“We have not forgotten the I. A.M.’s history in South Carolina, including their repeated insults regarding our teammates’ abilities,”
said Joan Robinson-Berry, the general manager of Boeing South Carolina, in a statement after the union vote was announced in January.
Two Boeing officials, who would not speak for attribution, expressed confidence
that the company would turn back the unionization effort and suggested that the union was racing to act before Mr. Trump appoints two members to vacant seats on the National Labor Relations Board, which oversees union elections, and overturns its Democratic majority.
The average wage for unionized Boeing workers in Washington State is about $31 per hour, versus about $23
per hour for union-eligible workers in South Carolina, according to data from the company and the union.
A local business group tied to the South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance, of which Boeing is a member, has been running advertisements
on local television, including one depicting a thuggish casino boss urging people to roll dice at a craps table.
Mr. Trump has criticized Boeing over the cost of a new Air Force One project, but it is also a major employer and exporter, as well as a military contractor — one
that Mr. Trump has pitted against Lockheed Martin in seeking price savings on fighter jets.
NORTH CHARLESTON, S. C. — Boeing came to South Carolina more than seven years ago to establish a second assembly line for its 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
“I taught undergrads here at the university for many years,” said Hoyt N. Wheeler, an emeritus business
professor at the University of South Carolina who taught labor relations and employment law.
Boeing has roughly 7,500 workers in South Carolina, primarily in North Charleston and Ladson, of whom a little over 3,000 are eligible for the union.
