NLRB-Boeing overreach enters eighth week

The overreach continues. The NLRB-Boeing controversy enters its eighth week.

Is this a story from January, 2009? No, this Hill article is from Saturday.

President Obama is pledging a continued focus on work with the private sector to spur hiring, but he acknowledges that the economic recovery will "take time" and that quick fixes are elusive.

The Washington Examiner explains why that may be:

For decades, unions have perpetuated the myth that the interests of Big Labor's bosses and of American workers are identical. A tenuous case for that proposition could be made decades ago when unions represented a third of all private sector workers. But doing so today requires a studied refusal to acknowledge reality when fewer than 7 percent are union members. Nevertheless, President Obama often seems concerned only with serving the interests of the union bosses who are among his most frequent White House guests.

Fox Business:

Friday marked the opening of the Boeing (BA) 787 Dreamliner Final Assembly building in North Charleston, South Carolina, despite the state's battle with the National Labor Relations Board about the company's decision to build in South Carolina.

"The NLRB wants the jobs here transferred back to Washington State and that’s not going to happen," South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson told FOXbusiness.com. "Opening this facility is an exclamation point."

The $750 million facility, which finished construction six months ahead of schedule, features 642,720 square feet (roughly 10 football fields) of space and will produce three 787 Dreamliners per month.

The Wall Street Journal:

The union that spurred the government's labor-law complaint against Boeing Co. proposed a settlement ahead of a National Labor Relations Board hearing next week, but the aircraft maker said the union's request "went well beyond what we would consider reasonable."

In its April complaint, the NLRB claimed that Boeing illegally punished the union by building an assembly line for its 787 Dreamliner jet in South Carolina, instead of Washington state. The agency proposed that Boeing shift work to union facilities in Washington from the new, nonunion plant in the South.

The NLRB remedy sparked a political clash over whether the government should try to dictate where a company chooses to invest. Republican senators have sponsored legislation to prevent the NLRB from ordering an employer to relocate work.

Business groups and Republicans complain that the NLRB, controlled by Obama administration appointees, is overreaching its authority to help unions. Three of the four board members have either been union lawyers or worked at firms that represent unions.

The Charleston Post and Courier:

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, at Friday's dedication of Boeing's Dreamliner assembly plant in North Charleston, denounced a National Labor Relations Board lawsuit against the company as "politically motivated," and said he plans to hold up the nomination of the U.S. Commerce Secretary.

President Barack Obama has nominated John Bryson, a long-serving member of Boeing's board of directors, for the key post. Several other Republican lawmakers have threatened to hold up Bryson's nomination for reasons unrelated to the NLRB complaint.

"I'm going to put the Department of Commerce nominee on hold until the administration comes out and says that Boeing is an ethical company," said Graham, R-S.C.

The NLRB filed suit in April, accusing Boeing of choosing to build its new aircraft assembly line in North Charleston to retaliate against its unionized workers in Washington state, who went on strike in 2008.

The Dakota Voice:

Attorney General Marty J. Jackley announces that South Dakota has joined a multi-state amicus brief filed by Texas challenging the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel’s action dealing with Boeing in South Carolina.

The NLRB recently filed an action to prevent Boeing from opening a South Carolina assembly line claiming that the new facility would negatively impact Boeing's unionized work force in the State of Washington. The NLRB seeks to force a business to construct a new facility in one state over another premised upon union issues.

The amicus brief sets forth that "The General Counsel's unprecedented application of the National Labor Relations Act will harm the ability of every state–both right–to–work States and unionized States–to attract businesses and promote new job growth."

The Atlanta Business Chronicle:

Georgia has teamed with 15 other states to file an amicus brief against the National Labor Relations Board’s attempt to block a Boeing's expansion into South Carolina.

Boeing built a 787 Dreamliner final production line facility in South Carolina, a right-to-work state. The move would create new, non-unionized jobs. The facility officially opens June 17.

A complaint brought in April by the National Labor Relations Board claims Boeing built the new site outside of the state of Washington to get back at its machinists union for past strikes. The NLRB claims it is protecting Boeing's unionized workforce in Washington, where a similar facility is.

But the states argue Boeing has added 2,000 union jobs in Washington since it made plans to expand into South Carolina. Further, they argue the NLRB complaint will harm the ability of every state to attract business and promote new job growth. Businesses will be reluctant to build new facilities in right-to-work states for fear of retaliation by the NLRB, they said. Likewise, new businesses will be discouraged from locating in unionized states knowing they will be handcuffed should they wish to expand into a right-to-work state in the future. The more serious danger is that businesses will forgo establishing operations in the United States altogether and relocate overseas, where the NLRB lacks enforcement jurisdiction.

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