NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C.—Boeing announced June 18 that it would refuse to bargain with the
International Association of Machinists on a contract for 176 flight-line technicians who voted to join the union last month. “We continue to strongly believe that this micro-unit is prohibited under federal law and we are appealing to the NLRB,” the company said in a statement. “The Machinists Union represents 35,000 members at Boeing locations throughout the nation,” the union responded. “For some reason, Boeing executives are choosing to ignore the wishes of hard-working men and women in South Carolina.” The 176 flight-readiness technicians voted to form a union in their own unit after production workers at the plant rejected joining the Machinists last year. Boeing, which had hoped that putting the plant in South Carolina would ensure that it stayed nonunion, has also refused to give the union the workers’ contact information. “We are the representative of those workers on the flight line and we will exercise every right we have to make sure those workers have the opportunity to exercise their right to bargain,” Machinists organizer Mike Evans told the Charleston Post and Courier. “Boeing ignores us at their own peril.” Read more
