UFCW Local 1208 members joined other labor groups and community allies to participate in Moral Monday in support of protecting workers and speaking out for workers’ rights.
Following a court victory reaffirming the right of people to protest in the General Assembly, members of UFCW Local 1208 joined labor groups and protestors at the last Moral Monday of the North Carolina General Assembly Legislative Session.
Mass Moral Mondays is a North Carolina NAACP coalition led movement fighting regressive legislation in the GOP controlled Assembly. Yesterday’s rally focused on protecting workers, the poor, women, and people of color who speak out for worker’s rights. UFCW Local 1208 Keith Ludlum, along with nearly 20 other protestors, were arrested on behalf of union members.
“This company has just settled a discrimination lawsuit with the EEOC and has been cited by OSHA for countless serious safety violations. Now they are violating our rights under federal law to form, join or assist my union,” said Jasmine Isom, a Mountaire Farms poultry plant worker working with UFCW Local 1208, addressing the crowd. “My name is Jasmine Isom, my daughter and I need your help. Please stand with the Mountaire workers! Forward together, not one step back.”
North Carolina units of the UFCW, AFL-CIO, SEIU, AFGE, IAM, and NEA are part of the labor movement in North Carolina addressing harmful legislation and political chicanery while fighting for workers’ rights on the shop floor. The alignment of labor, clergy, and other key constituency groups in North Carolina has helped bolster protests against the General Assembly and strengthen progressive actions across the state.
Neighboring states, Mississippi’s Ethical Thursdays and Moral Monday Georgia, are also following suit and attempting to bring together broad-based coalitions on singular state issues. 