Town Hall Report: Keeping Jobs in North Carolina

Bad trade deals and companies deciding to offshore jobs hurt North Carolina workers, but how do we fight back? That was the topic of discussion at a town hall organized by the Communications Workers of America in Greensboro on Tuesday.

The Town Hall began with a panel on federal trade deals and their effects on jobs in North Carolina, specifically those in call centers, where American workers help customers of American companies with everything from cell phone plans to booking flights and more.

Rodney Hughes, president of CWA Local 3607 in Greensboro, opened the Town Hall and described call center jobs that, thanks to strong collectively negotiated union contracts, pay good wages and benefits as being essential to North Carolina’s middle class. CWA member and a call center worker at AT&T, Tom Ricky Totten, stressed the important role unions of working people like his, community members, and state and federal lawmakers have in keeping these jobs in the United States and not in overseas offices.