On Wednesday, June 12, more than 100 workers at the Corning Inc. manufacturing plant in Tarboro, North Carolina voted in a federal labor board election on whether to join the United Steelworkers.
The union vote in Tarboro comes as part of a broader push by the USW to organize workers at multiple non-union plants that Corning operates across North Carolina.
Corning manufactures, among other items, materials used in fiber optic cable and in solar panel installations. The company is currently experiencing a boom in demand, in part as a result of a federally-subsidized buildout of high-speed internet infrastructure, as well as an expansion of solar energy production. The company operates seven plants across North Carolina. Only one of these facilities is unionized. Workers at the company’s plant in Wilmington are proud members of USW Local 1025.
Southern Workers Assembly (SWA) applauds the efforts of workers at the Corning facility in Tarboro to organize a union. We offer our solidarity during their upcoming union election. We hope this will be the first of many worker victories at non-union Corning facilities in this state.
The working class of the South must build union power in order to win a better life for our class and advance the interests of workers everywhere. The South is currently experiencing a surge of capital investment in many segments of the manufacturing industry. Workers in this sector are strategically positioned to lead the way in the fight in opposition to exploitation by employers and the efforts of the ruling class to divide working people and pit us against one another.
It is in the interest of the entire working class when workers — including our courageous siblings at Corning in Tarboro and beyond — stand up and fight for justice, dignity, and a better life for working people.
Victory to Corning workers in North Carolina!
This article was published first by Southern Workers Assembly.
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