North Carolina’s agriculture community may be in for a labor shock in the coming years

Service Employees International Union (SEIU), renowned for its aggressive, no-holds-barred tactics, launched a well-funded organizing push this past year as part of a new affiliate called the “Union of Southern Service Workers.”

Its target? North Carolina, including North Carolina farm workers.
 
The organization can only go so far under existing laws and rules, but anything is possible with a sympathetic North Carolina Labor Commissioner.
 
The sympathetic Labor Commissioner may well be Braxton Winston II. He serves as the Mayor Pro Tem of Charlotte and is running for Labor Commissioner. Braxton highlights his current status as a union member and local politician in North Carolina’s biggest urban community as critical experience for the Labor Commissioner post.
 
Incumbent Labor Commissioner Josh Dobson has announced that he will not seek reelection, so the post is wide open come 2024.
 
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“We’re taking to the streets. We’ll go to the courtrooms. We’re taking direct action by any means necessary.”
 
So declares the USSW launch video, which specifically called out farm workers as an organizing priority.
 
How the new Commissioner of Labor handles this kind of aggressive labor action will determine the future course of the state’s agriculture industry.
 
The status quo strikes an important balance between the genuine needs of workers for safe, sanitary, and fair working conditions and the importance of reasonable labor standards to the state’s economic growth.
 
But it’s not hard to imagine how quickly North Carolina’s agriculture environment could devolve with a Commissioner of Labor who prioritizes union relationships.
 
Take H2A worker housing, for instance. Right now, a Department of Labor regulator conducts a site visit to certify worker housing meets requirements for safe and sanitary conditions.
 
A pro-union Labor Commissioner beholden to, say, USSW interests could impose unreasonable scrutiny on H2A housing or even promulgate new standards. Such a move would dramatically increase labor costs for farmers already struggling to cope with sky-high inflation on inputs like fertilizer and fuel.
 
A pro-union Labor Commissioner might also ramp up temperature standards for agriculture workers. The state has agreements with the U.S. Department of Labor to enforce federal standards, but how the state Labor Commissioner interprets those agreements matters greatly.
 
North Carolina has benefitted for many years from commissioners who adopt reasonable perspectives that appropriately balance worker and farmer needs. But a new Labor Commissioner might be persuaded to embrace severely one-sided rules advanced by a union for political reasons.
 
Farm workers might require three weeks of paid “acclimation” time before working a full schedule. A temperature or humidity cutoff might disallow any labor above a certain threshold while still requiring a full day’s wage. What those rules might look like and the cost they might impose on farmers are bounded only by the imagination of a union boss.
 
If you think this isn’t possible, the USSW has already publicly signaled its intent to target this exact scenario. A USSW graphic shows a picture of a farm worker with the quote, “It’s very hot. There’s a lot of dust. We have a hard time breathing. We get headaches and sore throats.” The call to action reads, “Farm workers make sure we’re all fed. We must fight for their safety.”
 
Another USSW graphic reads, “Farm workers are essential. Without them, communities don’t get food. But across the country, bosses think they can get away with taking advantage of farm workers…”
 
A look back at just two years ago reveals how worse pandemic labor standards might have been. Some union agitators wished to shut down all activity for worker safety. Food processing facilities were thankfully deemed “essential” during the pandemic. However, that was a policy choice – a different Labor Commissioner with union sympathies might have taken the opposite approach.
 
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“Change the south, change the nation,” the USSW says. “We’re organizing to win structural changes. We’re going to transform these low-wage, high-turnover jobs into good union jobs. How? By building power in numbers. And turning up the pressure on these bosses and CEOs.”
 
The labor movement is making clear its intent to ramp up pressure on North Carolina specifically. USSW’s tactics are so extreme that, just last month, the State Employees Association of North Carolina (SEANC) began the process of disaffiliating from the group.
 
Ardis Watkins, SEANC’s executive director, told The Assembly, “Our members have seen some of [SEIU’s] actions as more radical than they’re comfortable with.”
 
If and when USSW reaches a critical mass of membership, it will almost certainly seek to influence make-or-break elections like the 2024 labor commissioner race.
 
Who wins will set the course for the agriculture industry’s future.
 
That is why the North Carolina Ag Partnership will work to ensure a pro-farmer candidate wins the race for Labor Commissioner.