South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has won a federal appeal in a lawsuit over anti-union remarks, reports the Associated Press.
Before taking office, Haley said she would pick Cabinet members who would help thwart attempts to unionize the Boeing Co.’s factory in North Charleston.
In January 2011, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and AFL-CIO filed a lawsuit over the matter.
On Thursday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday said it agreed with a South Carolina judge’s dismissal of a case by the Machinists union.
Boeing workers in North Charleston voted in September 2009 to oust the Machinists union there. A few months later, Boeing selected the site for a second 787 final assembly line over Everett, where the original 787 line is. Machinists in Washington had staged a 57-day strike in 2008.
From the AP report:
The union and the state AFL-CIO teamed up to sue Haley and Catherine Templeton, who was then the director of South Carolina’s labor department. The unions wanted Haley ordered to remain neutral in union matters, but a judge ruled in August that federal labor laws don’t prohibit “the expression of political animosity toward unions.”
The lawsuit stemmed from several remarks, including those Haley made when she nominated Templeton. Haley said her background would be helpful in state fights against unions, particularly at the $750 million Boeing plant in North Charleston.
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