Labor/Employment

The House Republicans wants to know whether the NLRB tried to help a union during contract negotiations with Boeing.

A group of more than 20 senators is pushing to extend a tax break that helps commuters who use mass transit.

With the tax benefit set to drop steeply in 2012, the senators are pressing the top lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee to extend the current mass transit tax credit in any year-end tax deal.

“Eliminating the mass-transit credit would take a cut out of the paychecks of hardworking middle-class families trying to get by in an already tough economy,” said Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a Finance Committee member and a signer of the Friday letter. “Promoting the use of mass transit helps our workers but it also helps reduce traffic congestion on our region’s highways and improve air quality by taking thousands of cars off the road.”

As it stands, workers who use mass transit currently can write off up to $230 a month in commuting costs, the same amount as the tax break for parking benefits. But unless Congress acts, the mass transit benefit will drop to $125 a month at year’s end, according to the senators' letter.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) said Friday it was "hard to celebrate" the National Labor Relations Board's decision to withdraw its case against airplane manufacturer Boeing because it "never should have happened."

And he promised to continue blocking nominations to the controversial panel.

Graham has sharply criticized the NLRB for most of 2011 for its complaint that Boeing built a new plant in his state, a right-to-work state, in retaliation for strikes by unionized workers at its existing facilities in Washington state.

The panel said Friday that it was dropping the complaint because of a deal Boeing and the International Association of Machinists reached earlier this month to build a different type of airplane, the 737 Max, in Washington.

Graham said for the sake of the Boeing South Carolina workers, "I’m pleased to hear the frivolous complaint that has put a cloud over their operations has been lifted.

"However, it’s hard to celebrate an event which never should have happened," he said in a statement released by his office. 

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) promised to continue investigating the National Labor Relations Board's complaint against Boeing, even as he hailed the panel's decision to drop the case Friday.

Issa, who is chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, had issued subpoenas to the labor relations board for documents related to its case against Boeing, which he argued was political. The NLRB has argued for most of the year that Boeing built a new plant in South Carolina, a right-to-work state, in retaliation for strikes by unionized workers at its existing facilities in Washington state.

But the panel said Friday that it was dropping the complaint because of a deal the company reached this month with the International Association of Machinists to build a different type of airplane, the 737 Max.

Issa said Friday that decision was "a victory for American manufacturers, workers and the cause of job creation."

But just as quickly, he promised to continue looking into the matter.

Republican candidates applauded the decision of the National Labor Relations Board to drop its lawsuit against Boeing Friday, with front-runner Newt Gingrich calling the move "a victory for South Carolina and all right-to-work states." But the GOP leaders continued to deride the inital decision by the NLRB to sue Boeing as wrong for the economy in statements Friday.

The NLRB had challenged Boeing's decision to open a non-union plant in South Carolina, arguing that the airplane manufacturer had made the decision to gain leverage in negotiations with the Machinists union. The union approved a 4-year contract with Boeing earlier this week; Boeing promised to build its new 737 jetliner in Washington state in exchange for the union agreeing as part of the deal to withdraw its complaint of unfair labor practices.

The dispute had gained a high profile as Republicans — especially presidential candidates eager to impress in South Carolina — railed against the NLRB case as government intervention on the private sector.

The controversial case from the National Labor Relations Board against airline manufacturer Boeing had become a lightning rod for conservatives.

The STRIP Act would prevent TSA screeners from being called officers unless they have federal law enforcement training.

The union and company have been at odds over Boeing’s decision to build jets in South Carolina, a right-to-work state.

Rep. George Miller has questioned whether the board's GOP member might have been subject to "improper influence" from outside groups.

A bill introduced by Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) to make it easier to disband unions is a "smokescreen" distracting from an authorization bill for the Federal Aviation Administration, a Washington union is arguing.

The Washington-based Communication Workers Association (CWA), which is the parent group for the union for flight attendants, sharply criticized Mica's bill to make it easier for transportation employees to vote to decertify unions, saying workers already had the right to do that. 

Mica, who is chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said the bill would mirror rules adopted last year by the National Mediation Board to ensure that absentee votes were not counted as votes against forming an union.