2025 Convention Resolution Three: Exercising Our Power

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RESOLUTION #3

ORGANIZING TO WIN – EXERCISING THE POWER OF OUR VOTE

This is not business as usual. Working people in North Carolina are facing unprecedented attacks—from legislation that undermines our unions to elected officials who betray our values once in office. When leaders vote to expand surveillance and detention or strip away protections for workers, they are choosing fear over freedom. We refuse to accept this as a new normal.

We feel the urgency. We know the stakes. And we know that when union members organize, mobilize, and vote, we win. There are more of us working folks than billionaires. And together, we can change the direction of our state and our country. This year, we’re not just fighting back. We’re fighting forward.

We’re organizing to elect champions for labor, democracy, human rights, and healthcare. We’re building power from the ground up—starting with labor champions like Dante Pittman and Bryan Kohn, whose campaigns proved that pro-worker values can resonate and win close races with each decided by just a few hundred votes in 2024. We’re engaging our political committee more during this time of urgency, and we’re planning to have a union presence at the polls, including a “Union Member Early Voting Day”.

We’re going back to basics: registering voters, educating our members, and mobilizing our communities. We’re using relational organizing to reach friends, family, and coworkers. We’re showing up at worksites with voter registration forms in hand. We’re building coalitions and activating young workers. And we’re making sure every union voter knows what’s at stake, like the NC Supreme Court race that could decide the future of democracy in our state and a US Senate race that could determine control of the chamber.

Working people are worried about our jobs, our economy, and our futures. We deserve to feel secure. We demand that politicians focus on creating good jobs with good pay, accessible health care, and a secure retirement. We urge all union members to join our efforts as we fight for job security nationwide and support pro-worker legislation such as the Protect America’s Workforce Act.

Therefore, we, the affiliates of the NC State AFL-CIO, resolve to:

  • Build a year-round political program rooted in internal organizing, issue-based conversations, and strong local union mobilization.
  • Prioritize voter registration and turnout through outreach by the Department of People who Work for a Living (DPWL), worksite education, and relational organizing—especially among young workers.
  • Support labor champions running for office with early campaigning, poll coverage, and visible union presence at voting sites.
  • Connect policy to politics through legislative accountability and clear communication about what’s at stake for working people.
  • Reject political efforts to divide us by race, religion, or immigration status, and uphold our values at the ballot box.
  • Utilize the Fight Forward and Freedom, Fairness, and Security campaign messaging to inspire organizing in the South and energize our movement.
  • Opt-in to every method of member-to-member contact through our member-to-member political program.
  • Raise resources for our political program through contributions to the Victory Fund and COPE PAC, with recognition for donors.
  • Be hands-on in the endorsement process, targeting resources to key races and maintaining outreach beyond endorsements.
  • Educate candidates through training, community events, and listening sessions to unify our affiliates and build labor champions.
  • Foster a new generation of elected officials, preferably members of our union family, who will grow the labor movement and fight for shared prosperity.
  • Work with coalition partners to strengthen support for labor-endorsed candidates and build movements for social justice—with voter registration forms ready at every worksite.

We are organizing to win. We are organizing to protect our democracy. We are organizing to build a future where working people thrive. We are organizing for a future of freedom, fairness, and security for all workers. Let’s fight forward together!

Submitted by NC State AFL-CIO Executive Board

Adopted September 11, 2025