Two addle-brained senators from South Carolina raised hell on the Senate floor yesterday because the NLRB filed a complaint against The Boeing Co. Sen Jim. DeMint, R-Crazytown, said,
The administration, I believe, is acting like thugs that you might see in a third-world country, trying to bully and intimidate employers.Boeing had announced plans to move production from Puget Sound in Washington to South Carolina, a right-to-work (to destroy unions) state. The NLRB said the company was illegally retaliating against workers because they'd threatened to strike.
Think Progress reviewed what actually happened:
As labor journalist Mike Elk explained, “in 2007, Boeing announced it would create a second production line to produce three 787 Dreamliner planes a month in the Pudget Sound, in addition to the production that was already occurring in Pudget Sound. Then in October 2009, it was announced that suddenly the company would move the second production line to a nonunion plant in South Carolina.” And the company’s officials made it clear that the move was made because workers in Washington had decided to strike, which, whether Republicans like it or not, is illegal.Here's what we want to know: The administration awarded Boeing a $35 billion contract for refueling tankers in 2011. How is it "thug-like" to give a company $35 billion?
As the Washington Post’s Steve Pearlstein wrote, “given the public statements of Boeing officials, there is nothing radical about the NLRB’s decision.”
In reality, aerospace companies can't exist without government contracts, also known as "taxpayer money." That's probably why you aren't hearing much from Boeing about the NLRB complaint.
