Shame on the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce!
Are you a member of the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce? Do you work for an organization that is? Let us tell you what your membership dues are paying for - you will be very surprised.
The North Carolina Chamber of Commerce is catering to a small percentage of their members: industrial farms. They are pushing the Property Protection Act (HB 405 and SB 433) under the guise of “employment fraud protection”. Here is the thing; the Property Protection Act is AG GAG and intended to hide a few bad actors in industrial farms rather than asking them to reform. There are already remedies in place in NC for trespass and defamation if someone fraudulently attacks an organization. They are also claiming that the Property Protection Act is about “trade secrets” and protecting employers from people acquiring jobs to steal them. The problem with this approach is that language has been presented to them that focuses solely on “trade secrets” and they rejected it.
The North Carolina Chamber of Commerce is pushing the Property Protection Act to protect a few bad actors for the scrutiny of the general public. In fact, the majority of the farmers in NC are not industrial farms. NC has a growing and healthy population of local sustainable farmers that don’t want Ag Gag. Ag Gag actually hurts our local farmers that are treating the land and the animals with respect. They are not cutting corners and over medicating animals because of poor living conditions. If you, the consumer, cannot see what is happening within our food chain, you may be fooled by labels that claim the products are “farm fresh”, “cage free” or “humanely raised”. If you cannot see how your food is actually grown, how can you choose where it comes from when there are no standards for the terms used on the packaging? The bad actors are banking on that and using the rest of the bank to influence the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce and the North Carolina legislature.
Let’s not allow the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce to shut us out of the food chain and close the barn doors on animal abuse. North Carolina does not need an Ag Gag bill. We need the bad actors to reform and support our farmers that are doing it right. The Chamber is so desperate to pass this bill for Big Ag that they have looped in all other industries. What if there was abuse happening in the nursing home where your parents or grandparents were living? If this bill becomes a law, the person that exposes that abuse would be subject to enormous fines and legal fees just for exposing illegal activity. What about food safety, investigations into human trafficking and our child foster care system? The North Carolina Chamber of Commerce is willing to sacrifice all of that just so that you cannot see animal cruelty on a few industrial farms. Shocking? We think so, too.
You can make a difference today. Please review the attached list of organizations that are members of the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce. If you are a member, call them. If you are employed by one of their members, ask your company if they understand that the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce is pushing an Ag Gag bill that puts animals, food safety, seniors and children at the mercy of bad actors. Do you want your membership dues to pay to move North Carolina backwards? That is what the Chamber intends to do.
#AGGAG
North Carolina Chamber of Commerce Members: http://ncchamber.net/member-involvement/chamber-cornerstone-members/
Contact the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce: http://ncchamber.net/about-us/staff/
** Wondering what they are working to hide? Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdvCDu4Q0bE