Our Work :

The Workers’ Center has emerged as an important resource for low-wage and immigrant workers in Western North Carolina. We currently support staff people in several counties in Western North Carolina including; Burke, Wilkes, Catawba, Macon, Henderson and Buncombe. In these areas, the center collaborates with established community centers to provide worker self defense workshops, leadership training, advocacy, case management and additional support to workers and their families. In conjunction with worker rights education, the advocacy program has assisted over 400 workers with cases such as work injury, wage theft, and discrimination. To date, the center has helped recover around half a million dollars in wages, compensation, and fines from employers for workers.

The center’s partnership with the Wake Forest JUSTA project, which began in 2007, has educated poultry workers in Catawba, Wilkes, Caldwell, Burke, and Surry Counties about workplace safety and health. This partnership inspired our center to adopt the model of using lay educators from the target community, promotoras, to advance our workers rights program.

Poultry workers at Case Farms, in Morganton, have continued to receive our support in thier struggle to improve workplace conditions and defend their rights. We now work in over six counties to build the movement for worker justice.

History :

The Western North Carolina Workers Center, located in Morganton, NC, was founded in August 2002 by Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ). The organization was founded to support the mainly Guatemalan workforce who had initiated a union organizing campaign at the local chicken processing plant, Case Farms. The workers won union representation in 1995, but after years they were unable to negotiate a contract with the company. The union pulled out and the Workers Center was established with funds from the union to continue support for poultry and other low-wage workers in the area. In January 2005, the Workers Center spun off from IWJ to become an independent, non-profit organization.

Timeline:

1995: Union representation won by mainly Guatemalan workforce at Case Farms chicken processing plant in Morganton, NC

2002: Case Farms workers still have no contract

2002: Union pulls out leaving funds to continue support of workers at Case Farms

2002: Iterfaith Worker Justice founds the Western North Carolina Workers' Center (WNCWC) to support the ongoing struggle at Case Farms

2005: WNCWC spins off to become an independent non-profit organization

2006: WNCWC hires worker advocates to work within the United Hmong Association in Hickory and Nuestro Centro in Asheville

2006: The NC Justice Center awards WNCWC the Defenders of Justice Award

2006: WNCWC organizes May 1st Immigrant Rights rallies resulting in 6 vigils and thousands participating

2007: WNCWC begins formal partnership with the Wake Forest JUSTA (Poultry Worker Health and Safety) Program

2007: JUSTA promoters and community leaders participated in the first Poultry Workers’ Human Rights Convening

2007: WNCWC begins partnership with Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) to advocate for striking workers

2008: Second year of staff participation in Southern Faith, Labor and Community Alliance training to work with church leaders from Hickory and Asheville

2008: WNCW begins partnership with LAC in Henderson County and Centro de Solidaridad in Macon County

2008: WNCWC joins the Farmworker Advocacy Network (FAN) to incorporate advocacy for poultry workers

2009: WNCWC begins partnership with new community center, HOLA, in Wilkesboro, NC