NC Public Employees Deserve Collective Bargaining

What's the difference in a worker who drives a truck for UPS and one who drives for the state of NC? The UPS driver can enjoy a union contract while a public employee doing the same job is denied that right.

One of the most fundamental rights in the American workplace is the right to form a union and bargain collectively for wages, benefits and work responsibilities. Our forefathers used this right extensively and gave us many of the benefits that American workers now take for granted.

Were it not for the labor movement, benefits such as the weekend, a 40-hour week, pensions and healthcare would not exist. Make no mistake, corporate America didn’t grant these benefits because they wanted to, they did so because they HAD to. Unions bargained for those benefits.

Here in North Carolina, there are thousands upon thousands of workers who are union members. The friendly UPS driver? Union. The lady who helps make Miller beer in Eden, NC? Union. Your neighbors making airplane parts at BE Aerospace in the Triad? They’re union too.

So why can’t the police officers in Raleigh, the school custodians in Greensboro and the school cafeteria workers in Greenville enjoy the same fundamental American workplace right? Because North Carolina is one of only two states in the country that prohibits public employees from collective bargaining.

A knee-jerk reaction to Teamster efforts to organize the Charlotte police force in the late 1950’s is what led to the passage of NC General Statute 95-98, and North Carolina’s public employees were relegated to second-class citizenship.

But now the tide is turning. A coalition of labor unions, environmentalists and faith-based groups has formed the NC H.O.P.E. Coalition. The acronym stands for Hear Our Public Employees. The coalition is supporting House Bill 1583, which would overturn the ban on collective bargaining. The fight is certainly uphill, but the issue enjoys more support than ever in the General Assembly. The upcoming short session is our best shot in years to secure the workplace rights of public employees.

Our enemies are already gearing up for the fight. They will use the straw-man tactic of threatening that teachers and police officers will strike. Nothing could be further from the truth. The right-to-strike is actually a separate statute and no one is talking about touching that. Heck, HB 1583 doesn’t even compel a municipality to bargain, it just allows them to do so if they wish.

You can join the fight by pointing your browser to – http://nchope.org . Sign the letter to state legislators and make your voice heard. Together, we can ensure that public employees have the same rights as their counterparts in the private sector.

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