(Business Wire)  The International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (IAM) today filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold an election for more than 2,400 production employees at the Boeing Company in North Charleston, SC.

The petition was filed after a significant number of Boeing workers signed authorization cards expressing interest in union representation. Workers at Boeing had reached out to the IAM regarding numerous workplace concerns, including forced overtime, fair wages and a lack of respect on the shop floor.

“We’re trying to build a better life for ourselves, our families and our community,” said four-year Boeing employee Gerald Guerena. “We feel the best way to do this is with a collective bargaining agreement that allows us to negotiate with the company over wages, benefits, safety procedures and more.”

Efforts by Boeing workers to form a union have already been met with stiff resistance from Boeing management and outside political forces looking to advance their own agendas. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley recently used her State of the State address to attack the IAM and the Boeing workers who are seeking union representation.

“Boeing workers have a legal right to an election process that is free of intimidation and harassment,” said IAM lead organizer Mike Evans. “This is their decision and their decision alone. We expect Governor Haley and her friends, who have no clue what it’s like to be a front-line production employee for Boeing, to keep their personal biases to themselves and remain neutral in the weeks leading up to the union vote.”

The NLRB is expected to issue election dates and locations in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the IAM will continue to help Boeing employees educate their co-workers on their workplace rights.

The IAM is the U.S.'s largest aerospace union, representing approximately 90,000 workers at Lockheed Martin, General Electric, United Technologies and others. The IAM also represents more than 35,000 Boeing employees at 24 locations nationwide. For more information visit www.boeingworkers.com.