NLRB sets dangerous precedent

Since the National Labor Relations Board announced its complaint against Boeing last week, members of the National Association of Manufacturers have expressed alarm at what the outcome of the complaint would mean for their companies, their ability to create jobs and compete in a global marketplace and our nation's economy as a whole.

They, and all Americans, should be concerned about the impact of a negative outcome in this case. If the NLRB succeeds, no company will be safe from them stepping in at any time to second-guess their business decisions on where to locate and whom to hire.

At the heart of the debate on this issue is whether an employer has the right to consider past work disruptions in decisions about where to expand or locate new operations.

The law and past NLRB decisions on these matters is clear: Employers have the right to make these type of business decisions and consider all manner of factors, including the prevention of potential economic harm from a work stoppage.

Further, the remedy sought by the NLRB is both unprecedented and absurd.

If successful, the NLRB will gain the ability to, at any time, order a company with unionized operations to stay frozen in place, even to the extent of ordering it to shut down new facilities built in right-to-work states. The board would be dictating whom the company could or could not employ. Clearly, this outcome will have a destructive effect on the productive deployment of capital expenditures in the United States. 

In the final analysis, a board of political appointees appears to have taken it upon themselves to be the central planners of our economy by stripping employers' rights away and wielding a veto over their most basic business decisions.

Joe Trauger is vice president of human resources at the National Association of Manufacturers.