Charlotte Observer Editorial
July 22, 2008

N.C. Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry has given voters multiple reasons to change the leadership of that department in November. Now she's given them one more: She won't use additional money the state legislature provided to shore up the department's unsatisfactory oversight of a dangerous industry.

That means the state will do little this year to improve deplorable conditions for workers in poultry processing plants. That's unacceptable. North Carolina needs a labor commissioner who acts as a watchdog for worker safety, not one who makes nice to business and industry.

The labor department has said it won't use four new positions funded by the legislature for the purpose lawmakers said they intended: as additional inspectors for poultry plants. Instead, the positions will be used to work on safety issues with many industries.

“We're going to continue doing business the way I imagine we've always done it,” said Delores Quesenberry, spokeswoman for Ms. Berry. “We've been doing a good job with that all along. And we're going to continue that.”

A good job? What has Ms. Quesenberry been smoking?

A 22-month Observer investigation into poultry processing in the Carolinas that found lax regulations and weak oversight have made it easy for a dangerous industry to exploit illegal workers, underreport injuries and get around a regulatory system that lets companies police themselves.

Stories focused primarily on House of Raeford, and found, among other things, that the company masked the extent of injuries and broke state law by failing to record injuries on state logs.

Yet when confronted with that evidence, here's what Ms. Berry said: “We're going to keep doing what we're doing because it's working,” she said. That's not the voice of someone who's intent on looking out for the state's workers.

Ms. Berry says under her leadership, the labor department has stressed “partnerships” with companies that mediated problems rather than harsh enforcement. In plain language, here's what that's meant: Rules and policies at the state labor department have tilted toward business instead of worker safety. Inspections and fines at poultry plants are at record lows.

That's wrong. The people of North Carolina elect a labor commissioner to protect the interests of the state's workers, period. That doesn't require foaming-at-the-mouth advocacy. But it does require the right perspective. Once again, Ms. Berry has demonstrated she does not get it.

Fortunately for voters this is an election year.

Fortunately for workers, voters have a confident choice as an alternative to Ms. Berry in the Nov. 4 election: Democrat Mary Fant Donnan.