North Carolina NAACP Chapter President Rev. William Barber, Lieutenant Governor candidate Linda Coleman and N.C. Sen. Don Davis (D-Pitt) have committed their support to SEANC’s fight for clear answers in the proposed merger between ECU Physicians Group and billion-dollar corporation Vidant Health.

All three distinguished natives of eastern North Carolina will speak at the SEANC rally on Wednesday at the Eppes Recreation Center, located at 400 Nash St. in Greenville. The rally is set to start at 5:30 p.m.

Barber, Coleman and Davis all have a proven track record of fighting for eastern North Carolina and against privatization. Now, they are lending their support in the fight against Vidant Health’s latest attempt to monopolize eastern N.C. health care.

State employees at ECU Physicians provide much-needed medical services to families in the eastern part of the state at a lower cost than Vidant or any other profit-minded health care conglomerate. Though ECU and Vidant are calling the merger a partnership, Vidant will control 51 percent of the new entity, meaning that 1,200 state employees stand to lose their state benefits, retirement and job security due to under-representation in the decision-making process. 

SEANC has made continued efforts to work with Project Unify leadership to develop collaborative solutions that would protect our state employees. Requests for collaboration have been denied and ignored by Project Unify leadership. As a result SEANC will hold ECU and Vidant leadership accountable to the employees who have dedicated years of their lives to ECU, Greenville and the State of North Carolina.

We are issuing a call to action for lawmakers to stand with state employees and demand the answers that ECU and Vidant leadership are unwilling to give.