Today's NLRB and union overreach roundup

The days pass, but the overreach continues.

First from AP:

A Republican-led House committee plans to hold a June 17 hearing in South Carolina on a federal board's suit alleging the Boeing Co. retaliated against Washington state union workers by building an assembly plant in this southern, right-to-work state.

The move by the hard-charging committee chairman, Republican Darrell Issa of California, represents the latest escalation of the fight between the National Labor Relations Board, which now has a majority of Democratic appointees, and Boeing and GOP elected officials.

The state's new Republican governor, Nikki Haley, has been hammering the Obama administration over the board's decision to sue Boeing for alleged labor law violations.

The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government announced Wednesday that the hearing will be held in North Charleston, home to Boeing's new 787 passenger aircraft assembly line. The committee has requested that NLRB general counsel Lafe Solomon appear at the hearing.

The Workforce Fairness Institute:

Obama Regulatory Agency Shuts Down Workers Seeking To Protect Jobs

Washington, D.C. (June 9, 2011) – The Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI) today issued the following statement in response to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) opposing the intervention of Boeing employees in the complaint filed by the regulatory agency against the company:

"Over and over again we hear from this White House that they are most concerned with creating jobs, yet when workers try to protect their own employment, President Obama’s labor board shuts them down," said Fred Wszolek, spokesman for the Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI). "The narrative against the NLRB has always been that it is more concerned with handouts to Big Labor bosses than standing up for workers, and this provides the most vivid illustration of that. As much as Lafe Solomon and Craig Becker might like this issue to go away, it won't, and President Obama will need to explain to Americans why his regulatory agency pursued job-killing policies and silenced workers attempting to defend themselves from the attacks by his government bureaucrats."

BACKGROUND:

Boeing Employees File Motion To Intervene In NLRB Case:

"Another group has mobilized against the National Labor Relations Board's attempt to force Boeing to move a production line to Washington state from South Carolina: Boeing Co. workers in South Carolina who say they'll 'almost certainly' lose their jobs if the federal agency wins its case. The group of three Boeing employees filed a motion Wednesday night to intervene in the NLRB's complaint against the aircraft maker, saying they have a 'direct and concrete stake' in the outcome and 'relevant evidence' to present in Boeing's defense." (Melanie Trottman, "Three Employees File In Support Of Boeing In NLRB Case," The Wall Street Journal, 6/3/11)

President Obama's NLRB Opposes Boeing Employees Intervention:

"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." ("Unbelievable! NLRB's Acting General Counsel Opposes Boeing Employees' Legal Involvement," Red State , 6/8/11)

And finally, The Nation:

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka sent his strongest signal yet about the labor movement's frustration with the dysfunctional politics of the moment—where Republicans go to extremes on behalf of big banks and multinational corporations, Democrats compromise and working families are left out of the equation.

Speaking Tuesday to the National Nurses United conference in Washington, where more than one thousand nurses from across the country rallied to begin the push to replace the politics of setting for less with a unapologetic demands for a new economic agenda, Trumka found a plenty of takers for his aggressively progressive message.

"We want an independent labor movement strong enough to return balance to our economy, fairness to our tax system, security to our families and moral and economic standing to our nation," declared Trumka, who in recent months has been repositioning the AFL-CIO as a force that will hold Republicans and Democrats to what he describes as a simple standard: "Are they helping or hurting working families?"

"We can't simply build the power of any political party or any candidate. For too long we've been left after the election holding a canceled check and asking someone to pay attention to us. No more! No more!" the federation president, a former United Mineworkers union chief, shouted above the cheers of the nurses.

Trumka went on to bellow, "Well, I don’t know about you, but I've had a snootful of that sh*t!"

A lot of people have had enough of you, Trumka.

Related post:

Trumka participates in CWA activist call, no mention of Massachusetts public-sector union pushback

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