For over forty years now, successive generations of millworkers and members of United Steelworkers Smoky Mountain Local 507 have used their freedom to join together in union to organize and ensure shared prosperity in the tiny mountain town of Canton, North Carolina.
Worker organizing past and present is the cover story of the Labor Day 2018 issue of Creative Loafing Charlotte, featuring quotes from North Carolina State AFL-CIO President MaryBe McMillan, IBEW Local 379 President and state AFL-CIO Vice President Scott Thrower, and Ben Lee, chairman of the Charlotte Labor Day Parade Committee.
When people ask why I spend some of my very rare free hours advocating for labor unions in my new home state, the answer is simple. I want labor union sense to be again this region’s common sense.
Local cooks and cashiers from McDonald’s, Burger King, and other restaurants announced Friday that they will walk off the job on Labor Day, joining strikes by fast-food workers in 300 cities from coast to coast.
Working people in North Carolina celebrated the holiday that bears our name with Labor Day parades and festivals, media outreach, and community service.
This Labor Day, we are asking working families across the country to take action and commit to improving the lives of all working people by voting, for a better life. On November 8, 2016, working people will flock to the polls to support policies and candidates that are dedicated to creating fundamental, lasting change for everyone, not just the wealthy few.
Working people in North Carolina commemorated Labor Day this year with a parade and picnics, prayers in the pulpits, and community service to honor the American worker and to celebrate the incredible achievements of all people who are working for a better life.
North Carolina State AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer MaryBe McMillan sat down for an interview for the radio program News & Views with Chris Fitzsimon to talk about the future of work in North Carolina and efforts to raise the wages of working people in our state.
“We can no longer devalue the importance of a collective voice for workers. We can no longer hope that corporations and policy makers will do the right thing because we ask them to. We have to return to what works for working people — labor unions.”
Come out for an “old fashioned, union made” parade when the biggest and longest-running Labor Day parade in the Carolinas returns to Charlotte in 2015, featuring local union floats and marchers as well as stepping groups, bands, and more.
On the Saturday before Labor Day, join AFL-CIO community affiliate Working America for fun, fellowship, and a free lunch when they hold their Labor Day weekend celebration and open house at their office in Greensboro.
North Carolina is getting a new workers’ center in time for Labor Day, and they’re inviting you to take the mic and have your say about life as a worker in Greensboro.
Have you ever said or heard the words “Labor Union” in a worship service? We invite you to join other people of faith to speak up on Labor Sabbath – the Friday, Saturday, or Sunday before Labor Day (September 7).
Our #TalkUnion Tour on Labor Day highlighted how North Carolina workers are finding hope to raise wages and defend workers’ rights in difficult economic and political times by taking collective action through labor unions and Moral Monday.
The Charlotte Labor Day Parade returns for 2014 with the theme “An old-fashioned parade, union made!” Pre-parade assembly at 8am. Parade begins at 11am.
