02/16/2017
BREAKING NEWS
February 15, 2017
Boeing SC workers
vote down unionization
By Liz Segrist
[email protected]
Boeing S.C. workers rejected unionization today, meaning the Boeing Co. will maintain a direct relationship with workers at the 787 Dreamliner campus in North Charleston.
The vote overwhelming, with 2,097 out of 2,828 workers — 74% — choosing to reject unionization through the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
Around 3,000 production workers out of the 8,000 employees were eligible to vote in the election, which took place throughout the day at Boeing’s North Charleston facilities. The National Labor Relations Board will certify the results over the next week or so.
“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,” said Mike Evans, lead S.C. organizer for the Machinists union. “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.”
Evans and other union representatives are on their way back to the union office in North Charleston for a news conference.
Workers must wait one year before another election can be held, according to NLRB rules. The IAM said it plans to “on remaining in close contact with union supporters at Boeing and members of the Charleston community to figure out the best path moving forward.”
“Ultimately it will be the workers who dictate what happens next,” Evans said in the release. “We’ve been fortunate enough to talk with hundreds of Boeing workers over the past few years. Nearly every one of them, whether they support the union or not, have improvements they want to see at Boeing. Frankly, they deserve better.”
For Boeing leadership and anti-union workers, the election results are a big win. “We will continue to move forward as one team,” said Joan Robinson-Berry, vice president and general manager of Boeing S.C., in a news release. “We have a bright future ahead of us and are eager to focus on the accomplishments of this great team and to developing new opportunities.
“Friday we will mark the most recent incredible accomplishment in the proud history of the BSC team with the rollout of the first 787-10. It is great to have this vote behind us as we come together to celebrate that event.”
Boeing and the IAM have campaigned fiercely over the past few months, with a flood of advertisements, all-company meetings and union rallies.
Boeing S.C. leaders have repeatedly said they want to have a direct relationship with the North Charleston employees. They said unionization would have impeded workers’ ability to brainstorm and collaborate on solutions to production issues.
Unionization of the Boeing plant — one of the largest manufacturing facilities in South Carolina — would have come as a shock in a typically anti-union red state. South Carolina has the lowest unionization rate in the country, with 2.1% of the state’s workforce represented by a union in 2015, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Many politicians, including former Gov. Nikki Haley, are fiercely opposed to unions planting roots in the state. Many have said unionization would hurt state efforts to recruit and retain companies. South Carolina has become known as a manufacturing powerhouse in recent years as Boeing, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, Michelin and BMW have either set up shop or expanded longtime operations.
With union membership in general declining in recent years, securing such a major win in South Carolina would likely have served as a big selling point for future campaigns across the country.
The union had promised to negotiate for more consistent work schedules, more respect from management and higher wages. Workers have said they want wages on par with Washington counterparts, who also work on 787s. Boeing has said wages are dependent on each region’s cost of living.
Some workers have argued that Charleston’s rising popularity has made it a more expensive place to live and that their wages are not keeping pace. One Boeing S.C. employee, who relocated from New York to work in composite manufacturing at the North Charleston facility, said, “People are not used to decent-paying jobs here.”
“A lot of people in South Carolina haven’t had the opportunity to make this kind of money before, so maybe they don’t feel like they have the self-worth to ask for higher wages,” said the worker, who asked to remain anonymous but verified employment with a badge. “But we are not being paid equally for the product we build compared to Washington state workers who do the same work.”
Boeing leaders have said the union will make money off workers’ dues while making promises it cannot necessarily keep, depending on how negotiations go.
“The IAM has made a lot of empty promises in this campaign, in an attempt to get votes,” Boeing spokeswoman Elizabeth Merida said previously in an email. “The union wants teammates to believe that they will get Seattle wages in South Carolina, but in reality, the IAM negotiates pay based on the region. ... No matter what the IAM claims, the truth is that pay and benefits are open to negotiation in the collective bargaining process. Wages and benefits can stay the same, go up, or go down. There are no guarantees.”
