NLRB overreach continues stretching out

More overreach. First from the Wisconsin State Journal:

When Democrats ran the state Capitol in Madison last legislative session, they expanded the collective bargaining power of public workers.

When Republicans took over the Capitol this year, they strictly limited bargaining for public unions.

In both cases, elected officials determined the direction of labor law in Wisconsin.

That's as it should be.

But at the federal level, the unelected National Labor Relations Board is now pushing big changes to labor organizing rules as an end run around Congress.

That's wrong.

AP:

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney accused the Obama administration on Monday of jeopardizing the very manufacturing jobs the Democratic president plans to promote when he visits an aluminum plant in Iowa.

Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, said a lawsuit filed by the National Labor Relations Board against Boeing could stifle jobs at Alcoa in Iowa, which provides materials for the airline manufacturer's 787 Dreamliner.

"This Boeing decision in South Carolina sent shockwaves across the nation and, if allowed to stand, will result in American job losses and I think you can be sure there will be some losses in Iowa as well as other states," Romney said in an Associated Press interview.

Politico:

It only took Michele Bachmann five minutes in her first South Carolina speech as a presidential candidate to attack the National Labor Relations Board for trying to block Boeing from opening a new plant in the state.

"Wouldn't you think bringing Boeing to South Carolina would make a lot of sense?" the Minnesota congresswoman asked rhetorically, to loud cheers from a crowd of more than 400.

"That's what I’m all about!" she said.

This is perhaps the biggest litmus test in this right-to-work state these days. Every Republican who comes here checks the box and tries to outdo his or her opponents in decrying the federal overreach. Tim Pawlenty brought it up as fast as he could in last month's Fox News debate.

From the floor of the US Senate, Orrin Hatch (R-UT) denounces NLRB overreach:




The Daily Caller:

Former U.S. Sen. George Allen is criticizing likely 2012 election opponent and former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine for his failure to take a stand on a hot labor lawsuit which is being closely watched across the country

Kaine, the former Democratic National Committee chairman, who has been friendly with labor unions but is now running for the Senate in a conservative state, has been quiet about a complaint by the National Labor Relations Board that has conservatives upset, according to Sen. George Allen, a Republican running for the seat.

The lawsuit aims to stop the company Boeing from locating some facilities in a non-unionized South Carolina plant instead of a unionized one in Washington State.

In an op-ed, Allen said the NLRB complaint is "an attack on the freedom and competitiveness of every state with right-to-work laws -– including Virginia."

Watch as a South Carolina businessman worries that the NLRB ruling on Boeing could cause he business to close:



AP:

The government's labor dispute with Boeing Co. is turning into a political headache for President Barack Obama, giving his Republican rivals a fresh opening to bash the administration’s economic policies.

From congressional hearings to presidential debates, outraged Republicans are keeping up a steady drumbeat of criticism over the National Labor Relations Board's lawsuit against the aerospace giant.

The NLRB says Boeing retaliated against its unionized workforce in Washington state by opening a new production line for its 787 airplane in South Carolina, a right-to-work state. The agency wants a judge to order Boeing to return all 787 assembly work to Washington, even though the company has already built a new $750 million South Carolina plant and hired 1,000 new workers there.

The case – which could drag on for years – has become an unwanted distraction for Obama as he tries to mend relations with the business community and contend with polls that show growing public disapproval over his handling of the economy.

Central Valley orchard

And finally, some good news from California. Card check has been shredded there. From KQED TV:

The legislature had its dramatic moments tonight as it considered next year's state budget. Lawsuits were threatened, or promised. Democratic members of the Senate broke with party leadership for a time over their displeasure with some aspects of the package. Republicans complained that they'd been frozen out of the budget-making process as Democrats crafted and passed a package that (they argued) contained no new taxes and thus needed no GOP votes for passage.

But the evening's real drama at the Capitol only unfolded only after the legislature was done voting. Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a widely watched piece of farm-labor legislation: SB 104, the farmworker "card-check" bill. The bill would have changed how agricultural union elections are held. Instead of voting on whether to join a union, as provided under current law, workers would express their preference by "card check"—in essence, by submitting a petition accompanied by individual authorization cards. The cards could be filled out anywhere—on the job or at home.

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