S. Carolina Boeing workers reject move to unionize
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — Nearly 3,000 production workers at Boeing’s South Carolina plant have voted not to join the Machinists, maintaining Southern reluctance toward unionization.
“We’re disappointed the workers at Boeing South Carolina will not yet have the opportunity to see all the benefits that come with union representation,” IAM lead organizer Mike Evans said in a statement. “But more than anything, we are disheartened they will have to continue to work under a system that suppresses wages, fosters inconsistency and awards only a chosen few.”
The vote preceded by two days a visit by President Donald Trump to attend the rollout of the first Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner from the aircraft maker’s campus.
If it had been successful, the balloting on whether employees should join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers would have sent a significant message to politicians in the region and Washington that workers here want the same protections and benefits as those in other areas. And, to leaders trying to recruit businesses by promoting their states’ lack of union presence, it would have made their jobs more difficult.
But this most recent test of Southern acceptance of collective bargaining movements was an uphill battle for the union and its backers. The global aviation giant, which came to South Carolina in part because of the state’s minuscule union presence, did so with the aid of millions of dollars in state assistance made possible by officials who spoke out frequently and glowingly with antiunion messages.
“It is an economic development tool,” Gov. Nikki Haley, now ambassador to the United Nations, said in a 2012 address of how she sold companies on coming to the state. “We’ll make the unions understand full well that they are not needed, not wanted and not welcome in the state of South Carolina.”
At least that part of the tactic has worked. Only about 52,000 South Carolina workers have union representation, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2016 figures. Other major manufacturers in the state, including BMW and Michelin, aren’t unionized or haven’t experienced major campaigns to do so. The Machinists initially petitioned for a vote at Boeing in 2015 but withdrew the request.
Another facet of union opposition is political, given the longstanding relationship between organized labor and Democratic politics. Any lenience toward unions could be seen as giving Democrats a toehold here.