Celebrate workers—and those who want to work

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Friday, September 2^nd, the latest jobs report was released; new job creation is flat. Unemployment appears intractable without intervention. We at the School have added to the rolls of those unemployed over the last two years because of the large budget cuts we suffered.

I’ve never met an unemployed person who doesn’t want to work. Lines at recent job fairs show that there are a lot of people desperately seeking work—to no avail. I am willing to pay higher taxes if we can put people to work. It’s the right thing to do.

I am grateful for, impressed and moved by the wonderful people who work at our School. That includes all the faculty members, staff and our many students who work to support their studies. Over the last couple years, they have been remarkably resilient and adaptable. They’ve stepped up, done more, tried to take on tasks of people no longer here, and kept serving our students and North Carolinians. That’s in spite of the fact that our staff members, particularly, have not had raises for the past three years. They deserve better. I hope that next Labor Day, we can celebrate them and provide the raises they need to keep from falling even further behind.

(By the way, for readers unfamiliar with state systems, guidelines for staff raises come from the legislature.)

On this Labor Day, let’s celebrate the workers of America and the world and all the people who want to work. Happy Labor Day! Barbara