed. Previously she was Labor Counsel of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen and Staff Counsel of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Liebman received her bachelor's degree from Barnard College and her JD from George Washington University Law Center.

Peter Schaumber has been confirmed to serve as a Member of the National Labor Relations Board for a five-year term expiring August 27, 2010. He was nominated by President Bush on May 10, 2002 and confirmed by the Senate for a term on the Board that expired on August 27, 2005. He received a recess appointment by President Bush on September 1, 2005 and was nominated on June 30, 2005 for a second term that expires August 27, 2010.

Prior to his appointment as a member of the Board, Schaumber practiced as a labor arbitrator serving on a number of industry panels and through national arbitration rosters. He began his legal career as an Assistant Corporation Counsel for the District of Columbia. Subsequently, he was appointed Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia and served in that office's Criminal and Civil Divisions. Upon leaving the U.S. Attorney's Office, he became Senior Trial Attorney and Associate Director of a Law Department Division in the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Upon leaving government service, he entered private law practice in Washington, D.C. and was director of his firm’s Litigation Department. His practice included a wide range of trial and appellate civil litigation.

Schaumber also has taught as an adjunct professor of law at the National Law Center of George Washington University and as an adjunct professor in the MBA Program of Georgetown University School of Business. He also has been an arbitration instructor for union advocates at the George Meany Center for Labor Studies.

Schaumber graduated from Georgetown University in 1964 and received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1968.

Ronald E. Meisburg has been confirmed by the Senate to serve as General Counsel of the NLRB for a term of four years. He was nominated by the President in July 2005 to serve a four-year term. In the interim, he served as Special Assistant to the NLRB’s Associate General Counsel for Enforcement and as Executive Assistant to the NLRB's Deputy General Counsel. He was recess-appointed by President Bush on January 4, 2006. Meisburg also served previously as a Member of the Board under a recess appointment from January 12, 2004 to December 8, 2004.

From 1980-2003, Meisburg was in the private practice of labor law in Washington, DC, most recently as a shareholder in the firm of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart. Earlier in his career, he served at the Department of Labor in the Office of the Solicitor of Labor, and in the divisions of Employee Benefits and Mine Safety and Health.

Meisburg received his B.A. degree from Carson-Newman College and his J.D. degree from the University of Louisville.

The Senate has also confirmed the nomination of Arthur F. Rosenfeld as Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). He had been serving under a recess appointment since January 4, 2006.

Rosenfeld formerly served as NLRB General Counsel. Prior to his NLRB service, he was senior labor counsel to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, advising then-Committee Chairman James M. Jeffords on matters pertaining to labor and employment law. Before that he worked at the U.S. Department of Labor (1986-1997) in a number of capacities, including Counsel for Regulations in the Division of Employee Benefits, Special Assistant to the Solicitor of Labor, and Associate Deputy Secretary of Labor.

He practiced labor law in the Washington, D.C. office of Hansell & Post (1984-1986), and began his career in Washington as a labor attorney with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 1979.

Rosenfeld received a J.D. from Villanova University School of Law (1979), an M.B.A. in labor relations from Lehigh University (1974), and a B.A. from Muhlenberg College in Allentown (1970).

For more information on this and other topics, consult CCH Employment Practices Guide or CCH Labor Relations.

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