Production workers at Boeing Co.’s Dreamliner campus in
North Charleston soon may decide whether they will be represented by the
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, as organized
labor makes one of its largest pushes into South Carolina despite the state’s
long anti-union history.
Known by its abbreviated IAM acronym, the union filed a
petition Monday with the National Labor Relations Board to hold an election
that would determine whether more than 2,400 employees at the Boeing plant will
be eligible for collective bargaining.
Such an election could take place within about six weeks
if there are no challenges to the petition. If Boeing files a challenge and a
hearing is required, a vote could take months.
This would be the first large-scale, private industry
union effort in South Carolina — a state with the second-lowest percentage of
union workers, behind North Carolina — since textiles ruled the Palmetto
State’s economy decades ago.
Monday’s announcement had both sides claiming to speak
for the average Boeing worker, while Gov. Nikki Haley called the union a
“bully” and said “you will see us fight” against the IAM’s effort.
“You will see us expose them for the hypocrites that they
are, and I think you will see the associates at Boeing respond accordingly,”
Haley said in a statement.
Whatever the outcome, one labor expert said he doesn’t
expect much to change in South Carolina.
“The general culture and climate in South Carolina has
been well-established — people who work here aren’t inclined to fall in with
organized labor,” said Michael Carrouth, a Columbia lawyer who specializes in
labor law. “Even if the union wins (at Boeing), I can’t imagine it will change
the whole tone of South Carolina.”
And Carrouth can’t imagine the IAM winning.
“I would be completely shocked,” Carrouth said, adding
that the size of the eligible workforce, organized labor’s perception as an
outsider in South Carolina and Boeing’s reputation as a blue-chip aerospace
employer works against the union.
“The union is in a difficult spot,” he said.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace
Workers on Monday filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to
hold an election for more than 2,400 production employees at Boeing South
Carolina in North Charleston.
IAM officials said a “significant number” of Boeing
workers signed authorization cards expressing interest in union representation.
The specific number of workers who signed cards is not being released, although
the union has to get at least 30 percent of eligible workers to sign a card in
order to call for an election.
“It is about wages, it is about hours and it is about
working conditions,” said Mike Evans, a local union organizer. “Those three
things are probably equal in value to the workers here. It’s not all about
wages. A lot of it is just about dignity on the job.”
A Boeing spokeswoman said the company is opposed to the
union because it wants to keep an open culture of collaboration between workers
and management.
“We’ve said for the past five years that we don’t believe
a union is in the best interest of our teammates, our business, our community
nor our state, and we think it’s important that our teammates, friends,
business colleagues and community leaders in South Carolina know that our
position has not changed,” Boeing spokeswoman Candy Eslinger said in a
statement.
Beverly Wyse, vice president and general manager of
Boeing South Carolina, added that the plant’s “teammates have done what so many
people said couldn’t be done.”
“And they did it by working together, engaging every day,
and truly committing themselves to the success of our site,” Wyse said. “And
let’s be really clear, the IAM was not part of this success — it was our BSC
teammates.”
The union’s attempts to organize Boeing workers have been
met with resistance from Haley, who recently used her State of the State
address to attack unions.
“I will say it again like I’ve always said it: The reason
South Carolina doesn’t have unions is because our companies understand the
importance of taking care of those that take care of them,” Haley said Monday.
Evans said Haley has “no clue what it’s like to be a
front-line production employee for Boeing,” and called on the governor to stay
neutral during the union vote.
Both sides have been paying for billboards and radio
advertisements, including one ad that Haley recorded for Boeing. The union and
Boeing also have dueling websites urging employees to take their side.
Frank Larkin, a national IAM spokesman, said workers at
Boeing’s Dreamliner plant reached out to the union regarding numerous workplace
concerns, including forced overtime, fair wages and a lack of respect on the
shop floor.
“We’re trying to build a better life for ourselves, our
families and our community,” four-year Boeing employee Gerald Guerena said in a
statement. “We feel the best way to do this is with a collective-bargaining
agreement that allows us to negotiate with the company over wages, benefits,
safety procedures and more.”
The IAM released a video on YouTube over the weekend in
which several people were interviewed about their support for a union at
Boeing.
Guerena said in the video that “there’s a big
inconsistency among management, even among shifts in the same department”
“People are treated differently even though Boeing has
distinct qualities and procedures, guidelines that they are supposed to
follow,” Guerena said. “My experience through the union, these guidelines that
are set forth through the contract have to be adhered to, otherwise there are
consequences.”
Another Boeing production worker, Arnold Michel, said
during the video that his home is in foreclosure.
“My wife had a stroke, now the bills are coming in (and)
I got to sell my home,” Michel said. “If the union comes in, you might not get
your better wages now, but sooner or later, they’re gonna start. You’re gonna
start getting your fair share. I say learn from me.”
Eslinger said in a statement that Boeing’s workers
“deserve to pave their own future and keep their hard-earned money in their own
pockets rather than be locked into a contract and pay union dues to an
organization that hasn’t contributed one bit to job growth in South Carolina
and has repeatedly insulted our teammates, their experience and capabilities.”
The National Labor Relations Board will review the
petition to determine whether the union has met all the requirements to call
for a vote. If the petition is granted, the NLRB is expected to issue election
dates and locations in the coming weeks.
Boeing has an estimated 7,500 workers here. The union
petition does not cover any workers at Boeing’s propulsion facility, which held
its grand opening in February and will make engine inlet components for the
single-body 737-MAX airplane and design and engineer engine components for the
wide-body 777-X.
South Carolina’s status as a right-to-work state means
that no worker can be required to join a union. So, even if the IAM wins the
vote, Boeing employees still can choose not to join. Any collective bargaining
agreement, however, would cover all eligible Boeing workers, whether or not
they join the union.
Source: The Post
and Courier
No comments:
Post a Comment