SC Gov. Haley Jabs Workers on National Stage

South Carolina Republican Gov. Nikki Haley has repeatedly interfered with workers’ efforts to organize at a Boeing facility in North Charleston.

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley couldn’t help but add some anti-worker undertone while delivering the GOP response to President Obama’s State of the Union Address.

Haley specifically mentioned unions in reference to so-called education reform, which seemed to be a show of support to gut public sector unions in the Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association case. Oral arguments in the case recently began at the Supreme Court for the case, which could effectively make every public workplace right-to-work.

READ: Stakes High in Public Union Supreme Court Case

Haley is no stranger to the IAM, and her anti-union stance is nothing new. She has publicly opposed organizing efforts at Boeing in South Carolina, including running radio ads encouraging workers at the North Charleston plant to vote for no union representation.

READ: SC Gov. Haley Attacks Workers in State Address

Haley not only fights to keep workers from organizing, she also fights companies that have unions from coming to her state.

“It’s not something we want to see happen,” Haley has said. “We discourage any companies that have unions from wanting to come to South Carolina because we don’t want to taint the water.”

Unionized workers make an average of $200 more a week than non-unionized workers. South Carolina ranks 16th in the nation in number of people living in poverty and has the fifth-highest rate of child poverty.

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