Once threatened with summary execution, the giant inflatable rodent frequently seen on union picket lines called Scabby the Rat has won a reprieve.
He was targeted for termination with extreme prejudice by Peter Robb, the former General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, who was unceremoniously removed from his office by President Biden in spite of the fact that his Senate-approved four-year term was not due to end until this November.
The President named former NLRB Chicago regional attorney Peter Ohr to be Acting GC and he filed a motion with the board to stop processing two cases that would determine Scabby’s ultimate fate.
The board was mulling whether to change NLRB standard for determining the lawfulness of union displaying stationary banners and inflatable rats at the workplace of a neutral employer.
Ohr also asked that the cases be remanded to the regional directors -- who would then bury them – or for them to be dismissed by the board, which currently has a Republican majority.
Board procedures generally call for the five-member body to create standards when they consider individual cases brought to it by regional directors at the direction of the general counsel.
“Such pursuit is a waste of valuable agency resources and not in the public interest,” Ohr declared in his two rodential motions.
“Even if these complaints proceed and the rats are found to be unlawful by the Trump Board, based on this development, it is almost certain a Biden-controlled NLRB would revisit the issue and bring them back,” notes David J. Pryzbylski, an attorney with the law firm of Barnes & Thornburg.