Labor rift deepens between Republican governor and dockworkers in South Carolina

abcnews.go.com:

Dockworkers and the Republican governor in South Carolina are digging in their heels over a labor dispute that has left the newest container terminal at the East Coast’s deepest harbor largely inactive

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Dockworkers and the governor in the state with the lowest percentage of unionized workers are digging in their heels over a labor dispute that has left the newest container terminal at the East Coast's deepest harbor largely inactive.

Pending before a federal appeals court is a National Labor Relations Board decision that upheld unionized dockworkers' right to exclusively staff the cranes at Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal in Charleston, South Carolina, under a 2012 master contract.

The alternative is a so-called hybrid model implemented by other South Carolina terminals backed by Republican Gov. Henry McMaster where loading operations would be fulfilled by employees from both the state and the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1422.

But union organizers find much more at stake than the availability of higher-paying jobs and the resumed operations of the project's recently completed $1 billion first phase. They fear a reversal could set the stage for other right-to-work states to overturn national labor contracts they don't like.

The ILA Local 1422 brought the fight to the South Carolina State House on Wednesday with a rally attended by over 300 workers, allies and labor leaders from around the country.

“Injury to one is an injury to all. It’s Charleston today. It could be Savannah tomorrow,” said Timothy Mackey, the president of the local union representing Georgia dockworkers at one of the only three ports alongside those in South Carolina and Wilmington, North Carolina, that have hybrid