COLUMBIA, S.C. — In his State of the State address Wednesday night, Governor Henry McMaster delivered a resolute message against the potential growth of labor unions in South Carolina.
"We will not let our state's economy suffer or become collateral damage as labor unions seek to consume new jobs," McMaster said. "We will fight, ladies and gentlemen. We will fight all the way to the gates of hell and we will win this battle."
McMaster warned unionization will cause recent economic growth to be undone if it continues to grow.
"Unionized labor came around at a strong point back in the industrial age when a lot of companies just weren't taking care of their workforce, and so unions provide a resource for employees to gather and take care of each other," said Carl Blackstone, CEO and president of Columbia Chamber of Commerce.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2022, South Carolina had the lowest union membership rate in the country at just 1.7%, with approximately 35,000 workers being union members.
Blackstone suggested that McMaster's statements are geared towards attracting larger companies to the state.
"When you look at the growth in South Carolina over the last two decades, maybe three decades, it has all been manufacturing and advanced manufacturing, those types of jobs elsewhere in the country are strong unionized companies, but that's not been the case here."
Not everyone agrees with McMaster's perspective.
Vijay Tripathi, lead organizer of Starbucks Workers United of South Carolina, said his store formed a union when leadership changes at the top concerned the workers.
"The company really changed to a merchant-based model, where we were having to upsell. They were not scheduling us consistently, and they we're understaffing us," Tripathi said.
Adding his thoughts on McMaster's comments, "They are just interested in protecting the elite only. They don't care about the day-to-day people who make South Carolina, and I would love to see what they bring because we're going to fight back even harder."