To: The North Carolina State House, The North Carolina State Senate, and Governor Roy Cooper
State and city workers in N.C. deserve a real raise!
Workers across North Carolina and the entire country have been suffering from the ongoing economic crisis. The prices of many vital needs such as food, rent, childcare, gas and other utilities have been driven up, totaling over a 15% increase in consumer price index for the Southern region since 2008. Meanwhile, workers' wages have been stagnant. UE150 is fighting for across the board wage increases of $3,000 for all state and city employees in N.C. We join the demand by striking fast food workers for a $15 per hour minimum wage -- many public workers make less than this base rate for survival.
Why is this important?
Corporations and the wealthy must pay their fair share of taxes. We must demand that Gov. McCrory and the General Assembly rescind the tax breaks from the 2013 Legislative session that will cut $2.4 billion from the state budget over the next 5 years.
Workers speak out about why they need real raises now:
"We go through hardships after so many years without a raise. Light bills in Wilson keep going up, and I don’t really have enough money for food. ”- Betty Howard, Food & Nutritional Services, Longleaf Neuro-Medical Treatment Center
“Besides my full-time job with the state, I have to work 2 other jobs just to pay my bills. My wife is out of work on disability and I am struggling. We need a big raise! ” - Johnny Askins, Durham, State Department of Transportation
“Everything has gone up but the wages. The cost of our parking and insurance has gone up a lot. We can’t afford the out-of-pocket expenses at the doctor, so we don’t go. Since Duke Power has taken over, our power bills have almost doubled. I can hardly buy food in the grocery store because that’s gone up too. We need a serious raise now! ” - Evelyn Hill, Housekeeper, N.C. State University
Workers speak out about why they need real raises now:
"We go through hardships after so many years without a raise. Light bills in Wilson keep going up, and I don’t really have enough money for food. ”- Betty Howard, Food & Nutritional Services, Longleaf Neuro-Medical Treatment Center
“Besides my full-time job with the state, I have to work 2 other jobs just to pay my bills. My wife is out of work on disability and I am struggling. We need a big raise! ” - Johnny Askins, Durham, State Department of Transportation
“Everything has gone up but the wages. The cost of our parking and insurance has gone up a lot. We can’t afford the out-of-pocket expenses at the doctor, so we don’t go. Since Duke Power has taken over, our power bills have almost doubled. I can hardly buy food in the grocery store because that’s gone up too. We need a serious raise now! ” - Evelyn Hill, Housekeeper, N.C. State University