South Carolina unions filed suit on Thursday against new Republican Governor Nikki Haley and her administration, saying hostility toward unions and workers joining unions is unconstitutional.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the South Carolina AFL-CIO alleges that Haley is violating the federal constitutional and statutory rights to free speech, free association and due process.
South Carolina is one of 22 “Right to Work” states and Haley said she will ensure that South Carolina workers are not compelled to join a union.
“We believe there’s no basis to this suit, and if the machinists are offended that the governor doesn’t think unions are a good thing in South Carolina, they’re just going to have to get used to it,” said Gov. Haley’s spokesman Rob Gregory.
At issue is whether a new Boeing assembly plant for the company’s 787 Dreamliner aircraft will be unionized. After a long battle, Boeing in 2009 selected South Carolina as the site of a 787 final assembly plant. The company aims to ramp up 787 production to 10 planes per month in 2013.
The plant in South Carolina is expected to create thousands of new jobs, and machinists in South Carolina voted against representation by the union.
The lawsuit asks the court to compel the South Carolina state government to remain neutral in enforcing state employment laws.
“The right to organize is protected by federal law and she (Haley) does not have the right to select which laws she would enforce and which ones to ignore,” IAM spokesman Frank Larkin said.
Copyright © 2011 Reuters
9 thoughts on “South Carolina Unions sue governor”
I’ve always found it ironic that most government jobs are unionized. These same government employees hate unions when it comes to private enterprise like UAW or CWA. Ask them why they are in a union and all you hear is “we have to be or else we’d get abused and have to work more for less.”
Isn’t that why anyone would join in any occupation?
Is it any wonder the middle class has declined and the richest 1% have prospered handsomely with the demise of the unions?
Why does 1% of our population control 48% of the wealth?
Why do CEO’s make 500 times the average wage of their workers?
The worst part about this class warfare is they have the poorest people fighting against each other instead of standing together. They train their replacements in foreign lands instead of walking out the door in unity. They remain at their desks while H-1B VISA workers are brought in to work alongside them, even though they know their neighbors are out of work, qualified, and looking for a job. If they ever knew the power they held by standing together…
It isn’t ironic Woody, but sheer ignorance attributed to ‘thought laziness’ chemically induced or otherwise.
Our citizens have been reduced to that of ‘grazing cattle’ as a function of fluoride in the water, massive dispensation of antidepressants, , chemically laced food products, along with a massive brain-washing via the ‘boob tube’ over a many year period.
As long as the unwashed masses have access to endless mall shopping, their HDTV progamming, fast food and ‘credit’ this paradigm can continue for some time to come while these ‘animal husbanders’ ; ie., our leaders gaze upon us as mere financial ‘livestock’ to be shorn and/or slaughtered… / : |
Carl Nemo **==
Isn’t it interesting that shopping, HDTV, sports, video games, fast food, etc… in other words, all those carnal pleasures people have come to love and expect, have become the raison d’etre for life here in these united states?
Of course, better life thru chemistry aside, how can any cerebral, philosophical, and/or moral activity compete with that onslaught, given the craven society we have created to explore and exploit those rewards of day-to-day living? The days of Leave it to Beaver and the Life of Riley seem naive and way too simplistic… certainly much too backward for sophisticates such as we.
The only exalted competition for such modern lifestyle pleasures is an eternal life filled with glory “on the other side”… something our gotta-have-it-now, attention-deficit-ridden, values-debased populace can’t really much fathom, except for those already old enough to have been steeped in it, or for whom “public” schooling actually meant having been taught how to sort wheat from chaff – anachronistic skills, it now seems.
Yep, we’re old and out of touch,Carl, ready to be put out to pasture.
Actually, Woody, most govt jobs are not unionized, although unionization in govt is higher than in the private sector… most notably because of public school teachers.
Here’s a recent summary:
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm
I was thinking along the lines of the non-political jobs. That link is an eye opener. Hard to believe we are down to less than 7% of private jobs that are unionized. That’s so low it makes it laughable to listen to those that complain that unions are destroying the nation talking about the UAW or other private sector unions.
Particularly civil union.
Clear as mud.
Here’s the point Almandine. Everybody who lives in South Carolina knows that the quickest way to get a bullet in your head is to shout “union” in a darkened theatre- or at work, church, golf course, stamp club, knitting bee… you get the picture.
OK Doug, I’ll bite…
what’s the point?
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