Groton — Security officers at Electric Boat voted Wednesday not to unionize.

They were considering joining the international union, Security, Police, Fire Professionals of America, based in Roseville, Mich. Out of about 80 security officers in Groton and New London who were eligible to vote at the two sites, 45 voted no while 33 voted yes, according to the SPFPA.

About 35 percent of EB’s 12,000 employees are unionized, and most of those belong to the Marine Draftsmen’s Association-United Auto Workers Local 571 and the Metal Trades Council.

Dwayne Phillips, the SPFPA director at large who met with the security officers, stressed that the election was about “choice.” He said he was glad the officers could exercise their choice and “you can only respect that.”

“We wish them only the best,” he said.

The National Labor Relations Board conducted the election. To start the election process, the SPFPA filed a petition with the board last month showing at least 30 percent of the officers were interested in the union.

Robert H. Nardone, the vice president for human resources and administration at EB, said in a statement that no other employees of Electric Boat were affected by the SPFPA’s petition or the election.

“Electric Boat is pleased by the election results and looks forward to continuing to have a direct working relationship with our Security Officers,” Nardone said.

Two officers who supported unionizing said they were disheartened by the outcome but hopeful that the effort brought their concerns to the company’s attention. The officers, who asked to remain anonymous because they wanted to speak as a group, said their managers do not treat the guards with respect, and that was more of an issue than any concerns over wages and benefits, since they were grateful to have jobs.

j.mcdermott@theday.com