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15 Geo. J. on Poverty L. & Pol'y 285 (2008)
Reagan's National Labor Relations Board: An Incomplete Revolution

handle is hein.journals/geojpovlp15 and id is 289 raw text is: Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy Volume XV, Number 2, Summer 2008 NOTES Reagan's National Labor Relations Board: An Incomplete Revolution Vanessa Waldref* INTRODUCTION Upon President Reagan's election in 1980, conservative interest groups hoped the new administration would overhaul the United States government and implement a conservative ideological regime. These movement conservatives, a conglomeration of general and issue-advocacy groups instrumental in the reorganization and mobilization of the Republican Party since the 1960s, wanted to capitalize on their new political power after assisting Reagan's electoral victory.' In particular, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation (National Right to Work) recognized an opportunity to transform labor law and weaken labor unions. Reagan's conservative credentials and connections instilled hope in National Right to Work while unions feared that he would fill open positions on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) with movement conservatives. Although Reagan's interaction with federal-sector unions and early appoint- ments to the NLRB gave movement conservatives hope for an overhaul of labor relations policy, by the end of Reagan's Presidency the revolution at the NLRB was incomplete. The unique bifurcated structure of the NLRB prevented conservative interests from simultaneously capturing both the influential Board chair and General Counsel positions. Reagan's controversial general counsel appointee, Rosemary Collyer, maintained the separation of powers between the Board and Office of the General Counsel and declined to follow the demands of movement conservatives. Although unions suffered significant losses of labor law protections during the Reagan Presidency, Collyer's independence, along with the Board's structure, precluded a complete overhaul of labor relations law. In Part II, I provide background information on the anticipated Reagan * J.D. Candidate, Georgetown University Law Center. I would like to thank Professor Daniel Ernst for his support and thoughtful comments. I also thank Leonard Page for his insight and members of the GEORGETOWN JOURNAL ON PovERTY LAW AND POLICY for their hard work and dedication. 1. Hugh Davis Graham, Civil Rights Policy, in THE REAGAN PRESIDENCY: PRAGMATIC CONSERVATISM AND ITs LEGACIES 287 (W. Elliot Brownlee & Hugh Davis Graham eds., 2003).

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