NLRB Judge Denies Boeing Motion to Dismiss Case

Jul 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

This decision allows continuation of the outrageous federal government restraint of freedom to create jobs in a free Right to Work state. This overbearing lawsuit would be thrown out of court as a frivolous case if a private party was suing a private company for investing in a Right to Work state. This arrogant federal government intimidation of a free, private company reduces freedom and force this free job creating company to waste money in legal fees in their effort to manufacture quality, competitive aircraft.

NLRB Judge Denies Boeing Motion to Dismiss Case

Wall Street Journal

By Melanie Trottman

June 30, 2011

Boeing Co. was dealt a blow Thursday in its effort to make the NLRB’s complaint against the company go away.

The National Labor Relations Board judge hearing the case ruled against what he called  Boeing’s “impassioned” motion to dismiss it.  The NLRB has alleged that the company illegally shifted work to a nonunion factory in South Carolina from union facilities in Washington state.

“The motion to strike these allegations is without merit and should be denied,” Judge Clifford Anderson said in his 19-page ruling issued Thursday. The administrative law judge reasoned that much of Boeing’s argument couldn’t be proven at this early, “pre-evidentiary” phase of the hearing.

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ICYMI – My Op-Ed in Politico: Defending Virginians’ right to work

Jun 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

ICYMI – My Op-Ed in Politico: Defending Virginians’ right to work. It’s time for this over-reaching federal government to get out of our lives & stop encroaching on the economic freedom of Virginia & all right-to-work states. Virginians deserve to know if Kaine will stand with me in support of the people & values of Virginia on this important issue of liberty & opportunity.

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Op-Ed: Defending Virginians’ right to work (Politico)

Jun 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

By George Allen

Americans have the right to move to wherever they want in our country. That same basic freedom of movement applies to businesses and investment.

Do we want bureaucrats in Washington dictating where our businesses can set up operations, invest and create new jobs in America? Should federal bureaucrats be allowed to intimidate job-creating businesses with costly lawsuits as punishment for making a decision to locate in a favorable place in the U.S.?

Well, such an attack on freedom of movement is happening right now.

President Thomas Jefferson defined the sum of good government as, “a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.”

Those words are the uplifting principles of a free society.

Unfortunately these principles are being ignored by the powers in Washington.

The National Labor Relations Board’s complaint against Boeing’s locating some production facilities in South Carolina is an attack on the founding principles of our country. It’s also an attack on the freedom and competitiveness of every state with right-to-work laws -– including Virginia.

If the NLRB is successful, a chilling message will be sent to all businesses operating, or considering operating, in the U.S. It is shameful that a business could enjoy greater opportunity in another country. We should be sending the message “America is Open for Business,” rather than “America likes to tax and regulate business.”

As Virginia governor, I saw first-hand the competitive advantage that our right-to-work law gave us in recruiting and expanding new investment and jobs. The law serves as a foundational strength. Being the northern-most state on the Eastern Seaboard with a right-to-work law places Virginia in a great location for business. Maintaining that advantage ensures that men and women in Virginia receive the best opportunities to succeed in a highly-competitive economy.

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Today, I called on Chairman Tim Kaine to join me in standing up for the people of Virginia

Jun 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Today, I called on Chairman Tim Kaine to join me in standing up for the people of Virginia by condemning the NLRB’s baseless lawsuit against Boeing. The NLRB’s complaint is an attack on freedom and opportunity. Our Right-to-Work law is a foundational strength of Virginia, and I will stand strong to preserve that competitive advantage.

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George Allen Calls on Tim Kaine to Stand Up for Virginia and Condemn the NLRB’s Baseless Lawsuit

Jun 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

June 21, 2011

 

 

George Allen Calls on Tim Kaine to Stand Up for Virginia and Condemn the NLRB’s Baseless Lawsuit 

Richmond, VA – Today, George Allen condemned the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) complaint against Boeing as an attack on job-creating businesses and the economic competitiveness of all Right-to-Work states, and urged Tim Kaine to stand up for Virginia and speak out against this baseless lawsuit.  According to the Washington Examiner, the lawyer for the NLRB could provide no evidence to the House Oversight Committee to support their primary complaint that Boeing transferred jobs out of Washington State.

“The NLRB’s complaint against Boeing is an assault on the economic freedom and competitiveness of all Right-to-Work states — potentially costing America jobs as companies look for more hospitable environments elsewhere,” said George Allen.  “Do we really want the government telling our job creating businesses where they are allowed to build plants, hire workers and produce?  I certainly don’t, but unfortunately my opponent, Tim Kaine, has remained silent on this important issue.

“It’s clear that when the Democrats in Washington take their marching orders from the SEIU union bosses, it puts American jobs in jeopardy.  Virginia is the northern-most Right-to-Work state on the eastern seaboard, which gives us a crucial competitive advantage in attracting job-creating businesses and investment. We cannot stand by as liberal Democrats in Washington carry out their anti-business, job crushing agenda.  I hope Mr. Kaine joins with us in Virginia instead of standing with his supporters and allies in Washington,” Allen concluded.

The Hill reported in February that as DNC Chairman, Tim Kaine helped to support the labor protests in Wisconsin, characterizing reform efforts as a “declaration of war on public workers.”  George Allen believes the families of Virginia deserve to know whether Chairman Tim Kaine will once again choose to stand with President Obama and the SEIU union bosses as they undermine the freedom and competition that Right-to-Work laws promote.  So far, Mr. Kaine has been silent on the issue.

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Flight risk for Boeing

Jun 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

There is no better evidence of the backwards thinking, anti-business mindset of the liberal Democrats in Washington, DC than the NLRB’s baseless lawsuit against Boeing. We need leadership that will fight for the interests of Virginia’s workforce, and stand up against the abuses of Big Labor bosses.

 

 

Flight risk for Boeing
The Washington Post editorial June 20, 2011

The opening of a manufacturing plant with nearly 1,000 jobs should be cause for celebration. But Boeing Co.’s $1 billion facility in South Carolina has met a different, less welcome response.

The National Labor Relations Board, spurred by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, hit Boeing with a complaint of unfair labor practices. The board charges that Boeing illegally shipped jobs to South Carolina from the company’s Washington state facility in retaliation for past strikes by unionized workers in Puget Sound. Both facilities will have a hand in building the company’s new and mammoth 787 Dreamliner.

The NLRB pegged its case to “coercive” threats by Boeing executives who told the media that disruptions caused by the strikes played a role in deciding to build in South Carolina. They also spoke of the need to “geographically diversify” to avoid shutdowns caused by natural or man-made disasters and to control costs, which would be easier to do in a “right-to-work” state through lower labor costs.

As punishment, the NLRB is seeking to compel Boeing to move the Dreamliner jobs in South Carolina to Washington state — which the company says would essentially force it to shut the plant. Boeing calls the proposed punishment “indisputably the most consequential — and destructive — remedy ever sought by an officer of the NLRB.”

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We Must Reinvigorate the Entrepreneurial Spirit of America

May 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Last week I had the opportunity to travel through Southside Virginia and visit with several businesses that are working hard in a struggling economy to create quality products and jobs here in Virginia.  As I listened to their concerns it became clear that Virginians’ vision of the American Dream has been badly shaken by our weakened economy and a government that continues to spend our children’s future.  For the first time in our history parents are worried if their children will have the same opportunities in life.  It may no longer be enough to get a good college education and work hard to get ahead in America.

Just last spring, Susan and I watched with great pride as our oldest daughter, Tyler, graduated from college, but like many parents we worried that diminished opportunities lay ahead.  Many of Tyler’s friends, saddled with student loans, struggled – and are still struggling – to find work.  On the campaign trail I’ve talked to graduates and parents who have related that even when these young people find jobs, few are working in fields that take advantage of the college degrees they studied so hard to earn.  It is disheartening to see so many talented young adults not being able to use their full potential.

America should be a country where young people graduating from college are limited only by their imagination, hard work and ingenuity.  For our country to truly be a land of opportunity, we must reinvigorate the entrepreneurial spirit of America and not allow Washington to crush it with regulations, taxes, unsustainable skyrocketing spending and dangerous debt.

In just one week my opponent has advocated for higher taxes; defended Washington’s out-of-control spending by calling to raise the debt ceiling without real spending cuts; and has stood silently as actions by the federal government/NRLB threaten our Right-to-Work laws and economic competitiveness.  Our Right-to-Work laws are one of the foundational strengths of Virginia.  These are federal policies that will hurt the people of Virginia and our economy, not put us back on the path to economic prosperity.

The time for action is now.  We cannot allow Tim Kaine’s liberal allies in Washington carry out their anti-business, job crushing agenda.  Join me as we fight to rein in the overreaching and overspending government; work to create entrepreneurial conditions to reinvigorate the economy and unleash our plentiful energy resources for more jobs and lower energy prices. Together we can restore the confidence and the promise of opportunity for the next generation.

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Right-to-Work Senate Dems won’t back jobs, Boeing over Unions, NLRB

May 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Sen. DeMint has introduced a necessary restraint on the federal bureaucracy which is restricting freedom of Virginia working men and women as well as harming future opportunities for Virginia.  As a U.S. Senator, I would be an original sponsor of this essential protection of our liberty in Virginia and throughout the US.

Right-to-Work Senate Dems won’t back jobs, Boeing over Unions, NLRB

Investor’s Business Daily

Sean Higgins

May 19, 2011

One week after Republican senators introduced a bill to counter the National Labor Relations Board’s complaint vs. Boeing (BA), not a single Democrat, not even the ones who represent states with right-to-work laws, have signed on as co-sponsors. According to Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., they’re not going to get any either, and that probably dooms the bill.

“Whether we can get any Democratic support is very doubtful. They are very afraid of doing anything that antagonizes unions, even if behind the scenes they agree with us,” DeMint told IBD. “So I don’t really know that we can pass it.”

DeMint said the GOP will continue to push it, but conceded it needs bipartisan support to break the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold. The Democrats “saw what happened to Blanche Lincoln,” he said, referring to the pro-business Senate Democrat from Arkansas who was targeted by Big Labor during her 2010 re-election bid. She survived a brutal primary, but was too damaged to win the general election, though she probably would have been a longshot in any case.

The bill would rewrite the National Labor Relations Act to give additional protection to businesses that locate operations in right-to-work states. The bill was prompted by an NLRB charge vs. Boeing. It argued that Boeing’s decision to expand operations to South Carolina, one of the states that let employees decide whether to join or financially support a union, was retaliation against a union that represented company workers in Oregon and Washington.

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Labor panel wants union officials in corporate boardrooms

May 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Folks, this is America! The federal government must be stopped in their unprecedented infringement on our liberty. Political cronyism and intrusion into the free enterprise system is wrong.  At stake are jobs and competitively priced products and services in our marketplace.  If they can do it in South Carolina, what is stopping them from going after businesses that relocate to Virginia in search of good workers and a business friendly environment?

Labor panel wants union officials in corporate boardrooms

The Washington Examiner

By: Examiner Editorial

May 17, 2011

The National Labor Relations Board sued Boeing for opening a factory in South Carolina, a right-to-work state. Stephen Brashear/Getty ImagesWhy has private-sector unionization fallen from 35 percent of the work force during World War II to less than 7 percent today? The main reason is that unions raise a firm’s labor costs, leaving fewer resources for things like job creation, capital improvements, and research and development. Unions also make it much harder for owners and executives to make practical business decisions. A memo leaked from the National Labor Relations Board makes clear that President Obama and the radical labor advocates he put on it are embarked on a calculated campaign to make unionized firms even harder to manage. The NLRB’s recent suit against Boeing Aircraft Co. is merely the first step.

The board sued Boeing for opening a factory in South Carolina, a right-to-work state. Boeing’s main plant is in Washington, a state where employees have no choice but to join unions. It’s also where the International Association of Machinists has struck Boeing five times in 30 years, most recently in 2008. That strike cost Boeing $2 billion and prompted longtime customers like Virgin Airways chief Richard Branson to make plans to take his business elsewhere. With the new plant, 1,000 jobs were created in South Carolina, but no union jobs in Washington were lost.

The NLRB calls that decision “an unfair labor practice” that violates the National Labor Relations Act. The Supreme Court, however, said in its 1981 First National Maintenance Corp. v. NLRB decision that the NLRA “limited the mandate or duty to bargain” of unionized firms “to matters of ‘wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.’ ” The court also held that Congress had no expectation that the elected union representative at First National would become “an equal partner in the running of the business enterprise.” Firms must be able “to reach decisions without fear of later evaluations labeling its conduct an unfair labor practice,” the court concluded.

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The New NLRB: Boeing Is Just the Beginning

May 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Our freedom and opportunity is under serious assault. Read this article by National Review about an internal memo that was circulated by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Virginia and other States that protect the liberty of working men and women with Right-to-Work laws are particularly vulnerable.  The NRLB/ federal government and big union bosses have no right to impede the unfettered freedom of Americans and private businesses to move, invest and create jobs. This power grab is an unconstitutional restraint on the free flow of commerce. Moreover, it would cost Virginians jobs and make the U.S. a less attractive place to for free enterprise to thrive and grow. Our Constitution must be enforced to stop this arrogant intrusion by the Washington bureaucracy.

The New NLRB: Boeing Is Just the Beginning

National Review Online

Hans A. von Spakovsky & James Sherk

May 16, 2011

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) raised a lot of eyebrows by filing a complaint against Boeing for opening a new plant in a right-to-work state. But that action is just the beginning of the board’s aggressive new pro-union agenda. An internal NLRB memorandum, dated May 10, shows that the board wants to give unions much greater power over employers and their investment and management decisions.

Under current NLRB rules, companies can make major business decisions (like relocating a plant) without negotiating with their union — as long as those changes are not primarily made to reduce labor costs. For example, a business can unilaterally merge several smaller operations into one larger facility to achieve administrative efficiencies. Companies only have to negotiate working conditions, not their business plans.

The NLRB apparently intends to change that. In the internal memorandum, the board’s associate general counsel, Richard Siegel, asks the NLRB’s regional directors to flag such business-relocation cases. Siegel explains that the Board is considering “whether to propose a new standard” in these situations because the chairman of the NLRB, Wilma Liebman, has expressed her desire to “revisit existing law in this area” by modifying the rule established in a case called Dubuque Packing.

Apparently, Liebman did not like having to apply the Dubuque Packing rules in a recent case involving the Embarq Corporation and the AFL-CIO. The NLRB decided that under the Dubuque Packing rules, Embarq did not violate the National Labor Relations Act by refusing to bargain with the union over its decision to close its call center in Las Vegas (a right-to-work state) and relocate that work to its call center in Florida (also a right-to-work state).

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