Valuing Hard Work

In my “day job”, I am a professional working at the business and technical interface of a large company. I see the business needs to balance investments in equipment with investments in people. However, our current laws too often value capital over labor. To maintain our shared prosperity and the basics of the American dream, we must restore the balance of valuing hard work over wealth.

Treating workers fairly is not only fundamentally right; it is also good for business and our community. Good salary, benefits, and safe working conditions expand the middle class, reduce turnover, and improve productivity. Rather than living hand to mouth, workers and their families can improve their lives and our community.

A basic constitutional right to free association also means workers need to be free to join unions, to collectively bargain in good faith, and be free from intimidation by employers or the government.

A special word about North Carolina State Employees: First and foremost, the way we treat our state employees should be a model for how we expect North Carolina businesses to treat all their workers. Unfortunately, the opposite is true.

State employees are effectively denied access to unions and collective bargaining. Salary and benefits are sorely lacking and are first on the chopping block come budget time, instead of fully funding the statutory Pay Plan. Classes of state employees are being carved out and denied standard legal protections. The burden of funding the retirement system and dependant health care is put on the shoulders of state employees.

This poor treatment of state employees has resulted in high turnover to private and even local public sector jobs. State workers strain under increased work and case loads. It becomes difficult to provide the effective and efficient services the people and businesses of North Carolina deserve. It is not just bad for state employees; it is bad for North Carolina.

In business or government, we need to put hard working employees at the head of line.