NLRB Boeing Case: Bill To Weaken Labor Board Passed By House Republicans
by Dave Jamieson
9/15/11
WASHINGTON -- In their latest effort to aid the Boeing Company, House Republicans took the extraordinary step on Thursday of voting to strip the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) of much of its power.
The bill, entitled the Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act, would bar the federal labor board from ordering a company to close or relocate a workplace, even if that company has violated labor laws. Thursday's House vote fell along party lines, with 238 Republicans for the bill and 186 Democrats against it.
The bill is designed expressly to thwart a controversial complaint brought by the NLRB against Boeing that has put the future of a South Carolina Boeing plant into limbo.
Although Republicans claim the law would save South Carolina jobs, Democrats and union leaders say it would gut the 77-year-old independent agency of its authority, while also letting Boeing off the hook for alleged misdeeds.
The NLRB's acting general counsel filed the complaint in April, alleging that the aerospace giant violated labor law when it established a production line for its 787 Dreamliner in South Carolina. The move was retaliation against Boeing's unionized workers in Washington state for having gone on strike in the past, the complaint alleged. If Boeing and the board don't settle the case, the company could feasibly be forced to close its South Carolina facility and bring the work to Washington.
The complaint has infuriated Republicans, particularly those from South Carolina. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has claimed that the labor board, which is tasked with enforcing the National Labor Relations Act, has a pro-union "agenda," while House Republicans have assailed the board as an anti-business, job-killing agent of the Obama administration.
Republicans have also said that the board is meddling in corporate decision-making by "dictating" where a company can set up shop, and that the board's complaint will ultimately help to send jobs overseas.
But House Democrats and labor leaders have said the Republican bill will end up doing just that, since it will remove the labor board's only remedy against a company that has illegally relocated jobs.
Many have deemed it "an outsourcer's bill of rights."
"Under this bill, if a company wants to bust a union by outsourcing its work to China, this bill permits it," Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) said on the House floor. "Working people across this country should pay careful attention to this bill. It takes away every working American’s rights."...
For the full article, go to:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/15/nlrb-boeing-case-republican-vote_n_964253.html
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