Nikki Haley speaks in Washington, DC on Oct. 26, 2011.
By RAJU CHEBIUM
Gannett Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Gov. Nikki Haley bashed labor unions and portrayed herself as a diehard supporter of businesses as she accepted an award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday.
The Republican governor also slammed the National Labor Relations Board, which has sued Boeing over its decision to locate a factory in North Charleston rather than expand an existing assembly line in Washington state.
Haley, who was feted largely for a new state law limiting legal liability for corporations, touted an upcoming proposal that would require unions to disclose three years worth of financial data before setting up shop in the Palmetto State.'
"Unions only survive in secrecy," she said. "The more people know about them, the more we expose them, the more we can get rid of the influence that they have on the system."
Haley boasted that South Carolina has among the nation's smallest unionized workforces, which she said accounts for the state's low cost of doing business.
Haley is so pro-business she has turned hostile to the needs of the state's workers, said Donna Dewitt, president of the South Carolina AFL-CIO, a coalition of labor unions.
"You never hear her talk about the working people of this state," Dewitt said. "I had such high hopes for her."
According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 4.7 percent -- or 80,000 -- of the 1.7 million workers in South Carolina belonged to unions last year.
Only North Carolina (3.2 percent), Arkansas (4 percent), Georgia (4 percent) and Mississippi (4.5 percent) had lower unionization rates. New York, at 24.2 percent, was the most unionized state.
Though Haley noted that more employers are moving to the state, South Carolina had the country's third-highest unemployment rate last month -- 11 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unemployment is higher in Nevada (13.4 percent) and Michigan (11.1 percent).
As Haley spoke inside the Chamber of Commerce headquarters, about 20 members of the Occupy Wall Street movement rallied outside the ornate building, which sits across from the White House.
They unfurled a large banner that read, "Chamber of Corporate Horrors." Another line in smaller type read, "Corporate bullies inside."
The protesters chanted, "Human needs, not corporate greed," as police officers stood guard across the street, blue and red lights flashing on their motorcycles.