Teach-in on Collective Bargaining at NCCU

The North Carolina HOPE Coalition is co-sponsoring a teach-in on collective bargaining rights with the Institute for Civic Engagement and Social Change and Traction. Scheduled for April 3rd on the campus of North Carolina Central University, the teach-in is timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary Martin Luther King, Jr's stand with public employees in Memphis, TN.

What: A teach-in on Collective Bargaining at North Carolina Central University

When: Thursday, April 3, 2008 from 7 to 9 pm

Where: NCCU Student Union building

On April 3, 1968, Dr. King delivered his "I've Been to the Mountain Top" speech at the Mason Temple in Memphis, TN. King had returned to Memphis to support striking public sector workers in the city sanitation department. The public employees had been on strike since they walked off the job February 12 of that year to protest dangerous working conditions, poverty level wages, a lack of respect on the job, and to demand recognition of their union. The next day, April 4, 1968, King was assassinated.

A little over a week later the sanitation workers and their representatives reached an agreement with the City of Memphis to recognize the union, AFSCME, and bargain over the conditions of employment, thereby ending the strike.

Public employees in North Carolina have no right to collective bargaining due to a now 50-year old law that bans state, county, and local governments from entering into contracts with their employees. Repeal of the statue, GS 95-98 is a top priority of the HOPE Coalition, of which the NC State AFL-CIO is a charter member.

At the teach-in you can learn more about collective bargaining - what it means, why it's matters, and how to secure it for NC public employees. The session will include a brief video on Dr. King and will include food and refreshments. Attendance is open to the public, and there is no cost to attend this event.

Download the flyer for this event.

Sign-on For HOPE

Our effort to gather signatures onto an open letter to members of the General Assembly continues. You can see the list of signers as of April 1, 2008 at the HOPE website.

If you have yet to join this effort, it's not too late to add your signature, today!