NC Stands Up for Workers

The state legislature in North Carolina passed a resolution imploring the Democratic National Committee to respect the state’s Right to Work law:

N.C. lawmakers are poised to approve a nonbinding resolution to ask the convention to change its rules and “respect North Carolina’s right-to-work laws.”

A House committee is expected to consider the resolution at a meeting this morning before it goes to the full chamber. It comes after Republicans raised concerns about North Carolina firms not getting contracts for the September convention because they are not unionized shops.

The resolution asks the DNC to “refrain form hiring workers and companies from outside (North Carolina) when qualified business or workers are available within the state.”

So far, the convention committee has awarded six contracts totaling $7 million — but only one went to a unionized firm. The resolution mentions the lone union contract — for event production and printing services — which created a stir after the owner of a rival company complained that his nonunion status cost him the gig. Conservative blogs and the N.C. Republican Party are fueling concerns.

“It may astonish you — its not about politics, it’s about jobs,” said state Rep. David Lewis, the Republican sponsor.

DNC: No Union; No Business

Local business was promised a boost to the economy if the Democratic National Convention (DNC) came to Charlotte, North Carolina.  But they were never told they would be discriminated against if they were not unionized.

Undercutting Workers in Charlotte

The Democratic National Convention Committee has let it be known that non-union construction workers and companies need not apply as they have made favoring their union allies a key critieria to get work on the convention.

The DNCC’s Sept. 13 request for proposal for construction managers and event architects states that the DNCC will enter into a labor agreement with the construction manager, who will be obligated to ensure that nearly all work at the site be covered by union monopoly bargaining agreements to the “maximum extent possible.”

Republican candidate for Mayor of Charlotte Scott Stone wants to see exactly what is in these agreements.  He issued a letter requesting the DNCC release the actual project labor agreements and also issued a press release on October 26 calling on the  DNC Host Committee to release the project labor agreements that vendors will be required to sign. At a press conference in Charlotte, Stone presented a formal letter addressed to Mayor Foxx and the DNC Host Committee asking for the labor agreements to be made public.

Stone expressed his concern that at a time when other states around the country are outlawing project labor agreements, Charlotte and North Carolina – at the hands of the DNC – are heading toward them and down a slippery slope. “As project labor agreements are going away in Michigan, here in the Right-To-Work state of North Carolina they’re actually popping up.”

DNC: Whoops, We Forgot

The Democrat National Committee has surveyed its members to create a list of priority agenda items for the party and apparently someone forgot to get a sign off from the labor union bosses on the mailing.  The Card Check Forced Unionism bill was left off the list.