Cynthia Estlund, the Catherine A. Rein Professor of Law, is leading the transition team that is reviewing the National Labor Relations Board for President-elect Barack Obama's administration. She will take charge of gathering the necessary information to enable the administration to make appointments and budgetary decisions.
The NLRB is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1935 to administer the National Labor Relations Act, the primary law governing relations between unions and employers in the private sector. The statute guarantees the right of employees to organize and to bargain collectively with their employers, and to engage in other protected concerted activity with or without a union, or to refrain from all such activity.
The Board is designed to have five members and traditionally issues decisions by a three-member pane but has been operating with two members all year because the Senate has blocked President Bush's nominations and prevented him from making recess appointments.
Read Cynthia Estlund's faculty profile
Read more about the National Labor Relations Board