Federal Manager's Daily Report

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Nominees for two of the three seats on the FLRA’s governing board and for the agency’s general counsel position have cleared the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Confirmation by the full Senate of Tsui Grundmann, a former general counsel of the NFFE union who chaired the MSPB board during the Obama administration, and Ernest W. DuBester, a current board member who would receive another term, would change the board majority to 2-1 in favor of Democrats.

With the 2-1 split in favor of Republicans through the Trump administration and up to now—Grundmann would replace one of the two Republicans—the board issued a series of decisions in favor of management that federal unions hope to reverse with new cases.

Also backed by the committee was the nomination of Kurt Rumsfeld, currently chief counsel to DuBester, for general counsel, a position that decides which complaints—the large majority of which are filed by unions against management—are brought to the board for decisions. That position currently is being filled on an acting basis after having been vacant for much of the Trump administration, resulting in a backlog of cases for determination.

Meanwhile, the full Senate still has not scheduled a confirmation vote for the three committee-approved nominees for the MSPB governing board, which also would have a 2-1 advantage for Democrats if they are confirmed. The backlog of cases there is even more severe than at FLRA, since that board has lacked a quorum since early 2017 and has had no members since early 2019.

All three FLRA nominees were approved on a party-line vote, as was one of the MSPB nominees earlier (the other two were approved on voice votes).

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