From Sen. Lamar Alexander: The White House vs. Boeing, a Tennessee tale

Tennessee-Virginia border at the Cumberland Gap

In Tuesday's Wall Street Journal, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) recalls how he convinced Nissan to build a plant in Tennessee in 1980. Japanese automakers were well into their ascent in America and there was a demand from President Jimmy Carter on down for them to build cars on our side of the Pacific.

Alexander flew to Japan with nighttime satellite photograph of the United States and met with Japanese auto executives.

From the Journal:

"Where is Tennessee?" the executives asked. "Right in the middle of the lights," I answered, pointing out that locating a plant in the population center reduces the cost of transporting cars to customers. That center had migrated south from the Midwest, where most U.S. auto plants were, to Kentucky and Tennessee.

Then the Japanese examined a second consideration: Tennessee has a right-to-work law and Kentucky does not. This meant that in Kentucky workers would have to join the United Auto Workers union. Workers in Tennessee had a choice.

In 1980 Nissan chose Tennessee, a state with almost no auto jobs. Today auto assembly plants and suppliers provide one-third of our state's manufacturing jobs. Tennessee is the home for production of the Leaf, Nissan's all-electric vehicle, and the batteries that power it. Recently Nissan announced that 85% of the cars and trucks it sells in the U.S. will be made in the U.S.— making it one of the largest "American" auto companies and nearly fulfilling Mr. Carter's request of 30 years ago.

But now unions want to make it illegal for a company that has experienced repeated strikes to move production to a state with a right-to-work law. What would this mean for the future of American auto jobs? Jobs would flee overseas as manufacturers look for a competitive environment in which to make and sell cars around the world.

And that's what President Obama's radicalized-National Labor Relations Board wants to do. Boeing wants to shift a major manufacturing project--the building of the 787 airliner--to South Carolina, which is a right-to-work state.

But under Obama, what Big Labor wants, Big Labor gets. Even if it means fewer American jobs.

Related post:

Obama's radical NLRB: Killing off right-to-work

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