SEANC

Next Tuesday's Wake County School Board election promises to be a watershed event for race and poverty. I have followed the issue closely and today's Op Ed article in the Raleigh News&Observer by David Zonderman, "On school vote hangs our future", expresses what's at stake as capably as any observer.

Few recent school board elections have carried such historical and educational weight. Voters should remember the modern civil rights movement's struggles and realize that the fight for educational access and equity did not end with Brown v. Board of Education. That campaign for quality education continues today. In an increasingly diverse nation and an ever more complex world, all children need and deserve the best education possible in classrooms that reflect the rich and variegated human mosaic of America.

Last week I let everyone know about Town Halls on Health Care that are being held across the state by the State Employees Association of NC, SEIU Local 2008.

Since then we have a few updates, including a Western NC event, and 2 Congressmen!

Over the next three weeks, the State Employees Association of North Carolina will host a series of town hall meetings on health insurance reform across the state. SEANC and community members will share their health care concerns and hear local experts discuss the dire need for health insurance reform. SEANC also invited local congressmen to join the town hall events.

“State employees are concerned about health care. Many of them can’t afford to cover their spouses or children on the State Health Plan, adding to the growing number of uninsured North Carolinians,” said SEANC Executive Director Dana Cope.

Please contact your state representatives tomorrow and ask them to vote against Senate Bill 287.

S.B. 287 is a change to the State Health Plan intended to make the plan's budget solvent. However, the bill adversely affects state employees and teachers, who will have to pay much more for health coverage. The State Employees Assn. of North Carolina expects that many younger workers will avoid the plan for less costly options, exacerbating the problems the bill intends to solve. If less new people buy in to the plan, then it supports older, less healthy people and costs will increase. Down the road, a taxpayer-funded bailout may be necessary for us to fulfill our obligations.

Last week the NAACP celebrated its 100 year anniversary. Saturday the NAACP of NC and partners led thousands in the 3rd annual “Historic Thousands on Jones Street”, the HKonJ rally in Raleigh to support a 14 point People’s Agenda for better schools and health care, equal justice, affordable housing, worker fairness, voting rights, environmental justice, and more. Point #1 advocates that “All Children Need High Quality, Well Funded, Diverse Schools”. Point #11 calls for “Collective Bargaining for Public Employees and Support Smithfield Workers Right to Unionize.”

The NAACP of NC and 12 local branches have signed on to support the NC Hope Coalition in calling for the repeal of the ban in GS 95-98 on collective bargaining by public employees. The Coalition has a core of 11 labor groups including the SEANC, SEIU and NCAE and was an important element of the HKonJ rally. Some marchers wore yellow gags with the words “Repeal 95-98”. Just Monday the NAACP again showed its support for NC unions by awarding Richard Burr, Howard Coble and Americans for Prosperity a “Hypocrisy Award” for the misleading "Defense of the American Worker" campaign which opposes the "card check" bill. Just yesterday the NAACP of NC again expressed support for the “Employee Free Choice Act” even as conservative patron Art Pope stood with Richard Burr to oppose it.

So it comes as some surprise that the Executive Director of SEANC, Dana Cope, and the Legislative Director of SEANC, Ardis Watkins, have together taken steps to undermine the school diversity policy in effect in Wake County and to give succor to opponents of public education and in some cases, collective bargaining.

I just read this over at Isaac Hunter's Tavern, the blog of local NPR reporter Laura Leslie, and was simply astounded. The state health care plan is in a major shortfall, as discussed elsewhere. So, what should we do to fix the problem? Adam Searing and Adam Linker think we should look at the administrator of the health care plan, of course we aren't allowed to look at them because the details are CONFIDENTIAL.

Fifty-five thousand state employees stand up and support Wayne Goodwin's campaign for NC Insurance Commissioner.