NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- Perhaps it's a little early to declare the labor movement dead, even in the South.

Sure, Scott Walker thinks he can get elected president by bashing unions, and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley once declared, "I wear heels, and it's not for a fashion statement. It's because we're kicking the unions every day."

The International Association of Machinists apparently didn't get the "unions are dead" memo.

The largest aviation/aerospace union, which represents approximately 90,000 workers at Boeing (BA) - Get Report, Lockheed Martin (LMT) - Get Report and most major airlines, has organizing campaigns in various stages at three locations in the South: Boeing's South Carolina plant, at Atlanta-based Delta (DAL) - Get Report and at the Airbus plant that is under construction in Mobile, Ala.

"To us it's odd to hear that unions are unusual in the South," said IAM spokesman Frank Larkin. "We are well established in every southern state. These recent campaigns are drawing attention because of the opposition to them." The IAM was formed in Atlanta in 1888.

Last week, the IAM said it petitioned the National Labor Relations Board for a union election for more than 2,400 Boeing employees in North Charleston, S.C.

"This campaign was driven and initiated by workers at Boeing," Larkin said. "It's a case of workers deciding they wanted an election." He said the union exceeded the threshold of 30% of the signatures required for an NLRB election, but he did not disclose the number of signatures. Typically, the NLRB takes several months to consider a unionization petition.

Although IAM represents about 35,000 Boeing workers at two dozen locations, the company said it opposes unionization in Charleston and charged that the union tried to keep the Charleston plant from opening.

"Boeing firmly believes that a union is not in the best interest of Boeing South Carolina teammates and their families, their communities, and the state of South Carolina, especially after years of the IAM insulting the abilities of Boeing South Carolina teammates and fighting against BSC's success," Boeing said in a prepared statement.

On Tuesday, Boeing delivered the first 787-9 assembled in Charleston to United Airlines (UAL) - Get Report. Three years earlier, the plant produced its first 787-8.

At Delta, IAM announced in January that it had delivered nearly 12,000 signed election request cards from flight attendants to the National Mediation Board, seeking a representation election. The figure represents 60% of the airline's 20,000 flight attendants.

Under the Railway Labor Act, which regulates organizing at transportation companies, signatures are required from 50% of the members of a work group. A ruling by the NMB is pending.

An election victory for Delta's flight attendants would be the largest transportation sector organizing win ever and would cap off more than two years of grassroots efforts, the union said. However, the Association of Flight Attendants has tried three times to organize Delta flight attendants -- in 2002, 2008 and 2010. It failed each time.

As for Airbus, construction of its $600 million Mobile plant continues, with aircraft assembly scheduled to begin this year and the first A321 delivery to JetBlue scheduled for 2016. The plant, which will build narrowbody aircraft in the A320 family, will eventually employ 1,000 people.

Larkin said he recently visited the site, but Airbus has not hired enough people for the union to begin to actively organize. "Obviously as construction progresses, the campaign will progress," he said.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.