Three of the Raleigh sanitation workers who fought for paid and voluntary overtime in 2006 served on a panel last night in Caldwell Lounge to teach about a process they said could have prevented the need for their strike.
That process is known as collective bargaining -- the way in which workers organize and bargain with employers for changes in wages, hours and other working conditions -- is legal in every state except North Carolina and Virginia.
House Bill 1583 is one that has the potential to lift the ban on collective bargaining, which has been in place since 1959, according to David Zonderman, a labor historian and professor.
Although nothing in North Carolina state law prevents workers in the public and private sectors from unionizing, Ashaki Binta, a member of the International Worker Justice Campaign and Black Workers for Justice, said the ban on collective bargaining prevents unions from functioning completely.
"The purpose of unions in North Carolina cannot be carried out under the ban," she said.
Binta said groups such as the International Labor Organization, an agency of the United Nations, have examined the law that bans collective bargaining and have deemed it a violation of international law.
Binta said over the past year, 50 representatives supported collective bargaining. She said at least 10 more are needed from the House and 26 from the Senate to pass the bill.
The legalization of collective bargaining would strengthen existing and future unions, the panelists said.
Jeff Leiter, a professor of sociology, said unions are strong when there is a high percentage of unionized state and local workers, as well as laws in the state that support collective bargaining and rights in the workplace.
So if collective bargaining were legal in North Carolina and unions grew stronger, Leiter said changes would be expected. Through his research, Leiter said he discovered that in areas with strong worker unions, workers receive significantly higher pay and have greater impact on local and state politics than areas with weak or no labor unions.
In addition, turnover, or voluntary resignation, is less common in strong worker unions, which results in higher productivity.
"If there is frequent turnover, the work group is always learning the work anew," Leiter said.
Coalitions such as H.O.P.E., or Hear Our Public Employees, are seeking support for the House bill. The panelists, as well as representatives from H.O.P.E., implored the audience of 60 students and community members to sign letters to be sent to North Carolina Legislators.
"It takes a movement sometimes to eliminate unjust laws," Binta said.
Angaza Laughinghouse, the president of the North Carolina Public Service Workers Union, said the workings of labor unions affect everyone -- especially young people.
He encouraged students to consider the effects, as they will be entering the work force within the next few years.
Kendra Jason, a member of the Student Worker Alliance and the moderator of last night's teach-in, said the Student Worker Alliance has a different reason to support collective bargaining. Jason, a doctoral student in sociology, said the alliance actively supports campus workers, so the causes for public sector workers and for collective bargaining are extensions of their work.
She said that's why the Alliance organized Wednesday's teach-in.
