NYT: NLRB Killing Jobs

NYT: NLRB Killing Jobs

If the Obama-selected top lawyer for the National Labor Relations Board gets his way, Boeing will have no real choice but to abandon a brand-new $2 billion plant and 1,000 good jobs in Right to Work South Carolina. You know things are bad for the National Labor Relations Board and their outrageous efforts to punish Right to Work states when the liberal New York Times publishes an editorial by Joe Nocera acknowledging the damage the Board is doing to the country: That is what is so jarring about this case — and not just for Boeing. Without any warning, the rules have changed. Uncertainty has replaced certainty. Other companies have to start wondering what other rules could soon change. It becomes a reason to hold back on hiring. The airplane’s aft section arrived early Monday morning. That’s what they’d been waiting for at the final assembly plant in North Charleston, S.C. They already had the wings, the nose, the tail — all the other major sections of Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner. With the arrival of the aft, the 5,000 nonunion workers in the plant can finally begin to assemble their first aircraft — a plane three years behind schedule and critical to Boeing’s future. The Dreamliner is important to America’s future, too. As companies have moved manufacturing offshore, Boeing has remained steadfast in maintaining a large manufacturing presence in America. It is America’s biggest exporter of manufactured products. Indeed, despite the delays, Boeing still has 827 Dreamliners on order, worth a staggering $162 billion. But with the plane so far behind schedule, Boeing decided to spend $750 million to open the South Carolina facility. Between the two plants, the company hopes to build 10 Dreamliners a month. That’s the plan, at least. The Obama administration, however, has a different plan. In April, the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against Boeing, accusing it of opening the South Carolina plant to retaliate against the union, which has a history of striking at contract time. The N.L.R.B.’s proposed solution, believe it or not, is to move all the Dreamliner production back to Puget Sound, leaving those 5,000 workers in South Carolina twiddling their thumbs. Seriously, when has a government agency ever tried to dictate where a company makes its products? I can’t ever remember it happening. Neither can Boeing, which is fighting the complaint. J. Michael Luttig, Boeing’s general counsel, has described the action as “unprecedented.” He has also said that it was a disservice to a country that is “in desperate need of economic growth and the concomitant job creation.” He’s right.

NLRB is Killing Jobs

The Wall Street Journal makes the point that the NLRB's reckless actions in the Boeing case is causing reverberations throughout the economy.  These decisions do not happen in a vacuum and affect investment decisions across the nation.  NLRB Wake Up! The National Association of Manufacturers asked its members last month how the National Labor Relations Board's decision against Boeing's Sourth Carolina plant case is affecting their decision-making. Some 60% said the government's case already has—or could—hurt hiring. Sixty-nine percent said the case would damage job growth. And 49% said capital expenditure plans "have been or may be impacted by the NLRB's complaint." Around 1,000 of the association's 11,000 members contributed to the survey. That's a lot of lost jobs. Some might dismiss these results as self-interested, or predictable given the general business distaste for regulation. But that ignores the role that confidence plays in reviving the animal spirits essential for economic growth. When CEOs or entrepreneurs fear political intervention that might impose higher costs, they are more reluctant to invest or to hire new employees. That's especially true when the economy is already growing slowly, or emerging from recession. The NLRB's assault on Boeing has been especially damaging because it violates what most Americans consider to be a core tenet of U.S. capitalism—the ability to move capital or business where you think it has the best chance of success. Boeing's executives are being punished for remarks they made long ago about strikes at their Washington plants.
Forced-Unionism Issue Looms Large For 2012

Forced-Unionism Issue Looms Large For 2012

Right to Work Committee Begins Lobbying Presidential Hopefuls (Source: July 2011 NRTWC Newsletter) This summer, New Hampshire is the site of an extended battle over the Right to Work issue, as pro-Right to Work citizens seek to secure two-thirds majority votes in the state House and Senate to override Big Labor Gov. John Lynch's veto of legislation (H.B.474) prohibiting compulsory union dues and fees. Because Right to Work has been in the New Hampshire news since both chambers of the state's General Court approved H.B.474 earlier this year, WMUR-TV (ABC) news anchor Josh McElveen decided to bring up the issue at the June 13 GOP presidential debate at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. Mr. McElveen asked former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, one of the seven 2012 presidential hopefuls participating in the debate, whether he would, if elected, support "a federal Right to Work law." Mr. Pawlenty ignited the debate's longest and most enthusiastic round of applause with his response: "We live in the United States of America, and people shouldn't be forced to belong [to] or be a member in any organization, and the government has no business telling people what group you have to be a member of or not. "I support strongly Right to Work legislation."