Haga clic aquí para completar este formulario en español. | Click here to complete this form in Spanish.Tentative Plan for the day (please check your email for updates):
9am Breakfast & prepare for the day | Edenton Street United Methodist Church: 228 W Edenton St, Raleigh, NC 27603
9:30am
Walk to Press conference
10:00 am Press conference #1: paid sick leave & paid family leave | Press Room (#1328) at Legislative Building (LB) at 16 W Jones st
11:00 am Press conference #2: raise the minimum wage | Press Room (#1328) at Legislative Building (LB) at 16 W Jones st
10:30am -12:45pm Lobby visits (happening concurrently with press conference #2) | 2 locations:
Legislative Building (LB) at 16 W Jones St
Legislative OfficeBuilding (LOB) at 300 N Salisbury St (Maps of inside LB & LOB)
1:00pm Lunch, debrief and workers' exchange | Edenton Street United Methodist Church: 228 W Edenton St, Raleigh, NC 27603
Parking info (please allot extra time for parking & transportation)
Please bring a water bottle, wear weather appropriate business casual clothing, and comfortable walking shoes.
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What: The Raising Wages NC and NC Families Care Coalitions are joining forces to hold a day of action at the NC General Assembly in Raleigh on Tuesday, March 25, 2025 to advocate for basic rights for workers, including paid sick days, paid family and medical leave and raising the minimum wage.
Why: Poverty is the 4th leading cause of death in the U.S. Currently, 34 states and D.C. have raised their minimum wages above the federal minimum wage. Meanwhile, NC workers have been stuck with a wage floor of $7.25 an hour and a $2.13 tipped wage since 2008. As the cost of living continues to rise, our communities cannot survive on these poverty wages; the 2025 Living Income Standard for a household with one adult and one child is $36.30 an hour. For our businesses and economy, raising the minimum wage boosts consumer spending, reduces costly turnover, and improves productivity and customer service. It’s time for the NC legislature to raise the wage and to put an end to subminimum wages and exemptions for historically marginalized workers.
For 18 years, a bill has been introduced in the state legislature to allow working people to earn paid sick time. This common sense policy is already in place in many other parts of the country, benefitting working people, their families, employers and the public health, but here in NC, the bill hasn’t even received a committee hearing. During the pandemic the consequences of inaction became clear, as states with paid sick days laws in place suffered far fewer cases of COVID-19 than other states because sick frontline workers were supported to stay home and recover rather than putting their coworkers and customers at risk. Working North Carolinians deserve to recover from illness, care for sick loved ones and access preventative healthcare.
Paid family and medical leave is a norm in many other parts of the country and the world, but in NC, the vast majority of working people have no access to paid leave. While some workers have access to unpaid leave from the FMLA, many are ineligible, and many more can’t afford to take time off without pay while healing or caring for family. Whether welcoming a new baby into the world, recovering from cancer treatment or caring for a dying elder, we shouldn’t have to win the boss lottery in order to take time to care.
Passing these basic workplace policies in North Carolina will represent a huge step towards eliminating poverty by better supporting working people to care for their families, creating more good jobs, leveling the playing field for businesses, putting money back in the economy, and building thriving communities.
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About our coalitions:
Raising Wages North Carolina is a coalition that organizes worker-centered campaigns to raise the wage floor to a livable wage, challenge systems of oppression, and build local organizing capacity among workers, businesses, and advocacy organizations.
NC Families Care is a coalition of over 30 diverse organizations advocating for family-friendly workplace policies for working North Carolinians and their families, including paid sick and safe days, paid family medical and parental leave, and pregnancy accommodations.
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Contacts:
Clermont F. Ripley clermont@ncjustice.org 919-856-2154
Kayan Cheung-Miaw kayan@faireconomy.org 919-590-9449
Para información en Español comunicarse con: Victor Urquiza victor@faireconomy.org 404-662-7614
Please RSVP below by Friday March 21, 2025 If possible, please have individual members fill this out for themselves. Individual addresses help us identify which legislators we should visit.
We will also have a virtual orientation & training to prepare for day of action on Weds. March 19, 2025, 6PM-7PM. Please sign up here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/nVaXIxbQQkCWc1iD8oojUw
