Alexander: Obama, unions and NLRB hurting job growth

The Obama administration, the National Labor Relations Board and unions are standing in the way of job creation and economic recovery, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said Saturday.

He said that companies from Boeing to foreign care manufacturers want to hire American workers, but union demands and Democratic policies are prohibiting that.

"Our goal should be to make it easier and cheaper to create private-sector jobs in this country," Alexander said in the GOP's weekly address. "Giving workers the right to join or not to join a union helps to create a competitive environment in which more manufacturers like Nissan and Boeing can make here what they sell here."

The case of Boeing has become a rallying cry for conservatives who believe the government is interfering too much with the economy. The NLRB last month accused Boeing of retaliating against its workers in Washington state who had gone on strike by moving some jobs to South Carolina, a "right-to-work" state, which would be illegal. The labor board asked a judge to force Boeing to move those jobs back to Washington. 

"The National Labor Relations Board moved to stop America's largest exporter, the Boeing Company, from building airplanes at a non-union plant in South Carolina, suggesting that a unionized American company can’t expand its operations into one of the 22 states with right-to-work laws, which protect a worker's right to join or not to join a union," Alexander said.

As the Obama administration is touting the recovery of Detroit's automakers, Alexander said he had been able to attract Japanese car companies to Tennessee when he was governor some 30 years ago because of its right-to-work laws.

"In 1980 Nissan chose Tennessee, a state with almost no auto jobs," he said. "Today auto assembly plants and suppliers provide one-third of Tennessee's manufacturing jobs. Tennessee is the home for production of the Leaf, Nissan's all-electric vehicle, and the batteries that power it."

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