The issues
People Power Works!
Funding the NC Childcare System
For years, North Carolina childcare providers organized, spoke out, and showed up for their communities and for lawmakers. Their persistence paid off: legislators added $97 million to the state budget and created the first-ever reimbursement floor for childcare providers.
This win happened because people refused to give up. And its impact reaches far beyond providers themselves:
- Families will find more affordable childcare, especially in rural and low-income communities.
- Parents will be able to take and keep jobs, raising family incomes.
- North Carolina’s economy will grow stronger as more working parents join the workforce.
When people work together, policy changes.
PAID FAMILY & MEDICAL LEAVE
All of us will need to heal from a major illness or accident, welcome a new baby home, or care for a family member. We shouldn’t have to beg our employer for days off or worry about losing our jobs. The good news is that advocates recently won a victory in North Carolina. Starting October 1, 2026, full-time state employees and teachers will receive 12 weeks of paid parental leave. While this is a win, state employees still don’t have access to paid leave to care for sick family members or for their own medical needs, and private-sector employers aren’t required to provide any form of paid leave. We need to keep pushing laws at the state and federal level that guarantee paid family and medical leave for all working people.
State lawmakers have introduced bills in the North Carolina General Assembly to create a paid family and medical leave insurance program four times since 2019. These efforts have been stopped in their tracks by legislatures more concerned with what big business wants than what the rest of us need.
CANDIDATE QUESTIONS
- Would you support legislation that allows paid family leave through a public insurance program that lets working people pay into the system so that they can take time off with pay when they need it? If not, why not?
- Paid family and medical leave boosts women’s participation in the workforce and benefits both working families and the overall economy. Would you fight to ensure access to paid family and medical leave as part of improving women’s workforce participation?
- If elected, how will you advocate for working North Carolinians’ access to paid family and medical leave?
PAID SICK DAYS
Everybody gets sick, but roughly 1.6 million of us in North Carolina don’t have access to even one paid sick day. Alarmingly, 60% of workers making less than $20,000 are without paid sick days. These are the people who can least afford to take an unpaid sick day. That means we either go to work sick and put the health of our coworkers and customers at risk, or we stay home and lose income — and maybe our jobs. Sick workers on the job cost an average business far more than the cost of paid time off, in lost productivity and occupational hazards.
All working people should have paid sick days because they keep us, our families, and our workplaces safe and healthy.
CANDIDATE QUESTIONS
- Do you support allowing working people to earn paid time off to use when sick, for preventative medical care, or when caring for a sick loved one? If not, why?
- In 2021, two out of three hourly workers reported coming to work sick because they didn’t have paid sick time or were afraid of losing their jobs. If elected, how will you ensure that all working North Carolinians have access to paid sick time?
- People working in low-wage sectors are least likely to have paid sick time; these workers can least afford to take time off without pay. Do you feel low-wage, hourly, and part-time workers should have access to paid sick time?
RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE
We deserve jobs that pay enough to afford the basics for ourselves and our families. Year after year, low-wage workers and organizers have been fighting for a $15 minimum wage. In 2026, the estimated livable wage for a single adult in North Carolina is around $20. And yet, the NC minimum wage has sat at $7.25 per hour since 2009, which we know is not a living wage.
We know a living wage is possible, affordable, and beneficial for all. Other places in the country have already raised the minimum wage to more livable standards, including Florida, Virginia, West Virginia, Arkansas, Ohio, and Missouri. Raising the minimum wage would provide a much-needed boost to households facing rising inflation and housing costs.
CANDIDATE QUESTIONS
- If elected, how will you work to make a $15 minimum wage a reality for all working people in North Carolina?
- If you don’t think we should have a $ 15-per-hour minimum wage, why not?
- If elected, how will you help working people who work full-time but cannot make ends meet with their current wages? What would you say to them?
- Would you support a law that includes regular increases to the minimum wage based on the cost of living?
UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE
As layoffs driven by AI and economic uncertainty become more common, working people are increasingly unsure if their job will be there tomorrow. North Carolina’s legislators have both the resources and the responsibility to build a safety net that actually holds.
For over a decade, the maximum unemployment benefit in NC has been frozen at $350 a week, which only covers a third of the average worker’s salary while the costs of necessities skyrocket. We also have the shortest unemployment benefit duration in the country, distributing benefits for a maximum of 12 weeks.
The money to fund an expansion already exists in North Carolina’s unemployment trust fund, built from UI taxes taken out of every paycheck. The fund recently hit a staggering $5.8 billion, one of the largest reserves of any state. This isn’t a hypothetical ask for more funding. It’s money workers already paid in, sitting there, while the people who earned it get stranded following job loss.
CANDIDATE QUESTIONS
- If elected, how will you work to make North Carolina’s unemployment insurance program stronger?
- If elected, what will you do to help working people across North Carolina and the rest of the country make ends meet after losing a job?
WORKPLACE SAFETY
Hundreds of people have gone to the hospital, and many have even died due to extreme heat on the job. Heat stress is an issue that disproportionately affects low–income Black and brown people working outdoors in construction, on farms, in factories, and repairing our roads. Right now, there are no state or federal heat standards to protect workers from heat-related death or illness. As our summer temperatures increase, many workers will be at increased risk of losing their lives while on the job. We can’t wait until more preventable deaths happen. We demand that policymakers provide common–sense protections for the people working hard in our state.
CANDIDATE QUESTIONS
- This summer, construction workers and farmworkers worked long days in blistering heat. Right now, no temperature is hot enough to stop work for worker safety. Do you support enacting enforceable heat protections for North Carolina workers?
- A bill is currently moving through Congress that would prevent OSHA from enacting a federal heat protection standard for working people. Will you vote against this bill?
- Do you support a federal heat protection standard for the health and safety of people working outside?
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