Dems are worker focused

Four candidates vie for chance to replace Cherie Berry

Businesses that fail to protect workers could face tougher penalties if voters choose a Democrat for North Carolina labor commissioner this year.

Four Democrats are vying for the right to challenge incumbent Cherie Berry, who is running unopposed for the Republican nomination. Berry says her department can improve workplace safety more by cooperating with employers than by imposing stiff fines.

That approach doesn't sit well with the Democrats who will square off in the May 6 primary: Raleigh employment lawyer Robin Anderson, former state labor department official Mary Fant Donnan, former state labor commissioner John Brooks and Johnston County machine operator Ty Richardson.

Anderson contends Berry has "hamstrung" her department by failing to punish companies that violate safety rules. She has cited Charlotte Observer stories showing how regulators have reduced their scrutiny of poultry plants while routinely slashing OSHA fines.

As of late February, Anderson had raised about $16,500 from contributors -- far more than the other Democrats combined.

Anderson says she would refuse to negotiate with companies cited for the most serious categories of OSHA violations.

If she had her way, she said, she would resurrect an ergonomics standard, requiring employers to address hazards likely to cause sprains, strains and repetitive motion injuries. Berry rescinded North Carolina's newly enacted ergonomics standard in 2001, soon after taking office.

Donnan, who served as director of research and policy for the state Department of Labor, is second in fundraising among the Democrats. As of early March, she had collected about $3,500 in contributions.

She has been endorsed by the state AFL-CIO and by former state labor commissioner Harry Payne, for whom she worked from 1994 to 2001.

A program officer for the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, Donnan says she is committed to fostering economic development while protecting workers. "My campaign slogan is to keep North Carolina safe and working," she said. "We need to do both."

Donnan says stronger enforcement is needed to break up the "cozy relationship" she sees between the labor department and the businesses.

Brooks says the state needs to expand workplace safety investigations.

Many residents have told him that OSHA failed to respond to their complaints about safety hazards, he said. He'd also like to increase high-skill training for workers, he said.

The state's worst industrial accident -- the 1991 chicken plant fire in Hamlet that killed 25 workers -- played a pivotal role in ending Brooks' 16-year tenure as labor commissioner. The labor department had never inspected the plant in its 11 years of operation. Brooks lost his 1992 re-election bid to Payne, who said the Hamlet disaster revealed deep-seated problems at the department.

Brooks has said the department didn't have the staff to inspect the plant before the fire, but said the state responded effectively afterward.

N.C. OSHA officials fined Imperial Food Products, the plant's owner, more than $800,000.

Now a staff attorney for the N.C. Industrial Commission, Brooks says that N.C. OSHA is too soft on today's violators.

Richardson, who works in Wake County running a machine that turns polyurethane into plastic, said his job equips him to understand the challenges of the state's workers.

"I deal with these issues every day," he said.

He said his first priority is to launch a "literacy campaign" to make North Carolinians more aware of their labor rights. The labor department, he said, should also find ways to slow production lines if the pace is hurting workers.

Whoever wins the primary will likely face a tough fight. Berry raised about $60,000 by the end of 2007 -- and more than $220,000 during her re-election campaign in 2004.