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    Romney: NLRB Boeing complaint political payback

    NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, fresh from picking up former rival Tim Pawlenty's endorsement, criticized the Obama administration's links to organized labor, arguing that a National Labor Relations Board's complaint against Boeing is White House payback to unions.

    Touring the aeronautics giant's new $750 million plant in South Carolina, Romney drew loud applause from about 60 people in the North Charleston City Council Chambers when he suggested that any stimulus package to boost the economy should include legislation telling the NLRB to drop its Boeing complaint. The package also should block the agency from pursing similar action elsewhere in the country.

    The agency has filed a complaint against Boeing alleging that the plant, which opened earlier this summer in North Charleston, was built in violation of labor laws to avoid unionized labor in Washington state. The NLRB claims Boeing opened the new plant to punish Washington state workers for past strikes and wants the company to return the work to Washington.

    "It's an egregious example of political payback where the president is able to pay back the unions for the hundreds of millions of dollars they have put into his campaigns at the expense of American workers," Romney said.

    South Carolina AFL-CIO President Donna Dewitt said that Romney seems more interested in making political points and supporting Boeing, he company he has reported having investments in.

    She said that the NLRB is a neutral, independent agency and is being attacked by Republican politicians simply for asking that Boeing obey federal law.

    Romney appeared with former Minnesota Gov. Pawlenty, who endorsed his candidacy earlier Monday. Pawlenty, who quit the GOP race last month after a poor showing in the Iowa straw poll, said the former Massachusetts governor is the candidate who "possesses the unique qualifications to confront our severe economic predicament."

    Romney said Pawlenty would be a good addition to any national ticket but Pawlenty said he was not interested.

    The Boeing plant is the single largest industrial investment in South Carolina history and the complaint has drawn widespread criticism from elected officials, both Republican and Democrat. Gov. Nikki Haley, a Republican whose campaign for governor got an early endorsement last year from Romney, has promised Boeing would have complete support from South Carolina.

    But Romney said that uncertainty about the NLRB complaint has prompted Boeing suppliers to hold off locating in the state.

    During his appearance, Romney criticized several administration labor policies and said automatic union dues should not be used by unions to pay for politics.

    "I'm very concerned our president has pursued labor policies that are destructive to industry, to hiring and to job growth," Romney told the audience. "Those policies are one reason America is having a very difficult time coming out of this economic slowdown."

    If elected, he said, he would encourage states to pass right to work laws like South Carolina has done.

     

    120 comments

    • Bill  •  8 mths ago
      It shouldn't be about where a company is located but about honoring the contracts that they make with their employees.
      Neither side Republican or Democrat is prepared to risk the support of their big money benefactors to defend the rights of those that can only contribute a buck or two at a time.
      Obama was just as fast to trash the union workers as he was the bond holders when he saved the auto industry.
      They are all hypocrites and will sacrifice us all to get reelected!
      There are 6000 unemployed auto workers who were sacrificed by Chrysler in St Louis when they moved their operations to Mexico as part of the President's bailout. Now all the politicians from both sides say the route to salvation are more free trade agreements. Why so we can sell iPhones that are made in China to Central America, South America and Korea without tariffs? How does that create middle class jobs in the US?
    • M  •  8 mths ago
      to Sara Walters...pretty funny you say that the Republicans are robbing social security, when it was the democratic party that authorized using the funds for other things rather than keeping in intact for future generations!
    • Sara Walters  •  8 mths ago
      Republican Agenda: destroy all unions, rob social security, continue the trillion dollar wars, make the rich richer while destoying the middle class, end all social programs for the poor.
      Soon, american's will be working for $2.00 a day, like other 3rd world countries.
      • Johntee 8 mths ago
        Obama has already accomplished this.
    • The Blood Hound  •  8 mths ago
      You think its PATRIOTIC to go to a state that has established Labor Laws -where workers have fought for a certain rate of pay-and when you go there they don't FORCE YOU TO JOIN A UNION -you don't have to join any thing BUT your employer has to pay you the same PREVAILING WAGE as all the other workers who are doing the same exact job as you.
      But you want to defend the "Chinese Model" and go where ever you like and work for what ever the boss wants to pay you that he determines is "Fair" -Did you ever hear of Street Smarts-?? I think a 12 yr old would know better. Stop defending the "Chinese Model" of exploitation (unless you like working for peanuts..)
    • The Blood Hound  •  8 mths ago
      Question-You complain about the cheap labor in China taking away your jobs [but] then you say that you have the "right" to work for less pay then the PREVAILING WAGE GIVES YOU?? Are you on drugs??Why would you give up a higher rate of pay for a lesser one???
      Just to show the boss you appreciate a job???
      You give up your rights just to go to work??
      Fools we are because that is exactly what our Grand fathers experienced 100 yrs ago when they came out of the coal mines and saw the light of day -They fought and some died so you and I could have it better and now you are willing to give it all back??
      That makes no sense at all. Why the hell do you think unions were formed in the first place???You have no other "force" to go up against those Giants at all ***not one!!!Good or bad as Unions may be they are the only other Army you can join if you want to fight the Corporate Beast..you have no other VOICE PERIOD-(if you know of another one please tell us all here and now..) Please we wait for your direction...We are all going to be living under the over passes soon.
    • The Blood Hound  •  8 mths ago
      Having the "Right to work" is fine but it is a slogan .Where as having the "Right to a fair wage"is not a slogan and neither is the right to better working conditions a slogan its a basic Human right or a Workers Right that many of your Grand Fathers died trying to defend.
      For you or I to go to work for a Hugh Corporation that makes BILLIONS of dollars a year and be willing to accept less than what you a worth ,with little or no protections makes little sense.Where do you think those Protections came from the corporate executives???
    • The Blood Hound  •  8 mths ago
      I have a question-To those of us who BASH Unions let me ask you this.If not for a UNION (people organizing together for better working conditions and better pay etc)Who (or what) do you have to go up against a (Government or a corporation) to fight for your rights with???Name one thing tool we have to help our selves? Stand on a street corner with a sign.write to your congressman?? or cry in your beer???United we stand divide we fall applies across the board.Oh I for got you want to trust the corporations who took the jobs over seas in the first place and now set the stage to eradicate the power of the middle class and hire you at cut rate wages just so you have a job.Well hang on young people and remember to keep the BOX you stood on to kiss the ELEPHANTS #$%$ handy because you are going to need it..Please don't comment about corruption etc just tell me what you have to go up against the giant with to MAINTAIN YOUR RIGHTS???I think you have a pipe dream and nothing else.They brought this country to its knees (the corporations) and now you will kiss their #$%$ just so you can go to work right.Look China here we come..
      • Mike 8 mths ago
        Here is one for you.....if you do not like the conditions no one is forcing you to stay. Go find another job.
    • NotThisUHaul  •  8 mths ago
      Obama has tried using every part of the government as weapons against those who oppose his far left agenda. The same agenda and policies that have brought great prosperity to Cuba and North Korea.
    • NotThisUHaul  •  8 mths ago
      Everything Obama has done since being elected is focused on paying back the corrupt unions for their support. His "stimulus"? Another word for union payoffs. Impeach Obama now!
      • Rosa 8 mths ago
        Riiight, unlike the multibillion dollar tax breaks for corporate benefactors.
        The working man is entitled to equal representation under the law.
    • St. Richard  •  8 mths ago
      No Union has the right to FORCE employees to join their ranks; this is extortion, this is un-American. Either do away with Unions or at least make America a "Right to Work" nation where companies can survive, and more jobs will result.
      • Rosa 8 mths ago
        They don't, you boob.
    • Angry Bob  •  8 mths ago
      Here's what I'd like to hear from a politician, "If elected all employees in all states will be covered under an 'implied contract of fair treatment.'"
    • St. Richard  •  8 mths ago
      No Union has the right to FORCE employees to join their ranks; this is extortion, this is un-American. Either do away with Unions or at least make America a "Right to Work" nation where companies can survive, and more jobs will result.
    • MARCUS H  •  8 mths ago
      Well as a small business owner I am on the side of SC and the right to work laws. If you prove you as an INDIVIDUAL are WORTH more than your co-workers then you should be compensated fairly for that, but you need to negotiate your own contract based on your skills and job performance. But if you think that just because you have done a #$%$ poor job with a sorry abusive attitude for longer than the other guys and you don't have the communication skills to negotiate your own INDIVIDUAL employment contract to better your income and benefits, then your employer should have the right to fire you without having some union rep(mommy) to come to your boss and cry to them why you shouln't be fired. Then mommy files a lawsuit because the crybaby still can't negotiate and mediate his own employment. To every single union worker I have ever met, you are mostly lazy, entitled, and use gang mentality and thugery to get what you want. There was someone like that in the early 1900's. Does Hitler ring a bell. I truely support Boeing and hope they move all of their factorys away from the union states
    • Tim  •  8 mths ago
      Great....America is in a race to become a place were workers have no protection just like China. Lets see, no jobs bill, no healthcare plan and no rights......see you in 2012
      • None of Your Business 8 mths ago
        Yeah, that will never work here.

        I mean, where are we going to find political prisoners to fill all the sweat shops?
    • Tim  •  8 mths ago
      BTW right to work hasn't done jack #$%$ for the middle class in Florida. All it does is let the corps pay nothing and fire you for no reason.
    • Tim  •  8 mths ago
      People still don't get it. Carolina can under cut and Florida will under cut Carolina but until you hit 6 dollars a day you can't compete with China.............simple mathmatics.

      Canada on the other hand seems to be doing and pay well. Have you ever wondered how they do that?
    • sven  •  8 mths ago
      I guess they're saying is that only left coast workers are qualified and skilled. That all the young men and women who work on a variety of air ships in our armed forces in the surrounding areas (huge concentration of bases in that area) could not provide a continous flow of qualified, talented workers, basically home grown. Retaining highly motivated individuals who might otherwise go home...Guarantee you that that plant will be paying better than the military, although they're doing quite a bit better now than thirty years ago.
    • Tim  •  8 mths ago
      The Republican play book has always been to divide America, pit State against State, middle class against poor and elderly and their vaunted southern stratagy and it works. Never ever will they go America against the world and because of that they have a small ball menaltiy that will always end in disaster.
    • A Yahoo! User  •  8 mths ago
      Shame on you South Carolina. You dumb hicks are going to take great paying jobs from your fellow American skilled workers and work for half the wages and benefits just so you can upgrade to a doublewide. Way to go losers, your state is like Malaysia in America.

      This is all stupid rheotoric anyways because Boeing is a Fedral Wellfare recipient with billions in tax dollars guaranteed to them through miltary and civilian contracts bought in Washinton DC by corporate lobbyists.
    • St. Richard  •  8 mths ago
      No Union has the right to FORCE employees to join their ranks; this is extortion, this is un-American. Either do away with Unions or at least make America a "Right to Work" nation where companies can survive, and more jobs will result.
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