NORTH CHARLESTON (WCSC) - Governor Nikki Haley responds to a machinists union opening an office in North Charleston to educate workers at Boeing.
Haley's spokesperson Doug Mayer released a statement Wednesday:
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers have set up shop 3 miles away from the Boeing plant in North Charleston.
"They need to be here, more unions need to come here," said Kenneth Riley, president of the Charleston chapter of the International Longshoremens Association.
Riley says it's important for workers to have a voice in an at will state, meaning a boss could fire an employee for any reason.
Riley said, "In a union environment, you do have a chance to fight for your job."
A spokesperson for the machinist union says right now they are only here to answer questions and educate workers who are interested.
Officials at Boeing don't want the machinists union in North Charleston even though it already represents more than 30,000 workers at the plant in Seattle, Washington.
A Boeing spokesperson released a statement:
Riley says unions do have a presence in this area.
"The longshoremen are a union, the UPS drivers are union, and the people who keep your lights on during these bad winter storms are union," said Riley.
It will be up to the workers at Boeing to decide if a union is the right fit for them.
The first informational meeting will be held Thursday at noon at the union office. They are located at 7025 Dorchester Road across from the main entrance of the Charleston Air Force Base.