With lack of support, S.C. Boeing workers may not unionize

The Machinists union may withdraw its request for a vote to unionize Boeing’s plant in South Carolina because of a lack of support.

The union requested to hold a vote for production employees at Boeing’s manufacturing operations in North Charleston, where the 787 Dreamliner assembly plant is located.

Related: Machinists, Boeing release dueling videos in the face of union vote in South Carolina

A decision to withdraw would be based on results of polling being done now, which is being used to determine how much support exists for unionizing, the Associated Press reports. The Machinists union is going door to door to ask about 2,500 workers if they are going to vote for union representation.

The union petitioned the National Labor Relations Board in March to hold an election on April 21.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is opposed to the union and has urged workers to reject union representation. North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey has also criticized the unionization effort, the Associated Press reports.

Boeing is also opposed to a union, as outlined in a statement it released earlier this year: “Boeing firmly believes that a union is not in the best interest of Boeing South Carolina teammates and their families, their communities, and the state of South Carolina, especially after years of the IAM insulting the abilities of Boeing South Carolina teammates and fighting against BSC’s success.”

If the union postpones the election, it will have to wait another six months before attempting another vote. If it loses an election, it would have to wait a year.

Boeing now employs about 7,500 people in South Carolina, about 2,500 of them, who assemble the company’s 787 Dreamliner.

The union has had members in the Charleston area before. It won the right to represent workers at Vought Aircraft Industries in 2007, a plant that Boeing later bought. Less than two years later, plant workers decided they did not want a union.

Less than 4 percent of the South Carolina workforce is unionized, and the governor said in her State of the State address in January that has helped with economic development.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.