Worker initiatives that strengthen the American labor movement are a key to restoring the country to financial health, said a longtime activist for social and economic justice.
"The situation of labor in this country is desperate, and when labor is desperate, the country is desperate," said the Rev. Nelson Johnson of Greensboro, speaking Friday during the 66th annual convention of the North Carolina NAACP.
Johnson, pastor and founder of Faith Community Church and executive director of The Beloved Community Center in Greensboro, was keynote speaker at a labor and industry breakfast.
Johnson urged continuation of a historic relationship the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has with the labor movement.
"This economic crisis has taught us something, and has brought us closer together than we were before it came," he said.
Johnson described the long, difficult and ultimately successful effort to unionize Smithfield pork-processing plants in eastern North Carolina.
"Times are hard, but we are winning some battles," he said.
"Let that remind you of where we can go if we stick together."
Johnson said several issues in particular deserve the NAACP's attention, including:
• Repeal of North Carolina General Statute 95-98, which bans the state's public employees from collective bargaining;
• Passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, a piece of federal legislation that would make it easier for workers to unionize;
• Support of President Barack Obama's efforts to overhaul America's health-care system;
• Compassion for Hispanic immigrant workers in the United States.
Johnson, a recipient of the National NAACP Democracy, Freedom and Human Rights Award, said it is shameful that U.S. financial institutions that have "robbed and raped America get welfare in the form of bailouts" while assistance to working mothers and their children is cut back.
"Working people are getting laid off while CEOs are getting golden parachutes," Johnson said.
"When labor is in a desperate situation, the NAACP is in a desperate situation. When the NAACP is in a desperate situation, the black community is in a desperate situation. And when the black community is in a desperate situation, the white community is in a desperate situation.
"We're all in this together. And the only way to get out of this situation is to work together."
Friday's labor and industry breakfast was co-sponsored by United Farm and Commercial Workers International and RBC Bank.
The state convention of the North Carolina NAACP began Thursday and ends today.
Today's events are at the Hickory Metro Convention Center.
The Rev. Dr. William Barber II, state NAACP president, is to address the state of civil rights in North Carolina this morning.
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