Republican NLRB Threats Part of Bigger War on Workers

by Mike Hall, May 18, 2011

The Republican “outrage” machine has been operating in high-dudgeon mode since the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) filed a complaint against the Boeing Co. in April.

But as David Madland of the Center for American Progress Action Fund points out, the manufactured Boeing outrage is “part of a long-running, highly orchestrated right-wing campaign against workers and their unions that has now reached a fevered pitch.”

This is not, of course, the conservative movement’s first attempt to prevent the Obama administration from trying to protect workers’ basic rights to join a union and collectively bargain.

Earlier this year, Madland writes, 176 House Republicans (75 percent of the caucus) voted to eliminate all funding for the NLRB and while that failed to pass, a continuing resolution previously passed by the House included a $50 million reduction in the NLRB’s budget and would have forced NLRB staff members to be furloughed for 55 days, causing a backlog of cases to pile up.

Madland points out that congressional Republicans also are fighting to overturn the National Mediation Board’s (NMB’s) new rule that says air and rail union elections should be decided like any other election—including congressional elections—by a majority of votes cast. Previously each worker who did not cast a vote in a representation election was automatically counted as a “No” vote.

Senate Republicans also attempted to attach an amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill that would have blocked workers at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) from voting to join a union. Madland writes these congressional actions are in addition to the state attacks on workers’ rights being waged in Wisconsin, Ohio and other states. He says the attacks on the NLRB over the Boeing case are part of the:

conservative movement’s campaign to weaken workers’ rights. Sadly, conservatives have shown they want to eliminate laws protecting workers’ rights to join a union and collectively bargain, and when they can’t get rid of the law, they seek to prevent its enforcement.

Click here for his full article.

Keep in mind that when the NLRB issues a complaint, it’s only the first step in a long process of determining whether the company violated the law, a process in which Boeing will have ample opportunity to present its side of the case.

$3 Million Training Grant Means Aerospace Jobs for Washington Workers

by Mike Hall, May 18, 2011

Standing over the production line in Renton, Wash., where members of the Machinists (IAM) District 751 build Boeing Co.’s 737s, Gov. Chris Gregoire (D) yesterday announced that the state is investing $3 million to train hundreds of Washington workers to get the skills and certificates they need to work in the aerospace industry.

(Thanks to Kathy Cummings, communications director for the Washington State Labor Council (WSLC), for sending along the video.)

The IAM and Boeing worked together, Cummings said, to secure the funding to maintain the high-skilled workforce that makes Washington the best place in the world to build and maintain airplanes. Gregoire said the money will help:

those individuals negatively impacted by the national recession receive training to move toward a stable and good-paying career. And it ensures our aerospace workers have the cutting-edge skills needed to design, build and maintain the aircraft of tomorrow—helping our 650 aerospace companies grow and create new jobs.

IAM District 751 President Tom Wroblewski said:

We at the Machinists union know that workforce training and education are key to maintaining and growing our industry. This complex industry of aerospace requires these kinds of investment.