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Lawmakers Aim To Head Off NLRB Decision Vs. Boeing

By SEAN HIGGINS, INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

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Senate Republicans are proposing to rewrite the law covering union-management disputes to stop a federal agency from giving Big Labor the power to punish companies that try to move operations to right-to-work states.

Sens. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., are working on the legislation. It is a reaction to a recent complaint by the National Labor Relations Board againstBoeing (BA).

"It would clarify that the board cannot order an employer to relocate jobs from one location to another, and guarantee an employer the right to decide where to do business within the U.S.," said a top aide to one of the senators.

The legislation would amend the National Labor Relations Act, which governs labor-management relations and created the NLRB. The proposal has not been formally introduced. The lawmakers are still working on the details, the aide said.

"We've got to pass this bill to stop this administration from bullying American workers," DeMint said in an email to IBD. "Businesses have the right to invest in any state in America and states shouldn't be penalized for protecting the rights of their citizens not to be forced to pay union dues."

The bill would likely have bipartisan support if framed as an effort to protect the 22 mostly Southern states with right-to-work laws. Ten Senate Democrats represent those states.

Right-To-Work Unfair?

The NLRB complaint alleges that Boeing's 2009 decision to open a South Carolina facility amounted to an unfair labor practice against a Machinist and Aerospace Workers local that represents employees in Washington and Oregon. South Carolina is a right-to-work state, meaning workers don't have to join unions even in organized workplaces.

Boeing has had several clashes with the union in recent years and has said this was partly why it planned to open the South Carolina site. That billion-dollar facility may not open now.

"To remedy the alleged unfair labor practices, the (NLRB) acting general counsel seeks an order that would require Boeing to maintain the second production line in Washington State," the federal agency said in a release last month.

In other words, it potentially makes any business decision to move or open facilities in a right-to-work state a violation of labor laws and grants the NLRB the power to stop such activity.

The complaint, issued by the NLRB's acting chief attorney, Lafe Solomon, is not a final ruling. The NLRB plans a June hearing in Washington state. If it adopts the complaint, the ruling can be appealed to federal courts.

Nevertheless, the measure has prompted outrage in the business community and among lawmakers, who call it an unprecedented extension of the board's powers.

"It is breathtaking that (the NLRB) would seek to relocate an entire production line," said Mike Eastman, a labor policy analyst at the Chamber of Commerce. "The board is trying to maintain that it is not trying to shut down the facility, but it wants those 787s made in Washington."

Peter Schaumber, a former chairman of the NLRB, calls the complaint "frivolous." He notes that Boeing isn't moving any existing facilities outside of Puget Sound, it is simply building a new one in another state.

Work at Puget Sound "has increased, not decreased. Two thousand more employees have been hired since Boeing made the decision," Schaumber said, arguing that the union cannot complain that its members were harmed.

GOP lawmakers have vowed to grill Solomon at his confirmation hearings to be NLRB general counsel. Attorneys general from seven right-to-work states have signed a letter urging the board to drop the complaint.

Critics like Schaumber have accused the NLRB under President Obama of abandoning its traditional role as a neutral arbiter of disputes and instead acting as an advocate for Big Labor.

The NLRB's five board members are appointed by the president and Congress but act independently. The board currently has three Democratic appointees and one Republican. The remaining seat is unfilled.

Chairwoman Wilma Liebman and member Craig Becker are both former top union lawyers.