Union Thugs force Boeing of South Carolina to become unionized

Last week, the U.S. House Workforce Committee held a hearing on the Obama Labor Board's recent onslaught of Big Labor power grabs that undermine worker freedom.

National Labor Relations Board Chairman and former union lawyer Mark Pearce offered his spin after the hearing, calling the Board's decisions "fair and even-handed."

The outrageous complaint against Boeing hardly seems fair to the thousands of South Carolina workers who could be forced out of their jobs all because they can't be required to pay union dues or "fees" as a condition of employment.

At the hearing, an individual employee victimized by one recent NLRB decision stood up and made her voice heard.

On July 22, Barbara Ivey learned the radical Service Employees International Union (SEIU) was launching a campaign to unionize her workplace.

Thirteen days later, her employer, Kaiser Permanente, announced that it was recognizing the union as the monopoly bargaining agent of all workers in the unit.

There was no secret ballot vote. No one from the SEIU ever contacted Ivey about whether or not she wanted to join or support the union.

Other workers told Ivey they felt pressured to sign so-called "union authorization cards."

But Kaiser Permanente agreed to recognize the union through the abusive card check process, and the workers faced an uphill battle to exercise their rights.

Relying on the National Right to Work Foundation-won Dana precedent, Ivey utilized the only means left at her disposal. She asked her coworkers to sign a petition demanding a secret ballot vote.

By August 8, Ivey turned in a petition supported by 45 percent of her coworkers to request a decertification election. The NLRB set a private vote for September 20.

But before that vote could occur, the Board overturned Dana, canceling the election.

Barbara Ivey and her coworkers must now wait one to four years to request a new decertification election.

Ivey told the U.S. House panel, "For me and my fellow employees however, snatching away those rights just as an election has been agreed to and a date had been set was cruel and unethical."

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The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, is assisting thousands of employees in nearly 200 cases nationwide. The Foundation's mailing address is 8001 Braddock Road, Springfield, Virginia 22160. Its web address is www.nrtw.org/.

South Carolina’s Right-to-Work: Boeing and the NLRB

On April 20, 2011, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint against Boeing because the company moved the second line of its production facilities for the new 787 Dreamliner from the Puget Sound area in Washington State to North Charleston, South Carolina.

One of the factors that contributed to Boeing’s decision was that its Washington production is interrupted every three to four years with union strikes and South Carolina’s right-to-work laws create a more friendly business environment that ensures Boeing can meet its production goal of three Dreamliners per month. The NLRB claims that this decision discriminates against union workers and is trying to force Boeing to produce the airplanes in Washington.

NLRB’s Actions Hurt the Economy

Boeing has already created more than 1,000 jobs and invested more than $2 billion in South Carolina. Forcing them to relocate the production facilities to Washington would hurt the South Carolina and national economy. In addition to its South Carolina hires, Boeing has expanded its workforce in the Washington facilities as well. Since 2009, when the company shifted the second line to South Carolina it has also added more than 2,000 jobs to its Puget Sound staff.

NLRB’s Unconfirmed Board is Overreaching

The NLRB complaint was issued by Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon, who has only recently been formally nominated to the position by President Obama. Solomon’s complaint comes at the behest of an NLRB board that is driven by unconfirmed, recess-appointed union lawyers. The board is currently an unbalanced 3-1 split with union lawyers dominating the panel. Craig Becker, who served as SEIU and AFL-CIO associate general counsel, and Mark Pearce are both extreme ideologues who could never pass muster in the Senate, so President Obama recess appointed them. Now they’re attacking Boeing for creating jobs in South Carolina. For more information on Obama skirting Congress to push his agenda: www.ObamaChart.com.

Companies Have a Right to Locate their Facilities Where they Choose

Twenty two states currently have right-to-work laws that allow individuals to decide for themselves whether they want to join a union, instead of being forced to turn over a portion of their paycheck to the unions even if they don’t want to join. These 22 states consistently outperform the rest of the nation when it comes to economic growth and job creation. Right-to-work states boast have an unemployment rate below the national average. Companies want to create jobs in these states; the NLRB should not block job creation in states that established policies to attract work.

South Carolina’s Right-to-Work: Boeing and the NLRB

What the NLRB is trying to do is prevent Boeing from transferring some of their work to South Carolina because it's a Right-To-Work state, and therefore Boeing will be able to hire NON-union workers.

South Carolina’s Right-to-Work: Boeing and the NLRB

NLRB’s Actions Hurt the Economy

NLRB’s Unconfirmed Board is Overreaching

Companies Have a Right to Locate their Facilities Where they Choose

South Carolina’s Right-to-Work: Boeing and the NLRB

What the NLRB is trying to do is prevent Boeing from transferring some of their work to South Carolina because it's a Right-To-Work state, and therefore Boeing will be able to hire NON-union workers.

What the NLRB is trying to do is prevent Boeing from transferring some of their work to South Carolina because it's a Right-To-Work state, and therefore Boeing will be able to hire NON-union workers.

True about the NLRB but Boeing already has a nonunion shop in South Carolina, the workers voted on it just over a year ago.

Excerpt:

Workers at Boeing's 787 fuselage assembly plant in Charleston, S.C. have decisively voted to get rid of the Machinists union as their bargaining representative with the company. The vote was 199 for decertification of the International Association of Machinists (IAM) union against 68 for retaining it.

Workers at Boeing's Charleston plant vote out union

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