Yesterday, South Carolina’s Governor, Nikki Haley, gave her “state of the state” address and took an opportunity to criticize the Machinists union’s ongoing attempt to unionize the Boeing plant in North Charleston.
Here is an excerpt from Haley’s speech via The Washington Times:
Our state is getting noticed across the country and the world, and we’re getting noticed for our triumphs, not our controversies. I couldn’t be more excited. Or more proud.
Together we have built an environment where businesses can and will and want to grow. It is an environment that has enabled Michelin, Bridgestone, Continental and now Giti to manufacture tires in our state, with our workers. It has led international giants like GE and BMW and Toray to say yes, we want to call South Carolina home. It has created a better life for our people, a brighter future for our children.
We’ve worked hard to build a world-class, world-renowned business climate. And we must fight to keep it.
Any truly objective review of South Carolina’s business landscape notes the benefit we get from the minimal role unions play in our state. In 2013 we had the third lowest percentage of union workers in America, with just 3.7 percent of South Carolina workers choosing to join a union.
I cannot express to you the extent to which this is a game-changer when we are trying to bring new businesses to our state. We have a reputation – internationally – for being a state that doesn’t want unions because we don’t need unions. And it is a reputation that matters.
Now, that reputation, and even more importantly, a South Carolina company, are under attack. And they are under attack by an organization that has proven it cares nothing for South Carolina or our workers.
Boeing’s story – how they came here, their magnificent progress in Charleston since 2009, their commitment to their workers and to our communities – is one that certainly need not be told here. We all know it. We’re all proud of it.
But in light of the fact that the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, one of the largest labor unions in the world, is gearing up to try and unionize the Charleston plant, their South Carolina story bears repeating.
In stark contrast to Boeing, which has invested billions of dollars and the future of what may be their most important project in the people of South Carolina, the IAM has never believed in us.
First, they flatly, publicly stated that South Carolina workers do not have the necessary skills to build airplanes. Our workers have proven them wrong, but no matter what the IAM says today or tomorrow, we should never forget what they really think about our state.
And then they sued us. They tried to shut us down.
So every time you hear a Seattle-union boss carry on about how he has the best interests of the Boeing workers in Charleston at heart, remember this: if it was up to that same union boss, there would be no Boeing workers in Charleston.
The truth is the IAM cares about one thing and one thing only – its own power. And the successes of Boeing in South Carolina, and more so, the successes of the non-union workers who populate its ranks, are a threat to the IAM.
Like bullies do, the union bosses will try to cover-up those truths and crush those threats. But we have beaten back the IAM before, and with the support of those of us in this room, and the good people all across South Carolina, I have every confidence that the Boeing workers in Charleston will see this play for exactly what it is and reject this union power grab.
While Boeing and the 787 Dreamliners rolling off the Charleston assembly line are an example of what real workforce training success can look like, we don’t have those same stories everywhere in South Carolina.
I have challenged my entire Cabinet to get creative about how we put people back to work.
You can read the full text of Haley’s address here.
