A year after Boeing employees at the company’s 787 plant in North Charleston, S.C., voted against union representation, a group of those employees has voted to form a “micro-union.” One hundred seventy-eight flight-readiness technicians and inspectors voted to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM).
Boeing put up intense resistance to the move, accusing the IAM of using gerrymandering to form the micro-union. The company intends to appeal the decision. “Boeing continues to believe that this type of micro-unit is prohibited by federal law,” company spokesman Victor Scott said.
The company has an adversarial relationship with the IAM, which already represents about 35,000 Boeing workers in Puget Sound, Wash. The union tried to block Boeing’s attempts to set up shop in South Carolina, accusing the company of trying to retaliate for strikes at its Washington factories a decade ago. The IAM has conducted strikes against Boeing 22 times in total.
Boeing appealed to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), claiming that the flight line workers were artificially selected to form a unionized group and that their work is too intertwined with the work of other employees to single out for representation. Organizers countered that the workers have wages, hours, apparel, supervisors and other employment conditions that differ from other Boeing employees. The NLRB sided with the organizers.
Forming smaller bargaining units can be an effective organizing strategy for unions, particularly when they do not have the support of a majority of an employer’s work force. But business groups claim that these smaller bargaining units create divisive work places, introducing union politics across the plant even if the other workers don’t join. And the contracts for nonunion workers will be influenced by the contracts given to union members—positively and negatively alike.
Boeing builds the 787 Dreamliner plane at the North Charleston plant, and it is the only place that builds the 787-10, the largest and newest Dreamliner model.
While the union will represent only a small fraction of the plant’s roughly 3,000 workers, it is considered an important victory for organized labor in South Carolina. The state is a “right to work state,” which has labor laws that do not favor organized labor, and has the smallest percentage of unionized workers in the United States—only 2.6 percent. The Southeast has a rapidly growing manufacturing base, and automakers like Nissan and Volkswagen have successfully challenged unionizing attempts in recent years.
Read more about developments in the aerospace industry at Honda Lands Major Aircraft Deal.