Boeing South Carolina Bastion Breached by Union in Rare Win
- Machinists gain toehold with subset of workers in 787 factory
- Planemaker says it’s appealing, sees ‘micro-unit’ as banned
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Boeing Co. technicians voted to form the first collective bargaining unit at the planemaker’s factory in South Carolina, scoring a rare victory for organized labor in a state traditionally hostile to unions.
The “micro-unit” will represent fewer than 180 flight-line workers, a small subset of the 7,000 or so workers who build Boeing 787 Dreamliners in North Charleston. But the result gives the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers a foothold in a so-called right-to-work state. The world’s largest planemaker vowed to challenge the election by the small worker group, saying it violated U.S. labor law.