The Spectacle Blog
How far is the Obama administration willing to go to promote organized labor’s agenda? The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) recent decisions to pursue legal action against a private company and some state governments provide an answer to that question.
On April 20, NLRB Acting Genral Counsel Lafe Solomon (who is recess-appointed and has not been confirmed by the Senate) issued a formal complaint against Boeing for deciding to build some of its new 787 Dreamliner jets in a new facility in South Carolina, a right-to-work state.
Only two days later, Solomon wrote to the state attorneys general (AGs) of Arizona, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Utah, threatening to sue their states over their enactment of constitutional amendments protecting the right to a secret ballot in union elections. Those amendments preclude card check, which exposes workers to high-pressure tactics by union organizers who can then ask them to sign union cards out in the open.
Telling businesses where they may locate their facilities and states how they may amend their constitutions are, to put it mildly, highly unusual attempts to stretch federal power. But such abuse of the NLRB’s remit may be the best vehicle that Obama now has to reward his union allies — whose suport he will need in his 2012 reelection effort — following the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives in the 2010 midterm elections.
Quite simply, this is unionization through regulation, whereby regulatory agencies circumvent Congress by “reinterpreting” the law beyond recognition.
Encouraginly, state officials are not taking this federal assault sitting down. In today’s Wall Street Journal, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley denounces the NLRB’s action against Boeing, calling it “a direct assault on the 22 right-to-work states across America.” Also this week, the four state AGs whom Solomon threatened responded to him. In a strongly worded letter, they unequivocally state their intent to defend their states’ laws if those are challenged.
In addition to undermining the rule of law — which is bad enough — the NLRB’s actions are economic insanity. In Forbes this week, Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association of America, explains it well.
Our federal government has become the enemy of job creators. Look at the facts here: South Carolina’s Dreamliner production line would be in addition to, not instead of, Boeing’s production line in Seattle. Boeing is already facing a backlog of orders for the plane, and this NLRB action, if not reversed soon, will certainly cause it to lose orders for these American-built planes. The NLRB apparently wants the second line to also be produced in the Puget Sound area - also silly if you see what too much concentration of production capacity in one venue can do (witness the Sendai area in Japan). The greatest irony is that if Boeing had put this facility in Canada or even in China the NLRB probably could not have ordered its shutdown (but who knows given their perverse interpretation of the law).
But what are a few thousand destroyed jobs and legal chaos when there are unions to bail out?
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http://spectator.org/blog/2011/04/29/obamas-nlrb-stretches-the-law
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Pete| 4.29.11 @ 4:18PM
http://www.realclearpolitics.c.....obama.html
He is pro-union and anti-business all the way. The link above gives me "hope."
Ellis Wyatt| 4.29.11 @ 4:37PM
Boeing should tell the NKRB where they can stick their little complaint. The fact is there is no law to prohibit any of what Boeing is doing.
PattyMor| 4.29.11 @ 4:38PM
Keep it up Barack, and all the production will be moved out of the U.S. Remember, this is the President who has defied TWO court rulings (healthcare & gulf drilling), stomped all over bankruptcy laws, defied the budget by issuing a signing statement, and you think a little thing like rule of law would stop Barack?
This is a lawless, out-of-control dictator. We will be lucky just to survive until we can vote him out.
Curtis Rasmussen| 4.29.11 @ 6:09PM
How about issuing waivers for Obamacare to America's large capitalists.
When did the rat bastard Obama crown himself King, declaring his favored vassals exempt from the law?
When he realized the disaster that would befall him as more word got out about the unconstitutional, economy destroying Obamacare. He has become our de-facto king in order to quash complaints and gain some time, making it more difficult to repeal this garbage that he's shoving down our throats.
David W| 4.29.11 @ 4:38PM
Come on, this is just a harmless little action by President Hugo Chavez Obama..
Oldefarte| 4.29.11 @ 5:29PM
This THUG disguised as a president and his equally responsible right-handed legal gunslinger are attempting to destroy this country [and will do so if allowed to serve another term in office]!!!!!
Stan Allen | 4.29.11 @ 6:41PM
And they act like "Atlas Shrugged" is a totally irrelevant movie to today's world, when the exact opposite is true!
Occam's Tool| 4.29.11 @ 7:37PM
On Atlas Shrugged:
1st of all, Berkshire Hathaway recently bought controlling stock in a railroad...
Nite| 4.29.11 @ 10:15PM
This fool is a recess appointment with no confirmation by the Senate. How on earth can he dictate to states and private companies. He should be tossed out on his ear. I don't understand how these unelected radical cronies of Obama have so much power. Congress should get their act together and eliminate these idiots.
Mary Wilbur| 4.30.11 @ 8:43AM
This will get to the Supreme Ct. and the NLRB will lose. This is another reason we need a Republican President with guts to eliminate the NLRB.
Oldefarte| 4.30.11 @ 2:05PM
This editorial should be linked and viewed by everyone here to the Jeffrey Lord/Andrew McCarthy editorial also here. The Kunstler-type lawyers that they describe are the same ones philosophically are described here concerning the NLRB, It's called EXTREME/RADICAL LIBERALISM, folks!!!!!!!!
Dollface| 5.1.11 @ 4:00AM
Why would anybody want to build a factory in Barack Hussein Osama's Amerika? The House of Representatives should completely defund the NLRB for their extreme radicalism and defiance of established law.
OleTom | 5.1.11 @ 10:54AM
What do you expect form a liar and thief like obumma Here are over a 100 of his Bald Face Lies
click this link http://our-motivation.co.cc/Utube/1.php
Negro X| 5.1.11 @ 6:57PM
Obama is a marxist thug, he believes all exist to serve him and the state. Unfortunately the GOP cowers in fear of him.