NLRB Closes Boeing Case

The ratification of a four-year contract by Boeing Co. machinists has ended the contentious dispute between the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and Boeing over the company's decision to relocate its production of the 787 Dreamliner from Washington to South Carolina. As we reported earlier, in April 2011, the NLRB filed suit against Boeing alleging its choice to establish a plant in South Carolina (a right to work state) was in retaliation for union activity in its Washington plants.

Following the union's ratification of the contract, the administrative law judge presiding over the case dismissed the complaint and remanded the case to the NLRB's regional office in Seattle. According to the NLRB's press release, Regional Director Richard Ahearn approved the union’s request to withdraw the charge, and the case is now closed.