By KENT HOOVER
khoover@bizjournals.com

The business community won a victory in the House in its war against the National Labor Relations Board and opened another front against the agency in the courts.

On Sept. 15, the House voted 238-186 to bar the NLRB from ordering an employer to relocate jobs or shut down a facility, even if the employer has violated labor laws.

The mostly party-line vote came in response to NLRB's complaint against Boeing Co. over the company's decision to open a second production line for the 787 Dreamliner airplane at a non-union plant in South Carolina. The NLRB accused Boeing of moving this work to South Carolina, a right-to-work state, in retaliation for past strikes by unionized workers in Washington state. The agency is seeking a court order forcing Boeing to maintain the production line in Washington.

Republicans and many business groups contend NLRB has no right to interfere with a company's decision on where to locate facilities. NLRB's action against Boeing, they argued, is discouraging businesses from opening new facilities out of fear of being second-guessed by the agency.

Democrats contended the House bill would gut the NLRB's ability to enforce the nation's labor laws. The bill isn't likely to pass the Senate.

Meanwhile, three business groups filed lawsuits against the NLRB over its new rule requiring businesses to post notices about employees' rights to form a union. Lawsuits filed by the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Federation of Independent Business and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce contend the NLRB exceeded its authority in issuing this regulation.

The new rule, which is scheduled to go into effect Nov. 14, also violates the First Amendment because it forces employers "to use their own resources to post the NLRB's pro-union message on the company's own property," said Robin Conrad, executive vice president of the National Chamber Litigation Center.

"It is clear that the NLRB has strayed from its role as an impartial arbiter to instead become just an extension of labor unions,"" said NFIB President and CEO Dan Danner. "This new atmosphere has created a chilling effect on businesses of all sizes."