House OKs bill aimed at Boeing dispute

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

The Republican- dominated House approved a bill Thursday that would undercut the government’s labor dispute with Boeing Co., wading into a case that has angered business groups and become a major political issue in the GOP presidential primary.

The measure, approved 238-186, would ban the National Labor Relations Board from ordering any employer to shut down plants or relocate work, even if a company violates labor laws.

Though the bill is not expected to get a vote in the Democratic-run Senate, Republicans are trying to keep up pressure on the agency over a move they claim interferes with legitimate business decisions.

“It tells job creators they don’t have to fear an activist NLRB reversing important decisions about where to locate a business,” said Minnesota Rep. John Kline, chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

GOP lawmakers have vilified the NLRB for filing a complaint in April that alleges Boeing violated labor laws when it opened a new production line for its 787 airplane in South Carolina, a right-to-work state. The board’s acting general counsel, Lafe Solomon, says Boeing went to South Carolina to punish union workers in Washington state for past strikes and wants the work moved to the West Coast.