Political dispute over Boeing plant escalates

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/19/2367012/political-dispute-over-boeing.html

By JAMES ROSEN
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON -- The Republican-led battle against the chief federal labor agency is escalating, with the head of a key congressional oversight panel and the top lawyer for the National Labor Relations Board accusing each other of flouting constitutional and legal constraints.

The fight is ostensibly over the NLRB's bid to prevent Boeing from opening a jet-manufacturing plant in South Carolina. But GOP lawmakers are portraying it as Exhibit A in their case against President Barack Obama's alleged regulatory overreach.

The dispute began in April when NLRB acting general counsel Lafe Solomon said there was potential merit in a complaint by Boeing's main union that the aerospace giant built the North Charleston, S.C., factory in retaliation for past strikes at its large plant in Everett, Wash., near Seattle.

Boeing says it decided to make 787 Dreamliner planes in South Carolina, a right-to-work state, because of legally protected business factors.

Among the factors Boeing cites are the South Carolina state government's granting of $900 million in tax breaks, and concerns over delays in completing deliveries to airlines around the world that have ordered more than 800 of the next-generation aircraft.

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FULL 2 page story at link.