NLRB’s War on Business – Small & Large

The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) continued assault on business is something small and large manufacturers need to be very aware of. Events over the last few weeks made it clear — three of the four appointed board members intend to push big labor’s agenda at all costs.

In one of its most bold decisions, the board has moved to force Boeing to open a Washington state assembly line, rather than use its 787 Dreamliner plant in South Carolina. In its complaint, the board claims the airplane maker was “motivated by a desire to retaliate for past strikes and chill future strike activity” when it decided in 2009 to construct the new factory. The move had the effect of “discouraging membership in a labor organization”, which federal law forbids, the labor board said.

Boeing’s plant in North Charleston is almost complete and employs 1,000 workers, who will begin final assembly of their first 787 in July. Boeing doesn’t have to shut the South Carolina plant as long as it opens another one in Washington, according to the remedy outlined by the board. Such a factory should use supply lines maintained by machinists in the Seattle, WA and Portland, OR areas, according to the complaint.

The company continues to claim the right to build factories outside the Seattle area, and plans to fight NLRB complaint. Not satisfied with telling large manufacturers where they can and cannot build their products, NLRB is now considering allowing unions to cherry-pick the easiest groups within a company to sign up.
By current law, most organizing efforts must target all people in a workplace.

“The case is a radical departure from decades-old board law establishing what is an appropriate bargaining unit,” said former NLRB Chairman Peter Schaumber.

Big Labor’s membership has fallen to 11.9% of the workforce, including 6.9% in the private sector. Unions have agitated for rules to make organizing easier.

NLRB now appears to be following the ideas of one of its newest members, Craig Becker. His essential argument is that as long as all of the employees were doing essentially the same job, that ought to be good enough. Many are concerned the board will go in that direction here.

There is no schedule for a decision, but a comment period has ended, meaning it may come soon. Schaumber, the former chairman, said the proposed rule making is the board’s attempt to enact card-check-like rules by fiat. “The current board majority considers itself charged with the duty of promoting unionization,” he said, “not a neutral body charged with the responsibility of protecting employee rights while balancing the legitimate interests of unions and management.”

If Congress decides that NLRB overstepped its bounds, lawmakers could try to stop the ruling by pulling NLRB funding for it. ◆