Members of the North Carolina Public Service Workers Union, UE Local 150, met outside the North Carolina Legislative Building Thursday to demand the state end in-person instruction at universities for the upcoming semester, citing rising COVID-19 cases.
“We've had a very consistent set of demands since the pandemic began that we've been asking for,” Laura Bray, a member of UE150 and graduate student at North Carolina State University said. “Keep us safe, keep our jobs and income safe and give us a seat at the table. They have refused to meaningfully engage with us on any of these — and we've seen what happens when they do that.”
Prior to the fall semester, the Board of Governors stressed to each chancellor that only the board and the UNC System president had the authority to cancel in-person learning. At UNC, classes were moved online after only a week of in-person instruction, following four clusters of COVID-19 and an almost 11 percent increase in the COVID-19 positivity rate.
The attendees delivered a petition to the BOG and university chancellors with a list of demands, including limiting campus housing; providing sick and family leave to workers; and giving union leaders a “seat at the table” to discuss safety measures.
“I hope it will at least bring more visibility,” Nicole Harry, a graduate student and teaching assistant at UNC, said. “I don’t know if it will get administrative or structural change, but as long as we can continue raising awareness that we are not all on board with reopening. The administration needs to be held accountable, and those that need to be working need to be protected.”
Officials from the UNC System did not respond to a request for comment.
Members read testimonials from workers across the UNC System expressing concerns about returning to in-person learning and criticizing the system’s decision-making.
“The biggest thing that UNC lacks is transparency,” Tracy Harter, a housekeeper at UNC, said in a testimonial read at the rally. “All of us — students, parents, faculty and staff — need to be on the same page, and the lack of transparency from UNC administration has stood in our way to protect ourselves.”
Police briefly interrupted the demonstration, telling organizers they did not have a permit to hold an event on state property. An organizer with the union quickly signed a permit and police allowed the event to continue.
