The Latest: Representative: Unionization good for SC economy

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Latest on a rally held as Boeing employees consider if they’ll vote to join the Machinists union (all times local):

4 p.m.

Community leaders say it’s time for Boeing employees to have union representation to protect their wages and wellbeing.

Rep. David Mack told several hundred people gathered at a rally Monday in North Charleston that unionizing workers at the plant in his district would be good for South Carolina’s economy.

Mack says people will spend more money if they have more take-home wages in their pockets.

Nearly 3,000 South Carolina Boeing employees vote Wednesday on whether or not to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Monday’s rally took place about a mile from the Chicago-based company’s facilities.

The global aviation company came to South Carolina in part because the state has a minuscule union presence and state politicians and business leaders have for decades preached that unions hurt the workforce, not help it.

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7:45 a.m.

Two days before South Carolina Boeing employees vote on whether to join a union, workers and union members are holding a rally in support of collective bargaining rights.

Boeing workers and members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers are rallying Monday at the Crowne Plaza Charleston Airport Hotel in North Charleston.

The rally is happening a mile from Boeing’s North Charleston operation, where nearly 3,000 workers vote Wednesday on whether to form a union and be represented by the Machinists.

The global aviation company came to South Carolina in part because the state has a minuscule union presence and state politicians and business leaders have for decades preached that unions hurt the workforce, not help it.

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Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP . Read more of her work at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/meg-kinnard/