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Employer and Employee Relations
Employer/employee relations in South Carolina are stable, and the state consistently ranks as one of the least unionized in the nation. South Carolina is a right-to-work state, enhancing the ability of all employers to operate non-union facilities. In 2003, only 1.8 percent of the state’s workers were members of a labor union. The state also has consistently had one of the lowest work stoppage rates in the United States. In 2003, the work stoppage rate of 0.0002 percent of working time was lost due to strikes in manufacturing and non-manufacturing industries combined. This was significantly below the national average of 0.02.
According to a study done by Arthur Anderson, the Greer metropolitan area is the least unionized metro area in the United States. The following table represents the level of union participation for the Greer area in 2003.
County |
Total Union Membership |
Membership as a Percent of Total Employment |
Total Unionized Facilities
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Greenville |
1,239 |
0.41% |
14 |
Spartanburg |
734 |
0.48% |
13 |
Anderson |
1,162 |
1.38% |
5 |
Pickens |
0 |
0% |
0 |
Cherokee |
0 |
0% |
0 |
Laurens |
263 |
1.03% |
2 |
Upstate Region |
3,505 |
0.47% |
36 |
Source Non-Farm Civilian Emp- Woods & Poole; Union Employment - NLRB, Number of Unionized Facilities - NLRB
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