Boeing takes NLRB lawyer to task

Boeing said this week that the National Labor Relations Board's case against its decision to locate a new plant to build airplanes in South Carolina rather than labor-friendly Washington state is based on incorrect information.

Boeing Vice President and General Counsel J. Michael Luttig wrote to NLRB lawyer Lafe Solomon, saying his statements in a recent New York Times article were false.

"A number of these statements, which are critical to your case against Boeing, fundamentally misquote or mischaracterize statements by Boeing executives and actions taken by the company," Luttig wrote. "You have a responsibility to correct these misquotations and mischaracterizations, for the record and also for purposes of the complaint you have file.

“Through these misquotations and mischaracterizations, you have done a grave disservice to The Boeing Company," he said.
 

At issue is a Boeing plan to build 787s at a plant in Charleston, S.C., instead of its home of Seattle, Wash. The NLRB sued to stop it, saying the decision was retribution for union members' strikes in Washington state.

On April 23, Solomon told The New York Times that Boeing "had a consistent message that they were doing this to punish their employees for having struck and having the power to strike in the future."

Luttig took issue not just with Solomon asserting the move to South Carolina was retaliatory, but that it was a "transfer" of work.

"As you well know, no work — none at all — was 'removed' or 'transferred' from Puget Sound," Luttig wrote to Solomon. "The second line for the 787 is a new final assembly line. As it did not previously exist in Puget Sound or elsewhere, the second assembly could not have been 'removed' from, 'transferred' or otherwise 'moved' to South Carolina."

Likely Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty has used the NLRB's stance on the Boeing plant to accuse President Obama of being too friendly with unions. Republican Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina responded by saying they plan to introduce legislation this week that would strengthen the protection of right-to-work laws.

Luttig's full letter can be read here.