North Carolinians: You get to vote for Labor Commissioner on November 5th. And it shouldn’t be a hard choice: Braxton Winston is a union member and the Democratic candidate for North Carolina Labor Commissioner.
But wait, you ask. I get to “vote” for a “candidate” for Labor Commissioner?
Yes. Unlike most states, many of the most important “cabinet level” positions in the North Carolina government are elected directly by voters instead of being appointed by the Governor.
And this makes for strange bedfellows. Black Nazi Mark Robinson is the Lieutenant Governor behind Democratic Governor Roy Cooper.
And even though North Carolina has had Democratic Governors in 20 of the past 24 years, pro-business Republicans have controlled the Labor Commissioner’s office for that entire period.
Hopefully that will change this November. Winston is a former three-term Charlotte City Council member, a stagehand and grip by trade and a member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees union (IATSE) and a champion of workers and workplace safety. Imagine having a union member as Labor Commissioner. What a wild idea!
Winston is running against Republican Luke Farley, a Wake County lawyer who regularly represents construction companies that have been cited by the state labor department for workplace safety citations. Until he won the recent Republican primary, Farley was even too conservative for the NC Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber has now endorsed Farley, although they opposed him during the primary due to his far-right politics.
I have posted a couple of interviews with Winston, and you can watch a debate between the two candidates here.
And below is an interview with Winston:
Health and Safety
Workplace safety and health — and especially construction worker safety — have been major issues in this year’s election.
The workplace fatality rate for construction workers in the state is 11.5 deaths per 100,000 employees in 2022, about 20% higher than that for construction workers nationally, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Responding to the problem, Winston stated that “All workplace injuries and fatalities are preventable.”
Even though North Carolina has had Democratic Governors in 20 of the past 24 years, pro-business Republicans have controlled the Labor Commissioner’s office for that entire period.
Winston wants to add staff to NC OSHA, including more Spanish-speaking inspectors, and pay them more. One-quarter of NC OSHA positions are currently unfilled. Winston also supports unions, partly because he believes they make workplaces safer.
Farley’s main solution to the problem of construction worker deaths is to “focus on training workers and consulting with employers on a voluntary basis,” although he also mentions that NCOSHA should “penalize companies that don’t follow workplace safety rules.”
Training is great, and necessary. But putting all the emphasis on training puts all the burden on workers, when the employer has control over working conditions that cause most injuries, illnesses and deaths.
And like many Republicans, Farley thinks that enforcement is only reactive, rather than preventive, stating that “While fines punish violations, education helps prevent them.”
Well actually, no. Citing employers doesn’t just punish past violations and injuries, penalties also prevents future problems at that worksite. And research has shown that penalizing employers, and publicizing those citations sends a strong message to other employers in the geographic area and in the same industry, that health and safety violations will not be tolerated.
And many employers are already educated in the right thing to do; they just want to save a few bucks by not doing it.
But Farley is no dummy. He’s moving rapidly toward the middle, agreeing with Winston on the need to hire more inspectors and pay them more, and thinks that Spanish-speaking workers should be trained in Spanish.
Heat
Last year, José Alberto Gonzalez Mendoza, a migrant farmworker, died from heat stroke in North Carolina while picking sweet potatoes less than two weeks after arriving from Mexico on an H-2A guest-worker visa.
Winston has pledged to take action to protect “workers who experience extreme heat on the job like our sanitation workers, farm workers, letter carriers and construction workers.” He feels that North Carolina should go ahead with its own heat standard (as several other states have done) and not wait for Federal OSHA.
“I think all workers deserve protection from extreme heat, and this would be a priority of my administration to go forward because North Carolina should be a leader when it comes to worker safety (and) worker health, because those are integral for the continuation of the growth of our various industries that we depend on in our different economic sectors.
He stated that he’ll be a Commissioner who talks to stakeholders about “what’s best for the state as a whole, and not necessarily waiting for federal regulations that don’t necessarily consider the conditions that are on the ground here in different parts of North Carolina.”
Republican Farley, on the other hand, describes himself as “a ‘reluctant regulator,’ who would bring a “common sense approach to regulation,” calling Winston “an activist.” (As if that’s a bad thing.)
In fact, Farley is so reluctant to regulate that he doesn’t think there needs to be any kind of federal (or state) heat standard fearing its impact on North Carolina’s agricultural and construction sectors. He has the Republican script down, criticizing federal OSHA’s draft heat standard during the debate as a “one size fits all” approach.
In response to the Biden administration’s heat proposal, his website complains that “This burdensome new regulation will kill jobs and drive up the price of housing and food. As Labor Commissioner, I will fight this unreasonable regulation with all means available to the Department.”
Winston has pledged to take action to protect “workers who experience extreme heat on the job like our sanitation workers, farm workers, letter carriers and construction workers.” He feels that North Carolina should go ahead with its own heat standard
Instead of a legally enforceable standard, he prefers to rely on OSHA’s legally burdensome General Duty Clause (GDC) to protect workers. The GDC is language in the Occupational Safety and Health Act that requires employers to provide a safe workplace where no specific standard exist. The GDC is difficult and time-consuming for OSHA to use and generally only used after a worker has been hurt or killed. It’s also much more prone to overturning in the courts than a clear violation of a standard. Employers — and business groups like the Chamber of Commerce — generally don’t like it because, unlike a standard, it doesn’t give employer specific steps to protect workers and avoid citations. But when faced with an actual standard (like heat), the business community suddenly becomes a big fan of the General Duty Clause.
Farley also apparently believes that North Carolina workers are somehow less susceptible to heat hazards than workers in other states. In its draft standard, OSHA set two heat index triggers: an “initial heat trigger” at 80 degrees, and a “high heat trigger” at 90 degrees. Those triggers would determine how much water and rest time workers would receive.
But Farley argues that “The triggers… might be necessary for someone familiar with working in a cooler Northern state but may not be extreme to someone familiar with North Carolina’s temperatures. “Maybe we can set the trigger a little higher at a more commonsense place and still protect people as effectively without burdensome regulation.”
No Luke, the law states that after OSHA issues a standard, state plan states like North Carolina must adopt the identical standard or one that is more — not less — effective. As a candidate for Labor Commissioner, you should know that.
Farley also refused to answer a debate question about how you stop worker deaths before they happen, rather accusing Winston of trying to defund the police and use the money for raising his own salary.
Labor Issues
North Carolina is rated one of the best states for workers, but as Winston reminds a reporter, it’s not so great for workers.
Oxfam brings us to dead last behind D.C. and Puerto Rico, because our workers get paid less, our workers don’t enjoy the same benefits that a lot of workers in different states see that they’re entitled to, and workers have less opportunity to organize, to join a union. Therefore, they have less power in the workplace.
Winston has also come out strongly for overturning a North Carolina law banning collective bargaining for public sector employees, calling it “a travesty” that public sector workers can’t bargain. “It’s bad for the worker and the taxpayer. If workers’ voices aren’t heard, policy makers make uninformed decisions that have negative fiscal impacts.”
As a union member, Winston believes that “The choice is a worker like you, or your boss’s lawyer, to be the lead advocate for workers,” he said of this fall’s election. “The choice could not be more clear.”
Farley refused to answer when asked whether he would support overturning the public sector collective bargaining ban.
Winston is also push a “whole worker” approach, working with with other North Carolina agencies and outside organizations to ensure that workers can afford housing, better health care, broadband access and child care. Farley opposes raising the minimum wage, preferring to depend on the “rising tide that lifts all ships.” Winston rejects trickle-down wage increases and backs raising the minimum wage.
Winston has been endorsed by the NC State AFL-CIO and the North Carolina Association of Educators.
But wait! The Communications Director of the North Carolina GOP warns that Winston would be “ the most radical Labor Commissioner in the history of North Carolina.”
Well if that’s the case, Winston has my endorsement. As he said in his closing statement at the debate: “Who do you want to be the lead advocate for workers in North Carolina, a worker like you or or your boss’s attorney?”
Conclusion
I love North Carolina. We have good friends there, our kids went to summer camp in the mountains, I worked closely with Congresswoman Alma Adams from Charlotte, and we’ve spent lots of time at the beaches.
But North Carolina is a funny place. On one hand, it’s slowly becoming a purple state. But on the other hand, you have Republican candidates that range from the self-described “Black Nazi” running for Governor, to Michelle Morrow, who is running for NC Superintendent of Public Instruction even though she home schools her kids, has never taught in a public school or been employed as a faculty member, and “expressed support in 2020 for the televised execution of former President Barack Obama and suggested killing then-President-elect Joe Biden.”
I’ve been working a bit on the election in North Carolina, making calls to union members and retirees. And even though everyone is familiar with the race for President and Governor, no one knows much about down-ballot races. In fact, no one that I talked to recognized Braxton Winston’s name or even knew they could vote for Labor Commissioner.
So if you live in North Carolina, or have friends or relatives in the Tarheel state, make sure they know about the down-ballot races — and make sure they — and their friends, families and co-workers — cast a vote for Braxton Winston for Labor Commissioner.
