What is labor looking for in North Carolina?

Unions and employee associations are pushing for three major pieces of legislation which would make it easier to unionize Tar Heel workers:

CARD CHECK: A U.S. House bill that would allow unions to form if employees checked a card — rather than by secret ballot — stalled in the Senate after a narrow vote last year. Sen.-elect Kay Hagan has said she is open to the bill.

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING: A state law from 1959 forbids any municipal or state agency to negotiate with a union. The State Employees Association of N.C., now an affiliate of SEIU, hopes to repeal the ban on collective bargaining. 

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING, PART II: A U.S. House bill would require all cities and towns of more than 5,000 people to allow collective bargaining for firefighters, police officers and EMS workers. If passed, it would put increased pressure to overturn the state ban entirely.

These are not the only goals of unions in North Carolina, obviously. The National Education Association, for example, also has specific educational goals, while SEANC is concerned about government workers' pay and benefits.

But these are the major goals shared across union lines. 

Jack Hawke says outside ads are a new ballgame.

The longtime Republican campaign consultant says he's had to learn new tactics to respond to third-party ads from so-called 527 organizations for gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory. He called them an "unintended consequence" of campaign finance reform.

"It's put a whole new wrinkle in politics," he said. "All of a sudden you've got outside groups making allegations, while the candidate can say 'Oh, I don't know anything about that, I had nothing to do with it,' while they're in the back room cheering."

As a former chairman of the state Republican Party, Hawke approved ads attacking Democratic candidates, but he said they were more transparent than those run by 527 groups such as the Alliance for North Carolina.

"If the party is giving the money and running the ad, we know what their motive is," he said. "The different labor unions have poured probably millions of dollars in to this state in recent years. ... Is the goal to do away with the right-to-work state? Is the goal to be able to have state employees go into collective bargaining? What is the goal?"

In addition, he said that party ads were more closely tied to the candidate, making it harder to do a misleading negative attack without potential of a backlash.

"It can hurt your candidate, too," he said. "When he's on the ballot up there, he's under the label Republican."  

"I'm an old man," Hawke joked, "and I've got to learn a new playbook." 

Mary Fant Donnan says she would be an active labor commissioner.

The candidate for the Democratic nomination and former labor research director says she has three goals if elected to the office:

1. Use the bully pulpit. She would raise the profile of the office on labor issues, such as collective bargaining and the minimum wage. Her staff would develop policy positions on labor issues before the legislature and she would promote them.

2. Focus on training. She would work with employers and community colleges to expand worker training and apprenticeship programs. She says the state has not invested enough in training for skilled trade jobs such as construction.

3. Work with industry. She would work with industry leaders to share technological improvements that can improve workplace safety and make sure they are evenly applied. She says businesses don't share enough out of fear of their competition.

John C. Brooks thinks unions could use a boost in North Carolina.

The candidate for the Democratic nomination for labor commissioner said that he has long supported granting the state's public workers the right to collective bargaining, and he thinks unions could help other workers as well.

"It saddens me that this is such an anti-union state," he said.

Although his opponent, Mary Fant Donnan, has the backing of two of the state's largest unions, Brooks has sounded much more labor-friendly themes in his campaign, saying he would once again be the most progressive labor commissioner in history.

He argued that the lack of strong public unions is hurting workers across the state.

As an example, Brooks noted that state institutions such as UNC-Chapel Hill have outsourced some housekeeping jobs in part because there is no union to oppose the practice. The result is that the new workers do not have access to the state retirement system, have lower wages and poorer benefits.

"These people work 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year," he said, "but they get less than the least benefits we pay anybody else on the state payroll."

Mary Fant Donnan says unions have a role in North Carolina.

The candidate for the Democratic nomination for labor commissioner said she would work with unions to improve working conditions in the state, but she would not necessarily favor them.

"It's like asking, what do you think of employers?" she told Dome. "They have been very supportive of me, and I have beey supportive of making sure that they can bring their voice and perspective to the table. It's a good way to have accountability on both sides."

Donnan has received the backing of two of the biggest unions — the AFL-CIO and the N.C. Association of Educators — in a state that is otherwise not very friendly to labor groups. She said she thinks the labor commissioner can do things unions typically do in other states, such as mediating disputes between workers and employers.

Donnan also said she is open to looking at collective bargaining rights for public employees, but her position would depend on how it is tied to the right to strike and other issues.

"I can't just come out and say 'yes' or 'no' in an interview like this one because of the way all of those pieces fit together," she said. "I certainly am open to it."

State workers may need to buy some purple T-shirts. 

The State Employees' Association of North Carolina is now affilliated with the Service Employees International Union.

At a convention on May 3, the state workers' group voted by a 78 percent margin — 524 out of 671 delegates — to affiliate with SEIU, a national labor union representing 1.9 million people known for its purple shirts.

"This vote marks the largest union victory ever for working people across the South — especially in North Carolina, which previously had the lowest rate of unionization in the country," said SEANC executive director Dana Cope in a statement.

SEANC hopes to use the resources of SEIU to fight a 1959 law restricting state workers from collective bargaining. Currently, North Carolina is the only state with that prohibition.

The group will now be known as SEANC, SEIU Local 2008.

Robin Anderson filled out a questionnaire on the labor commissioner race.

The candidate for the Democratic nomination recently answered questions posed by the Progressive Democrats of North Carolina. 

In her response, she said she supports collective bargaining rights for state workers as outlined in a House bill, an increase in the minimum wage, tying the minimum wage to inflation, improve standards for seasonal agricultural workers, 

She also thinks the labor commissioner should help mediate a dispute at Smithfield Foods and condemned incumbent Cherie Berry's handling of the House of Raeford Farms poultry plants.

"This incumbent has failed by any measure. She has put appeasing the business community ahead of doing her duty to protect workers," she wrote. "She has refused to enforce the laws that are in place, and as a member of the Council of State she has voted against our future."

Bob Orr does not support collective bargaining for state employees.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate e-mailed Dome to clarify his thoughts after a confusing question and answer at the NAACP debate Saturday.

Orr said he misunderstood the question, but he would have said he does not support allowing state workers to form a union because the N.C. Association of Educators and the State Employees Association of North Carolina already do a good job.

"I was prepared to say that I did not agree with collective bargaining rights for public employees in part because of the strong, politically active membership groups already in place," he writes Dome.

Orr says he had only "minimal information" about the Smithfield plant situation at the debate.