Cherie Berry’s labor department isn’t protecting workers at NC meatpacking plants

NC meat plants

Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry has turned the N.C. Department of Labor into the Department of Industry, a conclusion reinforced by the July 29 article about complaints against meatpacking plants.

Generous political contributions given to the smiling “Elevator Lady” by the industries she is supposed to oversee tell us all we need to know about her concern for workers.

The standard trope that too many regulations drive industries away is an appeal to short-sighted greed. Abraham Lincoln noted that all capital begins with labor. Workers treated as valuable contributors become engines of profit. Workers treated as expendable cogs become cogs.

Most federal and state governance is swayed by big financial interests. Don’t workers deserve at least one agency they can rely on to go to bat for them? Right now North Carolina says no.

Don Clement, Greenville

Immigrant workers

Meat processing plants are manned, for the most part, by immigrants who are easy to ignore and often treated as disposable, replaceable parts of the machinery. It’s especially easy for corporate owners to treat them as if they don’t matter when those in state government charged with protecting them look the other way.

The situation should be abhorrent to persons who profess a religious faith that claims all humans are precious children of a loving, compassionate God. Immigrants, whether here legally or not, deserve to be treated with the same sense of justice and equality as native-born Americans. May it be so.

Polk Culpepper, Washington

Charter schools

Regarding “Private and charter schools in North Carolina received millions in PPP loans,” (July 28):

Some facts about the Paycheck Protection Program loans are in order. Congress allowed nonprofits, including charter schools, to apply for these loans as a form of COVID relief. Some nonprofit charter boards used PPP loans to continue providing essential services to students.

Charters did not benefit disproportionately from federal COVID relief. Of the nearly $400 million in emergency funding directed to N.C. schools, traditional district schools received $344 million, about $240 per student. Charters received less than $14 million, $121 per student.

Instead of picking sides, let’s focus on facts and serving students equitably.

Lindalyn Kakadelis

Executive Director, NC Coalition for Charter Schools

COVID relief

All of a sudden the “deficit hawks” in the Republican Party are pushing the panic button and staunchly resisting much more COVID relief funding due to their concern with burgeoning annual deficits and the national debt. A mere three years ago, we heard only glee from these same senators when the tax reform bill was enacted, resulting in a flood of red ink and further enriching the richest 1%.

For example, the corporate tax rate was lowered from 35% to 21%, but in 2018, due to tax breaks and loopholes, the Fortune 500 companies paid taxes at an effective rate of only 11.3%. That’s a very sweet deal that hardly concerns these deficit hawks.

Jim Witeck, Apex

Hunger in NC

The COVID-19 pandemic has yielded devastating consequences across North Carolina, especially for children. According to Save the Children, N.C. ranks 40 out of 50 states for child food insecurity rates, and more than 16% of Wake County kids are food insecure.

Child hunger adversely impacts all aspects of a child’s development, from education to increased health risks. This has only worsened since COVID-19.

I encourage Sen. Thom Tillis to quickly enact policy solutions that ensure kids don’t continue to go hungry. One way is to temporarily increase SNAP benefits by 15% in the upcoming conronavirus relief bill.

This would ensure families have the resources they need to put food on the table while stimulating our economy by increasing spending at neighborhood businesses.

Ensuring kids can eat during this uncertain time shouldn’t be a partisan issue. Every day that goes by without substantive action is another day a child goes to bed with an empty stomach.

Patricia Maloney, Wake Forest

High school sports

The July 24 editorial on N.C. high school sports correctly concludes that high school football is not safe at this time due to COVID-19.

However, there are high school sports that could be conducted — golf and diving to name two. I’ll be disappointed if officials from the N.C. High School Athletic Association apply a universal approach to high school sports instead of evaluating each sport separately.

Women’s golf is a fall sport and would seem to be safe to go forward. After all, the golf courses in North Carolina never closed, indicating they were deemed safe.

Mary Kissell, Raleigh

This story was originally published July 30, 2020 at 12:07 PM.