THE factory squats on 610,000 square feet of land in North Charleston, South Carolina, and represents an investment of over $1 billion. It is scheduled to begin producing aeroplanes in July-Boeing's 787 Dreamliners, 835 of which have already been ordered for around $162 billion. It will employ thousands of workers: good news in a state where unemployment hovers around 10%. Unless, that is, the federal government shuts it down. In March 2010, District Lodge 751 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (iam), which represents workers at Boeing's Washington and Oregon plants, filed a complaint against Boeing with the National Labour Relations Board (nlrb), a federal agency that investigates allegations of unfair labour practices. The union charged that Boeing's decision to put a second production line of 787s in South Carolina (most of the planes will still be built at its Pacific Northwest plants) violated American labour laws. On April 20th of this year the nlrb's acting general counsel upheld the complaint.
展开▼
