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Washington, D.C.—The president of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) today said the union “strongly opposes” the nomination of Peter Eide to be general counsel of the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA). NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley called Eide “unqualified” for the job.

President Kelley made her comments after Eide’s appearance at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs. Kelley previously had sent a letter to the committee opposing the Eide nomination.

The FLRA is a three-member body that oversees federal sector labor-management relations. Its general counsel directs the agency’s regional offices in their investigations of unfair labor practices and in their conduct of representational matters, including running organizing elections and making appropriate unit determinations. The refusal of the FLRA general counsel to issue a complaint on an alleged unfair labor practice charge is unreviewable.

Noting that Eide had not been a practicing lawyer since 1990 and that his legal experience to that point was confined to private sector law, President Kelley said that “nothing in his record indicates any experience whatsoever in federal sector labor relations.” These differ from the private sector “in many major respects,” she said.

Even more troubling to NTEU, the union leader said, has been the nominee’s work for the past 12 years—“as an advocate for the dilution of statutory protections for employees.” For example, she said, as manager and then director of labor law policy for the United States Chamber of Commerce, Eide “worked to oppose” safety and health regulations of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

“He proudly pointed to his role in spearheading a coalition of businesses and associations opposing OSHA ergonomics regulations,” President Kelley said, and “worked vigorously to undermine” the Fair Labor Standards Act and to amend Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The FLRA’s general counsel, she pointed out, operates to a large extent without review by the members of the FLRA itself or by any court. If the general counsel refuses to pursue allegations of misconduct, the injured party has no further legal recourse.

“This broad prosecutorial discretion makes the incumbent an extremely powerful figure in federal sector labor relations,” President Kelley said. “It should not be entrusted to one whose career has been devoted to advocacy of diminution of statutory protections for workers.”

NTEU is the largest independent federal sector union, representing some 150,000 federal employees in 29 agencies and departments.