Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis’s comment at the AFL-CIO annual meeting on March 3rd confirms speculations that, with or without the resolution of health care legislation, President Obama will announce the appointment of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board when Congress breaks for its two-week Easter recess, beginning March 29.

While this “recess appointment” effectively could preclude Becker from serving the normal five-year term were he confirmed by Congress, he would serve about 18 months, enough time to have a profound impact on our nation’s labor law.

Some say the President also will take the opportunity to appoint Mark Pearce, a union-side labor lawyer previously nominated (and had been expected to win confirmation) and another as yet unnamed person in place of the previous nominee to fill the currently vacant “Republican seat” on the Board.

In addition to fulfilling the President’s need to respond to the interests of his supporters in organized labor, these appointments will allow the Board to initiate and achieve substantive rulemaking before Becker leaves.

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Photo of Roger P. Gilson Jr. Roger P. Gilson Jr.

Roger Gilson is a Principal in the White Plains, New York office of Jackson Lewis P.C.  He received his Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from Syracuse University in 1974 and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University in…

Roger Gilson is a Principal in the White Plains, New York office of Jackson Lewis P.C.  He received his Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from Syracuse University in 1974 and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University in 1976.  In 1978, Mr. Gilson received his Doctor of Law, cum laude, from the Syracuse University College of Law, where he served as the Comments Editor of the Syracuse Law Review.  Mr. Gilson is a member of the Connecticut and New York Bars and is admitted to the U.S. District Court, Districts of Connecticut, Eastern New York and Southern New York.  He is also a member of the American Bar Association’s Committee on Law and Practice under the National Labor Relations Act.  Mr. Gilson practices in all areas of labor and employment law with particular emphasis on traditional labor law for health care employers.

He has extensive experience representing employers in labor cases before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), State Labor Boards and federal and state courts.  He has been involved in negotiating more than 100 collective bargaining agreements across the United States and is a recognized authority with respect to the handling and preempting strikes, picketing and corporate campaigns.  In 2001, as counsel to the Connecticut Association of Healthcare Facilities and the CAHCF Strike Task Force, he advised the industry in defeating the first and only state-wide nursing home strike.  He is also counsel to the Assisted Living Federation of America.  In 2006, the Labor Relations Institute, Inc. named Mr. Gilson as one of the “Top One Hundred Labor Attorneys in America” and Connecticut Magazine named him on its list of Connecticut Super Lawyers for 2006.

Mr. Gilson is a frequent speaker before business and employer associations, including the Business Council of New York, the Voluntary Hospitals of America (Human Resources Affinity Group), the American Health Care Association Executive Directors Committee, the New York State Health Facilities Association, and the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities.  He also has been on the faculty for Executive Enterprises’ seminars, “Corrective Bargaining” and “Strategies for Combating Strikes, Corporate Campaigns and other Union Pressure Tactics.”

Education

  • Syracuse University, 
J.D., 1978 
cum laude
  • Syracuse University,
 M.P.A., 1976
  • Syracuse University, 
B.A., 1974

Bar & Professional Association Memberships

  • American Bar Association
  • American Society of Healthcare Human Resources Administrators
  • Connecticut Hospital Association