NC Labor 2026 Website

Whenever big Wall Street banks, financial institutions and billionaire investors gamble with our economy, working people are the ones who feel the pain. Our jobs, our homes and our retirement savings take huge hits when the banking system or the market collapses.

 

I’m Welcker Taylor, and I’m a captain at the Asheville Fire Department and President of Local 332 of the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF). I’ve been a career firefighter for 18 years, and I was a volunteer for seven years before that. I love this job because it's all about showing up for people when they need us the most, bringing in a bit of calm and compassion and technical knowledge to help solve people's emergencies.

Since its earliest days, the AFL-CIO has argued that the dignity and freedom of working people are fundamental human rights, aligning our mission with the principles later enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Today, those rights are under attack.

The government shutdown has now dragged on for 23 days. Across the country, federal workers are struggling to pay bills without their paychecks.

This is the next post in our series that will take a deeper look at each of our affiliates. The series will run weekly until we've covered all 63 of our affiliates. Next up is the Seafarers International Union (SIU).