(AP) -- WASHINGTON (AP) - The National Labor Relations Board has officially dropped its high-profile case challenging Boeing's decision to open a nonunion plant in South Carolina.
The move Friday came after the Machinists union approved a 4-year contract extension with Boeing earlier this week and agreed to withdraw its charge that the company violated labor laws.
Lafe Solomon, the agency's acting general counsel, says settlement is the outcome he had always preferred. The agency settles about 90 percent of its cases.
Under the deal, Boeing promised to build the new version of the 737 in Washington state and the Machinists agreed to drop allegations that Boeing opened the South Carolina plant in retaliation for previous strikes.
Despite intense criticism of the case, Solomon says he was following the law and would do it again.
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