Stanford Professor Sworn In as Chairman of Labor Board

Stanford University law professor William B. Gould IV was sworn in Tuesday as chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, capping a nine-month controversy that drew heated opposition from congressional conservatives.

Gould, whose nomination by President Clinton was confirmed by the Senate last week on a 58-38 vote, becomes the first African American to serve as chairman of the NLRB and only the second black member in its 58-year-history.

He took his oath of office in San Francisco and said that he would assume his duties in Washington “in a matter of days” with an eye toward reducing “the polarization . . . at the board and . . . between labor and management.” Chief U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson of San Francisco officiated at the ceremonies.

The NLRB is an independent agency created by Congress in 1935. It conducts union elections and rules on unfair labor practices and is charged with enforcing federal labor laws that give employees the right to join a union and to engage in collective bargaining.

During the Ronald Reagan and George Bush administrations, the NLRB generally took on a pro-business, anti-union cast. But Gould declared his intention to “return the board to the center.”

Gould, 57, called his confirmation “a victory over a determined campaign of cynical character assassination . . . by right-wing ideologues in the Republican Party and in some elements of the business community.” His opponents had labeled him anti-business and biased in favor of labor.

A strong proponent of unions, Gould said in his latest book, “Agenda for Reform,” that “unions are the most effective advocates of employee interests in the workplace.”