The charges against 1199SEIU President George Gresham and 10 other union officers and senior staff members, growing out of their civil disobedience arrests in North Carolina, have been dismissed.
The 1199ers were among 940 protesters arrested over 13 consecutive “Moral Mondays” led by North Carolina NAACP President Rev. William Barber. The Moral Monday actions also drew the support of hundreds of retired 1199 members now living in North Carolina.
Rev. Barber has spoken at several 1199 gatherings and keynoted the union’s New York ceremony swearing in new Delegates in June.
The protests grew out of that state’s sharp right-wing turn under Republican Governor Pat McCrory and a Republican-dominated state legislature. Since their election last year, they have passed a host of laws restricting labor rights, voting rights and reproductive rights as well as severe cutbacks in funding for education, healthcare and services for the poor. In September, the US Justice Department sued the state over its new voting rights restrictions, declaring them unconstitutional.
President Gresham and the other 1199 arrestees were charged with two misdemeanors but the prosecution and defense counsel agreed that if they served 25 hours of community service, the charges would be dismissed. The defendants chose to do their service in North Carolina. Working under the direction of the non-partisan, non-profit group, Democracy North Carolina, registering voters in Edgecombe and Halifax counties that are part of the state’s tobacco- and peanut-farming region known historically as the “Black belt.”
The 1199ers were among 940 protesters arrested over 13 consecutive “Moral Mondays” led by North Carolina NAACP President Rev. William Barber. The Moral Monday actions also drew the support of hundreds of retired 1199 members now living in North Carolina.
Rev. Barber has spoken at several 1199 gatherings and keynoted the union’s New York ceremony swearing in new Delegates in June.
The protests grew out of that state’s sharp right-wing turn under Republican Governor Pat McCrory and a Republican-dominated state legislature. Since their election last year, they have passed a host of laws restricting labor rights, voting rights and reproductive rights as well as severe cutbacks in funding for education, healthcare and services for the poor. In September, the US Justice Department sued the state over its new voting rights restrictions, declaring them unconstitutional.
President Gresham and the other 1199 arrestees were charged with two misdemeanors but the prosecution and defense counsel agreed that if they served 25 hours of community service, the charges would be dismissed. The defendants chose to do their service in North Carolina. Working under the direction of the non-partisan, non-profit group, Democracy North Carolina, registering voters in Edgecombe and Halifax counties that are part of the state’s tobacco- and peanut-farming region known historically as the “Black belt.”
