Workers in North Carolina have been hit hard by the US eco-nomic crisis. More than 41,000 workers across the state lost their jobs in March, driving unemployment to 10.8 percent. North Carolina’s jobless rate is among the country’s most severe, surpassed only by Michigan, which is at 12.6 percent. Harry Davis, Appalachian State University banking professor and chief economist for the North Carolina Bankers Associa-tion, said he expects North Carolina’s unemployment to rise to 12 percent by summer and for layoffs to continue until this time next year.
Workers in the eastern North Carolina counties where trade unions are the least organized, and in a state where only slightly more than 3 percent of the workers belong to unions, have few organizations helping to combat the employer abuses that are part of the crisis.
The Carolina Auto, Aerospace and Machine Workers Union is a non-majority union and private sector chapter of the North Carolina Public Service Workers Union-UE Local 150. The chapter organized at a Cummins Diesel Engine Plant outside of Rocky Mount and has launched a campaign in four eastern NC counties for worker recall rights. The campaign calls on area employers to establish a 30-month period of recall rights for workers laid-off during this crisis that will enable them to return to work when the economic downturn is over.
The campaign includes a petition and a model resolution call-ing on the city and county governments in Edgecombe, Nash, Wilson and Halifax counties to pass ordinances for employers to commit to recall rights for their workers. A public hearing will mobilize workers from the four counties to testify about the impact of unemployment on their families and communi-ties.
This campaign and its demands on area governments is an expression of developing consciousness about the need for workers to have representation and power in government, to help them fight for changes that improve their conditions.
It encourages workers to discuss Obama Administration’s Stimulus Package and the need for it to create jobs with fam-ily-supporting wages, to guarantee worker rights to organize, and to mandate employer accountability to workers and to the communities where they are located.
This campaign is also helping to raise awareness about the need to organize unions, and the importance of passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.
