Labor board drops Boeing complaint

WASHINGTON – The National Labor Relations Board dropped a much-criticized action against Boeing Co., a move praised by Republicans as overdue but one that deprives the GOP of a line of attack against the Obama administration in the 2012 campaign.

Republican presidential contenders and business groups had seized upon the Boeing controversy as part of an effort to pin the sluggish economy on the president, contending that the NLRB’s complaint could cost South Carolina hard-won manufacturing jobs.

The NLRB filed a complaint against Boeing in March, alleging the aerospace company decided to put a nonunion production line in Charleston, S.C., in retaliation against union workers in Washington state for past strikes.

The machinists union entered into a new four-year contract extension with Boeing earlier this week and, as part of the deal, agreed to withdraw its unfair labor practices charge against the company. That led the NLRB to announce Friday it had dropped the case.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the president played no role in persuading the labor board to abandon the case.

Asked about the case while walking outside the White House on Friday, the president said he was “glad people are gonna be working.”

Boeing had argued its decision to locate a facility in Charleston, S.C., to help build the 787 Dreamliner passenger jet was purely a business move, not an act of retaliation, and maintained it would not take away jobs from workers in Washington state. As part of the new deal with the Machinists union, Boeing agreed to build a new fleet of 737 jets in the Seattle area.