Boeing and South Carolina – No Harm, No Foul Rule Should Be In Effect

A Sensible Way for Both Sides to Win

After a series of strikes, the Boeing Corporation decided to open up a new assembly plant for passenger jet aircraft in  non-union South Carolina.  The Boeing executives were pretty open that they were picking South Carolina because of the striking propensity of Boeing workers in Washington state.

The issue and President Obama’s response are nicely summarized in an L. A. Times Editorial.  A lot of people seem to be on the same page here.  A good summation of the main points is this.

1. Boeing clearly, through its statements sought to intimidate the union by starting a new plant in South Carolina.

Joseph G. Marra, a Seattle lawyer who represents management in labor cases, said the machinists’ union has Boeing “over a barrel” in this case.

“Executives from the company made statements about how they’re going to transfer work because people engaged in strikes or legal disputes,” he said. “As a former N.L.R.B. attorney, I think that’s a fairly straightforward case. This is not something that is unusual in the annals of the board. They would bring this case whether the investment was for $200 million or $200.”

2. Retaliation against striking workers is illegal under the U. S. labor law system, and for a good reason.  If retaliation is allowed the right to strike is largely de facto disallowed.

3. The new Boeing plant in South Carolina did not displace any existing Boeing Plant workers in Washington state.

Boeing insists that the machinists’ union has nothing to complain about because the company has hired 2,000 unionized workers in Washington since it announced plans to open the South Carolina assembly plant.

4. No actual harm was done to the workers at the Washington state operations.

So in the end it appears no actual retaliation was taken against the strike prone workers of Boeing, and a finding by the NLRB, which regulates this stuff should be to warn Boeing about their verbiage, (and Boeing’s lawyers should tell them to shut up) and otherwise move on.  If logic and common sense prevail, that is what will happen.