Op-Ed: It’s been time for Southern unions

Amazon worker’s efforts in Garner, N.C. will help workers across the entire state and South.

There was a steelworkers’ bar in my Indiana neighborhood where workers gathered after their shifts. Down the street, a union hall doubled as a community center. When invited to my neighbors’ house for dinner, their union family was often there. Unions were central to daily life.

Here in the South, unions are a distant concept. Only 5 percent of Southern workers belong to a union. We’ve long branded our region as a union-free zone and courted big corporations, promising that we’ll keep unions out of our factories, mines and plants.

That’s why it’s big news that Amazon workers in Garner are voting on their union this week.

All Southern states are “right-to-work” states — meaning workers have the right to choose whether or not they are a part of a union. At first blush, this sounds good to me. I generally want more, not less, freedom and choice in my life.

But the impact is that workers in RTW states are paid 3.2 percent less than workers with similar characteristics. “Right-to-work” has always been a cruel euphemism, providing no rights and doing nothing to guarantee work.

A union, however, does both of these things. Unionized workers have support and help when their bosses misuse their power. Since non-union workers are hired “at will,” they can be fired for any reason. A union worker can only be terminated for “just cause.” Unions secure your right to work far better than any RTW state does.

Corporate profits reached an all-time high last year in the U.S., reaching $3.1 trillion in the second quarter of 2024. Surely that’s enough to pass more to their workers? But instead of raises, working people’s real wages, in terms of purchasing power, have remained stagnant since 1978.

North Carolina ranks 52nd, because Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. are included, as the worst place in the U.S. to work. That’s where the “right-to-work” lands us: A tipped wage of $2.13/hour and no heat safety standards for the many North Carolinians who do outside work.

Workers in Garner’s Amazon RDU1 facility are taking all of this head-on by citing safety, work conditions and pay as their top concerns they are voting on their union this week. If successful, Amazon’s RDU1 would be the first to unionize in the South.

Amazon’s fear is palpable: in December they fired a lead organizer in the unionization effort and later had other organizers arrested while they served food and promoted the union outside the building.

I’m cheering the workers on. When workers anywhere win protections and wage increases, it impacts the market all across the state. I know it’s an uphill battle to unionize in a place like North Carolina, especially up against a powerful company like Amazon, but I figure if they win, we all win.

— Gwen Frisbie-Fulton is a writer, mother and organizer, focusing on working-class issues and organizing. This column is syndicated by Beacon Media.