Obama’s Labor Board Defends Workers, Conservatives Freak Out

[Omaha Steve]

http://talkingunion.wordpress.com/2011/05/23/obama%E2%80%99s-labor-board-defends-workers-conservatives-freak-out/#comment-8856

Posted on May 23, 2011 by dsalaborblogmoderator

After Complaint Against Boeing For Punishing Strikers, Right-wingers Scramble to Company’s Defense

By Josh Eidelson

During the Bush years, many progressives gave up hope that the government could really make companies pay when they broke the law. Now a big company may have to pay a big price for illegally punishing workers. Last month the National Labor Relations Board, the federal body that enforces labor law, issued a complaint charging that Boeing illegally transferred the production of a line of aircraft out of Washington State. Boeing is accused of transferring the production to punish the workers there for going on strike. Punishing workers for union activity is retaliation, and it’s illegal. If Boeing is found guilty, it could be made to transfer the whole production line back. Naturally, the prospect of the Labor Board seriously enforcing labor law has Republicans freaking out.

What started as an under-the-radar story has been blossoming into a hot button issue over the past two weeks. Newly-elected South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, whose state is both the new site of Boeing’s production and host of a crucial presidential primary, has seized the moment. She made clear that presidential contenders seeking her support had better bash the labor board, and they’re obliging. Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty took a whack at the NLRB at the first presidential debate. Right-wing zeitgeist-meister Newt Gingrich timed an anti-NLRB op-ed on the topic to coincide with the announcement of his presidential campaign and highlighted the issue on Meet the Press. Republican senators held a pro-Boeing press conference with Governor Haley and brought the company’s Vice President to testify. The temperature will keep rising as Boeing’s June NLRB trial approaches and more presidential contenders step up.

Right-wingers are rising to defend Boeing, bash the NLRB, and blame Obama. But rather than debate retaliation against workers, conservatives want to conjure phantom menaces: bureaucrats micro-managing production, Democrats punishing “Right to Work” states, and union bosses paralyzing job creators.
Liberals Against Job Creation?

Conservatives are making four misleading arguments about the Boeing case. The first argument is that this case is about liberals getting in the way of job creation. Pawlenty took up this line at the Republican debate in South Carolina:

“You have this administration through the National Labor Relations Board telling a private company that they cannot relocate to South Carolina and provide jobs in this state, and they’re good-paying jobs, and they’re needed jobs…I just want to make clear the idea that the federal government can tell a private business where they can and cannot be is a whole new line that this administration has crossed and it’s outrageous.”

FULL story at link.