Dear Senator:
On behalf of the AFL-CIO, I strongly urge swift confirmation of Jennifer Abruzzo to be the next General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). She is eminently qualified for the important role.
Ms. Abruzzo spent most of her career at the NLRB, first in the Miami office and later at headquarters in Washington, D.C. She spent more than twenty-two years with the agency, working as a field attorney, a supervisory field attorney and deputy regional attorney in Miami before transferring to Washington as Deputy Assistant General Counsel in the Division of Operations where she oversaw Regional operations in the Northeast and Midwest. She also served as Deputy General Counsel during former General Counsel Richard Griffin’s tenure and for a short time served as Acting General Counsel when Griffin’s term expired.
By virtue of this lengthy and diverse public service career, Jennifer Abruzzo has extensive experience with the agency both in the field and at headquarters and has been involved at multiple levels in the important mission the NLRB is tasked with, to safeguard the rights of workers to organize and engage in collective bargaining and to protect them from unfair labor practices. She has intimate knowledge of the operations and work of the agency and will be able to bring that knowledge to bear on her work immediately upon confirmation.
During the last three years, she has worked as Special Counsel for Strategic Initiatives for the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and thus has gained the additional perspective of a stakeholder before the NLRB, rounding out her previous background within the Agency.
The NLRB is an agency that has a key role to play in protecting workers’ rights to join together to improve their wages and working conditions and Jennifer Abruzzo has a demonstrated commitment to the agency’s mission and purpose under the National Labor Relations Act.
Therefore, without reservation, we recommend her confirmation, and we are confident that she will be an outstanding General Counsel.
Sincerely,
William Samuel
Director, Government Affairs