Hearing opens in labor complaint against Boeing

SEATTLE — Boeing attorney William Kilberg told a judge in Seattle that the company intends to file a motion to dismiss the case as a hearing opened Tuesday.

The National Labor Relations Board accuses Boeing of illegally retaliating against union workers for past strikes by adding a non-union assembly line for its new 787 passenger jet in South Carolina. The NLRB said the remedy should include moving the South Carolina assembly work to Washington state, where other 787s are assembled.

Kilberg says the legal dispute has cast a shadow over the company. He says the process has affected Boeing, its employees, its supplies and its investments.

The case is being heard by administrative law judge Clifford Anderson and is expected to last more than a month.

Oustide the courthouse before the hearing Boeing worker Paul Veltkamp says he thinks the company broke the law.

The complaint filed in April quotes public statements by Boeing executives saying they selected South Carolina in part to avoid future labor disruptions. The complaint says that amounts to discrimination based on union activity.

On Monday, Boeing said the claims are without merit. It says the work in South Carolina is new work and that no member of the International Association of Machinists has lost a job due to the new line.