The North Carolina legislature has moved to the extreme right in the 2013 session, passing a series of laws that assault the rights of the state's residents. The session comes to an end this week, but the damage from the laws that the Republican-led body has passed, and the governor is likely to sign, will be around for many years to come.
Today’s Moral Monday action in Raleigh, N.C., will focus on women’s issues. It is the 11th Moral Monday event to protest the extreme actions of the legislature and Gov. Pat McCrory (R). Says the Rev. William Barber II, president of the North Carolina NAACP :
Women are speaking out on unemployment, poverty, Medicaid, voting rights, women's rights and education from a moral and constitutional perspective.
North Carolina State AFL-CIO President James Andrews says he chose the act of civil disobedience that led to his arrest and the arrests of 120 others yesterday at the state Capitol in Raleigh, N.C., because:
I stand in opposition to the immoral acts taken against the people of North Carolina by those who claim to govern in their name.
On Monday, we brought you the story and photos of the Tax Fairness Rumble in Raleigh, N.C., that pitted masked Mexican luchadoras (female wrestlers) Juicy Buns, wrestling as “The People’s Champion,” against corporate-created and -backed “Champion of the Powerful,” The Scrambler. Here’s the video.
Justice triumphed in the squared circle in downtown Raleigh, N.C., in a masked Mexican luchadoras (female wrestlers) Tax Day rumble that pitted Juicy Buns, wrestling as “The People’s Champion,” against corporate-created and -backed “Champion of the Powerful,” The Scrambler.
With corporations and the wealthy pulling the strings and puppet politicians dancing on command, the outcome of battles in Congress and state legislatures over tax fairness is fairly predictable. But the North Carolina State AFL-CIO may have an answer. On April 15—Tax Day—the state federation is sponsoring a unique “ Fair Fight ” to stop state lawmakers from continuing to shift the tax burden of the Tar Heel State’s wealthiest and corporations onto middle- and low-income working families.
More than 160 state and local labor federations and central labor councils have passed resolutions in support of comprehensive immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship for aspiring citizens already in the United States. The labor organizations that have passed resolutions so far come from 39 different states and represent more than 6 million workers.
In a near party-line vote, the North Carolina House of Representatives gave preliminary approval to a bill that would harm many of the state's more vulnerable citizens by cutting back on unemployment insurance. The measure would cut maximum weekly benefits by one-third, bringing the top weekly payout to $350, and reduce the maximum length an unemployed worker can get from 26 weeks to 20. As the bill currently stands, 80,000 workers are set to lose unemployment insurance payments.
It’s been four years since low-wage workers got a raise. Sign the petition to tell Congress it’s time to raise the minimum wage.
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