In a move that may add fuel to suspicions of anti-union animus in administration appointments, President Bush this week appointed former Chamber of Commerce labor law policy director Peter Eide, as general counsel of the Federal Labor Relations Authority. Federal sector unions have described Eide as anti-labor and opposed to legal "protections for employees" in objecting to his nomination, and his appointment is eerily reminiscent of Bush's choices for Secretary and Solicitor of the Labor Department (see WIT's for Oct. 3, 2001 and Oct. 18, 2002). Appointed during the Senate's spring recess, Eide will escape Senate review and likely hold office unchallenged until the end of 2004---exercising almost sole discretion over whether to prosecute allegations of federal government misconduct as an employer.
See "Bush Sidesteps Senate, Appoints Two to Employment", STEPHEN BARR, The Washington Post, April 24, 2003