House Repubicans pass bill to restrain the NLRB's actions on Boeing

[ThePintsizeslasher]

(I'm not allowed to post links, so I'll just say what the sources are)


The House on Thursday approved a bill that would limit the authority of the National Labor Relations Board, the latest salvo in a partisan battle over the agency’s ruling against Boeing earlier this year.
The bill, H.R. 2587 introduced by freshman Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) passed Thursday on a near-party-line 238-to-186 vote. It would prevent the NLRB from “ordering any employer to close, relocate, or transfer employment under any circumstance.”


Washinton Post "House passes bill to limit NLRB authority in battle over Boeing ruling"

(Interesting how Republicans are silent over how the NLRB is arbitrarily restraining Washington stevedores)

The International Association of Machinists was representing the South Carolina workers initially, but they pushed through an unpopular contract at a meeting that only 13 workers knew about and attended, the day before the anniversary of the certification of the IAM(which would have allowed a deceritify vote, I believe) and supposedly a day before Vought(the former owner of the plant) was set to lay people off. In 2009 the workers voted to deceritify by a large margin.
(Socialistworker: "Boeing wins decert vote in SC and Charleston regional Business Journal: "New Boeing workers file to deceritify Machinists union")

The Everett, WA IAM petitioned the NLRB to stop the expansion of a new plant to build 787 Dreamliners in SC, since supposedly it was placed there to punish WA workers for striking four times in the past 20 years. The NLRB did order Boeing to stop construction and move the plant. I'm not familiar with labor law but supposedly this is simply called a "runaway shop"("Corporate America in a Tizzy over Labor Board's Boeing order" on labornotes).

Right-wingers are going wild with this and socialist seems to be silent. I searched Revleft for any other information about this and there is literally nothing. Wsws and socialistworker have articles that are over a year old, before the NLRB's order to Boeing. Surprising since it is a struggle that has had media attention for some time now, being construed as American worker vs American worker as opposed to the usual American vs Chinese or immigrant worker, as well as "free enterprise" vs recalcitrant unions(which they often are, usually in opposition to workers and a united working class struggle, though).

Thoughts anyone?

[Sinister Cultural Marxist]

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/sep/16/house-votes-to-restrict-nlrb/


U.S. Rep. Tim Scott's bid to restrict the authority of the National Labor Relations Board passed the House of Representatives on Thursday as expected, with voting largely along party lines.
Of the 238 yeas for the bill, which would prohibit the NLRB from "ordering any employer to close, relocate, or transfer employment under any circumstance," all but eight came from Republicans.
Scott, a Charleston Republican, introduced the Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act earlier this summer in response to the agency's April complaint against the Boeing Co.
The NLRB has alleged the Chicago-based aviation giant decided to build a second 787 Dreamliner production facility in North Charleston in retaliation for union strikes at its main plant in Everett, Wash.
Scott said the vote showed majority support for his view that "government overreach is killing American jobs."
And citing his bill's Democratic supporters, he called the result "one of the more bipartisan pieces of legislation that's passed."
http://postandcourier.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/photos/2011/09/15/lclnlrbgraham_t180.jpg?370a03faaa4bde2115f371a0243 0eb3e6a451be5 (http://www.postandcourier.com/photos/2011/sep/15/86910/)
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and other Republican senators, speak Wednesday as they claim the National Labor Relations Board is playing politics and hindering job growth because of the National Labor Relations Board's action against Seattle-based Boeing charging the aircraft manufacturer wanted to build a factory in South Carolina, a right-to-work-state, in order avoid union problems, at the Capitol in Washington.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham's companion bill, on the other hand, is unlikely to pass the majority-Democratic Senate. But that didn't dampen enthusiasm Thursday.
In a statement, Graham, R-S.C., said he "will continue to press (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid to bring it to a vote."
Said Scott: "I think there's always hope until the votes are done."
An NLRB spokeswoman declined to comment on the House action, citing longstanding agency policy. Boeing released a statement reiterating its position that the NLRB complaint is "groundless and legally unsupportable" and should be withdrawn.
"Boeing did not transfer work from Washington to South Carolina; the production line in Charleston is new work," the statement read.
During a lively back-and-forth debate Thursday morning, Republicans painted the legislation as a step toward job creation in the nation's struggling economic climate. Democrats decried it as an attack on American workers' rights, calling it "The Outsourcers' Bill of Rights." House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi took that moniker a step further, calling HR 2587 "The Outsourcers' Bill of Wrongs."
Some two dozen congressmen, ranging from Hawaii Democrats to Florida Republicans, took a minute or two to weigh in on the divisive issue.
Among the most colorful was U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy, who represents the Upstate. He said the NLRB has been acting like a "taxpayer-funded law firm" for organized labor that needs to be "reined in."
"The (National Labor Relations Act) is supposed to balance the rights of employees, employers and the general public, , but you would never know that from the recent actions of the NLRB," he said

Democrats objected to a different kind of interference: Congress taking an action that would shut down an administrative action in progress.
"Changing the law in the middle of a trial is irresponsible and dangerous," said U.S. Rep. Donald Payne, D-N.J. His state colleague, U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, called it "a naked attempt to directly interfere" in the pending Boeing case.
The NLRB Boeing hearing in Seattle has been going back and forth since mid-June, with disputes over document exchange spanning the summer. The case might have to go before a federal judge on those issues before any substantive trial, NLRB spokeswoman Nancy Cleeland said.

[ThePintsizeslasher]

Thanks for the link