NLRB Files Complaint Against Boeing

Late last week, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced that it had filed a complaint against Boeing. You can read the press release here.

The dispute arises out of Boeing's plans for a second line to assemble its 787 Dreamliner airplanes. Boeing had already announced plans to assemble a first line of planes at its union facility in Washington. However, it also announced plans for a second production line to assemble planes in South Carolina... a non-union plant. Per the press release:

In repeated statements to employees and the media, company executives cited the unionized employees’ past strike activity and the possibility of strikes occurring sometime in the future as the overriding factors in deciding to locate the second line in the non-union facility.

Following an investigation, the NLRB found reasonable cause to believe that Boeing's statements "were coercive to employees and its actions were motivated by a desire to retaliate for past strikes and chill future strike activity."

Per the Complaint (copy here), the NLRB is seeking an order requiring Boeing to "operate its second line of 787 Dreamliner aircraft assembly production in the state of Washington." This case has already generated a lot of controversy because of the size of the party and the amount of direct control the NLRB seeks to assert over Boeing's production. I'll be tracking this one for future developments.

Posted by Philip Miles, an attorney with McQuaide Blasko in State College, Pennsylvania in the firm's civil litigation and labor and employment law practice groups.