Joe Wilson

Haley, Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint, and GOP Rep. Joe Wilson held a news conference at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to blast the NLRB’s April 20 complaint.

That complaint says Boeing decided to locate a second assembly line for the 787 jetliner in North Charleston to retaliate against union strikes in the company’s Everett, Wash., plant. The NLRB wants Boeing to move the operation back to the Pacific Northwest.

Boeing is building a 1.2-million-square-foot facility in North Charleston and already has hired about 1,000 workers, Wilson said.

Haley and the South Carolina lawmakers called the labor board’s complaint baseless and said it was filed purely to pander to labor unions.

The complaint could make U.S. businesses think twice about setting up shop in any of the 22 states where workers can’t be required to join unions, they said.

“This is an issue that may have started in South Carolina, but we want to make sure it never touches another state,” Haley said.

“We are asking (Obama) today … to step up and make sure that he says where he stands on this NLRB case, whether he thinks it’s legitimate and what he thinks it’s going to do for the economy.”

Asked if she’s overreacting to what the NLRB characterized as a routine investigation, Haley said, “When you go after a corporate citizen in South Carolina, it is personal to me.”

The NLRB is forcing Boeing officials “to spend money on legal fees they should not be spending and keeping them from hiring more people — which I need them to do.”

DeMint and Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander said they are introducing legislation to prevent the NLRB from penalizing companies that relocate or expand in right-to-work states.

Chicago-based Boeing and all U.S. companies have the right to do business wherever they want without worrying about the NLRB putting up political roadblocks, the GOP lawmakers said.
“This is something you’d expect in a Third World country, not in America,” DeMint said. “This cannot be allowed to stand. It’s thuggery.”

Graham said the White House likely knows the complaint is baseless and is wrong to stay silent.

If NLRB is correct in saying Boeing broke labor laws, Obama wouldn’t have chosen Bill Daley — a former Boeing director — to be his chief of staff, or appointed Boeing President W. James McNerney to lead the President’s Exports Council, a group that provides advice on international trade, Graham said.

“The best thing that could happen … is for this complaint to go away,” Graham said after the news conference. “This complaint goes to the heart and soul of how you make a business decision, how you allocate capital. It has long-term consequences.”

The White House declined to comment Tuesday. It has refused to get involved, noting that the NLRB is an independent agency.

The NLRB also didn’t comment. But in a statement Monday, NLRB Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon urged critics to “respect the legal process, rather than trying to litigate this case in the media and public arena.”

The complaint is neither unprecedented in scope nor politically motivated, Solomon said, adding it was filed only after a thorough investigation.

The complaint, which goes before a Seattle administrative judge June 14, alleges Boeing officials repeatedly said they chose the North Charleston site to prevent union strikes.

Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, accused his Republican colleagues of exploiting the issue for political gain.

He also faulted them for what he called misleading claims, such as describing the complaint as an “assault” on right-to-work laws, even though the outcome wouldn’t affect any state statutes.

“This overly dramatic response and the disturbing misinformation they are peddling has needlessly complicated the legal process and distorted the public discussion of this case,” Harkin said in a statement.

“Powerful corporate interests are pressuring public officials to interfere with an independent agency, rather than let justice run its course. And we should not tolerate this interference.”

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