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Letitia Zavala showed a group of farm workers in eastern Wake County a photo on a hot summer day. It was of Jose Arturo Gonzalez Mendoza, a Mexican migrant worker who died in a Nash County sweet potato field last fall. The temperature that day reached 97 degrees.
Next to his photo were the words “Ni una vida mas”–not one more life.
Workplace fatalities have climbed in recent years. The Charlotte Observer found that a construction worker dies on the job every 10 days in North Carolina. Many of those deaths were preventable.
The race to run the state Labor Department, which is charged with protecting the safety of workers from farm fields to corporate offices, has gotten little attention. But the choice between the two candidates couldn’t be starker.
Republican Luke Farley is a Raleigh lawyer who has represented businesses in disputes with the Labor Department for 14 years. Democrat Braxton Winston is a union member who says the choice for voters is between “a worker like them or … their boss’s lawyer.”
The Labor Commissioner’s Daunting Task
As workplace fatalities rise and dozens of state inspector jobs remain unfilled, the two candidates for North Carolina’s top regulatory job have starkly different backgrounds and philosophies.
“When hard-working North Carolinians do not go home to their families because of a fatality that happened at work, that’s the Commissioner of Labor’s responsibility,” incumbent Josh Dobson said.
Have a news tip for our team? You can reach us at scoops@theassemblync.com.
Our Bad
The Friday newsletter included the wrong link to our story on Fayetteville State University Chancellor Darrell Allison. It’s a great story, and we still think you should read it.
Back in the News
The Washington Post reports that 18-year-old tennis player Maya Joint recently had to make a tough decision: Give back a substantial portion of the $146,657 she made playing in the U.S. Open, or forfeit her eligibility to play at University of Texas this year.
The NCAA’s strict rules about prize money led UNC tennis star Reese Brantmeier to file a lawsuit we covered earlier this month.
The lawsuit represents the most head-on attack on the teetering edifice of so-called amateurism in college athletics. Brantmeier’s lawyers are confident they will prevail: “I don’t see a credible argument the NCAA can make on this point of denying these athletes the money they earn,” said New York-based antitrust lawyer Peggy Wedgeworth.
What We’re Reading
Counting On It: Half of N.C. Republicans aren’t confident votes will be counted accurately, a WRAL poll found. Current and former officials said the state has taken steps to ensure election security.
Rent is Too Damn High: Asheville’s new affordable housing plan says a third of households in the city spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs, per the Citizen-Times.
Double Double This This: Hospitals participating in the state debt-relief plan will get nearly twice as much in Medicaid reimbursement than if they hadn’t participated, the Charlotte Ledger and N.C. Health News report.
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Our Recent Stories
Too Good to Be True
When Jolene Strickland ran for governor in 1996, she received press coverage, money, and votes. If only she existed.
An Unconventional Chancellor Keeps His Cool
Many were skeptical of Darrell Allison. Now enrollment is up, dropouts are down, and buildings are rising.
Expanding Minds
A small clinic in Waynesville has been part of a national movement to broaden the use of MDMA to treat PTSD.
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