23 Senators Want Boeing to Negotiate with Union at S.C. Plant

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Nearly two dozen Democratic U.S. senators are calling on Boeing Co. to negotiate with a union representing some employees at a South Carolina plant.

Twenty-three Senate Democrats penned a letter to Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg to recognize the International Association of Machinists, as the company has at its facilities in the state of Washington.

Flight-line employees at Boeing's North Charleston plant decided in May to join the Machinists. Boeing wants the National Labor Relations Board to toss that vote because flight-line workers aren't a distinct group from the rest of the plant.

Last month, South Carolina's governor asked federal officials to overturn the vote, saying that allowing the union would threaten the state's economy.

The same union failed to attract enough support to represent all of the plant's hourly workers last year.