FOIA Request Filed to Disclose Political Motives Behind NLRB’s Attack on Boeing

May 16th 2011 · 0 Comments

Washington, DC May 16, 2011 – The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation filed a Freedom of Information Act FOIA disclosure request with the National Labor Relations Board NLRB on the heels of the agency’s recent announcement that it will prosecute airline manufacturer Boeing Corp.

If International Association of Machinists IAM union officials and the NLRB are successful, over 1,000 Boeing employees in South Carolina would be out of work as Boeing will be forced to relocate the aircraft assembly jobs to Washington State which lacks Right to Work protections for employees.

The NLRB’s acting general counsel, Lafe Solomon, issued the complaint against Boeing late last month at the behest of IAM union bosses. In 2009, Boeing opened the new plant to produce 787 Dreamliner airplanes in South Carolina, largely because South Carolina is a Right to Work state that protects workers from being required to join or pay dues to a union just to get or keep a job.

Foundation President Mark Mix submitted the FOIA inquiry on Monday.

In the request, Mix asks that the agency produce all the documentation regarding communications between NLRB officials and third parties, including communications with Obama administration officials; officials from the offices of the Governors of Washington and Oregon; and any other federal, state, or local government agency personnel regarding Boeing or the IAM union, the opening of the company’s facility in South Carolina, and about the NLRB’s complaint against Boeing itself.