With congress going out for another recess and both presidential candidates preoccupied with campaign politics, it seems like everyone has all but forgotten about the most serious issue looming over businesses and the US economy – the pending fiscal abyss. If Washington refuses to face reality and doesn’t take action to address this crisis, on January first we will be hit with $500 billion in tax increases and $109.3 billion in automatic, across-the board budget cuts.

Boeing has launched a new website, nocliff.com, to remind lawmakers that this is a serious threat to our economic security and that these devastating cuts and tax increases will affect every industry and every American. The website highlights the NAM’s study on the impact of the defense spending cuts, which found that the cuts will result in a loss of over 1 million private sector jobs up and down the defense industry supply chain. The website also reinforces the CBO warning that going over the fiscal abyss will mean a significant recession in 2013 and a loss of nearly 2 million jobs. These are numbers that Congress cannot continue to ignore.

With all signs pointing to a severe economic blow next year and the looming uncertainty already effecting businesses and investment, Washington must fix this now. Take action through NAM’s Manufacturing Works website and tell Congress to act before we plunge of the fiscal abyss.

Today the Boeing Company brought the new ecoDemonstrator to Reagan National Airport in Washington. The eco Demonstrator program was started earlier this summer by Boeing, partnering with American Airlines, the FAA and other important partners.  The program uses an all new Boeing Next Generation 737-800 aircraft.

Boeing's ecoDemonstrator at Reagan National Airport.

The goal of the ecoDemonstrator program is to help accelerate advancements and innovation in efficiency, noise, airspace modernization and to reduce the environmental footprint. The ecoDemonstrator that we had the opportunity to tour today has many unique features to help achieve these goals to lead to a sustainable future.

Perhaps the most unique feature on the aircraft is the regenerative fuel cell which converts hydrogen and oxygen gas to electricity and water. The aircraft also features an adaptive trailing edge on the wings that reduces airframe noise on takeoff and landing. To improve efficiency the aircraft has active engine vibration control which allows the engine to run at lower speeds and reduces vibration and noise in the cabin. The ecoDemonstrator even has recyclable carpet tiles that can be individually replaced instead of having to replace the entire carpet in the cabin.

Boeing is continuing test flights of the ecoDemonstrator to gain as much as data about these new features as possible. And hopefully in the future you will see these innovations when you are catching a flight on a future family vacation.

The ecoDemonstrator is another great example of how manufacturers are continuing to innovate to build better and more sustainable products.

A Boeing 787 Dreamliner touched down today at Ronald Reagan National Airport. The aircraft is in town for the Atlantic’s Innovation Summit that is being held this week at the airport.

Boeing's 787 Dreamliner arrives at Reagan National Airport

The Dreamliner is the most advanced and efficient commercial jetliner ever produced. It is a great example of the innovations of modern manufacturing.

The aerospace industry continues to be essential to manufacturing  in the United States. Which is why its important for Washington to provide manufacturers with the tools necessary to compete globally so they can continue to innovate and create new products that can change the world, such as the Dreamliner.

Today was another historic day for the future of the avaition industry in the United States as the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner made its very first commercial flight. The All Nippon Airways flight was a charter flight from Narita to Hong Kong that last about four hours.

The Dreamliner is the most advanced and fuel efficient commercial jetliner ever produced.

Boeing 787 Dreamliner

The aerospace industry is extremely important to innovation and manufacturing in the United States. Yet companies like Boeing are continuing to face regulations and headwinds that make it difficult to compete in the global marketplace. The National Labor Relations Board’s complaint against Boeing is creating uncertainty throughout the economy for manufacturers and has put at risk thousands of jobs in the production of the Dreamliner.

Manufacturers are looking for policies out of Washington that will help them create jobs and foster innovations like the Dreamliner. More regulations just continue to dampen job creation and growth.

Additional media coverage of the Dreamliner’s first commercial flight:

• Associated Press, “Boeing 787′s inaugural flight lands in Hong Kong“
• CNN, “A step forward on Dreamliner flight“
• Washington Post, “Review: Boeing’s 787 won’t fix the chair-kicking kid, but it improves almost everything else“

Today the Boeing Company’s first 787 Dreamliner departed for Japan for delivery to All Nippon Airways Co. marking a historic event in the production of the this new airliner. The Dreamliner is the first commercial airliner to be mostly made of carbon fiber and will be up to 20 percent more fuel-efficient than most of the planes currently being used.

Boeing’s Dreamliner is a great example of our nation’s manufacturing innovation and ingenuity. The aerospace industry is critically important to job growth and the competitiveness of manufacturers here in the United States. It’s also important to remember that the products developed from many of the innovations in the aerospace sector are used to improve the daily lives of people all around the world.

For manufacturers to be able to continually innovate and remain competitive it’s important that they not be saddled with unnecessary and over burdensome regulations. The National Labor Relations Board’s complaint against Boeing threatens thousands of jobs and has created unnecessary uncertainty among employers throughout the nation. 

Manufacturers have made it clear that they need policies from Washington that will allow them to grow and lead the economic recovery. With the right policies in place, manufacturers will be able to create jobs with new innovations such as the Dreamliner.

Sometime soon, the House is slated to vote on a bill (The Protecting Jobs From Government Interference Act, H.R. 2587)that would prohibit the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from forcing a business to shut down, relocate or transfer employment.

The bill will pass the House, though its prospects in the Senate are a little more murky.  The Administration has nevertheless come out and flatly stated that it opposes the measure.  The Wall Street Journal‘s editorial page has more:

In opposing the bill, the White House says “The [National Labor Relations Act] does not restrict the location of company operations, provided companies comply with the law.” But companies don’t live in this land of hypotheticals. The NLRB lawsuit is an explicit attempt to block Boeing from opening its new South Carolina factory, and either the Administration believes the NLRB is appropriately enforcing the law, or it believes the NLRB has exceeded its mandate and needs to be reined in. Now we know it’s on the side of the NLRB, which is run by Mr. Obama’s appointees.

For more on the NLRB’s agenda, be sure to visit the NAM’s labor policy page.  And it’s not too late to urge your representatives in Congress to support jobs.

The House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions held a hearing today about the NLRB.  Here’s an excerpt from Chairman Phil Roe’s opening statement:

The action taken by the National Labor Relations Board against The Boeing Company is a good example. While the facts are still in dispute, the outcome of the case may significantly alter the manner in which employers invest in our economy and our workforce. I recognize the case is in the early stages of what will be costly litigation. But I wonder if anyone seriously doubts the tremendous implications this case poses to our workforce, and could possibly deny Congress’ responsibility to consider those implications, ask questions, and determine what is in the best interest of our workers and their families.

Although this is just one of many cases presented to the NLRB, we must remember the board does not operate in a vacuum. It is an arm of the federal government, and its decisions govern virtually every private workplace in the nation. That is tremendous power that comes with a great responsibility to act on behalf of the public good. I am concerned the board has jettisoned this responsibility over the last two years in favor of an activist agenda designed to advance the cause of Big Labor over  the rights of every day workers.

You can watch the hearing here.  Bloomberg covered the hearing; read its report here.

Lafe Solomon, acting general counsel, National Labor Relations Board, May 9, 2011, statement on Boeing case: “We hope all interested parties respect the legal process, rather than trying to litigate this case in the media and public arena.

Nancy Cleeland, NLRB spokeswoman, interview with The Street, May 18, 2011:

“We are not telling Boeing they can’t build planes in South Carolina,” Cleeland clarified, in an interview. “We are talking about one specific piece of work: three planes a month. If they keep those three planes a month in Washington, there is no problem.” Beyond the ten planes, she said, Boeing could build whatever it wants in South Carolina.

Cleeland said the hysteria ought to be tamped down because the ruling’s implications are not as broad as opponents seem to believe.

It’s arrogance for a government agency to tell its critics to shut up and let the process work, and then comment about how those critics are being hysterical. Very arrogant.

Sundry…

• Three House members from South Carolina took to the House floor Monday to express their opposition to the National Labor Relations Board’s unprecedented complaint against Boeing for locating new production facilities for the 787 Dreamliner in South Carolina instead of unionized Washington State. The remarks by Reps. Trey Gowdy, Jeff Duncan and Mick Mulvaney are available here.

• LaborUnionReport.com theorizes that the NLRB’s actions could eventually work against non-unionized employers, as well. It’s an interesting legal discussion at “Opening Pandora’s Box Beyond Boeing: NLRB’s Attack on Free Enterprise Should Concern All Americans.”

• Richard Trumka, the AFL-CIO president, presented a well-structured, vigorous defense of the NLRB on the Boeing issue in his speech last week at the National Press Club. Trumka said: “While Boeing and the Chamber of Commerce may not like it, the law of the land protects working people who exercise that right against any retaliation by their employers.” And that was it. Reporters did not follow up in the Q&A, showing more interest in football.

• The issue is playing nationally. Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), a strong supporter of manufacturing, raised the NLRB issue in remarks last week at the Marietta Rotary Club. He said: “The National Labor Relations Board has moved in a destructive direction in regards to job creation, not just in favoring unions, but in telling airplane manufacturer Boeing that it was proposing not to all allow it to move a manufacturing facility from Washington, which is pro-union, to South Carolina, which is a right-to-work state, because it would, ‘harm union activities.’ Boeing has determined it works best for them to move part of its manufacturing capability to South Carolina. Think about what that means. Washington power brokers can pick winners and losers.”

From a leader (editorial) in the latest Economist, “Don’t bully Boeing, Barack,” with the secondary headline, “Want to prove you are ‘pro-business’? Condemn a loony-left complaint against America’s biggest exporter.”

The NLRB is an autonomous body, but its board members are appointed by the president. Under a Democratic president, American businesses expect a more pro-union line, but the agency’s recent militancy is shocking, reminiscent of “loony-left” posturing in Britain in the 1970s. Not only does the agency in effect claim the power to tell firms where they may build factories. It is also suing two states (Arizona and South Dakota) where voters have decided that workers should be guaranteed a secret-ballot election before their workplace is unionised. Mr Obama has so far said nothing about any of these cases. The president claims he understands business. Condemning the NLRB would be a good way to prove it.

The magazine also covers the National Labor Relations Board’s complaint against Boeing in an article, “A watchdog bites: A federal agency bashes Boeing“:

Businesspeople everywhere in America are stunned. Employers have a constitutional right to whinge about unions (and vice versa). They are not allowed to punish strikers—by sacking them, for example. But Boeing has done nothing of the sort. No work has been transferred from Boeing’s Puget Sound plant to South Carolina, nor have any IAM members lost their jobs. In 2007 Boeing announced that it would build seven 787s per month in Puget Sound; two years later, to handle the backlog of orders, it announced an expansion to South Carolina. The backlog is so large that Boeing is increasing its workforce at Puget Sound, not cutting it.

We’d like to see a First Amendment expert address the issue mentioned above, the constitutional right to criticize labor. Articles and blog posts have raised the issue, but we have yet to see a full examination of the free speech implication in the NLRB’s complaint.