NLRB overreach: Lafe Solomon edition

World War I monument,
Peoria Heights, IL

I'm hoping on January 3, 2013 I will be reporting on the reining in of the National Labor Relations Board as a Republican president-elect prepares to move into the White House.

But for now we have to contend with trench warfare. But as it happened in World War I, one side will collapse.

The recent battle between Boeing and the NLRB was a tactical victory for the job-creator, as Verdun was for the French in 1916. But the conflict rages on. And if he had to do it all over again, NLRB's acting general counsel, Lafe Solomon, said he wouldn't change a thing.

From the Charleston Post and Courier:

Unfortunately, though, after dropping the action against Boeing, Mr. Solomon said that "if we were ever faced with a similar pattern, we might well issue a complaint."

South Carolina Sens. Jim DeMint and Lindsey Graham, along with nine Republican colleagues, rightly responded to that remark by writing a Dec. 19 letter to President Obama, asking him to withdraw his nomination of Mr. Solomon.

The senators wrote: "American employers should have the freedom to make private business decisions without the threat of a government-appointed official filing disparaging and costly litigation. Especially during this economic climate, this sort of bullying by a federal official whom you have handpicked cannot be tolerated."

And: "Instead of serving as an unbiased adjudicating body that protects the rights of employees and employers, the NLRB has demonstrated an unprecedented and unacceptable overreach of authority. Mr. Solomon's recent threat is further pressuring every employer to think twice about relocating within the U.S., while facing no retribution for moving outside the country."

Via the Columbia Basin Herald, from the Savannah Morning News:

It's a nice try. But don't expect it to go anywhere, except the trash can.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., and 10 of his colleagues sent President Barack Obama a letter, urging him to withdraw the nomination of Lafe Solomon, acting general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board.

That's the same federal board that took unprecedented action by filing a complaint against Boeing, which wanted to expand its aircraft production in South Carolina, a non-union state.

After Boeing made concessions to union workers in the state of Washington, where its main production lines are located, the NLRB called off the attack dogs against the company. However, Mr. Solomon bragged to The Associated Press that he would repeat his high-handed tactics "if we were ever faced with a similar pattern."

Such dictatorial thinking has no place within the NLRB. It's supposed to be an unbiased, adjudicating body that protects the rights of employees and employers. It's not a tool of organized labor.

Here's some good news. From WTMA:

Three Boeing employees in Charleston filed an unfair labor practice charge against the union that was behind the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) dispute with Boeing.

At the beginning of December, Boeing reached a deal with the International Association of Machinists (IAM) resulting in the NLRB dropping its complaint against the company. The NLRB had accused Boeing of relocating from Washington State to South Carolina because of the unionization of plants in the state; its suit threatened jobs on non-unionized workers in South Carolina, critics complained.

The new lawsuit, filed against the NLRB on the employees behalf by National Right to Work Foundation, states that union bosses retaliated against non-union workers in Charleston when striking a deal with Boeing.

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