Working Wednesday: National Labor Relations Act and Upcoming Amendment

This Thursday, September 15, the U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to consider Bill H.R.  2587, the Protecting Job From Government Interference Act. It's purpose is to limit the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB, or the Board) authority under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to veto a private employer’s decision on where to locate its employees. 

Here is the reason why this is coming up in front of the House:
The Boeing Company decided in 2009 to expand its 787 Dreamliner aircraft production capacity outside of Washington State by investing in a new assembly plant in South Carolina. Boeing’s workforce in Washington is heavily unionized, whereas South Carolina is a Right-to-Work state. Boeing created about 1,000 jobs at the new South Carolina facility, none of which were at the expense of jobs in Washington.

On April 20, 2011, NLRB Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon filed an unfair labor practice complaint against Boeing. It alleged that the company discriminated against union employees in Washington State by hiring employees at the new South Carolina plant. The NLRB called Boeing’s action a “transfer” of some Dreamliner work to South Carolina.

The newly introduced bill would amend the current law, NLRA, to prevent the Board from ordering an employer to:

1. restore any operations,
2. rescind any relocation or transfer, or
3. make an investment at a particular plant, facility or location.

 This will eventually end up in federal courts, so literally "you be the judge". What would you do? How would you rule if it came into your courtroom? 

I would think many states are following this story. Large corporations like Boeing have plants throughout the nation. And it is not just in manufacturing, but this applies to other business sectors as well. States work with large companies all the time to expand their businesses within their borders. Think of Ohio's auto industry, for example. We also have jet manufacturing, aerospace, food processing, to name a few, and all of these are part of large corporations.

Our green energy sector is growing but some of the manufacturing is still done overseas. Then the assembly is done in Ohio. I am wondering how this discussion does/will apply to manufacturing abroad by these large companies. Or just over the border in Canada and Mexico. 

This indeed is an important news story to follow. Implications are far reaching. I urge you to keep watching this through the months ahead.