Count Me In! What We Did Together in 2025

Dear Labor Leaders and Union Members,

The year 2025 marked a period of significant transition for the North Carolina Labor Movement, beginning with the second Trump administration immediately attacking federal workers’ collective bargaining rights and illegally firing thousands of working people nationwide.

Read our 2025 Annual Report (PDF)

Despite this, our labor movement continued to advance, leading the South by example. Over 2,000 Duke grad student workers signed a historic first contract with SEIU, Workers United has organized more than a dozen Starbucks locations from Boone to Wilmington, and CWA is targeting Wells Fargo. We held three “Department of People Who Work For a Living” public hearings, and we strengthened labor-community bonds through our work with the Center for Transformational Organizing.

In September, the federation held its largest-ever convention to honor the retiring MaryBe McMillan, whose consequential leadership remains influential. At the same convention, delegates overwhelmingly elected me, Braxton Winston, to grab the baton of leadership and, with a new executive board, keep running forward together. 

Since then, we have navigated a mid-cycle redistricting, a record-long government shutdown, and federal paramilitary operations that terrorized immigrant communities. Nevertheless, CLC-endorsed candidates won two-thirds of municipal and local elections this year, and we are gearing up for one of the most challenging and consequential mid-term elections ever in 2026.

Success requires solidarity to build worker power—in our workplaces, our communities, and in our democracy. Know that your State Fed remains committed to working with you to make North Carolina the best state for workers and their families.

Count me in,

Braxton Winston, President