Marshall Babson Quoted in The Wall Street Journal
"A Boeing Accord Looms to Defuse Big NLRB Fight"

Seyfarth Shaw Labor & Employment partner Marshall Babson was quoted in The Wall Street Journal on December 7. The article discussed a possible labor agreement between Boeing Co. and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which filed a complaint on behalf of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District Lodge 751. The union comprises Boeing employees in several states, and they claimed that Boeing was shifting its union work to nonunion workers, allegedly in response to union strikes.

Boeing's proposal to the union includes a four-year contract extension for 31,000 union members and commitments that Boeing will build new and existing planes in Washington state. If the union agrees, they will inform the NLRB that they are no longer opposed to Boeing using a new, nonunion plant in South Carolina.

Marshall commented that the deal between Boeing and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union gives hope for collective bargaining, and it "shows collective bargaining really works if it's given the opportunity."