New Boeing workers push to disband union

An employee at The Boeing Co.’s newly-acquired North Charleston operation has filed a request with the National Labor Relations Board seeking a decertification election that could disband the local Machinists union. The petition was filed on Thursday, the same day Boeing completed its purchase of the plant from Vought Aircraft Industries for $580 million.
This move could have far-reaching implications as Boeing looks for a second assembly line for its 787 Dreamliner program. North Charleston is on a short-list of possible sites. The primary assembly line is in Everett, Wash., near Seattle.

Workers represented by the Machinists union in Washington walked off the job late last year for two months. Labor strife has cost the Chicago-headquartered company tens of millions and is among chief causes of delays in the testing and delivery schedule of the Dreamliner. The same union has represented workers in North Charleston for the last two years.

Dennis Murray of Summerville, a quality inspector at the facility, said he filed the petition for the decertification vote because he felt as though the union was poorly representing employees.

In October 2007, Vought workers, by a 67-60 margin, voted to join the Machinists union. Just more than a year later, the union voted to ratify a contract, settling a year of talks between the union and Dallas-based Vought. But several workers were outraged over how the vote was handled, saying union representatives failed to inform most members of an 11th-hour meeting that was called only days before Vought announced it would be idling its plant for several months.