THE NITTY GTITTY –THE NCDP LABOR CAUCUS NEWSLETTER 2ND EDITION

THE NITTY GRITTY—THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FOR THE NCDP LABOR CAUCUS
1 AUGUST 2021—- 2nd Edition

Welcome to the 2nd edition of “The Nitty Gritty”. It is a comprehensive monthly publication of the North Carolina Democratic Party Labor Caucus that informs its members, union members, and working people, of events, organizations, initiatives, and current issues that affect our everyday lives. The sole purpose of this newsletter is to arm our members with information that will encourage them to be proactive. Please make this newsletter available in your local area to your local members.

The North Carolina Democratic Party Labor Caucus is an active auxiliary of the NC State Democratic Party that advocates for legislation and initiatives, addressing problems, and electing candidates that are sympathetic to economic and labor issues that affect working families, labor organizations, and union members.

The NCDP Labor Caucus is currently recruiting to find and establish leaders to represent the caucus in each of North Carolina’s 100 counties, and a leader for all of the 13 congressional districts. County labor caucus leaders will represent the caucus at their county Democratic meeting. Congressional caucus leaders will represent the caucus at their scheduled Democratic Party congressional district meeting.

The NCDP Labor Caucus is looking for individuals who are passionate about labor and economic issues and will make sure that labor and economic issues remain on the agenda of their county or district meetings. They will recruit members and will be asked to lead local mobilizations of actions taken in their respective areas. If you are interested in becoming a county leader or a congressional leader please contact NCDP Labor Caucus Secretary, Jan Nichols by email at nichjan@gmail.com

The NCDP Labor Caucus is currently actively lobbying to promote issues that affect working families, labor organizations, and labor unions. We invite you to come and play a part in this active growing organization. We are active and engaged on issues.


NEXT MEETING OF THE NORTH CAROLINA DEMOCRATIC PARTY LABOR CAUCUS
HAS NOT BEEN OFFICIALLY SET
The NCDP LABOR CAUCUS MEETS QUARTERLY AND MEMBERS WILL BE SENT A LINK TO THE MEETING ONCE IT IS SCHEDULED

RECENT NOTABLE EVENTS—–
On his first day in office, newly sworn-in President Biden fired the union-busting General Council for the National Labor Relations Board signaling his intent to carry out his promise to promote unions. Lauren McFerran was appointed and confirmed to be the new chairman. On Wednesday, 28 July 2021, the US Senate confirmed Gwynne Wilcox and David Prouty to the NLRB board by votes of 52 to 47. The pair will join chairman McFerran in restoring the board to a pro-worker, Democratic majority for the first time in almost four years. This is a big, positive win for labor.

On 9 July 2021 President Biden fired Donald Trump’s appointed head of the Social Security Administration, Andrew Saul who had worked hard to dismantle and privatize social security. Kilolo Kijakazi has taken over as acting commissioner and she has received very favorable comments from labor advocates who would like to expand social security.
This is another big win for labor and working Americans.

On Wednesday 28 July 2021, an absolutely amazing thing happened in the US Senate when 17 Republican Senators crossed over to open debate on a one trillion dollar infrastructure package. The Republican Senators defied Donald Trump who threatened them with being primaried.

On Friday 30 July 2021 NCDP Labor Caucus President Harton appeared at an online celebration for Medicare’s 56th birthday. President Harton appeared with NC Action Executive Director, Pat McCoy and North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans, NCARA Bill Dorkin, and fellow NCARA board member Judy Coggins. Both Coggins and Harton gave personal examples of drug pricing hardships experienced by both of them. The event was carried live on Facebook. North Carolina Action along with allies North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans, and the NCDP Labor Caucus will continue their fight for lower drug prices and expanded Medicaid in NC.

CURRENT ACTIONS, INITIATIVES, and ISSUES

On February 26, 2020, former President Donald Trump boasted that the coronavirus was about to disappear altogether from the United States. Trump stated, “You have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to zero”, he insisted. Now we have over 600,000 dead. Then Pvt. Bonespurs tried to take all the credit for the fast rollout of the vaccines, but really all that he did was steal the phrase “warp speed” from the TV series Star Trek. Drug companies did all the work and it was accomplished with tax payer’s money. The fast rollout of vaccines did happen on his watch but he had little to do with it and later told reporter Bob Woodard that he had downplayed the virus all along so as not to hurt his reelection campaign. CONTINUED
But making vaccines and getting them injected into the arms of the public are two different things. President Joe Biden is responsible for pushing the American public to get vaccinated. After 600,000 deaths due to COVID, death and infection rates began going down and we thought we were seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

But Republican right-wing groups began a campaign of disinformation about the vaccine that has prevented many people from being vaccinated.

The result of this hesitation to vaccinate has led to the rise of the Covid Delta variant. Death and infection rates are now on the rise again. This deadly virus is said to be 1000 times more communicable than the common cold and it is deadly. A 25-year-old male who went to a concert and contracted the virus had no significant illnesses, but after contracting the delta variant, has had to have both lungs transplanted and begged to get vaccinated, sadly too late.

The new variant is killing those who have not been vaccinated and there is a newer variant, the Lambda variant that is even worse on the horizon. In North Carolina, 43.7 % of the population has been vaccinated. Those choosing not to be vaccinated are helping to sustain the Coronavirus and the possibility for it to mutate into a variant that does not respond to vaccines. Those who have chosen not to get vaccinated are endangering the lives of all of us.

FIGHT FOR FIFTEEN— The NCDP Labor Caucus continues the fight along with our allies for raising the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour. The current minimum wage of $7.25 has not been raised in over a decade and is totally out of touch with the reality of living in 2021. The labor caucus will continue to advocate for a living wage rate.

CHILD TAX CREDIT—The Democratic Party has provided a six-month child tax credit. Not a single Republican voted for it. From July 2021 for six months until December 2021 families with children will receive $300.00 for each child deposited directly to their bank accounts. Those families without bank accounts will receive checks or debit cards in the mail.

MORATORIUM ON RENT PAYMENTS— The NCDP Labor Caucus supports a continued moratorium on evictions for millions of families who are behind in their rent and mortgage payments due to losing their jobs as a result of the COVID pandemic. Throwing families out in the street is not in the best interests of our country at this time.

CONTINUATION OF $300.00 WEEKLY COVID PAYMENTS—The NCDP Labor Caucus fully supports the continuation of the weekly $300.00 Covid payments that are being paid to those who lost their jobs due to the pandemic. Recently the austerity-minded
Republican NC Legislature has wanted to stop the federal payments to force people back to low-paying jobs. The payments are due to expire in September. The NCDP Labor Caucus is aware that the payments will not completely alleviate families from the financial burdens that Covid has wrought. The NCDP Labor Caucus supports the continuation of the payments until the end of the term with consideration to extend them.

ACTION CONTACT LIST

Below is a contact list for NC’s two Republican Senators

To easily find your state legislative members simply type into your search engine the name of your county and type representation.

EXAMPLE (Brunswick County Representation)
You will be taken to the NC General Assembly where you can easily find the names and addresses of your local NC State Representatives and NC State Senators

To find contact information for your US Congressman simply type
Into your search engine, the question—Who represents County Name in the US Congress

Example–(Who represents New Hanover County NC in the US Congress)
You should then be able to scroll down to find your US Congressman

US SENATORS REPRESENTING NC
Richard Burr, Republican NC
(202) 224-3154 Washington DC Office
burr.senate.gov /contact (scroll to the bottom of the page and hit the mail icon

Tom Tillis, Republican NC
(202) 224-6342 Washington DC Office
tillis.senate.guv/email-me CONTINUED
NATIONAL NEEDED LEGISLATION—

HR-1, S-1 THE FOR THE PEOPLE ACT— This Is a much-needed bill in the house and senate to expand voting rights, change campaign finance laws to reduce the influence of money in politics, ban partisan gerrymandering, and create new ethics rules for federal officeholders. Passing this bill is extremely important and the NCDP Labor Caucus supports the passage of this bill. Republicans are standing in the way of passage using the filibuster to keep the bill from passage. The NCDP Labor Caucus supports the passage of this bill and suggests that you call and write both US Senators Tillis and Burr daily until the bill is passed.

HR-4 THE JOHN LEWIS VOTING RIGHTS ACT—With the FOR THE PEOPLE ACT stalled and not likely to acquire 60 votes for passage, Democrats have put forth the John Lewis Voting Rights ACT. It would create a pathway for citizens for the federal government to challenge new voter laws in the courts, particularly if parties can show the new law infringes on minority voting rights. Further, it would require public notice for any voting laws in a state or political subdivision. The bill would provide new rules for polling places on Indian Reservations that require states to pay for polling places at no cost to the tribes. Finally, it would require many categories of changes in state or local election procedures to go through a process called preclearance—essentially, approval from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division before being implemented. The NCDP Labor Caucus supports the passage of this bill and suggests that you call and write both US Senators Tillis and Burr daily until the bill is passed.

HR-842 PROTECTING THE RIGHT TO ORGANIZE ACT OR PROACT—This is the most important legislation for labor in over half a century or since the Department of Labor was established. Over the decade’s corporate management has found that they can break labor laws with impunity because the penalties are so mild, they simply factor it in as a routine cost of doing business. This allows them to intimidate workers during labor organizing drives creating an election atmosphere that is tilted in their favor.

The bill expands various labor protections related to employee’s rights to organize and collectively bargain in the workplace. Among other things, it clarifies the definitions of employee, supervisor, and employer to broaden the scope of individuals covered by the fair labor standards. It also permits labor organizations to encourage the participation of union members in strikes initiated by employees represented by a different labor organization and prohibits employees from bringing claims against unions that conduct such secondary strikes.

The bill also allows collective bargaining agreements to require all employees represented by the bargaining unit to contribute to the fees to the labor organizations for the cost of such representation, notwithstanding a state law to the contrary; and expands unfair labor practices to include prohibitions against replacement of, or discrimination against workers who participate in strikes.

The bill makes it an unfair labor practice to require or coerce employees to attend employer meetings designed to discourage union membership and prohibits employers from entering into agreements with employees under which employees waive the right to pursue or join collective or class action litigation.

The bill further prohibits employers from taking adverse actions against an employee, including employees with management responsibilities, in response to that employee participating in protected activities related to the enforcement of the prohibitions against unfair labor practices (i.e. whistleblower protections) Such protected activities include
*Providing information about a potential violation to an enforcement agency
*Participating in an enforcement proceeding
*initiating a proceeding concerning an alleged violation or assisting in such a proceeding, or
*Refusing to participate in an activity the employee reasonably believes is a violation of labor laws.

Finally, the bill addresses the procedures for union representation elections and provides employees with the ability to vote in such elections remotely by telephone or the internet. The bill modifies the protection against unfair labor practices that result in serious economic harm, and establishes penalties, and permits injunctive relief against entities that fail to comply with the National Labor Relations Board orders.

The passage of the PROTECTING THE RIGHT TO ORGANIZE ACT is extremely important to American workers. The NCDP Labor Caucus supports the passage of this bill and suggests that you call and write both US Senators Tillis and Burr daily until the bill is passed.

NC STATE ISSUES—NC HOUSE BILL 951—Duke Energy has a tarnished history of trying to soak their customers in order to provide the CEO and shareholders with handsome profits. There was the time that Duke proposed a hefty rate increase based on the fact that they had to encumber the costs of coal to burn for their steam-fired plants. Then it was discovered that Duke owned the mine and was selling the coal back to themselves at an exorbitant rate that was several times over the standard rate for buying coal on the open market.

And just a few years ago, they were asking for a 15% rate hike to clean up their coal ash mess after they had been caught pumping coal ash into the Cape Fear River where the City of Wilmington gets its drinking water.

At a public hearing with the Public Utilities Commission in Wilmington, Duke presented a case that they were short on money and needed a rate hike to afford the clean-up of coal ash. President Harton attended the hearing and testified under oath that the idea of Duke pretending to be broke was a complete sham. President Harton then pointed out that Duke had recently done a stock buyback to the tune of 28 billion dollars that had boosted the price of their stock by a factor of three times. President Harton further pointed out that Duke could sell 1/10th of their company-owned stock and have enough to go around to do a complete clean-up and give customers a rebate. The Public Utilities Commission ended up denying the rate hike that Duke had requested.

But looking to soak the customers and reward the investors never gets old for Duke. This time around they have approached the NC Republican Legislature who wrote NC House Bill 951 in secret in the dead of night. The bill seeks to allow Duke to mandate rate hikes without going to the Public Utilities Commission by completely removing them from the process.

This legislation is detrimental to the economic livelihood of working families who are already hard-pressed from the economics of the Covid pandemic. The NCDP Labor Caucus strenuously objects to the passage of this bill and suggests that you call your NC house and senate members informing them that you stand firmly against the passage of this bill

SUMMING UP—July has been a busy month for the NCDP Labor Caucus. President Harton has spoken on behalf of labor at several rallies. He has also spent time in the Democratic Party Resolutions Subcommittee on Economics and Labor writing and approving resolutions that affect the lives of working people in NC that will be approved at the State Executive Meeting on 7 August 2021. The caucus is developing a new messaging outlet with its new website at ncdplaborcaucus.org. The website features a blog available to the public. The caucus is also developing messaging using Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram.

We are working hard on outreach with the goal of growing the caucus and having a caucus leader in every county in NC to help and supervise the expansion of the caucus. You do not have to be a union member to join the NCDP Labor Caucus. This newsletter presents issues that affect the lives of working people. We cannot sit still and act like doormats; if we do, we can expect to get trampled on. We must all actively engage to fix the problems presented here.

Herb Harton, President
North Carolina Democratic Party Labor Caucus
(910) 791-3643 Home/Office
maguspics@aol