Republicans turn labor dispute with Boeing into
political headache for Obama
By Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The governmentfs labor dispute with Boeing Co. is turning into a
political headache for President Barack Obama, giving his Republican rivals a
fresh opening to bash the administrationfs economic policies.
From congressional hearings to presidential debates, outraged Republicans are
keeping up a steady drumbeat of criticism over the National Labor Relations
Boardfs lawsuit against the aerospace giant.
The NLRB says Boeing retaliated against its unionized workforce in Washington
state by opening a new production line for its 787 airplane in South Carolina, a
right-to-work state. The agency wants a judge to order Boeing to return all 787
assembly work to Washington, even though the company has already built a new
$750 million South Carolina plant and hired 1,000 new workers there.
The case — which could drag on for years — has become an unwanted distraction
for Obama as he tries to mend relations with the business community and contend
with polls that show growing public disapproval over his handling of the
economy.
It makes an easy target for Republicans, who call it a case of government
overreaching at a time when the private sector is struggling to create new jobs.
And itfs a major story in South Carolina — a bellwether early primary state in
the GOP presidential race. Candidates are lining up to impress voters and the
statefs Republican governor, tea party favorite Nikki Haley.
gObamafs NLRB has united the Republican Party and turned this government
agency into a political piñata,h said GOP consultant Scott Reed. gBoeing spent a
billion dollars building a plant to create thousands of jobs and it looks like
the NLRB stuck their nose in and tried to pull the rug out.h
Business groups and their GOP allies say the government is interfering with
the right of company managers to choose where and how to expand business
operations. Boeing claims it opened the plant for a variety of economic reasons,
but NLRB officials say Boeing executives made public comments showing the move
was meant to punish union workers for a series of costly strikes.
For Haley, the case has been a litmus test for every GOP presidential
candidate visiting the state. And they have not disappointed her.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, visiting New Hampshire on Monday, said
Obama had appointed gunion stooges into the NLRB and then they come up with
decisions that are really quite extraordinary,h like the Boeing lawsuit that he
and others have said will drive companies to seek workers overseas.
GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich called for defunding the agency during
a recent New Hampshire debate, saying the case could threaten the viability of
the nationfs 22 right-to-work states, where labor unions canft force employees
to be members.
And during a tour of South Carolina last week, GOP presidential candidate Jon
Huntsman called on Obama to step in and end the lawsuit to prevent it from
scaring other businesses away from the state.
Haley says the only way to make things right gis for the president to tell
the NLRB to back off. And until that happens, it is my job to be loud and
annoying and in his face until he realizes that what they have done is
wrong.h
Even South Carolinafs Democrats have piled on, focusing on the complaintfs
effect on business less than the politics of the board.
gClearly itfs an independent agency and is taking an action that I know was
not directed by the president,h said Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr., a
Democrat. gBut in this case, I think it was a very, very bad decision and a huge
mistake that is not good policy for the country.h
Obama, ordinarily a reliable supporter of organized labor, has carefully
avoided taking a position on the case. White House spokesman Jay Carney said the
president does not want to interfere with the conduct of an independent federal
agency.
gWe donft get involved in particular enforcement matters of independent
agencies,h Carney said last week. gBut I would also say that the president has a
strong record on labor rights.h He added that Obama also supports ga strong
private sector in the United States that helps our economy grow and create
jobs.h
But the issue became more awkward for Obama when John Bryson, his pick to
head the Commerce Department and a former Boeing board member, openly criticized
the lawsuit during a Senate confirmation hearing last week.
gI think itfs not the right judgment,h Bryson said. He said Boeing officials
thought they were gdoing the right thing for the countryh by keeping jobs in the
U.S. and not moving them overseas.
Some Democrats and union officials have stepped up their defense of the NLRB,
saying Republicans are misrepresenting the case against Boeing. Iowa Sen. Tom
Harkin, chairman of the Senatefs Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Committee, accused Republicans of peddling gmisinformation,h distorting the
public perception of the case and unfairly attacking the agency.
Labor experts say if the allegations in the complaint are true, it would
constitute a standard violation of federal labor laws, which prohibit a company
from moving work to punish union workers for past strikes. The complaint lays
out several public statements by Boeing executives saying they wanted to
relocate new lines for the Dreamliner because of strike activity, including a
58-day work stoppage in 2008.
But such violations can be difficult to prove, especially if the company can
show it had other valid motives for opening the new lines in South Carolina. The
government has to show the company relocated work for the purpose of stopping
workers from exercising their legal rights to strike, said Catherine Fisk, a law
professor at the University of California at Irvine who specializes in labor
issues.
Perhaps the best scenario for Obama would be for the case to be settled, an
outcome that many labor experts expect.
gThe unions donft want an adverse decision, management doesnft want an
adverse decision and the best way to avoid that is to reach a settlement on
their own,h said Gary Chaison, professor of industrial relations at Clark
University.
___
Associated Press writers Bruce Smith in Charleston, S.C., and Kathy McCormack
in Salem, N.H., contributed to this report.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
© The Washington Post Company