Rep. Issa: Boeing 'guilty until proven innocent' in NLRB complaint

The House Oversight Committee chairman said Monday that airplane manufacturer Boeing is at a disadvantage in the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) investigation into its plant in South Carolina because it is up against the government.

"If the labor union wants to make a suit, make a suit, but for the government to use your tax dollars to pursue, I think that's a mistake," Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said on MSBNC's "Morning Joe" Monday.
 
Issa's House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing in South Carolina last week looking into whether the NLRB's allegation that Boeing decided to build a plant in South Carolina in retaliation for labor strikes by workers at its Puget Sound plant near Seattle was politically motivated.

"When the government prosecutes you and spends its millions and you're guilty until proven innocent through constant appeals, that's probably overstepping," he said.

Boeing opened its new plant in Charleston, S.C., where it plans to build 787 airplanes, this month. However, if the NLRB complaint is ultimately successful, the company could be forced to build the planes it intends to build there in Seattle.

 A judge in Seattle heard the opening arguments in the case last week on a Boeing motion to dismiss. The case is expected to last several weeks.