House Committee Approves Protecting Jobs From Government Interference Act

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce has approved the Protecting Jobs From Government Interference Act (H.R. 2587), legislation to prohibit the National Labor Relations Board from ordering any employer to relocate, shut down, or transfer a business under any circumstance.

According to the bill’s proponents Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN), Reps. Phil Roe (R-TN), Joe Wilson (R-SC), and Trey Gowdy (R-SC), and Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC), H.R. 2587 will prevent the NLRB from dictating the location of American jobs.

Specifically, the proposed legislation:

• Amends the National Labor Relations Act to prohibit the NLRB from ordering any employer to relocate, shut down, or transfer employment under any circumstance. This legislation eliminates an extreme enforcement remedy available to the board; more than a dozen alternative remedies remain available to hold employers accountable for unlawful labor practices.

• Limits the NLRB’s authority in all cases that have not reached final adjudication before the board.

• Fosters a positive environment for American employers to develop their businesses in the state that offers the best opportunities for growth and job creation.

The National Labor Relations Act currently empowers the NLRB to order employers to close or relocate American workplaces, sponsors of the proposed legislation explained.

• On April 20, the NLRB filed a complaint against The Boeing Company for creating work in South Carolina and demanded the work be transferred to Puget Sound, Washington.

• If successful, the NLRB’s action may destroy thousands of South Carolina jobs and have a chilling effect on job creators across the country.

• Despite repeated requests for documents that may shed greater light on this case, the NLRB has obstructed congressional oversight and refused to provide meaningful information.

• The NLRB has more than a dozen enforcement tools at its disposal that can be utilized to hold employers accountable for unlawful labor practices; there is no reason it should be empowered to dictate where a private business can establish its workforce.
 
Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC): “The NLRB is designed to be an impartial arbiter, not an ideologically driven institution catering to the wishes of one specific constituency. Their recent actions, from the promulgation of rules designed to expedite union elections to the legally insufficient complaint against Boeing, indicate a trend towards political calculations at the expense of fundamental fairness. H.R. 2587, the Protecting Jobs From Government Interference Act, begins the process of reining in the NLRB’s activist agenda.”

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