In 2009 Boeing announced plans to build a new plant to
meet demand for its new 787 Dreamliner. Though its union contract didn’t
require it, Boeing executives negotiated with the International
Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers to build the plane at
its existing plant in Washington state. The talks broke down because the
union wanted, among other things, a seat on Boeing’s board and a
promise that Boeing would build all future airplanes in Puget Sound.
So Boeing management did what it judged to be best for its
shareholders and customers and looked elsewhere. In October 2009, the
company settled on South Carolina, which, like the 21 other
right-to-work states, has friendlier labor laws than Washington. As
Boeing chief Jim McNerney noted on a conference call at the time, the
company couldn’t have “strikes happening every three to four years.” The
union has shut down Boeing’s commercial aircraft production line four
times since 1989, and a 58-day strike in 2008 cost the company $1.8
billion.
This reasonable business decision created more than 1,000 jobs and
has brought around $2 billion of investment to South Carolina. The
aerospace workers in Puget Sound remain among the best paid in America,
but the union nonetheless asked the NLRB to stop Boeing’s plans before
the company starts to assemble planes in North Charleston this July.
The NLRB obliged with its complaint yesterday asking an
administrative law judge to stop Boeing’s South Carolina production
because its executives had cited the risk of strikes as a reason for the
move. Boeing acted out of “anti-union animus,” says the complaint by
acting general counsel Lafe Solomon, and its decision to move had the
effect of “discouraging membership in a labor organization” and thus
violates federal law.
Ah, that must be the Anti Dog-Eat-Dog Law, or one of the Fairness
Laws, or something, right? The WSJ isn’t sure what law the NLRB is
talking about, either. Not only do businesses routinely relocate to
find the most advantageous environment possible, states and cities
compete for that business by calculating their business climate. If this
has escaped the notice of the NLRB, perhaps they should get out more.