The Boeing Co. will have to defend allegations that it illegally retaliated against the Machinists union in selecting South Carolina for its second 787 assembly line.
A hearing over the dispute will be held in June, officials announced April 20.
The National Labor Relations Board found merit in a charge brought by the Machinists union in March 2010. The union alleges Boeing picked North Charleston, S.C., for its second 787 line in retaliation for the 2008 strike by the Machinists union in the Puget Sound region.
“By opening the line in Charleston, Boeing tried to intimidate our members with the idea that the company would take away their work unless they made concessions at the bargaining table,” said Tom Wroblewski, president of the Machinists union.
Boeing called the complaint “frivolous” and said it will vigorously contest it.
“Boeing has every right under both federal law and its collective bargaining agreement to build additional U.S. production capacity outside of the Puget Sound region,” said J. Michael Luttig, Boeing’s general counsel.
The complaint will be heard before a National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge in June, a month before Boeing is set to begin production at its new location in North Charleston.
Lafe Solomon, acting general counsel for the National Labor Relations Board, has suggested a remedy for Boeing’s actions: that Boeing will maintain a second 787 line in Washington state. The labor board, however, isn’t saying Boeing has to close its South Carolina facility.
“We’re not telling them what to do with it,” said Nancy Cleeland, a spokeswoman with the labor board.
In a press release, Boeing criticized the timing of the complaint, given that it has hired roughly 1,000 workers in South Carolina and has almost finished building a new factory there.
“We fully expect to complete our new state-of-the-art facility in South Carolina in the weeks ahead, and we will be producing 787s — America’s next great export — from our factories in both Puget Sound and South Carolina for decades to come,” Luttig said.
The Machinists say that Boeing isn’t above the law and defended the right of organized labor to strike.
“Taking work away from workers because they exercise their union rights is against the law, and it’s against the law in all 50 states,” Wroblewski said.
Michelle Dunlop: 425-339-3454, mdunlop@heraldnet.com.
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