During his campaign, the president made a lot of big promises to workers in Ohio and across the country. He told them he’d put American workers first.

But too often, the people he’s put in charge have a record of doing the opposite — and that’s certainly true of Peter Robb, the nominee to serve as General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board.

Mr. Robb has spent his career trying to strip workers of their rights, defending corporations accused of mistreating workers, and trying to undermine the watchdog agency he’s now seeking to join.

Someone who views unions and collective bargaining as a threat to be dealt with, rather than essential rights to be protected, has no business serving as the top lawyer for the Labor Relations Board.

Mr. Robb’s nomination is just the latest in a long, long line of evidence that work isn’t valued the way it should be in this country. He defended corporations accused of discrimination, and of not paying their workers the paychecks they earned. He worked for an energy company that was working to defeat workers’ organizing efforts. His own law firm’s website brags about how he delayed the election for more than two years.

We need someone in this job who wakes up every day ready to defend American workers — not someone who has spent his career trying to bring them down.

What Mr. Robb doesn’t seem to understand is that it’s not corporations that drive the economy — it’s workers. We grow the economy from the middle class out.

If work isn’t valued — if corporations shortchange workers with the help of lawyers like Mr. Robb — then Americans can’t earn their way to a better life for their families, no matter how hard they work.

The last thing we need is another nominee who doesn’t value work or respect the Americans who do it.