Some of SC’s biggest industries get pulled into political fights

Business and politics intersected twice this week in South Carolina, probably not for the last time this election season.

BMW waded into a political dispute over tariffs Wednesday after an S.C. political operative suggested President Donald Trump’s trade policy would cause them to reduce production at its Spartanburg plant.

That same day, 23 Democratic U.S. senators wrote to Boeing urging the company to recognize the results of a union vote at its North Charleston facility.

BMW pushes back against SC Democratic chairman

The German-based auto manufacturer said this week “the rumor is totally false” that BMW will reduce the number of cars made at its massive S.C. plant because of potential tariffs on its vehicles, company spokesman Steve Wilson said in a story in the Greenville News.

The statement was in response to comments from S.C. Democratic Party Chair Trav Robertson, who suggested BMW could shift “a majority” of its production out of the country as a result of Trump’s tariff policy, the News reports.

Robertson made the comments at a Clemson event Tuesday for Mary Geren, the Democratic candidate for Congress in the 3rd District.

China imposed steep tariffs on U.S. imports in July in response to similar U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods and parts. Also that month, BMW announced it would increase production in China to “lower its reliance on imports from a U.S. factory,” Bloomberg reported at the time.

But BMW spokesman Ken Sparks told the Greenville News at the time the change to production in China was long planned.

“Spartanburg production is not affected by the additional production in China,” Sparks said.

On Monday, S.C. Commerce Secretary Bobby Hitt met with BMW executives at the plant in Greer, but a Commerce spokeswoman declined to tell the Greenville News whether the meeting included discussion of economic uncertainty brought on by trade war talk.

Instead, the meeting focused on the progress of last year’s expansion announcement, the Commerce Department said.

Senators want union effort at Charleston plant to succeed

Separately, two dozen Democratic senators have asked Boeing to recognize the results of a union vote at its North Charleston plant.

The senators, including potential 2020 presidential candidates Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, signed a public letter asking the president of the aircraft manufacturer to drop its appeal of a union vote in May.

That was when about 200 flight technicians at the Boeing plant — a small segment of the 7,000 workers at the plant — voted to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

“The IAMAW has been a critical part of Boeing’s long, successful history, and we urge you to recognize the union in South Carolina, just as you do in Washington State,” where Boeing also has a large plant, the letter says.

South Carolina’s senators, Republicans Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott, have not signed the letter.

The union has made multiple attempts to organize the plant since it opened in 2011. May’s vote was its first successful attempt, but the company disputes that such a small team within the plant can form its own union chapter.

“We do not intend to recognize the IAM as the lawful representative of our teammates while the appeal is pending,” Boeing spokesman Victor Scott told the Charleston Post and Courier. “We continue to strongly believe that this micro-unit is prohibited under federal law and we are appealing to the NLRB under the established process.”

The senators have intervened to get that process stopped.

“Instead of respecting its workers’ choice, Boeing has appealed the election and challenged the legitimacy of the bargaining unit,” the letter continues. “We oppose these efforts to deny these workers their right to union representation, and we urge Boeing to drop its appeal and immediately begin collective bargaining with its workers through their selected union representative.”

The senators aren’t the only ones getting involved in the discussion. Gov. Henry McMaster supports the company’s efforts to have the union vote tossed out. At the time, McMaster said the machinists union was/ “about as welcome as a Category 5 hurricane.”

Others are more willing to see the union get its first foothold in the plant.

“We hope this effort will encourage Boeing to finally negotiate with its South Carolina flight line and agree on a contract that will make the company and the entire aerospace industry stronger,” union president Robert Martinez said, according to the Post and Courier.

The vote is currently on appeal with the National Labor Relations Board.

This story was originally published August 31, 2018 at 3:12 PM.