Critics of the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) lawsuit against airplane manufacturer Boeing denounced President Obama's choice of a member of the airline's board of directors to be secretary of Commerce.

On Tuesday, Obama tapped businessman John Bryson to replace outgoing Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, whom Obama nominated to be ambassador to China. Locke is replacing former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman (R), who is anticipated to make a run for the 2012 GOP nomination to challenge Obama next year.

Bryson, 67, is a member of the board of directors of Boeing, which the NLRB has sued for allegedly retaliating against strikes by unions in its home of Washington state by planning to open a plant to build more 787s in South Carolina. Boeing has currently been building 787-model airplanes at its unionized plant near Seattle, but South Carolina is a “right to work” state, where employers are not obliged to join a union.

The conservative Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI) said Monday afternoon that Boeing's decision must be OK if Obama thinks a member of its board of directors should be in his Cabinet.

Ford, a member of the Big Three automakers, rejected federal bailout money from the Obama administration.

Virgin Atlantic Airways pilots are voting on whether or not they should strike, airline officials said Monday.

The British Air Line Pilots' Association (BALPA) said that talks with the airline that began in 2010 have stalled, leaving the pilots with no choice but to consider walking off the job in protest.

"Pilots in Virgin Atlantic have not had a pay increase since 2008," BALPA general secretary Jim McAuslan said in a statement. "During the tough years pilots have made sacrifices to help the business on the basis that fair pay would return. But that hasn't proved to be the case."

A Virgin Airways's strike could affect U.S. passengers the airline partners with JetBlue Airways.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will weigh in on debates about Washington MetroRail's Silver Line expansion to Dulles Airport.

TSA is receiving fewer claims about items being stolen from luggage, but rejecting more of them.

The "T" subway system in Boston's ridership is up.

Another bus crash kills four in Virginia.

The vice president used the White House weekly address to tout the administration's part in the recovery.

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said Friday in a speech in crucial 2012 primary state South Carolina that the National Labor Relations Board's lawsuit against Boeing was proof of big government's ability to destroy jobs.

Speaking at the Five Points Rotary Club, Gingrich slammed the NLRB, which has sued Boeing for allegedly retaliating against strikes by unions in its home of Washington state by planning to open a plant to build more 787s in South Carolina. Boeing has currently been building 787 airplanes at its unionized plant near Seattle, but South Carolina is a “right to work” state, where employers are not obliged to join a union.

Gingrich said Friday the lawsuit was an "illegal action" that "puts all those jobs at risk."

"Here in South Carolina you are witnessing first hand and up close another glaring proof of the corrupting nature of big government and it ability to destroy jobs," Gingrich said in prepared remarks released by his campaign. "I’m speaking, of course, about the effort by the Obama administration’s National Labor Relations Board to stop Boeing’s Dreamliner plant from opening up in Charleston."

Locked out of their own league by a labor dispute, a pair of Washington Redskins football players said this week they supported efforts by workers at the Transportation Security Administration to form a union.

The Huffington Post reported that current Redskins linebacker Lorenzo Alexander and former defensive end Dexter Manley went to Reagan National Airport this week in a show of solidarity with TSA workers there as a union election for the agency is in an ongoing runoff.

"With the lockout going on, it's good to come out and support a fellow union, even though we're not recognized anymore," Alexander told the website, alluding to the fact that the NFL players union was decertified by players earlier this year.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Friday that surprise inspections of charter buses in the weeks leading up to this holiday weekend have resulted in more than 400 buses and drivers being pulled off the road for safety violations.

Congress held hearings this spring on increasing bus safety following two fatal crashes in New York and New Jersey this month that killed 17 people. In response, the DOT stepped up enforcement of existing safety regulations, working with officials in states to preform random inspections of buses.

Between May 1 and May 15, 127 drivers and 315 vehicles were given out-of-service citations, LaHood said Friday.

"During this heavy summer travel season, we will remain alert and remove from our roads any passenger bus or driver that places motorists at risk,” LaHood said in a statement.

A Utah lawmaker has filed a bill to ban controversial airport pat-downs that had been considered by Texas before lawmakers there relented.

The Texas House of Representatives had passed a bill that would have made it illegal for Transportation Security Administration agents to perform hand searches at airport security checkpoints unless there was probable cause. But Texas senators got cold feet after the U.S. Attorney General's office threatened to cancel flights to the state if the bill passed.

Prior to that, Utah state Rep. Carl Wimmer (R) said he filed a similar measure for next year in his state.

"Opened a bill file today which will prohibit TSA pat downs in Utah without reasonable suspicion," Wimmer wrote on his Facebook page this week. "Texas needs us to stand with them."