House Clears Bill Restricting N.L.R.B. [View All]

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Source: The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives voted on Thursday to approve a G.O.P.-backed bill that would prohibit the National Labor Relations Board from continuing to pursue its effort to block Boeing from operating a new $750 million aircraft assembly line in South Carolina. The largely party-line vote was 238 to 186.

Republicans denounced the labor board’s case against Boeing, asserting that the board is overreaching its authority and should not be trying to tell companies where they can locate their operations. But many Democrats and their union allies condemned the legislation, asserting that the bill undercuts an independent federal agency and favors Boeing, a potent lobbying force and prominent political donor.

Under the bill, an unusual effort to halt a federal agency’s actions in a pending case, the labor board would be barred from seeking to have an employer shut, transfer or relocate employment or operations “under any circumstances.”

The bill, called “The Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act,” is expected to face an uphill battle in the Democratic-led Senate. In the House vote on Thursday, the partisan divide was clear: only 8 Democrats voted for the bill and only 7 Republicans voted against it.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/16/business/house-approves-bill-restricting-nlrb.html?pagewanted=all