Marshall Babson Quoted in Law360
"Congress Goes Too Far With Bill To Curb NLRB, Attys Say"

New York partner Marshall Babson was quoted in a Law360 article on the recent passage of a House bill that would bar the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from seeking to force employers to relocate work as a remedy for labor law violations. Marshall, like most labor lawyers, see the legislation as a knee-jerk reaction to the agency’s controversial action against Boeing, Co.

H.R. 2587, the Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act, was introduced by Rep. Tim Scott, R-S.C., on July 19, prompted by the unfair labor practices complaint issued by NLRB acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon against Boeing on April 20.

That complaint alleges that Boeing's decision to place an assembly line for its 787 Dreamliner at a nonunion facility in South Carolina amounts to illegal retaliation for past strikes by unionized workers in Washington state, and seeks an order that would force the company to relocate that line to Washington.

Babson and other labor attorneys said Congress' attempt to alter the NLRA and influence the ongoing Boeing case is ill-conceived.

The NLRA, by and large, has served the country well for more than seven decades, said Marshall, a former NLRB member, calling H.R. 2587 "unfortunate.""I think it's a lack understanding of how the process works, combined with the economic climate, that's produced this response," Marshall noted. He called Boeing "one of the jewels of American manufacturing," and said "we don't have a lot of jewels left."

Requiring an employer to relocate or not relocate work, or close down or reopen a particular facility, are extraordinary remedies, but "they go to the heart of the statute" and can be very important in an appropriate case, Marshall added. "We are faced with a very narrow legal question, which I do think that the [NLRB] and courts are capable of sorting through. The question is whether we are going to let them do it."