Down Home NC fires local organizers

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS EDITOR

Over the past few years, political action group Down Home North Carolina has made a name for itself in Western North Carolina by championing issues important to working families, but a recent spate of staff firings in the midst of a unionization drive by its employees — along with allegations of hush money — suggests Down Home doesn’t practice what it preaches when it comes to standing with workers.

“Over the last year I’ve spent so many hours in addition to work hours demanding transparency and accountability from an organization that demands transparency and accountability from people in power,” said Jesse Lee Dunlap, a (former) community organizer with Down Home’s Haywood County chapter. “It’s pretty whack that they are saying that the three people that were let go aren’t working, because we work our butts off and we’re trying to hold Down Home to the ideals that it professes to have.”

Dunlap, along with Haywood-based statewide organizer Chelsea White-Hoglen and another organizer based in Alamance County were unceremoniously terminated late last week. Dunlap found out when they couldn’t get into their company email account and then received an email saying they were terminated with cause, citing “performance history.”

The “with cause” stipulation means Dunlap won’t be eligible for unemployment benefits. White-Hoglen, mother of a newborn and a four-year employee of Down Home, said she’d been given the same reason for termination.

Both Dunlap and White-Hoglen say the terminations are unwarranted, and stem from animosity by Down Home North Carolina Co-director Todd Zimmer.

Dunlap said they’d filed several formal grievances against Zimmer, including one about a policy that states that grievances against Zimmer would be investigated by Zimmer.

White-Hoglen said she’d received a written disciplinary warning from Zimmer about her performance giving her until September to meet certain deliverables, but was given an unachievable corrective plan and was terminated after filing grievances against Zimmer for creating a hostile work environment and failing to follow Down Home’s own rules about performance feedback.

That, and the feeling of being overworked, led to a unionization campaign by Down Home that began last fall. As the effort progressed, Dunlap says Zimmer agreed to voluntarily recognize the proposed union while at the same time hiring a “union-busting” attorney to stymie the effort.

“We’ve been a headache as far as that goes, trying to assert our rights, fighting for our rights within a workers’ rights organization,” Dunlap said.

Dunlap and White-Hoglen both received formal severance agreements, each containing a provision that they’re equating to “hush money.”

Although Dunlap uses “they/them” pronouns, the agreement refers to Dunlap throughout as “she,” and offers Dunlap $10,000 so long as “she will not disclose to anyone other than members of her immediate family, her attorney, or her financial advisor who will agree to keep such matters confidential, any and all facts relating to the negotiations leading up to this Separation Agreement, the terms and contents of this Separation Agreement, the amounts to be paid under this Separation Agreement, and the circumstances leading thereto.”

White-Hoglen was offered more than $20,000. Both Dunlap and Hoglen have refused to sign the agreement, and therefore forfeited the money.

“I refused the money because for one, I didn’t have time to seek legal counsel,” White-Hoglen said, noting that the agreement was received in the morning but had to be signed and returned by 5 p.m. the same day. “I also wanted to be able to tell my story.”

The firings leave Down Home without any organizers in the entire western part of the state. At one time, the group was very active in both Haywood and Jackson counties, opposing the proposed Haywood County jail expansion while also advocating for a living wage and calling for Medicaid expansion.

The timing of the firings and the fact that Dunlap and White-Hoglen were designated as the union’s bargaining unit representatives could spell big trouble for Down Home; White-Hoglen said that the first collective bargaining contract negotiations between Down Home’s administration and its workers took place at 3 p.m. on Aug. 11. By noon on Aug. 12, both had been terminated.

Alan Jones, an organizer with the United Steel Workers, has been helping Down Home’s organizers navigate the unionization process, with plans to incorporate the group as an entity distinct from USW 507 in Canton. He said that he’s requested information from Down Home for review, and that the findings of the investigation could lead to next steps with the National Labor Relations Board.

White-Hoglen said whatever comes of the process, she wouldn’t stop advocating for the issues that led her to become a community organizer in the first place.

“If anything, this makes me feel much more dedicated because to have these injustices in an organization that’s dedicated to fighting for social and economic justice, it just shows how nefarious they are,” she said. “We cannot give up.”

Down Home North Carolina Co-directors Todd Zimmer and Dreama Caldwell both failed to return multiple messages from The Smoky Mountain News seeking comment for this story.

First responders ‘Tired, frustrated, angry, fearful’

The resurgent Delta variant of COVID-19 has created a dangerous situation across the country and across the state, and now Western North Carolina’s first responders are speaking out.

“After months of decline, the State of North Carolina is experiencing a rapid increase in the number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations,” said Sarah Henderson, Haywood County’s health director. “The Delta variant, which is now the predominant strain of COVID-19 in North Carolina and in the U.S., is more aggressive and much more transmissible than previously circulating strains, and we know that our unvaccinated population is at greatest risk.”

Henderson’s comments came during an Aug. 17 press conference held in conjunction with the county’s emergency services department, Haywood Regional Medical Center and Haywood County Health and Human Services Department, but they largely echoed what Henderson and others told Haywood Commissioners on Aug. 16.

“We are tired, we are frustrated, we are angry and we are fearful of what lies ahead,” Henderson said. “If we continue the path we’re on, we will fail.”

Pre-vaccine, Haywood’s EMS call volume peaked at 1,058 calls in January — until 1,309 people placed calls in July, a 24% increase. Currently, EMS is down four full-time paramedics, a condition EMS Director Travis Donaldson called unsustainable.

Wait times at HRMC have exceeded two hours on at least one occasion and have exceeded one hour on “many” occasions, according to a Haywood County press release. On Aug. 16, one ambulance waited four hours for a bed at HRMC. As of press time, multiple patients were waiting for admission.

These conditions aren’t much different in Jackson County, where Dr. Ben Guiney, an ER doctor at Harris Regional and a Sylva commissioner, said during an Aug. 12 commission meeting that people who aren’t vaccinated should stay home, and people who can’t stay home should wear a mask.

“Take care of people around you, take care of your community, take care of us in the hospital that are seeing this surge coming,” Guiney said. “If you are vaccinated, you’ve got your armor on and you can feel a sense of security, but make sure you’re still taking care for your kids who are unable to be vaccinated.”

Unlike during the winter surge, the hospitals were already seeing a pretty high level of non-COVID traffic prior to the arrival of the Delta variant. Trying to care for those with non-COVID injuries and illnesses on top of the growing number of unvaccinated and seriously sick COVID patients has the local healthcare system “pushed to the breaking point,” Guiney said.

“In this current state of surge, the cases, the hospitalizations and suffering we’re seeing is limited to the unvaccinated,” he said. “Again, this, for the unvaccinated, is your pandemic.”

More than 90% of COVID-19 admissions are unvaccinated people. At Harris, the COVID-positive patient count is ranging from 9 to 17, but has been as high as 21.

There is, however, a silver lining.

“The good news is that if you’re vaccinated, you’re protected from the Delta variant. The other good news is that vaccination is going up,” Guiney said. “People are starting to get the message, mainly because they are starting to know folks that get sick, are winding up in the hospital, and they are realizing they need to get vaccinated because this is real.”

Between Aug. 2 and Aug. 17, people receiving a first dose of vaccine in Jackson County grew by 7,074, according to state data, making it the most-vaccinated county in the westernmost seven counties with 56 percent of residents at least partially vaccinated and 50 percent fully vaccinated. By contrast, state data showed only 40 percent at least partially vaccinated as of Aug. 2.

That increase is partly because the state is now capturing all federal vaccinations such as Indian Health Services into its data. Jackson and Swain counties have a significant number of residents who are also tribal members, and their vaccinations were not previously counted in state data. However, said Jackson County Deputy Health Director Anna Lippard, there has also been a “drastic increase” in vaccinations, with a 635% increase in vaccinations administered through the health department between July 1 and Aug. 13.

Between Aug. 2 and Aug. 17, Swain County’s partial vaccination rate climbed five percentage points to 38%, while Macon increased four percentage points to land at 53% partially vaccinated. Meanwhile, Haywood, Graham, Cherokee and Clay counties saw more modest gains of 1 or 2%.

New vaccinations won’t help much with this current surge, because it takes six weeks for two-shots to become fully effective.

In both India and Great Britain, the Delta variant caused a surge in cases that kept growing for about two months before starting to recede. If the same holds true for North Carolina, cases will continue to grow for the next three weeks or so before starting to go back down.

While daily new cases are now largely between 4,000 and 6,000 statewide, the number of deaths associated with those cases is far lower than it was last winter when daily new cases were of a similar magnitude. In February, daily new cases fluctuated mostly between 2,000 and 5,000, while daily deaths hovered mainly between 30 and 60. During the first week of August, new cases also wavered between 2,000 and 5,000 daily, but deaths stayed in the teens.

Waynesville promotes Gilmore to assistant chief

During the Town of Waynesville’s Aug. 10 regular meeting, Police Chief David Adams announced that Lt. Brandon Gilmore would be promoted to the position of assistant chief. Gilmore, a native of Alamance County, has served with the town of Waynesville since 1999 and holds a degree from Western Carolina University. Currently, Gilmore serves as head of the SWAT team and K-9 unit. The Waynesville Police Department has not had an assistant chief in recent memory. Chief Adams, formerly of Franklin, was hired to replace retiring chief Bill Hollingsed in January 2020.

Public input needed on DOT project

N.C. Department of Transportation officials are inviting everyone to a public meeting from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 19, to discuss proposed improvements to U.S. 23/74 in Haywood County.

The meeting will be held in the Harrell Center Auditorium at the Lake Junaluska Conference Center, 710 Lakeshore Drive.

Proposed improvements include replacing the two bridges on U.S. 23/74 over Richland Creek, widening the two bridges over Blue Ridge Southern Railroad, and reconfiguring the interchange with U.S. 19 including the addition of a bridge to replace the existing left side entrance.

A video rendering, maps and project details are available on the NCDOT project webpage. Transportation officials will detail recent adjustments to the plans, including a drastic reduction in the time needed for detours. They will also be available to answer questions and receive comments. Interested people can attend at any time during the meeting

People may also submit comments by calling 984.205.6615 and entering project code 2219, or by emailing smoky-mt-expressway@publicinput.com or sending comments by regular mail to Garrett Higdon, NCDOT Highway Division 14, Project Manager, 253 Webster Road, Sylva, N.C. 28779.

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your friendly, local blue box — smoky mountain news

Agrowing majority of Americans report anxiety about extreme weather. Scott McLeod’s editorial in the Smoky Mountain News (Aug. 4-10) describes his July vacation in the Rockies, where dense smoke from western fires is harming people’s health. The end of bearable life on Earth is in sight— before today’s babies reach middle age. The IPCC report is latest of a series of dire warnings. Don’t the children we love deserve a better world than this?

Local projects such as those recommended in previous “Triple-win” articles, while necessary, are not sufficient. Nations must enact, not merely promise, major changes to lessen the effects of climate change this year. Economists remind national leaders that the cost of switching to sustainable energy is minor compared to nations’ economic and political collapse if the major polluters, including the USA, fail to do their part.

WHAT’S THE HOLDUP?

Too little political will among elected officials, too much emphasis on profits among top corporate executives, and disinformation. Nations and corporations know the necessary solutions, yet most apply them piecemeal, if at all. See the Union of Concerned Scientists report “Climate Disinformation” on corporate suppression of fossil fuel damage. A 2018 Republican-led House panel condemned Russian online disinformation, persuading some to think climate change is a “liberal hoax.”

WHAT EACH OF US CAN DO:

We all have family memories of trauma--poverty, war, natural disasters. Among our good memories are those about ancestors who overcame those challenges. We live in a remarkable world because of their actions. As their heirs, we have the power to overcome the worst crisis humanity has ever faced.

To succeed, we must urge elected leaders to act now. Only by addressing the realities of climate change in 2021 can we ensure that the USA remains a strong, independent nation of healthy, prosperous people.

Preventing planet warming above 1.5 degrees Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit) requires public and private projects on the scale of the US and Britain’s World War II programs. See the Climate Reality Project article “Why Is 1.5 Degrees the Danger Line for Global Warming?” 1. Call on Governor Cooper, your state senator and your representative to support rapid transition to solar energy. Urge them to stop pipelines and fracking, which have damaged people’s health and devastated communities while worsening climate change. Remind them of safe energy sources.

For example, North Carolina is number 3 in the US in solar production. We can add more jobs while providing clean electricity statewide. Building solar power plants is less expensive than building or maintaining gas/oil/coal-fired. Electric vehicle costs are also dropping rapidly. 2.Contact President Biden, our two US Senators Burr and Tillis, and your representative in Congress to support a) taxing the wealth of the richest .1 percent, b) ending “subsidies” for fossil fuels, and c) starting a comprehensive jobs-infrastructure-sustainable energy program. More well-paying jobs in infrastructure and renewable energy, with re-training for American miners and other displaced workers, is the keystone of President Biden’s economic recovery action; see the White House link below.

TRIPLE-WINS:

1) Today’s children can expect a normal lifespan. 2) More people will earn sustainable wages and enjoy good health. 3) We are happy when we choose conservation over destruction, optimism over despair.

RELATED SOURCES

• AirNow.gov: Data on local air quality • Climate Reality Project: “Why Is 1.5 Degrees the Danger Line for Global Warming?” www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/why-15degrees-danger-line-global-warming • The Hill: https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/376248-russia-used-social-

media-to-wage-us-energy-misinformationcampaign?rl=1 • Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change:

“Climate Change 2021” www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_SPM.pdf • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA): “Understanding Climate Normals” www.noaa.gov/explainers/understanding-climate-normals • NBC News: Polls on climate change www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-thepress/global-warming-perceptions-statesmore-americans-accept-fault-n1265213 • Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC):

“Cost of Building Power Plants in Your State” www.nrdc.org/cost-building-power-plantsyour-state • Sierra Club: www.sierraclub.org/north-carolina/blog/2021/05/nc-was-solar-leader-howdo-we-move-back-ranks • Union of Concerned Scientists: www.ucsusa.org/climate/disinformation • The White House: www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statementsreleases/2021/07/28/fact-sheet-biden-harrisadministration-issues-proposed-buy-american-rule-advancing-the-presidents-commitment-to-ensuring-the-future-of-america-ismade-in-america-by-all-of-americas/ — By WNC CAC member and column editor Mary Jane Curry • mjcinwnc@gmail.com