Point 11: Collective Bargaining Rights for Public Employees and the Right of Smithfield Workers to Form A Union and Work in a Safe Environment

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North Carolina should allow its public employees’ and the state to benefit from collective bargaining and promote the ability of private workers to negotiate work issues with their employers in a mutually-respectful manner. We should support the right of Smithfield workers in Tar Heel, NC to form a union without intimidation and interference, and to work in a safe environment.

REV BARBER: The NAACP Believes Civil Rights and Labor Rights are one and the same. Here are Ajamu Dillahunt, Ashaki Binta, Ngaza Laughinghouse, and Libby Manly to explain:
AJAMU DILLAHUNT: Did you know that North Carolina is the only state to expressly prohibit its public employees from collectively bargaining about working conditions?
Did You Know that we are falling behind states with strong unions, because those states pay higher wages, and have better schools?
Did you know that the 10 states with the highest union activity has an average pay of almost $49,000, whereas the lowest ten states, including N.C., have an average pay of $40,333?
NGAZA LAUGHINGHOUSE: Did you know that states with a lot of union members have less poor people, less people with no health insurance, and more money spent on education and more people voting.
Did you know that Smithfield’s hog killing plant in Bladen County was found to be inhumane and unjust in the way it has treated its workers for over 10 years while they tried to form a union?
ASHAKI BINTA: THEREFORE, we DEMAND THE LEGISLATURE Repeal G.S. 95-98 and establish processes for collective bargaining for all public employees.
LIBBY MANLEY: NC must investigate the safety and health conditions of the Smithfield Foods Tarheel N.C. meat packing plant and investigate violations of the workers compensation system.