Without Nikki Haley, Like Locusts, Unions Swarm On South Carolina

Diogenes Middle Finger

* Full Discloser - I am and have been in the past because of the nature of the business being grandfathered in before our Right -to Work laws passed, a legally intimidated member of a labor union. I am also a business owner who has defeated union tactics before the state labor relations board. Unions have far passed their original propose of fairly protecting employees, to becoming extremist in the protection of their power bases such the teacher’s union, protecting under- performing and unqualified teachers at all cost. They have become mostly a legal skimming operation that extorts money from members for political purposes and are the biggest donor to the democrat party. I am in no way criticizing union members, just the extortion racket they are forced to participate in.  

With the departed of Governor Nikki Haley to become the ambassador to the United Nations, vocal advocacy for union-free growth has seemingly gone missing in the state capitol of South Carolina. The unions believe they smell blood in the water.

The Spectacle - “Recently, more than a dozen out-of-state organizers from the United Auto Workers checked into a hotel in Greenville. Their mission? To start making intrusive house calls at the homes of BMW’s union-free employees in nearby Spartanburg in attempt to unionize the German car maker. 

Elsewhere in the state, Teamster organizers out of Washington, D.C. and elsewhere are targeting food-delivery drivers in an attempt to build up that union’s sagging membership. In Georgetown, the United Steelworkers are trying to unionize workers at a nursing home, according to a recent petition filed with the National Labor Relations Board.

All of these efforts in the Palmetto State come on the heels of the Machinist union’s overwhelming defeat at Boeing’s plant in North Charleston in February, when workers voted three to one to reject unionization.They also come at a time when the state is enjoying the lowest unemployment rate in years and companies like Volvo and Mercedes are bringing in thousands of jobs. In large part, South Carolina’s reputation for being a good place for employers to bring jobs to is due to its status as a Right-to-Work state, as well as having the lowest unionization rate in the country.  

Both of these are things unions would like to change.

Ms. Haley’s successor, Henry McMaster, was elevated to the governorship when Haley became U.N. ambassador but he, so far, has remained rather silent when it comes to unions targeting the Palmetto State. Unlike his predecessor who actively campaigned on keeping unions out of South Carolina, during the Boeing union drive in February, McMaster remained rather subdued

Given that South Carolina has the lowest unionization rate in the nation–at 1.6 percent–union organizers may be relying on South Carolinians naïveté about unions in their efforts to unionize the Palmetto State. If so, that would be unfortunate.

South Carolina’s ability to attract companies like Boeing and BMW, as well as Mercedes, Michelin and Volvo, comes in large part because it is a business-friendly state that unions have not ruined…yet.”