Boeing Company has long built many of its planes in the Puget Sound region in Washington, using a unionized workforce. In October 2009, Boeing CEO Jim McNerney announced that Boeing would be diversifying its labor force by moving production for its new 787 Dreamliner Jumbo Jet to a new plant in South Carolina due to “strikes happening every three to four years in Puget Sound.” South Carolina is a right-to-work state. Mr. McNerney added that Boeing needed stability in production for its new jet in order to meet order demands, and the move to South Carolina would reduce Boeing’s “vulnerability to delivery disruptions caused by work stoppages.”

In April 2011, just two months prior to the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the South Carolina facility, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint against Boeing. The complaint charged Boeing with unfair labor practices because its decision to build the plant and move the 787 Dreamliner work to South Carolina interfered with the rights of employees guaranteed under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Is the transfer of work from a unionized plant because of strikes an unfair labor practice? May an employer consider costs in making its decision to transfer work from a unionized plant? Would the transfer of work from a plant have a chilling effect on employee rights to unionize? To strike? What would happen if employers could not transfer work from plants for cost reasons?