Those of you who have been following my musings might recall the piece I did about Boeing Aircraft and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The NLRB had brought suit against Boeing because Boeing was spending over one billion dollars to build an aircraft assembly plant in South Carolina. Now SC just happens to be a right to work state where unions have a very difficult time getting any traction and complained that Boeing was doing this as a retaliation against the union for striking. If true, this would be clearly be a violation of the Taft-Hartley Act and NLRB rules and regulations. Hence, the NLRB action against Boeing.
The fact of the matter is that not one single job would be lost in Washington State and the new plant would create thousands of needed jobs in SC. But this fell on the deaf ears of the Obama stacked NLRB (Google NLRB members and see their political affiliation and back grounds) and the legal action proceeded.
Last week Boeing announced t had reached an agreement with the unions and suddenly, the NLRB dropped its lawsuit. This past weekend’s WSJ labeled this action “The NLRB’s Boeing Sham” and it certainly is. Let’s look at who got what.
The Union: The new B-737-MAX would be built exclusively in Washington. Actually, this makes sense as all 737’s have built there and the technology and skill base is immense. Union members would receive a guaranteed 2% raise each year for a number of years plus performance incentives. All union members would receive a $5000 “sigining bonus”. Signing for what? Not to quit their lucrative positions? Plus other not made public concessions on the part of Boeing.
Boeing: The NLRB drops their suit and saves Boeing millions in legal fees and the possibility of being told where they had to do business.
By dropping the case so quickly after the agreement was reached shows how politically motivated the Boeing suit was. The NLRB is supposed to a fair minded referee in labor disputes, making sure neither side breaks the law. But the board put its foot squarely on Boeings neck to make Boeing pay a price for moving one of its assembly lines to a right to work state and insure Boeing, or any other major employer, never did that again.
Has there ever been a more blatant case of a supposedly independent agency siding with a union over management in collective bargaining? Do a little research and see how much the International Association of Machinists gave to the Obama over the past 3+ years.
The damage here goes well beyond Boeing, which presumably understands the tradeoffs. The NLRB is exposed as still another federal agency that can’t be trusted to make honest decisions. The ability of the 21 right-to-work states, which passed such laws under the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, to attract businesses from pro-union states will also be eroded. The AFL-CIO may cheer that message, but in practice the result is likely to be that more companies simply send jobs overseas where there’s no NLRB. Congratulations Mr. Obama, still think you’re going get unemployment down to 8% by election day?
