ROBERT WILLETT - robert.willett@newsobserver.com
Lenell Miller of Kinston leads a rally of state employees who called on the legislature to pass a budget that will preserve their jobs. The employees gathered Saturday on the Bicentennial Mall.
RALEIGH -- With chants, flag waving and a few made-for-TV dramatic touches, North Carolina government employees sought to deliver a message today to state legislators weighing widespread budget cuts.
Don't choose layoffs as the solution, leaders of a state workers' association urged.
About 150 members of the State Employees Association of North Carolina rallied outside the Legislative Building, three days before a scheduled vote on a $19 billion House budget proposal that opponents say could lead to thousands of job losses.
"We have got to let people know, you are not going to drag us through the mud," said SEANC president Charles Johnson. "This is not a black issue or a woman issue. It's real simple. This is workers."
The 55,000-member association hired a professional camera crew to film Saturday's rally for TV ads that will air in select North Carolina markets during budget season.
"If we educate the taxpayers on where their money really goes, they would be here in droves," said executive director Dana Cope.
Emily Jones recalled rushing to work on Easter weekend to help stop looting in parts of Lee County after the recent tornadoes. Jones works in probation and parole for the state Department of Corrections.
"I had plans for the whole weekend," she said. "My family was coming in. But I said no. The people of North Carolina need me."
SEANC has its own ideas for additional tax revenues and cost savings to close a projected $2 billion-plus budget shortfall for next year.
North Carolina can save $10 billion with alternatives such as abolishing the Golden Leaf and One North Carolina Fund, and ending corporate tax loopholes for alcohol and tobacco wholesalers, association leaders say in a 32-page recommendation.
The report suggests charging $5 for admission to state museums and historical sites, and increasing court fees and fines for people who break the law.
Clad in blue T-shirts as a show of solidarity, state workers voiced fears over losing health and retirement plans they've spent their careers accumulating.
"Many years ago, people would say, you get a state or federal job, those are the ones that have benefits," said A.D. Hall, a 25-year veteran with the state Department of Transportation. "We don't want that to change."
After similar events in Morganton and Greenville, the Raleigh gathering marked the final "Take Pride in Carolina" rally organized by SEANC, which is part of the Service Employees International Union, the nation's largest public employee union.
