It’s World War III At The NLRB.

Business and labor are at war over the troubled National Labor Relations Board, a site of many such previous clashes but now the flashpoint for unprecedented contentiousness.

About 200 cases, many of which would expand the power of unions, will be stalled in 2012 when an appointment expires and the five-member board loses a quorum and with it the ability to take action – unless President Barack Obama makes a controversial recess appointment sometime in the coming weeks.

Pro-union groups assert that an effective NLRB is necessary to provide clarity on gray areas in labor law.

“Without a functioning board, employers and employees are left in the dark on major legal questions – whether they have the right to organize, whether or not arbitration agreements are legal, the extent to which they have the right communicate through social media on workplace issues,” said Erin Johansson, the Research Director for the pro-union group, American Rights at Work.

But from the perspective of business groups, recent NLRB decisions have been so harmful to their interests that they prefer a non-functional board.

“We would rather have an inoperable NLRB than the type of agency that we’ve had for the last eighteen months,” Elizabeth Milito, senior executive counsel for the National Federation of Independent Business.  Read the full article by Tim Mak at Politico here.