Poll: NC Voters Oppose Collective Bargaining

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 21, 2008
CONTACT: Chris Hayes (919) 834-2099
chris.hayes@nccivitas.org

Raleigh, NC – Now that the State Employees Association of North Carolina (SEANC) has officially aligned with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), these groups have made overturning North Carolina’s ban on collective bargaining their highest priority. Unfortunately for them, the voters disagree.

When asked if state employees and teachers’ unions should be able to engage in collective bargaining with elected officials they might endorse in elections, 56 percent said no. Only 30 percent thought it should be allowed. 14 percent were undecided.

“Over the past few years we have seen big labor unions not only become more organized, but more politically active in North Carolina. Voters are skeptical of big labor influencing elections then negotiating with those they put in office for pay increases,” said Chris Hayes, Legislative Policy Analyst for the Civitas Institute.

“In this primary election just concluded, the national Teachers’ union spent in excess of $650,000 to help Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue win her primary for Governor. Voters believe that for her or any other elected official to then be able to sit down and negotiate pay increases for labor unions through collective bargaining would be wrong,” Hayes continued.

Not even a majority of self-identified government employees approved of collective bargaining when asked – 49 percent approved, 40 percent disapproved.

“North Carolina has always prided itself on being a Right-To-Work state. Our polling shows that voters do not want to see that changed anytime soon,” Hayes concluded.

The study of 800 registered voters was conducted May 14-17 by Tel Opinion Research of Alexandria, Virginia. All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of registered voters in North Carolina. For purposes of this study, voters we interviewed had to have voted in either the 2002, 2004 or 2006 general election or were newly registered voters since 2006. The voters were interviewed using live callers.

The confidence interval associated with a sample of this size is such that: 95% of the time, results from 800 interviews (registered voters) will be within +-3.7% of the “True Values.” “True Values” refer to the results obtained if were possible to interview every person in North Carolina who had voted in either the 2002, 2004 or 2006 general elections or were newly registered voters since 2006.

Full text of question:

SHOULD STATE EMPLOYEE AND TEACHERS’ UNIONS BE ALLOWED TO ENGAGE IN COLLECTIVE BARGAINING WITH ELECTED OFFICIALS THEY MIGHT ENDORSE IN ELECTIONS?

                                     #      %
1. YES                    237     30
2. NO                     450     56
98. NOT SURE     113     14