With union efforts in North Charleston ramping up, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has taken to the radio airwaves in an effort to save the economic future of the Palmetto State.

In radio ads that aired over the weekend, Haley urged Boeing’s North Charleston employees to reject unionization by the International Association of Machinists.

Haley’s efforts are not an effort to merely save the company from unionization, but to stave off an existential threat that could seriously put the state’s economic future into peril–and this should have all South Carolinians concerned and engaged.

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Several years ago, when the Machinists union and Barack Obama’s union lackeys at the National Labor Relations Board threatened to scuttle Boeing’s plan to expand its operations into South Carolina, politicians and employees alike fought back—and, as the company eventually settled the charges against it, South Carolina prevailed.

Since then, Governor Nikki Haley, a vocal opponent of unions coming into South Carolina, has successfully lured company after company into the Palmetto State resulting in more jobs and an stronger economy.

Haley’s continual marketing of the state as a “business-friendly” state, along with the continued expansion of Boeing, has created an economic expansion and job growth across South Carolina. As importantly, according to a study released in December, economic growth is expected to remain consistently positive.

Now, however, all of Haley’s efforts and the subsequent positive economic momentum gained by keeping the Boeing plant may come to a screeching halt thanks to the union’s continued effort to unionize the Boeing plant.

When the union failed at stopping the Boeing expansion several years ago–despite having been previously decertified--the Machinists union never stopped its efforts to lure the Charleston-based employees back into the union.

Live5News.com | Charleston, SC | News, Weather, SportsLast year, the union doubled down on its efforts by opening an office near the Boeing plant and holding private meetings with Boeing employees.

“It’s an ongoing organizing effort,” said IAM spokesman Frank Larkin. “We still maintain contact with several hundred employees who maintain contact with us. There is enthusiasm and, in some cases, strong enthusiasm for collective bargaining in the facility.”

[snip]

The union meeting is closed to the public because Larkin said, “Given the political atmosphere in South Carolina, we would want to protect the privacy of the employees.”

Despite the negative impact that the unionization of Boeing will have on the state’s economic future and Haley’s ability to attract new business and more jobs, the Machinists union does not appear to want Boeing’s employees to hear from anyone but the union.

South Carolina has a lot at stake with the issue of Boeing’s unionization.

If the union garners enough authorization cards to hold a union election, while the voting would be done in secret, it is the right of every South Carolinian to urge Boeing’s employees to Just Say NO.
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“Truth isn’t mean. It’s truth.”
Andrew Brietbart (1969-2012)

Cross-posted on LaborUnionReport.com.