A longtime advocate for North Carolina workers on why the fight for labor rights is as American as apple pie.
This isn’t just a rhetorical question. It carries real consequences for the González Mendoza family—and thousands of H2-A visa recipients across the state. North Carolina is home to the fifth-most H2-A workers in the country, nearly 15,000 migrants who labor in the agricultural sector with few protections.
Ryan Hamilton had to race his wife to the hospital after she had a miscarriage, fell unconscious, and started bleeding out on their bathroom floor. Here, he explains what happened.
State investigators accused a Nash County farm of a "willful serious" violation of NC labor law, following a 29-year-old migrant worker's death in September 2023.
The new Labor Department rule could help millions more workers get access to benefits like overtime pay, unemployment insurance, Social Security benefits, employer-offered health insurance, the minimum wage, and paid sick days.
The proposed regulation would require employers to pay overtime to their salaried workers who are in executive, administrative, and professional roles, and make less than $1,059 a week, or $55,068 a year for full-time employees.
Although several of the Teamsters’ demands have been met, the union is still pushing to raise wages for part-time workers at UPS, who earn a minimum of only $16.20 per hour. "These part-timers are working at poverty wages," Teamsters President Sean O'Brien said.
Democratic lawmakers tried to pass a second bill that would have added paid sick days to the agreement, but were unable to reach the 60-vote threshold needed in the Senate, due to most Republican senators opposing the measure.
