The most recent “special” session of the North Carolina General Assembly on February 16 accomplished literally nothing at great expense to taxpayers, but members of the public, still wary of what their out-of-control state legislature might do since its bout of midnight madness back in January, rallied outside the legislative building just in case.

Speakers at the rally included Chris Fitzsimon of NC Policy Watch, who told the crowd of 70-80 folks, “We have had all the extremist, out-of-control special sessions we can stand.”

“Enough is enough! Enough midnight sessions. [...] Enough dividing and conquering, and enough with this Art-Pope-funded crazy train.”

Click here to watch the video, NC: Chris Fitzsimon on out-of-control NCGA, “Enough with this Art Pope-funded crazy train!”:

Darryl Miller of the group Unifour OneStop Collaborative recounted the story of his elderly mother, who lives in Mississippi and has not driven in years and in 2008 was denied her right to cast a vote in the presidential election because she did not have a photo ID. The extremists in charge of our statehouse have vowed to override the veto of a similar voter ID bill in our state.  ”This legislature cannot tell us we can be seen but not heard,” Miller told the crowd. “We have a voice!”

Click here to watch the video, NC: Darryl Miller on NCGA attempt to silence some voters, “We have a voice!”:

Hope Taylor, a dairy farmer with Clean Water for NC warned the rally goers opposed to fracking that the oil and natural gas industry pushing North Carolina to allow its dangerous and risky drilling method here “thrives on buying the best state legislatures it can buy.”

Click here to watch the video, NC: Hope Taylor warns against fracking industry’s attempt to buy the NCGA:

Erin Byrd of the NAACP spoke about the urgent need for our state legislature to authorize the release of $4 million in federal funds from the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to help ensure the 2012 elections are free and fair. Byrd explained the out-of-control NC General Assembly’s efforts to restrict voting access this way:

“They value a system that puts greed in front of our real lives. They don’t want us to have power over this system.”

Click here to watch the video, NC: Erin Byrd says extremists in NCGA want to deny others the power to stop them:

Chris Kromm of the Institute for Southern Studies connected the takeover of our legislature by back to the unrestrained corporate spending of Art Pope in the 2010 elections. The only way, Kromm said, that Art Pope and his groups can get what they want from our out-of-control legislature is to buy it:

“Art Pope is pushing an extreme agenda that wouldn’t fly if he didn’t have the money to make it happen.”

Click here to watch the video, NC: Chris Kromm says extremist NCGA agenda wouldn’t fly without Art Pope’s money:

When the rally ended, the citizens who attended tried to enter their own legislature to deliver a message admonishing Speaker Thom Tillis. But the General Assembly police told them they couldn’t enter the building holding a simple piece of paper. If they wanted to get inside, they’d have to silence their message.

Click here to watch the video, NC: G.A. police tell citizens they can’t bring paper into their own legislature:

The right-wing extremists who control our legislature are out of control. Let’s rein them in before it’s too late. Learn more and take action at www.outofcontrolnc.com.

After our Rein Them In rally ahead of an expensive, do-nothing “special” session of the North Carolina General Assembly on Thursday, Feb. 16, about 50-70 people filed into the building to deliver messages printed on simple sheets of paper to Speaker Thom Tillis. What happened next was another example of how out of control our state legislature has gotten.

Laura Leslie, reporting for WRAL:

“First, protestors say, they were told their signs violated building rules – hard to believe in a building that’s utterly awash in pieces of 8.5 x 11″ paper.

“Then they were told the public isn’t allowed on the second floor of the legislative building without an appointment.

“That was news to the dozens of lobbyists who frequent the second floor, and to reporters like me who’ve seen any number of groups gather unchallenged outside the Speaker’s office over the years. Some may have had appointments, but others were clearly impromptu. I can’t remember any of them being dispersed by GA police.”

John Frank, a reporter with the News & Observer who witnessed the scene was more blunt:

“At the statehouse, North Carolina’s people are prohibited from visiting the second floor – the floor where lobbyists lobby and lawmakers make laws.”

Only weeks earlier had Tillis told reporters who questioned whether he really expected the public to show up for surprise votes at 1 o’clock in the morning, “Uhhh…they’re welcome. Uh…they’re probably not here but everybody should know, the public should know, or any of the vested interests…”

Apparently that welcome only extends to corporate lobbyists – like the Time Warner Cable lobbyists waiting for Tillis at the same time in the very same hallway from which he evicted his critics – or to Tea Party activists. Video recorded outside Tillis’ office by his pals at the Civitas Institute in March 2011 shows Tillis then as all-too-happy to speak to a crowd of conservative protesters.

Click here to watch a juxtaposition of video from the incident on Feb. 16 and from Tillis’ very different approach to dealing with the Tea Party in 2011:

Learn more and take action to rein in our out-of-control state legislature at outofcontrolnc.com.

Were you at the 6th Annual Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HKonJ) march and rally? Lots of people were. Maybe we took your picture!

Take a look at the shots we captured during HKonJ 2012:

The Progressive Pulse put together an audio postcard from HKonJ. Check it out to hear from several participants about why they marched this year:

Despite having $4 billion in the bank, the parent company of American Airlines, AMR, has filed for bankruptcy and seeks to eliminate 13,000 jobs and dump its pension responsibility onto the federal government. Previously, American Airlines was the only major U.S. carrier not to go through bankruptcy after 9/11, due in large part to major concessions from its employees’ unions in 2003.

The bankruptcy filing came just weeks after the company concluded contract negotiations with the Transport Workers Union, leaving TWU President James Little to question whether AMR is trying to get through bankruptcy what it couldn’t get at the bargaining table.

Adding to the outrage is that AMR has hired Bain & Co. to advise it through the bankruptcy process at a cost of up to $1,100 per hour. Bain is the notorious company where Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, worked before entering politics.

Up to forty percent of the job losses will come from American’s maintenance and baggage handling divisions – including a hundred workers at Raleigh Durham International Airport. Earlier this week, we received a letter from TWU Local 569 political coordinator, Jack Anderson, asking for our help – for all of our help – to support American jobs in the face of outrageous corporate greed:

My name is Jack Andersen. I am an employee of American Airlines at RDU, and a member of the Transport Workers Union Local 569. I’m writing you to enlist your support.

As you have probably heard, American Airlines is in bankruptcy proceedings. In its bankruptcy plan, American plans to outsource much of its ramp and aircraft maintenance work to outside vendors. A total of 8,800 living wage jobs in just these two departments would be lost. American also intends to reduce its pilots by 400, flight attendants by 2,300 and management by 1,400. For a total of almost 13,000 jobs lost.

Let me tell you how this will affect us locally. For the Triangle area, this means about one hundred families will either be relocated to other cities in the American Airlines system, or be laid off to collect unemployment. Another blow to our local economy. The employees losing these jobs have been with American for at least twenty five years and have been active in the Triangle economy for at least as long. They will be replaced by low paid contract workers. In 2003, TWU members voted to give up one-third of our pay and benefits in order to keep American from going bankrupt. It’s unfair to now eliminate so many jobs. We need middle class jobs and good wages to help improve the economy in our community.

American now leads the industry in repair work performed at safe, secure U.S. based facilities, where we also work on many other carriers’ planes. Unlike competing carriers, American has not outsourced its repair and overhaul work to overseas shops that do not have routine FAA oversight. With the layoffs of 4600 mechanics, and the closing of our Ft. Worth maintenance base, that would change. American would also like to shed its pension commitments (9 billion dollars), burdening the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation, and possibly taxpayers if the PBGC couldn’t handle such a debt.

I know bankruptcies are contentious. I’m not asking you to pick a side. That said, I would like you to sign an online petition letting American Airlines know that it’s not OK to replace so many middle class jobs with non living wage jobs. It’s not OK to export so many highly skilled jobs overseas. This might be good for stockholders, but it’s not good for America. American employees have already given up much to save our company. We know we’ll have to give up more in bankruptcy, but American Airlines is asking too much. From us, and our communities.

You can view and sign our online petition at isupportamericanjobs.com. If you would like more information, please email me at jackdandersen@gmail.com, or phone me at 919.818.0417.

Thank you,

Jack

EDIT: Glenn Jeanes is the president of TWU Local 569.

Our brothers and sisters at the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) have been working for five years now to get Reynolds American to sit down and discuss widespread human rights abuses in North Carolina’s tobacco fields and what Reynolds, as the world’s second largest tobacco company, can do to end them. Reynolds has so far refused to meet with FLOC.

Click here to learn more and demand justice for North Carolina’s tobacco farm workers!

Enter Kangaroo, the largest convenience store chain in the southeast United States. Kangaroo, based in Cary, NC, operates stores in Georgia, Kentucky, Kansas, Missouri, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and here. Reynolds American’s largest customer, McClane Co., Inc., happens to be Kangaroo’s largest supplier of tobacco products. While Reynolds is willing to ignore the plight of the workers who harvest its tobacco, Kangaroo, and its chairman, Ed Holman, are in a unique position to demand Reynolds’ attention.

At least Kangaroo would be, if only Ed Holman wasn’t ignoring a December 2011 request by our friends at the Beloved Community Center to talk about how his company can make a difference in the lives of thousands of tobacco field workers.

Let’s get Ed Holman’s attention! Click here to send an e-Fax to Kangaroo, and tell Holman he needs to take this request seriously!

This is the easiest thing you can do all year to help end what Oxfam America described as the “State of Fear” in North Carolina’s tobacco fields. It won’t even take a minute of your time, and you will have sent a message that there’s one more person/citizen/customer paying attention to how three corporations – Kangaroo, McClane, and Reynolds – are failing the workers who make their profits possible.

We aren’t asking Ed Holman for the world. We are only asking him to join a conversation that would mean the world to thousands of his fellow human beings. Won’t you join us in sending him that message?

Maybe Valentines Day is a made-up holiday marketed to boost the sale of flowers, cards, and candy, but this year you can send a valentine that matters – and help farmworkers in the process.

Our friends at the North Carolina Farmworker Advocacy Network (http://www.ncfan.org/) have come up with a novel campaign to sway our state’s anti-labor Commissioner of Labor to take seriously the health and safety of 58,000 of North Carolina’s hardest workers. Sadly, Cherie Berry’s labor department has a record (PDF) of ignoring the plight of these workers.

From NCFAN:

“We want to tell Cherie Berry that she is “breaking our heart” this Valentine’s Day If you’re feeling crafty, make your own card with an original message!with her department’s responses that fall shockingly short of addressing the concerns about enforcement of farmworker protections raised by farmworker advocates. For example, the agency brushed off an official complaint (CASPA) filed by NC attorneys with the US Department of Labor last year that cites the NCDOL’s failings.

“And more recently, when concerned members of the public mailed Christmas cards to Berry’s office asking for serious examination of farmworker hazards in the fields, all they received in return was a generic letter stating that the department “is committed to enforcing the[law]“, which contradicts the department’s record of routinely neglecting to enforce it.

“We believe the NCDOL should do more than that–lives depend on it.”

Click here to create and send your “valentine” to Cherie Berry in just 4 easy steps!

Under the cover of darkness in the early morning hours of January 5th, the NC General Assembly engaged in an unannounced, unconstitutional and unethical legislative session to punish the voice of North Carolina’s teachers,  the NC Association of Educators.

February 16th marks the first day legislators are back in Raleigh since their bout of “Midnight Madness.”

A rally will be held on the front lawn of the legislative building to protest this infamous event. Issues everyone should care about are threatened by this legislature’s return to Raleigh. The fate of the Racial Justice Act, voter ID, fracking, unemployment insurance and many other critical issues could come up for a vote. Join us in a rally to rein in the OUT-OF-CONTROL lawmakers!

What: Rally to Rein In out-of-control lawmakers

When: 11:00 AM to noon on Thursday, February 16, 2012

Where: On the grass outside the Legislative Building, 16 W. Jones Street, Raleigh, NC 27601

Click here to download the flyer for this event.

Visit www.outofcontrolnc.com for more information or contact Adam Sotak of Democracy NC at (919) 286-6000.

The UNC Board of Governors voted today to allow schools in the University of North Carolina system to begin raising tuition and fees. The move is a direct result of the North Carolina General Assembly’s state budget which forced deep cuts to public education.

North Carolina NAACP President, Rev. William Barber, joined students at the Board of Governors meeting to protest the hikes, which will amount to as much as 9.9% at UNC Chapel Hill. In what has become a calling card of the Occupy movement, Rev. Barber led protesters in a mic check, during which he called for a new student movement to rise up and put a check on our out-of-control state legislature.

“We are right to protest these cuts by the General Assembly. They take our state, our future, and our education backwards! We are the generation that refuses to accept going backwards.”

James Andrews joined the protest of UNC tuition hikes.

North Carolina State AFL-CIO President James Andrews also attended the protests, today, to march with the students and speak at their rally. The right-wing’s war on higher education is an extension of the broader effort by some extremist politicians to turn access to a quality education into a privilege instead of a right.

By the way, access to quality public education is a constitutional right in North Carolina. Furthermore, our state constitution says that higher education should be free as far practicable.

“The General Assembly shall provide that the benefits of The University of North Carolina and other public institutions of higher education, as far as practicable, be extended to the people of the State free of expense.”

The cuts last year imposed by the state legislature and the hikes of tuition and fees approved today by the UNC governors are a reminder of just how far our state has fallen from living up to its constitutional obligation to the people of North Carolina.

We had good crowd at Gaston Community College in Belmont, NC last Monday to welcome North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis to another of his “Divide & Conquer” town halls. It was Tillis’ first town hall appearance since holding a surprise midnight session of the General Assembly on January 5 to strip teachers of their rights.

Over 50 union members and community activists carried signs outside that read “Sunshine Cures Shady Politics”, “Cowards strike in the dark of night”, and “Extremism in the pursuit of power IS vice” in protest before walking inside to question Tillis about his extremist agenda.

“We think it’s just an out of control use of government powers, and we’re not going to stand for it anymore,” said Justin Guillory of our coalition partner, Progress NC to the Gaston Gazette.

“We don’t want any more dirty tactics to catch people by surprise. It’s unconstitutional and it’s unethical.”

Click here to see pictures from our Rein Them In protest.

The new arrogance of those in charge of our legislature was on full display inside the auditorium where the town hall was held.

Tillis blamed a lack of “productive engagement” by teachers in the debate over the state budget for his attacks on their rights. But Tillis’ own words reveal his actions were nothing more than political payback.

Click here to watch the video of Thom Tillis blaming teachers for his attacks on their rights.

Tillis explained that voting to take away teachers’ rights while they slept was convenient and should have come as no surprise. Donna Hayes, local NCAE president, responded that “Anything that happens at 1 o’clock in the morning is a surprise because, normally, people do not do business that way.”

Click here to watch the video of Thom Tillis claiming the midnight vote was convenient, not a malicious surprise.

Tillis was asked whether he would commit to honor our state’s open meetings laws by providing a 48-hour notice and agenda for all future sessions of the General Assembly. But he refused to do so “as a practical matter”.

Click here to watch the video of Thom Tillis refusing to obey the law.

Alan Penley, a member of UAW 5285, testified that organized labor – particularly at the Freightliner plants in Cleveland, Mt. Holly, and Gastonia as well as the Thomas Built Bus plant in High Point – had used collective bargaining power to save good-paying American jobs.

Given the positive role unions are playing in North Carolina, Alan asked Tillis why he won’t stop beating up on labor. Tillis responded that he’s happy to talk to unions but added that “you’re never going to change my view about collective bargaining.”

Click here to watch video of Thom Tillis saying he will never change his view about collective bargaining.

Right-wing extremists in our legislature are out of control. Let’s rein them in before it’s too late. Learn more and take action at www.outofcontrolnc.com.

The workers at the Thomas manufacturing plant in High Point, who are represented by United Auto Workers Local 5287, got some good news earlier this month. Due to increased demand and a backlog of orders, Thomas recalled 112 laid-off workers who will leave the unemployment line for the factory line beginning in February.

“It is very refreshing to be able to call back our laid off brothers and sisters and give them good news,” said John Crawford, president of UAW Local 5287, in a press release announcing the good news:

“Together the company and union have been working very hard to build an affordable, quality product while at the same time providing good paying jobs with great benefits. More local jobs put more money back into the community and help support small businesses in the area.” Crawford added, “Beyond the work we do, it’s exciting to see our kids on our buses on North Carolina roads.”

When workers who were receiving unemployment insurance benefits go back to work, they are able to spend more feeding and clothing themselves and their families, buying cars and homes, and paying taxes to support public services.

“We are extremely pleased to be ramping up production and making these hires,” said Kelley Platt, president and CEO of Thomas Built Buses:

“Even in a tough economy, school districts must provide quality, reliable transportation for students. We are thrilled that the state recognized the value of Thomas Built school buses and that we won a spot on its 2012 supplier sheet. As the year progresses and orders are made, we hope that N.C. school bus professionals will choose high-quality, locally built buses that aim to provide them with the best possible operational cost savings during the life of the vehicle.”

The sale of 12 Thomas Built buses, on average, provides a job for one person for one year, and the sale of 1,000 buses provides employment for 83 people for a year. Furthermore, Platt says increased business for Thomas Built Buses means increased economic activity for all of North Carolina as the company buys materials and parts from local suppliers.

On average, $28,000 of the purchase price of each bus stays in the Carolinas, and Thomas builds between 10,000 and 15,000 buses every year. That adds up to be as much as $420 million pumped into our state’s economy.

Founded in 1916, Thomas Built Buses, a division of Daimler Trucks North America, is the leading manufacturer of school buses on the continent. Daimler also operates unionized manufacturing facilities in Cleveland, Mt. Holly, and Gastonia.

You can support the union workers at Thomas Built Buses by contacting your local school board and telling them to “Buy school buses made in North Carolina by North Carolina parents for North Carolina students in North Carolina’s public schools.”