John C. Brooks

In 1976 Brooks sought the Democratic nomination to become North Carolina Commissioner of Labor. One of four candidates in the Democratic primary, he acquired the endorsement of state AFL–CIO president Wilbur Hobby. Brooks finished second in the primary with 33 percent of the vote, behind Jessie Rae Scott, the wife of former governor Robert W. Scott. As Scott had not secured an absolute majority, Brooks called for a run-off primary. Scott, who ran as a conservative, criticized him for being too friendly to the interests of organized labor, but Brooks deflected this by pointing out that Scott's husband and other family members had been elected to public office with the backing of labor unions. He won the second primary with 51 percent of the vote.[3] In the November 1976 general election, Brooks faced Republican incumbent Thomas Avery Nye, Jr. Nye outspent Brooks in the campaign $173,752 to $70,642, but the latter ultimately won by over 250,000 votes.[2]

Brooks was sworn in as Labor Commissioner on January 8, 1977, succeeding Nye.[4][5] During his tenure, Brooks expanded job training through the apprenticeship program. He implemented annual inspections of all migrant labor camps and chicken processing plants. He adopted a blood-borne pathogens standard and regulations designed to curb abuses in the temporary employment agency industry. He expanded the Wage and Hour enforcement staff so that there could be prompt response to wage and hour complaints. He insisted that all amusement rides be inspected every time they were reassembled. Brooks also advocated for the protection of workers' benefits and for the state minimum wage to be tied to the federal minimum wage.

His tenure included the 1991 fire at a food-processing plant in Hamlet that killed 25 workers. Brooks fined the plant $808,150, which was the largest such penalty in state history. The major cause of death in the accident was the locked exterior doors which was not covered by an OSHA standard at the time, but by a standard administered by the N. C. Department of Insurance. After the 1991 fire, Brooks adopted the North Carolina Building Code as an OSHA standard, which would have allowed the citation of locked exterior doors.

Brooks lost the 1992 Democratic primary for Commissioner of Labor to Harry E. Payne Jr. After Payne won the general election, he rescinded the new standard allowing citation for locked exterior doors.