Boeing IAM Materials

This message is to confirm your request submission to the FOIAonline application: View Request. Request information is as follows: (https://www.foiaonline.gov/foiaonline/action/public/submissionDetails?trackingNumber=NLRB-2018-001093&type=request)
* Tracking Number: NLRB-2018-001093
* Requester Name: Chris Brooks
* Date Submitted: 07/16/2018
* Request Status: Submitted
* Description: To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
Any and all materials related to the certification elections, negotiations, collective bargaining agreements, and unfair labor practices filed by or about the International Association of Machinists at the Boeing plant in North Charleston, South Carolina from July 7, 2009 to the present.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Chris Brooks

The FOIA request NLRB-2018-001093 has had its Tracking Number changed to NLRB-2018-001093. This is normally due to the request being transferred to another agency (for example, EPA to Dept. of Commerce) or to a sub-agency to process it. Additional details for this request are as follows:
* Old Tracking Number: NLRB-2018-001093
* New Tracking Number: NLRB-2018-001093
* Requester Name: Chris Brooks
* Date Submitted: 07/16/2018
* Long Description: To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
Any and all materials related to the certification elections, negotiations, collective bargaining agreements, and unfair labor practices filed by or about the International Association of Machinists at the Boeing plant in North Charleston, South Carolina from July 7, 2009 to the present.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Chris Brooks

Dear Mr. Brooks:
The above-mentioned FOIA requests have been assigned to me for handling. I will be processing these requests together as they appear to be seeking duplicate and/or overlapping information. Specifically, the two requests broadly seek "any and all materials" related to the International Association of Machinists and the Boeing Company at the Boeing Plant North Charleston, South Carolina dating back to January 2007.
After conducting a quick search in our electronic case file, it appears that your request, as currently written, would cover a voluminous set of records contained in the case files for thirty-one representation cases (R-cases) and unfair labor practice cases (CA or CB cases). Some preliminary information about these matters can be found on the relevant case page on the public NLRB website, which you can view by clicking the links below:
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/10-CA-083711 (closed)
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/10-CA-093704 (closed)*
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/10-CA-096580 (closed)
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/10-CA-101357 (closed)*
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/10-CA-150341 (closed)
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/10-CA-151396 (closed)*
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/10-CA-165431 (closed)
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/10-CA-171452 (closed)
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/10-CA-184371 (closed)
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/10-CA-185828 (closed)
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/10-CA-188281 (closed)
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/10-CA-190283 (closed)
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/10-CA-204795 (open)
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/10-CA-222931 (open)
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/10-RC-148171 (closed)
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/10-RC-191563 (closed)*
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/10-RC-215878 (open)*
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/11-CA-022413 (closed)
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/11-CA-022416 (closed)
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/11-CA-022558 (closed)
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/11-CA-077979 (closed)*
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/11-CB-003993 (closed)
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/11-CB-004306 (closed)
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/11-CB-004313 (closed)*
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/11-CB-071705 (closed)*
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/11-CB-071710 (closed)*
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/11-CB-071739 (closed)
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/11-RC-006709 (closed)
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/11-RC-006711 (closed)
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/11-RC-006716 (closed)*
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/11-RD-000723 (closed)*

As you will notice, I have indicated whether or not each potentially responsive matter is a closed or open case next to each linked webpage. To the extent you are seeking documents / information / correspondence in open case files, you will be limited in what you can get under the FOIA. Most of the responsive records in open case files are not releasable at this time. On the other hand, there are several types of records that would generally be available in closed cases. Moreover, the Agency proactively releases records in some instances. Above, I have placed an asterisk next to the case pages where investigatory records are already publicly available on our website.
In order to complete my search for responsive records, it would be helpful if we could have a discussion over the phone regarding the types of records typically contained in our case files, what specifically you may be looking for and what is disclosable under the FOIA at this time. I'm hoping that a review of the above-listed case pages in advance of any discussion may help to clarify and narrow your request.
Please reach out to me at your earliest convenience so we can discuss these requests. You can contact me via email at marissa.wagner@nlrb.gov<mailto:marissa.wagner@nlrb.gov> or by phone at 202.23.2957.
Sincerely,
-Marissa Wagner

[Agency Seal_vector]

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
National Labor Relations Board
FOIA Branch
1015 Half Street, S.E., 4th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20570
Tel: (202) 273-2957
marissa.wagner@nlrb.gov<mailto:marissa.wagner@nlrb.gov>

Dear Mr. Brooks,

Thank you for the email. You request has been pending in my queue since our last communications in early August in which you clarified the information being sought. It is in process, but it will take some time due to our backlog. Currently, your request is 12 in my queue of approximately 25. However, we do try to get responses out to media requesters as soon as we can. If you have an immediate deadline and/or if there is a more limited set of records that you might be willing to narrow to at this time, please reach out to me and I can see what I can do to get you a faster response. Also please feel free to continue reaching out to me directly for status updates.

Your patience is appreciated at this time.

Sincerely,
-Marissa Wagner

National Labor Relations Board
FOIA Branch
1015 Half Street, S.E., 4th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20570
Tel: (202) 273-2957
marissa.wagner@nlrb.gov<mailto:marissa.wagner@nlrb.gov>

The FOIA request - NLRB-2018-001093 description has been modified. Additional details for this item are as follows:
* Tracking Number: NLRB-2018-001093
* Requester: Chris Brooks
* Submitted Date: 07/16/2018
* Description: To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
Any and all materials related to the certification elections, negotiations, collective bargaining agreements, and unfair labor practices filed by or about the International Association of Machinists at the Boeing plant in North Charleston, South Carolina from July 7, 2009 to the present.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Chris Brooks

Dear Mr. Brooks,

This is in response to your status inquiry that was faxed into my office yesterday. Your request is still pending in queue for processing. It is currently number 6 in line for my review. Again, I do apologize for any inconvenience caused by the delay in our response resulting from the agency's foia backlog but I do hope to start processing the responsive records soon. Please continue to reach out to me directly at my individual email (marissa.wagner@nlrb.gov<mailto:marissa.wagner@nlrb.gov>) or phone number (202.273.2957) for a quicker response. The faxes sometimes don't get forwarded to me right away.

Sincerely,
-Marissa Wagner

Dear Mr. Brooks,

As previously indicated, the FOIA Branch is currently operating under a significant backlog. Your request is still backlogged and remains behind a few larger, time consuming requests that I have also been assigned to handle. I do apologize for the continued delay in getting a response out to you, and greatly appreciate your patience.

If you wish to discuss directly, please do not hesitate to contact me at the phone number below. You can also contact our FOIA Liaison with any questions or concerns at (202) 273-2929 or by email at: Patricia.Weth@nlrb.gov<mailto:Patricia.Weth@nlrb.gov>.

Sincerely,

Marissa A. Wagner
FOIA Branch
National Labor Relations Board
[Agency Seal_vector]1015 Half Street, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20570
Tel: (202) 273-2957
marissa.wagner@nlrb.gov<mailto:marissa.wagner@nlrb.gov>

Dear Mr. Brooks,

Again, I apologize for the delay and any inconvenience. Due to staffing levels, the Agency continues to have a FOIA backlog. There is one particularly large and complex request ahead of yours that had to be assigned to me which is taking significant time to review and process. However, your request is the next in my queue. I anticipate turning to your request to begin my review of the requested records in the next two weeks.

If you wish to discuss directly, you may contact me at the phone number below. You can also contact our FOIA Liaison with any questions or concerns at (202) 273-2929 or by email at: Patricia.Weth@nlrb.gov<mailto:Patricia.Weth@nlrb.gov<mailto:Patricia.Weth@nlrb.gov%3cmailto:Patricia.Weth@nlrb.gov>>.

Sincerely,

Marissa A. Wagner
FOIA Branch
National Labor Relations Board
[Agency Seal_vector]1015 Half Street, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20570
Tel: (202) 273-2957
marissa.wagner@nlrb.gov<mailto:marissa.wagner@nlrb.gov>

Dear Mr. Brooks,

Your requests are being actively processed at this time. With respect to the request for materials related to the Vought plant (ie NLRB-2018-001094), I have completed my search of our electronic casehandling system and found responsive records. Additional paper files were located at one of our Regional Offices. Some of these records still need to be looked over for responsiveness and releasability. Others have already been forwarded for supervisory review. We hope to have a response re: the Vought request to you soon.

With respect to your other FOIA request (ie NLRB-2018-001093), it is also in active processing status. However, this request is much broader in scope and will take some time for me to complete. After I finish my initial search for potentially responsive records, I may reach out to further narrow its scope.

If you wish discuss anything stated in this email, please feel free to contact me at the telephone number or email listed below.

Sincerely,

Marissa A. Wagner
FOIA Branch
National Labor Relations Board
[Agency Seal_vector]1015 Half Street, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20570
Tel: (202) 273-2957
marissa.wagner@nlrb.gov<mailto:marissa.wagner@nlrb.gov>

Dear Mr. Brooks,

This is in response to your inquiry dated March 21st. Your requests continue to be actively processed.

With respect to the request for materials related to the Vought plant (ie NLRB-2018-001094), I am continuing to go through the paper files that were provided by our Regional Office for responsiveness and releasability. After I complete my processing of those paper records, I will reach out to you about potentially further narrowing the scope of NLRB-2018-001093.

If you wish discuss anything stated in this email, please feel free to contact me at the telephone number or email listed below.

Sincerely,

Marissa A. Wagner
FOIA Branch

Good Morning Mr. Brooks,

I am working on the Vought request actively now and hope to have a response to you soon.

Thank you,
-Marissa Wagner

Hi Mr. Brooks,

I have completed my initial processing of the records related to the Vought plant. My recommendations are now pending supervisory review. I will check in with my manager after the holiday weekend to see where she is in her review process.

Thank you,
-Marissa Wagner

Hi Mr. Brooks,

I am just waiting on final approval from my FOIA Officer to release the processed Vought records. They should be going out soon.

Based on the file size of the responsive records, you will likely receive multiple emails with attachments. If you would rather have all of the records burned to a CD and mailed to you, just let me know and we can issue our response that way as well.

Best,
-Marissa Wagner

The FOIA request - NLRB-2018-001093 description has been modified. Additional details for this item are as follows:
* Tracking Number: NLRB-2018-001093
* Requester: Chris Brooks
* Submitted Date: 07/16/2018
* Description: Any and all materials related to the certification elections, negotiations, collective bargaining agreements, and unfair labor practices filed by or about the International Association of Machinists at the Boeing plant in North Charleston, South Carolina from July 7, 2009 to the present.

Hi Mr. Brooks:

I am following up on your status inquiry (attached). I'm not sure why I am no longer receiving your status inquires via email. They keep coming through our fax instead and so there is a delay in my seeing them.

We issued our response re the Vought records on July 8th. The responsive records should have been attached to two separate emails. Can you please confirm receipt of the Vought records?

I am still working on processing your other FOIA request, NLRB-2018-001093, which seeks additional information from several IAM/Boeing case files.

Please feel free to reach out to me directly via email or phone at the contact info listed below with any further questions or concerns.
Thanks,

Marissa A. Wagner
FOIA Branch
National Labor Relations Board
[Agency Seal_vector]1015 Half Street, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20570
Tel: (202) 273-2957
marissa.wagner@nlrb.gov<mailto:marissa.wagner@nlrb.gov>

Dear Mr. Brooks:

I am following up on your inquiry to the FOIA Liaison regarding the status of NLRB-2018-001093. I apologize for the delay in providing the responsive records but this is a very broad request seeking records relating to IAM and Boeing in North Charleston, South Carolina for the last 10 years.
As in explained in my initial email, my searches revealed over 30 separate case files that may contain responsive records. By email dated August 3, 2018, you clarified you were seeking documentation of charges pursued by the NLRB against the employer Boeing and the subsequent result of charges (excluding materials related to charges in which the NLRB dismissed the charge or charges were withdrawn). You also said you were interested in any investigatory materials reflecting the nature of the workforce, the construction of the plant, the classification of employees, etc. as well as any documents submitted by the South Carolina attorney general and governor or the governors of Tennessee, Mississippi, and/or Maine in support of Boeing's current case against the IAM. I am continuing to go through the case files to determine what materials may be responsive to your clarified request and to process the releasable material in them for applicable FOIA exemptions. A number of these Boeing cases remain open or related to open matters and so I also have to determine and take into consideration current case statuses in my review of the responsive materials. In addition, some of the responsive material appears to be covered by a protective order entered into by the parties. Please do not hesitate to reach out to discuss theses search results and whether you might be interested in further narrowing in order to move things along more quickly, especially given the confidentiality limitations on some of the records. It would probably be easiest to discuss over the phone. You can reach me directly at 202.273.2957.
Again, I would reiterate that the Agency has published some information about the Boeing cases to its webpage. In particular, there is some substantive information contained in the case file records available at the following webpages that may be helpful to you while we are continuing to process this request. I would highlight specifically the first case file, i.e. Case No. 10-RC-215878, which contains a link to a recent Board Order that issued on 9-9-2019 as well as certain amici briefs that are responsive to your request.
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/10-RC-215878
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/10-CA-093704
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/10-RC-191563
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/11-CB-004313
https://www.nlrb.gov/case/11-CA-077979
Lastly, I presume you received our response relating to your other FOIA request (NLRB-2018-001094) which sought materials relating to the Vought plant in SC. I sent an email on August 6, 2019 asking for confirmation of your receipt of those materials and did not hear back. If for some reason you did not receive our response in NLRB-2018-001094, please let me know and I can make sure we send out hard copies of those records promptly.
Thank you,
-Marissa Wagner

Marissa A. Wagner
FOIA Branch
National Labor Relations Board
[Agency Seal_vector]1015 Half Street, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20570
Tel: (202) 273-2957
marissa.wagner@nlrb.gov<mailto:marissa.wagner@nlrb.gov>

Dear Mr. Brooks,

I am following up regarding the above-referenced FOIA request. I do apologize for our delay in processing this request, but the FOIA Branch has been operating under a significant backlog this past year. We are working hard to close out our older requests, including this request.

Based on the significant amount of time that has passed, I first wanted to confirm that you are still interested in pursuing this request. I don't believe I have heard from you since I sent the below email on September 18, 2019 to discuss your request and provide additional information about what is already available on our public website.

If you are interested in your request, please respond to this email. I realize it has been some period of time since you initially filed your FOIA request so it would be beneficial to discuss over the phone (including potentially further narrowing as this is an extremely voluminous request). You can reach out to me at the phone number listed below.

If you are no longer interested in the request or the information on the website was satisfactory, you do not need to respond to this email. After thirty working days on May 22, 2020, your request will be closed.

Sincerely,
-Marissa Wagner

FOIA Branch
National Labor Relations Board
[Agency Seal_vector]1015 Half Street, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20570
Tel: (202) 273-2957
marissa.wagner@nlrb.gov<mailto:marissa.wagner@nlrb.gov>

Dear Mr. Brooks:

I just wanted to follow up on this FOIA request one last time as my last two communications to you on April 10, 2020 and September 18, 2019 have gone unanswered.

At this point, we presume you are no longer interested in pursuing this request. If that is the case, there is no need to do anything more. As previously explained, we will issue a letter administratively closing this request on May 22nd.

However, before closing out this FOIA request, we did want to reach out to you one last time. Please be advised that you will need to contact me, either by phone or e-mail, by noon Eastern Time on Friday, May 22, 2020, to confirm that you are still interested in the originally requested information and to discuss how to proceed with processing. Otherwise, as explained above, this request will be administratively closed.

Sincerely,
Marissa Wagner

FOIA Branch
National Labor Relations Board
[Agency Seal_vector]1015 Half Street, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20570
Tel: (202) 273-2957
marissa.wagner@nlrb.gov<mailto:marissa.wagner@nlrb.gov>

Dear Mr. Brooks:  In response to your FOIA request, attached please find the FOIA Branch’s final admin closure letter. If you have questions, you may contact FOIA Attorney Marissa Wagner at (202) 273-2957, or by email at marissa.wagner@nlrb.gov.

PLEASE DO NOT REPLY DIRECTLY TO THIS E-MAIL; THIS IS NOT A MONITORED EMAIL ACCOUNT.