Columbia, SC (WLTX, AP) -- Governor Nikki Haley says she's taking action to strengthen South Carolina's right to work status.
Tuesday she announced an executive order to prevent on strike workers from collecting unemployment benefits.
South Carolina law already disqualifies unemployment insurance for striking workers. But the order is designed to ensure the state's unemployment agency knows when workers are striking, and to prevent companies from having to fight a claim for benefits.
Haley joined State Representative Bill Sandifer, a Oconee County Republican, to announce legislation to protect a worker's right to choose if he or she wants to join a union or not.
The measure would increase the punishments for unions who break the law, and require them to hand over financial information to the state. Unions already file most of the data with the federal Labor Department.
Sandifer says all of the state's 76 Republican house representatives have signed on as cosponsors of the proposal.
Haley says the state's recent fight with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) over Boeing sparked the action.
"What we saw with the NLRB and what they did to Boeing was what I said was un-American all along, but more importantly I didn't see it as something where we just got over a hurdle I saw it as a warning shot, I saw it as something that we are no longer gonna be reactive to, we're gonna make sure that we're proactive we're gonna make sure that nothing like this happens again," said Haley.
She says the state's anti-union status is her best tool in recruiting businesses to South Carolina.