State of injustice.

• Position: Letters to the Editor

In the September issue ("The Antichrist of North Carolina"), Barbara Ehrenreich pointed out that 60 percent of families with children in North Carolina do not earn enough to meet their basic needs. Many people imagine workers in a rural textile mill or recent immigrants laboring in the fields. Yet this statistic also includes the public employees of the state itself.

North Carolina General Statute 95-98 makes null and void any collective bargaining agreements between the state and its employees. Public employees who strike can be fired immediately. Union representation is among the lowest in the nation.

As a community college instructor in North Carolina, I get a salary that is more than $15,000 below the national average. Only two other states have lower average salaries. Many full time permanent instructors, including those with extensive teaching experience and Ph.D.'s in their discipline, are forced to take additional temporary employment to make ends meet.

Our situation is not unique. While we may have little in common...