Marathon Pundit: NLRB overreach roundup returns--and the NMB

Boeing HQ, Chicago

After a respite of a few days, the NLRB overreach roundup is back.

From CBS News:

The federal government is going after one of the nation's best-known companies - alleging that Boeing is trying to harm the union that builds its largest plane. If the National Labor Relations Board gets its way, Boeing may have to delay opening the massive non-union factory it just completed.

Lee Gaylor never thought she'd be struggling simply to survive.

"You gotta find a way to survive and if it means this, I never thought I would do anything like this but, I can deal with it," Gaylor told CBS News correspondent Jim Axelrod.

The Hill:

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) on Monday sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in an effort to "bring transparency" to what DeMint says was a partisan decision by the board to sue Boeing.

"The public facts surrounding the complaint raise serious questions about the interpretation of the National Labor Relations Act upon which it is based, to say nothing of the troubling appearance of partisan, special interest politics at its heart," DeMint wrote in his June 6 letter.

The NLRB argues the suit is warranted because Boeing's 2009 decision to move a production plant to South Carolina amounts to illegal retaliation against striking workers in Washington State. But Republicans charge that the suit is an open attack against right-to-work states like South Carolina on behalf of unions.

DeMint is looking for evidence that the suit was a result of coordination between the NLRB and the International Association of Machinists (IAM), and believes he has found it.

Red State:

Last week, three Boeing employees, whose jobs are at stake due to the National Labor Relations Board's prosecution of their employer, filed to intervene in the case.

Now, just a few days later, Lafe Solomon has declared that he is opposed to their intervention in the case–even though they stand a good chance of losing their jobs due to the union and the NLRB's actions.

The Workforce Fairness institute sent the following letter to senators representing right-to-work states.

Dear Senators From Right-To-Work States:

Recent actions by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) have sent fear through both workers and business owners. Departing from its mission to apply the nation’s labor laws fairly and evenly, the NLRB has targeted the nation’s largest exporter which chose to open a new production facility in a right-to-work state and, by extension, it has targeted right-to-work laws and the states that have adopted them. Please stand with the workers and business owners in your state by supporting S. 964, the Job Protection Act, if you have not already done so, and by opposing the nominations of Craig Becker and Lafe Solomon to the NLRB.

Recently the NLRB's Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon, filed a complaint against the Boeing Company for opening a new production facility in South Carolina, a right-to-work state, instead of the more heavily unionized Washington State. This move was characterized by Mr. Solomon as retaliation and a method to intimidate union workers in Washington, even though Boeing has actually expanded work at its unionized facilities in that state. Essentially, Boeing is being unfairly targeted because it made a business decision to expand employment in a right-to-work state as opposed to a unionized one.

With this move, the NLRB has shown that it is pursuing a blatantly biased and misguided agenda in favor of organized labor that will cost our nation jobs. States like yours, which have chosen to enact right-to-work laws, are just as threatened by this complaint as South Carolina. The Boeing decision promises to deliver over 1,000 jobs to that state. These good-paying, much-needed, high-quality jobs will be lost if the NLRB gets its way. Imagine if the NLRB were threatening to destroy that many jobs in your state. Business expansion by other companies in right-to-work states could easily be affected by the NLRB’s actions, this is something that will undoubtedly have a chilling effect on decisions made by job creators across the country.

States should have the freedom to choose right-to-work laws without fear of Federal government reprisal and interference. Senators Alexander, Graham and DeMint have introduced S. 964, which would ensure the NLRB treats right-to-work states in the same way it treats others. This bill would protect workers and businesses and is clearly needed, given the NLRB's recent action.

The outrageous decision by Lafe Solomon also indicates why he is unfit to be confirmed as the NLRB's General Counsel and why the Senate should reject his pending nomination. The Senate should also reject the nomination of Craig Becker to continue to serve on the board. His views on labor-management relations are widely considered outside the mainstream and for this reason his confirmation was defeated by both Republicans and Democrats in the previous Congress. Mr. Becker has taken a position similar to the one Mr. Solomon has taken in his Boeing complaint. According to Mr. Becker, the free movement of capital – such as Boeing’s decision here – is inconsistent with the principles of collective bargaining. Such radical views have no place in an agency that directly impacts our economy and American businesses working to create jobs.

Without corrective action by Congress, our economy will certainly suffer as uncertainty will increase and businesses will adjust their plans to increase employment. In the end, fewer jobs will be created and more businesses will close. That’s bad for the nation as a whole particularly during this very difficult economic time. Please support these important steps to rein in the NLRB, and stand with workers and businesses in your home state.

Sincerely,

Fred Wszolek

Workforce Fairness Institute

The Charleston Post and Courier:

The next six days are shaping up to be an unforgettable period in Boeing Co.'s 95-year history.

On Friday, the aerospace giant will ceremoniously mark the completion of its $750 million North Charleston assembly line, its first commercial aircraft plant to be built outside of Washington state.

It's also one of just a handful in the world.

Boeing Co. will start making its newest commercial airplanes, the 787 Dreamliner, at the North Charleston factory starting in July.

Then, on Tuesday, Boeing will lock legal horns with a federal labor agency over whether it built the South Carolina plant to retaliate against one of its union in the Pacific Northwest.

NMB bonus, first from Big Labor Bailout:

Another agency in the Obama administration, the National Mediation Board, is doing all it can to bailout Big Labor and hurt existing jobs, too. The NMB is harassing Delta Airlines, the only major US carrier to remain largely nonunion, after Big Labor lost an election to unionize workers there. Despite the fact that the NMB changed the rules last year to favor Big Labor in union-organizing elections regarding the airline industry, the agency will conduct an onsite review and investigate the matter. This means more costs and additional burdens for another American company. Big Labor should quit acting like a sore loser and accept the fact they lost.

President Obama wants to have it both ways. He says his number one goal is to create jobs and get our economy back on the right track. But on the other hand, his appointees to agencies are doing all they can to slow the pace of the economic recovery. Unemployment is at over 9 percent. Confidence in the markets remains shaky. And Americans are looking for their elected leaders to take decisive action to get the economy on the right track. They are not looking for excuses from their President or for his appointees to federal agencies to add another road block to economic recovery.

President Obama needs to make a decision. Does he stand for jobs in the worst economy since the Great Depression? Or does he stand with agencies in his administration that are set on providing bailouts to Big Labor?

Once again, from Red State:

Let's cut to the chase, shall we? Within the next several months (perhaps sooner), the odds are President Obama's National Mediation Board will find that Delta Air committed unforgivable sins during multiple union election campaigns last fall, causing the unions to lose the elections. As a result, employees at Delta will be subjected to more union elections until they—in the minds of union bosses—vote the right way (to unionize). It doesn't matter what the facts are—Delta's conduct could have been as pure as virgin snow—the NMB will rule that (at least several) of the elections must be rerun.

Why? Because that is the goal and has been the goal all along (at least since 2009). In other words, the NMB "investigations" into Delta's conduct is nothing more than a show—a sham—a kangaroo court in the vein of Fidel Castro's trials of political opponents before the firing squads.