Sign Now to Stop the Cuts to Education and Public Services in North Carolina - FULL FUNDING NOW!
Sign
Now to Stop the Cuts to Education and Public Services in North Carolina -
FULL FUNDING NOW!
STAND with the North Carolina Association of Educators and the North
Carolina Defend Education Coalition who will be demonstrating on May 3 at the
North Carolina General Assembly for FULL FUNDING NOW!
SIGN
the E-LETTER / ONLINE PETITION below to send emails to North Carolina
Governor Perdue, the North Carolina Legislature, the Mayors and City Councils
of Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Charlotte and Rocky Mount, President Obama,
congressional leaders, the North Carolina congressional delegation and members
of the media saying FULL FUNDING FOR NORTH CAROLINA PUBLIC EDCATION AND ALL
PUBLIC SERVICES!
For the past two years, workers and community members in North
Carolina have had to survive with nearly $10 billion in cuts to the state
budget. Now the NC General Assembly is dominated by right-wing and Tea Party
forces, which are carrying out the national program of the banks and the
corporations by dismantling the public sector and making workers and students
pay for their crisis.
In mid-April, the NC House released its budget, which included more
than 15,000 layoffs for state workers; more than $1 billion cuts in education,
and a reduction in the corporate tax rate in NC from 6.9% to 4.9%--the third
lowest in the U.S. This tax rate cut provision was first proposed by Democratic
Governor Beverly Perdue.
On Tues., May 3, the North Carolina Association of Educators is
organizing a major rally at the NC General Assembly at 4 p.m. in Raleigh to
stop the cuts to public education and to fully fund all of NC's
schools.
Many other organizations and coalitions that have been organizing to
defend the public sector workers are planning to be there as well. Students and
young people organizing with the NC Defend Education Coalition are calling a
rally on NC State University's campus at 3 p.m. and a march through
downtown to join the main demonstration at the legislature.
Thousands of teachers, workers, students, and community members from
every corner of the state will be coming to Raleigh that day for this important
action. May 3 will be a major day of action against the budget cuts, and there
has been much discussion about different actions that may take place that day,
with the bold actions of workers and students in Wisconsin, New York, and
elsewhere on the forefront of peoples' minds.
Around the country, workers' basic right to collectively bargain
is under attack by these forces; but in NC, workers still do not even have this
fundamental right, made illegal by a Jim Crow era law that is still on the
books, NC GS 95-98.
Bank of America, one of the largest banks in the world and a
principal engine in the foreclosure crisis that is destroying communities
across the U.S., has its world headquarters in Charlotte, NC.
Last year, BoA made $4.4 billion in profits, but didn't pay a
dime in taxes. BoA is also sitting on trillions of dollars received from the
federal government in bailouts. And these proposals from NC politicians, and
elsewhere around the country, threaten to take even more from working people
and forking it over to the private coffers of the banks and corporations,
rather than taking this wealth, created by workers, to pay for people’s
needs.
This is a clarion call to everyone who can to stand with the
teachers, workers, and students in Raleigh, NC on May 3. The importance of this
action, in the heart of the U.S. South, and the potential for this to open a
new phase in the struggle against austerity and budget cuts in NC, cannot be
stressed enough. This bold action being led by the teachers deserves the
support of all progressive forces. Please help to circulate this statement and
sign the petition below.
The
text of e-letter / online petition says:
TO: North Carolina Governor Perdue, the North Carolina General
Assembly, and the Mayors and City Councils of Raleigh, Durham, Charlotte,
Chapel Hill and Rocky Mount
cc: President Obama, Congressional leaders and the North Carolina
Congressional delegation, and members of the media
STOP THE CUTS! FULLY FUND PUBLIC ECUCATION AND ALL PUBLIC
SERVICES!
I stand with the teachers of the North Carolina Association of
Educators, workers, students, and all people in North Carolina who are taking a
stand on May 3 against budget cuts and the vicious attacks on education and the
public sector. I stand with all those who are calling for no cuts to the public
sector, and for the General Assembly to instead look for funding for jobs,
education, healthcare, and all public services by taxing the rich and the
corporations that do business in North Carolina. We can't—and we
won't—take any more cuts that are devastating our education, our jobs
and our communities.
I demand the following:
* Stop the cuts to public education! Full funding for North Carolina
schools!
* No job or position cuts to education or state and local
services!
* Tax the corporations, banks and the rich!
* Pass the Mental Health Workers Bill of Rights law (HB287 and
SB481)
* Collective bargaining rights for public workers now!
* No to privatization of public jobs and services!
* Money for public jobs and services, not war!
Sincerely,
For more information: 919-604-8167 -- raleigh@fistyouth.org
NC Alliance of Educators: OneVoiceRally.com
