By Matt Tomsic
mtomsic@scbiznews.com
Published June 7, 2011

U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint has requested documentation from the National Labor Relations Board dating back to President Barack Obama’s inauguration in an effort to determine how the board decided to file a complaint against the Boeing Co.

DeMint, a South Carolina Republican, asked for the information through a Freedom of Information Act request sent to the company Monday.

DeMint requested seven categories of information:

• Copies of all documents and communications to or from NLRB board members and staff or produced by NLRB board members and staff regarding the impact on employment in South Carolina.
• Copies of all documents and communications to or from NLRB board members and staff and individuals working within the Executive Office of the President or any federal agency concerning the operations or activities of Boeing since Jan. 20, 2009, which was Inauguration Day.
• Copies of all documents and communications to or from NLRB board members and staff and any member of the International Association of Machinists or their representatives concerning the operations or activities of Boeing since Jan. 20, 2009.
• Copies of all documents and communications to or from NLRB board members and staff and any government employee in the states of Washington or Oregon concerning the operations or activities of Boeing since Jan. 20, 2009.
• Copies of all documents and communications to or from NLRB board members and staff and any member of Congress concerning the operations or activities of Boeing since Jan. 20, 2009.  
• Copies of any documents generated by NLRB board members, staff or any outside consultants analyzing the legal authority of the NLRB to issue the complaint involving Boeing.
• Copies of any documents generated by NLRB board members, staff or any outside consultants used to support the filing of the complaint involving Boeing.

DeMint also wrote that the complaint “raises serious questions about the interpretation of the National Labor Relations Act.

“Whether the NLRB overstepped its statutory authority by targeting Boeing for locating a new manufacturing plant, in accordance with both federal law and its own private labor contracts — is to my mind a settled question,” DeMint wrote. “As a strict matter of law, the NLRB has no authority to dictate private business decisions about the location of production facilities, let alone target the citizens of America’s 22 right-to-work states with economic retribution for what the board deems political incorrectness.”

Labor law experts have said the NLRB issued the complaint because of statements made by Boeing executives, not because of the decision to open a final assembly and delivery facility in a right-to-work state.

Also, on May 12, Michael Luttig, Boeing’s general counsel and executive vice president, testified before a Senate committee that the NLRB would have also filed the complaint if the aerospace company chose to open its new 787 Dreamliner facility overseas.

Boeing has not slowed its North Charleston operations because of the complaint. The company received a partial certificate of occupancy in May and has scheduled a ribbon-cutting with Gov. Nikki Haley at the facility Friday.

Boeing, the NLRB and the machinists union are scheduled to appear for an administrative law judge in Seattle on June 14, when the parties can present evidence for the case. The administrative law judge’s ruling can be appealed to the NLRB’s five-member board, and its ruling can be appealed to a federal appellate court.