By Fred Wszolek (originally appeared in The Charleston Post and Courier)
In all his wisdom, President Barack Obama recently saw fit to re-nominate Lafe Solomon, the current and acting general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to a full term as general counsel of the so-called independent agency.
As someone who resides in Charleston, it strikes me as an interesting idea to conduct Solomon’s hearings in the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) right here in the Palmetto State.
Citizens in South Carolina — particularly Charleston — are very familiar with Mr. Solomon.
As the architect of the NLRB complaint against The Boeing Company, Solomon has established himself as the epitome of a government bureaucrat who is out of control and serving a deleterious role on our economy.
As a refresher for those who might have forgotten the details, Solomon’s highly controversial complaint against Boeing sought to close down the billion-dollar plant, which would have cost the state thousands of high-paying, middle-class jobs.
It should not be lost upon anyone that South Carolina is a proudly right-to-work state, and that has only served as a benefit in attracting employers and top talent to the state.
Solomon’s complaint, which was filed at the request of the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) intended for the new work to be done in Boeing’s unionized facilities in Washington State as opposed to South Carolina.
In the complaint concerning construction of the 787 Dreamliner commercial aircraft, the NLRB’s acting general counsel hinged his argument against South Carolina on a so-called “transfer of work” despite zero man hours or jobs being taken away from Washington State.
In fact, Boeing originally sought to build the factory in Puget Sound and initiated negotiations with IAMAW.
When negotiations finally failed in October 2009, Big Labor had demanded a seat on Boeing’s board, as well as a promise that all aircraft would be built using union workers in Washington State.
In the end, the Boeing plant brought with it billions in investments and thousands of jobs to South Carolina.
In response to the torrent of negative press, Solomon wrote his colleagues in response to a news report:
The article gave me a new idea. You go to geneva and I get a job with airbus. We screwed up the us [U.S.] economy and now we can tackle europe.”
As the federal agency’s acting general counsel seeks a promotion, in any other industry outside government, his words and deeds would warrant termination.
Despite all of this, President Obama re-nominated Solomon to the National Labor Relations Board.
If the president and members of Congress who support Big Labor’s agenda are so supremely confident about Solomon’s nomination, I’m sure the citizens of Charleston, where the new Boeing plant is based, would be more than happy to host the hearing and ask a few questions.
This entry was posted in Big Labor Bosses, Congress, NLRB, Politics, Unions and tagged Big Labor, Boeing, charleston, iamaw, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Union, Lafe Solomon, National Labor Relations Board, NLRB, palmetto state, sc, senate committee, senate committee on health education labor and pensions, South Carolina. Bookmark the permalink.