Perdue order worries some

Meetings could lead to unions, businesses fear

Credit: AP File Photo

'Employers know I’m against collective bargaining,' Gov. Bev Perdue said.

By: JournalNow Staff | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: February 05, 2010

RALEIGH --

Business and conservative groups are protesting a move by Gov. Bev Perdue that they see as a step toward unions for public employees.

Perdue signed an executive order last month widening the lines of communication between state agencies and employee groups beyond that of her predecessor, Mike Easley.

Perdue recognized as many as five unions or organizations to represent workers in discussions on workplace conditions every quarter, instead of once a year.

Perdue's order also raises the bureaucratic ranking of the meetings, meaning that she and some agency heads will meet with representatives of the worker groups, including the 55,000-member State Employees Association of North Carolina.

"I don't think talking to employees is bad policy," said Francis De Luca, the president of the Civitas Institute, a conservative research group in Raleigh. "I think talking to a union is bad public policy. That is exactly what this is."

Figures from the U.S. Labor Department show that North Carolina is the least unionized state in the country. The state bans all collective bargaining by public employees.

"We feel that this is a camel's nose under the tent," said Gregg Thompson, the state director of the National Federation of Independent Business. If state law were changed to allow public employees to unionize, labor groups would take heart and bolster efforts to organize at companies, he said.

Perdue said she saw her directive as a gradual expansion of employee-employer discussions that she hopes will be "good for morale." Last year, workers were forced to take unpaid days off to help balance the state budget. Perdue said she continues to oppose collective-bargaining rights for state workers.

Perdue's assurances satisfied the state's chamber of commerce.

In other states, such meet-and-confer agreements as Perdue directed have proven to be steps toward collective bargaining, said Rick Kearney, a professor at N.C. State University and the author of Labor Relations in the Public Sector.