Manchin and Sinema Fire Parting Shot at Democrats and Unions

Ex-Democratic Senate gadflies Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have been lame ducks for a while after both chose not to run for reelection in 2024. Sinema has been rather notoriously absent from recent Senate votes. But she showed up with bells on to help tank a crucial Democratic confirmation vote that would have strengthened the National Labor Relations Board against the malice of the Republicans about to take over Washington. And she was joined by her sidekick, Manchin, who at least made it clear he was casting a substantive anti-union vote rather than just expressing spite at his ex-colleagues.

Senate Democrats were seeking to confirm a new five-year term for NLRB chair Lauren McFerran, which would have assured a 3-2 majority for Democratic nominees on the board until late 2026. The 48 other members of the Senate Democratic Caucus voted yes, but Manchin and Sinema said no.

So far it seems Sinema went right back into her premature retirement without further ado after casting her vote to screw over her erstwhile allies. But Manchin did explain his own, as The New Republic noted:

Manchin told reporters after the vote that he opposed McFerran’s nomination because she supports the “joint-employer rule,” which states that an entity can be considered a “joint employer” of another company’s employees if it has or influences control over the employees’ wages, hours, and working conditions, even if it is not the main employer.

This rule, promulgated by the NLRB under Joe Biden (who also vetoed a congressional resolution, supported by Senate Republicans plus Manchin, Sinema, and Angus King, to overturn it) is a particular bugaboo of big-time franchisors from Amazon to McDonald’s, who view it as unacceptably making them liable for franchisee labor-law violations while also making it a lot easier to unionize their many outlets. Manchin has taken the position that he was protecting itty-bitty franchisees by refusing to let their big corporate overseers share their responsibilities since that would screw up the whole franchising system. In any event, it was enough for him and Sinema to give Donald Trump the early Christmas present of a NLRB majority.

It’s pretty safe to say that most Democrats and all union activists won’t be sad to see Manchin and Sinema leave Congress for good, just as they left their party.