It’s not just South Carolina that should worry about its prosperity if the extreme move by the National Labor Relations Board against Boeing is upheld. Any states with heavily unionized industrial sectors will find it more difficult to attract new companies.

The Detroit News makes that important point in its editorial today, “Rein in the NLRB: Newly aggressive federal labor agency’s stances illustrate a hostile attitude toward business”:

If the NLRB complaint is upheld in the courts, it will ultimately damage not only the firms that will then be held hostage to their unions, but all heavily unionized states such as Michigan.

What new firm would invest in Michigan knowing that its union could then block its expansion to a less unionized state such as Tennessee or Alabama? The better course would be to start a new firm in a right-to-work state from the beginning.

This move by the NLRB is part of its new, more aggressive tactics, including suits against Arizona and South Dakota seeking to strike down state constitutional amendments that guarantee workers secret ballots in unionization elections.

The News also calls for action on Capitol Hill.

President Barack Obama has made conciliatory sounds seeking to reassure business, but the actions of the NLRB illustrate the real face of his administration. Congress ought to hold hearings on reining in the NLRB.

In February Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) sponsored an amendment to H.R. 1, the continuing resolution, to defund the NLRB, but it failed 176-250. With the spending bill now law, political leverage against the board declines.