Boeing has sent a detailed and very tough letter to Lafe Solomon, the acting general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, for repeatedly mischaracterizing the company’s actions in locating new production facilities in South Carolina.  The letter from J. Michael Luttig, Boeing’s executive vice president and general counsel, begins:

I write regarding statements in your complaint and elsewhere – including statements attributed to you in the New York Times on April 23 – about Boeing’s decision to place its new 787 final assembly line in South Carolina. A number of these statements, which are critical to your case against Boeing, fundamentally misquote or mischaracterize statements by Boeing executives and actions taken by the Company. You have a responsibility to correct these misquotations and mischaracterization , for the public record and also for purposes of the complaint you have filed. Through these misquotations and mischaracterizations, you have done a grave disservice to The Boeing Company, its executives and shareholders, and to the 160,000 Boeing employees worldwide. And, of course, you have filed a complaint based upon these misstatements that cannot be credibly maintained under law.

Luttig follows with point-by-point refutation of Solomon’s claims. The letter concludes:

Boeing intends to put this pattern of misquotations and mischaracterizations before the Administrative Law Judge, and ultimately, before the National Labor Relations Board itself in upcoming proceeding, Mr. Solomon. To the extent they reflect misunderstandings of the facts on your part, we would expect your prompt withdrawal of this complaint.

The Washington Examiner has posted the full letter at Scribd here. The Examiner’s Philip Klein reports further, “Boeing slams NLRB for making false accusations.”

The Everett (Wash.) Herald had the story Tuesday, “Boeing issues sharp response to labor complaint.”