Union vote postponedat Boeing, but fight isn’t over

The cancellation Friday of a vote to unionize Boeing by the largest aerospace labor group in North America may lower the noise level for a few months, but another contentious battle likely lies ahead.

The International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers can try again within six months to usher support among Boeing’s 3,200 production and maintenance workers at the 265-acre airplane assembly plant in North Charleston, experts say.

The IAM withdrew its petition to the National Labor Relations Board for Wednesday’s election and filed a complaint, citing “a toxic environment and gross violations of workers’ lawful organizing rights.”

“Boeing’s campaign of rumors and threats may have succeeded in delaying this election, but the fight to win collective bargaining rights for thousands of Boeing South Carolina workers is far from over,” said Mike Evans, IAM’s lead organizer on the stalled effort.

Rescheduling elections is a pattern with unions, according to national employer attorney Michael D. Carrouth of Columbia.

“In the last two campaigns I handled against the IAM, the union withdrew the day before the vote,” said Carrouth, who has represented employers against the union four times. Those fights were in Washington state, Maine, North Carolina and South Carolina – and the employers won all of them, he said.

“The union can start right back up with activity,” Carrouth said. “If they see they are not going to win, they will withdraw because that gives them more flexibility in trying to make a future run involving the same people. There’s nothing that ever, ever stops or prevents the union.”

If the IAM had gone ahead with the scheduled vote and failed to win, no other votes could be held at the Charleston plant for one year, Carrouth said.

The union’s retreat resulted in softer rhetoric Friday from the company and Gov. Nikki Haley, whom BloombergBusiness dubbed “Boeing’s best union-buster.”

Boeing’s vice president and general manager, Beverly Wyse, thanked employees for the chance to work in more harmony. “We now have the opportunity to make Boeing, South Carolina and our local community an even better place to work and live.”

Haley’s office said, “We are proud of our loyal workforce, their unmatched work ethic and the strong, direct relationships they have with employers in our state. In South Carolina, our workers know that we always have their back.”

During the organizing campaign, the governor appeared in ads and often slammed the union on Facebook and Twitter.

IAM spokesman Frank Larkin told Bloomberg, “At this point, it’s hard to tell the difference between Boeing and Nikki Haley. The implication that people are left with is that if you support collective bargaining rights in South Carolina, you are somehow opposing the official position of South Carolina.”

“I think that it’s unfortunate if they do withdraw,” said Hoyt Wheeler, a retired professor from the USC Moore School of Business and author of three books on the value of unions said before the decision was announced.

“Unions are viewed very unfavorably by the public. But people don’t understand the enduring conflict between the needs of capital and of labor,” Wheeler said. “People that believe unions aren’t necessary don’t understand that.”

This story was originally published April 17, 2015 at 11:45 PM with the headline "Union vote postponedat Boeing, but fight isn’t over."