Republicans and Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee repeatedly clashed Friday over the politically charged National Labor Relations Board complaint against Boeing Co. and its decision to locate a nonunion plant in South Carolina.
Even before the field hearing in Charleston, S.C., got underway, Democrats were accusing Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) of trying to intimidate the NLRB by hauling the agency’s top lawyer, Lafe Soloman, before the panel.
Soloman reluctantly agreed to testify under threat of a subpoena, and Democrats on the panel complained throughout the lengthy hearing that Issa was attempting to pressure the NLRB amid an ongoing enforcement case.
D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) was particularly annoyed and testy throughout the hearing, arguing that forcing Soloman to testify was an unprecedented act by the committee and would “taint the legal proceeding.”
Issa maintained his right to scrutinize the NLRB’s activities — even during an active legal proceeding. An administrative law judge has urged the Chicago-based company and the Machinists union to settle their differences in a hearing that began in Seattle June 14.
In April, the NRLB filed a complaint against Boeing’s decision to build an assembly plant for the new 787 Dreamliner in North Charleston, S.C., alleging that the move amounted to retaliation for union strikes at its Seattle-area manufacturing hub. Republicans, lead by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and the GOP South Carolina delegation, have decried the legal action as a political move by the Obama administration in favor of union supporters over job-creating private business decisions.
“The disastrous consequences that the effort to penalize Boeing will have on the economy of South Carolina, and the collateral damage that this unprecedented action will have on other right-to-work states, warrants scrutiny,” Issa said in his opening statement.
If successful, Soloman’s complaint could force Boeing to pull out of the state of South Carolina or at the very least build an additional assembly line in Washington state as a remedy.
During Friday’s hearing, Soloman said he regrets the fear the dispute has caused South Carolina workers about the viability of their jobs and several times reminded lawmakers that his calls for a return to Seattle is a standard beginning negotiation stance, implying that the NLRB and Boeing would likely reach a settlement that would avoid displacing South Carolina workers.
“These are difficult economic times, and I truly regret the anxiety this case has caused them and their families,” Soloman said during prepared testimony before the panel. “The issuance of the complaint was not intended to harm the workers of South Carolina but rather to protect the rights of workers.”
The case has become an early flashpoint in the 2012 campaign with Republicans charging the Obama administration with penalizing a major U.S. aerospace company and creating more incentives for U.S. companies to relocate or send jobs overseas when the No. 1 priority in the country should be creating jobs and recharging the flagging economy.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) lambasted Obama and the NLRB during the hearing. She and 15 other governors wrote Soloman on Thursday in an attempt to convince him to dismiss the complaint, which they said hamstrings governors who are trying to create jobs.
“I never thought the President and his appointees at the NRLB would be the greatest opponents we have” in trying to attract jobs to South Carolina, she said. “All you are doing is incentivizing these companies to go overseas. … It’s an attack on states that continue to have a pro-business environment. …”
Graham has vowed to block Soloman’s nomination in the Senate, and Issa has implied that the complaint was simply an attempt to rally Obama’s big labor base.
“You are no more independent than [Homeland Security Secretary] Janet Napolitano or any other appointee of the President,” Issa told Soloman.
“I would argue differently,” Soloman retorted.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), a senior member of the Oversight panel, bitterly complained during the hearing about Issa’s decision to demand testimony from Soloman without requiring Boeing officials to show up and face hostile questions from Democrats.
“Having the NLRB here without Boeing, is that intimidation or just downright unfair?” she angrily asked Issa.
“We didn’t believe it was appropriate to have employees and Boeing here at the same time, but if you wanted Boeing to be here, that could have been your choice” for a witness, Issa responded.
Graham and other Republicans have complained that the complaint against Boeing is particularly egregious considering that William Daley, Obama’s relatively new chief of staff, and John Bryson, Obama’s new choice for Commerce secretary, served on Boeing’s board when the decision was made to open the South Carolina plant.
