North Carolina who was recently sued by Mexico for labor rights violations is at it again, coercing county employee out of Worker Compensation.

Not a labor friendly state by a long shot

North Carolina already has a law which prevents any government agency—state, county, or local—from negotiating with an organized group representing its employees. This prevents these agencies from engaging in business practices as they see fit, and it prevents workers from joining forces to protect their rights.

From my article at UnionReview (11-10-07): North Carolina Violates NAFTA ?? - Right to Freely Associate/Organize/Bargain Collectively

The ILO (International Labor Organisation) had filed a complaint in Oct.06 - and now (11-07) Mexico's government has called for immediate answers to questions on the progress in gaining collective bargaining rights for public sector workers in the US state of North Carolina.

The US, Mexico, and Canada share the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), in which a side accord, the North American Agreement on Labour Cooperation (NAALC), is being used to challenge the lack of labor rights in North Carolina.

Now comes even more news from WVEC.Com(ABC local news in NC) on how bad being a civil servant in North Carolina can be:

Injured man fighting for workman's comp
Reported by: Lindsey Roberts
Television Link

HERTFORD CO., NC – An employee for the county is fighting over worker's compensation. He's asked to remain anonymous.

"When I had the accident I could tell then I was hurt," he said. "They x-rayed and said everything was going to be fine -- it was just probably going to be sore a right good little while."

He says he followed county policy and filled out an accident report, but the next day, he says he received a call from the county saying if he wanted to get paid, he’d have to file the claim on his personal insurance.

He says Hertford County never filed a worker's compensation claim."No, I have not seen one,” he said. “No, nothing but the little county form."He added, “It's just kind of frustrating knowing we are probably going to have to come out of pocket with the deductible after we were hurt on county property."

Everett Thompson practices law in Elizabeth City, NC and handles personal injury and worker's compensation cases. He says the laws are designed to protect the employee. That means if claims are filed, the employee pays no medical expenses.

"Worker's compensation insurance rates are determined by the number of claims they have, so the more claims, the higher the rate, so it would be more expensive for the employer if they have more claims so they might want to encourage their employees not to file."

That practice is illegal. (Read More)

Makes me glad I live in one of those bad old "forced-unionism state's", this comes on the heels of another story that the Charlotte Observer has been covering about a poultry meat packing plant in North Carolina that appears on paper to be safer than a toy store. Hey look below where NC stands on workers rights.