June 14th hearing on labor boards recommendation looms
By Jim Cardle
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas Our states are trying to emerge from one of the worst economic collapses since the Depression" wrote South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson & eight of his fellow States Attorney Generals from Virginia Nebraska Texas Georgia Florida Alabama Oklahoma and Arizona as they urged the NLRB to cease this attack on our right to work our states economies & our jobs."
The National Labor Relations Board should withdraw immediately" a complaint against Boeing Co. that alleges the company retaliated against union employees attorneys general from nine states said in a letter.
The NLRBs action citing Boeings decision to open a 787 aircraft assembly line in South Carolina is an assault" on the ability of the states to create jobs according to the letter released today.
Your complaint further impairs an economic recovery" said the geographically diverse letter from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott & others.
The board last week said Boeing chose South Carolina a state that bans labor agreements that require workers to join a union over keeping the work in Washington state because it was motivated by a desire to retaliate for past strike and chill future strike activity."
Boeing executives had said they were concerned about strikes by employees according to the complaint.
Assembly Lines
The boards complaint said Boeing should be forced to open a Washington state assembly line after violating workers rights by building the facility in South Carolina. The company the worlds biggest aerospace company decided in 2009 to build the new assembly line.
The complaint doesnt seek to close Boeings plant in South Carolina and both parties will have a chance to present evidence at a scheduled hearing Nancy Cleeland NLRB spokeswoman said in an e-mailed statement.
The complaint has nothing to do with state right-to-work laws which ban certain types of employer-union agreements and are expressly permitted" by national labor law she said.
Boeing declined to comment said company spokesman Tim Neale.
Boeings choice of South Carolina marked its first departure from the Puget Sound hub where it has built all its commercial jets. Relations with the Machinists union have been strained by four strikes since 1989 including the most recent two-month walkout at the end of 2008.
A hearing on the labor boards recommendation which was issued by its acting general counsel was scheduled for June 14 before an administrative law judge in Seattle.
