NLRB Drops Boeing Case as Machinists Requested
After months of contention that drew the attention of presidential candidates and members of Congress, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) today announced that the Machinists (IAM) District 751 dropped its charge against the Boeing Co. after negotiating agreeable terms with the company.
Lafe Solomon, the NLRB’s acting general counsel, announced the closing of the case after Machinists in Washington State voted to accept a four-year contract extension and commitments from Boeing to expand manufacturing operations in the state.
Earlier this year, the NLRB agreed to hear the union’s complaint that claimed Boeing’s decision to produce its new 787 Dreamliner aircraft in South Carolina, an anti-union state, was made in retaliation for the union’s 2008 strike against Boeing. A Republican NLRB threatened to quit the board—which would have prevented the case from going forward—and Republican presidential candidates made the labor board a campaign-trail target. Read the rest of this entry »
Washington State Will Keep Boeing 737 Jobs
Workers in Washington State were cheering this morning’s announcement by the Boeing Co. and Machinists (IAM) District 751 that the company will build the 737 MAX—the next generation of Boeing’s best-selling jet—in Renton, Wash.
The sweeping new four-year tentative agreement came after six weeks of negotiations, according to reports in The Stand.org and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and shows
how the collective bargaining process benefits both workers and employers.
Workers will vote on ratification next week.
The pact includes a signing bonus and a yearly general wage hike of some 2 percent and came 10 months early as IAM negotiators pressed to retain the Washington State jobs and Boeing sought labor peace, according to the P-I report. Read the rest of this entry »
Sen. Graham Threatened ‘Guns a-Blazing’ If NLRB Moved on Boeing
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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) threatened to come out with “full guns a blazing” against the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) if NLRB acting-General Counsel Lafe Solomon issued a complaint against the Boeing Co., charging it with moving production away from its Washington State facility in retaliation for the workers exercising their right to strike. The call occurred nine days before the NLRB issued the complaint April 20.
Graham’s threats were revealed in Solomon’s notes on the phone call that The Hill newspaper obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. In those notes Solomon writes:
He said that if a complaint was filed, it will be very, very, nasty.…He said that if a complaint was issued he was going “full guns a-blazing.”
Since the complaint was issued, Republican lawmakers have threatened to cut the NLRB’s Read the rest of this entry »
Verizon and 29 Other Big Corps Paid No Taxes Since 2007
While Verizon workers toil without a contract, a report issued jointly today by Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows that it’s not just its workers the company is short-changing; it’s all of the American people. For the last three years, Verizon has paid less than zero taxes. That’s right—through the use of corporate loopholes, Verizon has actually “made” money through its tax filings, according to the report, “Corporate Taxpayers and Corporate Tax Dodgers.”
One area where Verizon didn’t mind paying out? CEO compensation—to the tune of $18.1 million last year.
And Verizon is hardly alone: 29 other corporations listed on the Fortune 500, according to the report, paid either no taxes, or, like Verizon, enjoy a negative tax balance on their filings for 2008, 2009 and 2010. Other household names on that ignominious list include Honeywell International, DuPont, Boeing, Mattel, Duke Energy and Wells Fargo (which also benefited from the bank bailout). Read the rest of this entry »
Republican House Bill’s Goal: Deny Workers a Voice
Earlier this year, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) proposed some modest rule changes to streamline and modernize the way union elections are conducted. While those rules are still under review, Republicans on the House Education and Workforce Committee today approved a bill that would add months- or years-long delays to union elections.
Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) says the Republican bill (H.R. 3094) would “encourage employers to spend thousands of dollars on attorneys to file frivolous appeals to gum up the election process.”
The bill’s clear intention is to wear down workers so that they give up fighting for a better deal.
Miller, who dubs the bill the Election Prevention Act, says:
Its singular goal is to delay and ultimately prevent union representation elections. Its aim is to deny workers the opportunity for a voice at work.
IAM: Documents Prove Boeing Out to Punish Workers for Strike
The Machinists (IAM) local that has charged the Boeing Co. with unfair labor practices for opening a second assembly line at a plant in South Carolina has unveiled selected internal company documents the union says shows the company moved the work to punish workers for exercising their right to strike.
IAM District 751 released 15 pages of documents from longer PowerPoint presentations to the Boeing board of directors in 2009. The documents were culled from among selected PowerPoint slides, which calculate the risks and benefits of locating the work in Washington or South Carolina, repeatedly point out that one of Boeing’s goals was the reduction of union power. IAM says the documents appear to demonstrate the importance Boeing gave to that goal, despite numerous risks of a move to South Carolina listed in the presentations.
Update: You Stopped the Attack! Act Now to Stop the Latest Attack on the NLRB
UPDATE: Senate voted 15-15 on the Graham amendment, meaning it’s now dead. Thanks to everyone who took action yesterday to cut short this attack on the NLRB.
and Shortly this afternoon, Senate Republicans will press forward with a political agenda that does the bidding of big corporations and leaves working people behind. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is pushing an extreme amendment to curb the ability of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to do its job.
Act now. Click here to find office phone numbers of swing senators and call them and urge them to vote “no” on the Graham amendment.
Republicans Push NLRB Attack Bill Through House
House Republicans today continued their attack on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) when they passed (238-186) a bill that would cripple the agency and allow employers to retaliate against workers who exercise their workplace rights. Under the bill, employers would even be able to legally eliminate workers’ jobs. The bill is not expected to be brought up for a Senate vote.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says about the bill (H.R. 2587):
Instead of creating good jobs, Tea Party Republicans are wasting time and playing partisan politics. H.R. 2587 is an over-reaching, special interest bill that advances the interests of corporate donors while attacking working people, their rights and their jobs. It’s one more example of an anti-worker agenda that’s bad for America and bad for the middle class.
Republicans, tea party extremists and business groups have used a routine complaint the NLRB issued against the Boeing Co. in April as cover for their near hysterical and sweeping attacks on workers and the NLRB.
Professors Say GOP Bill to Cripple NLRB ‘Unprecedented’ Assault
House Republicans are pushing a bill to cripple the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) because the agency filed a routine complaint against Boeing. Now, some 250 university law and labor policy professors warn that if a bill (H.R. 2587) becomes law,
employers will be able to eliminate jobs or transfer employees or work for no purpose other than to punish employees for exercising their rights and the Board will be powerless to direct the employer to return the work regardless of the circumstances.
The NLRB charges that Boeing moved production away from its Washington State facility in retaliation for the workers exercising their right to strike, and that’s against the law.
Following the complaint, congressional Republicans, tea party extremists and business groups launched what AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called a “political and ideological circus” to vilify the NLRB and distort its actions. Read the rest of this entry »
Republican NLRB Bill Guts Workers’ Rights, Shields Boeing, Other Corporations
House Republicans have turned a routine complaint by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Boeing into a “political and ideological circus,” says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.
He says a Republican bill introduced after the NLRB’s complaint, which accuses the aviation giant of retaliating against workers for exercising their legal rights,
is sweeping legislation that would gut the National Labor Relations Act and result in serious harmful changes to jobs and workers’ rights throughout the country.
Trumka, Pat Bertucci, a Machinists (IAM) member and third generation Boeing worker, and University of Texas law professor Jack Getman took part in a telephone press conference today to set the record straight on the Republican House bill (H.R. 2587) that would cripple the NLRB’s ability to protect workers.
