Big Labor’s Back Door Into Boeing

Rejected last year, the machinists now have a ‘micro’ strategy with wide implications.

Boeing workers in North Charleston, S.C., are united—against union representation. So should a small subset of employees be allowed to organize anyway, even if it potentially harms the rest? That’s the question before the National Labor Relations Board this week. And what happens will have national significance, especially as technology makes manufacturing work more specialized.

The drama began last week when NLRB Regional Director John Doyle Jr. gave the approval for 178 production and maintenance workers on the flight...