America’s Work Force Union Podcast

According to Jeffrey Steele, Green Data's water-capture units can generate anywhere from 150 to 10,000 or 15,000 gallons a day from atmospheric moisture, and they would only need to run for 9 months of the year. On today's Trades Day episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Steele, executive director of the New Mexico Building Construction Trades Council, explains how the council came to par...

Frank Mathews says labor does not want an unlevel playing field, because a field tilted one way eventually swings back. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Mathews, administrative director of CWA District 4, discusses what he says labor-friendly wins in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin mean for the next two years, how CWA reached each member nine times, what br...

One mother showed up to a signing day in tears, Isaiah Zemke says, not wanting to believe the wages and benefits her child was being offered were real. On today's Trades Day episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Zemke, business manager and financial secretary-treasurer of SMART Local 49, describes his path from non-union sheet metal shops to union leadership, the data center and federal w...

Two conversations about helping workers get ahead: one on how a Northeast Ohio agency places job seekers and honors everyday union workers, and one on how to choose a health plan during Open Season. United Labor Agency Executive Director Dave Megenhardt says the agency placed more than 2,000 people in Cuyahoga County in 2025 at an average wage of $25.88, and that people who went through training a...

Two conversations about workers coming together: one on what AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond says organized labor proved in Tuesday’s election and one on hospice nurses who say they won a voice by organizing. On First Friday with Fred, the monthly segment held on the first Friday of each month, Redmond says the enthusiasm of organized labor was the highest he has seen and that working peo...

Dorsey Hager says it is more important to keep workers on a job than to get them there, and he hopes Intel and Bechtel roll straight from the first two fabs into fabs three and four. On today's Trades Day episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Hager, executive secretary-treasurer of the Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, discusses Bayer's planned New Albany pla...

Fires can double in size every 30 to 60 seconds, and a room can flash over in about three to five minutes, according to William Sylvia, a New Bedford firefighter of 20 years. He says that is why closing a fire company and sending fewer members to a call puts residents and firefighters at risk. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Sylvia, president of IAFF Local 841 New Bedford...

At one training center event, bricklayers had kids building a brick wall, ironworkers set up a beam to walk on, operating engineers brought a digger that the kids ran by remote control, and the Teamsters brought trucks. On today's Trades Day episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Trails to Trades Executive Director Matt Kosara discusses how the organization connects local trade unions with...

Californians vote Nov. 3 on Proposition 45, and the building trades in Los Angeles and Orange counties are urging a no vote. Executive Secretary Ernesto Medrano says the measure excludes the trades and local residents from the conversation about what gets built in their communities. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Medrano discusses 40 years in the labor movement, from cas...

She started at a hazardous waste disposal plant in El Dorado, Arkansas, where the workers know which chemicals can be stored together, which can be incinerated at the same time and how to handle both safely. Today Charleeka Thompson directs the United Steelworkers NextGen Department, the union's effort to bring new and young members into the movement. On today's episode of America's Work Force Uni...

Ask 100 parents how to get into college, and they can fill a blackboard. Ask how to get into the Insulators Union, and you get silence. That information gap is the single biggest barrier keeping qualified young people from union apprenticeships that pay $80,000 to $100,000 three to five years after high school, with no student debt. And now Trades Futures and NABTU have built an AI tool to close i...

Two conversations that go to the heart of what workers deserve — one on a bankrupt airline treating its fired employees’ most sensitive personal data as a commodity to be sold, and one on making sure federal and postal workers get the most out of their benefits during one of the most important windows of the year. TTD AFL-CIO President Greg Regan discusses Spirit Airlines selling sensitive employe...

For too long, the trades have been treated like a fallback — something you choose when college does not work out. The truth is the world runs on the backs of builders, welders, riggers, electricians and laborers. It is time to start acting like it. That is the back cover of Kim Pierce's book, The Hands That Built This: Restoring Respect and Rebuilding the Future of the Trades. Kim is a former iron...

Ohio workers are 84% more productive than they were a generation ago. Their wages have gone up 22%. Ohio's union density has fallen from 35.5% in 1979 to 12.8% today. That collapse represents $8.6 billion in annual wages that should be in Ohio workers' pockets and is not. Ohio's minimum wage is $11 an hour, which leaves full-time workers more than $10,000 short of covering basic living expenses in...

Pennsylvania modeled its labor law on the federal Wagner Act in the 1930s, including the exclusion of agricultural workers from the right to collectively bargain. The exclusion was the product of industry lobbying and the deliberate effort to deny rights to the predominantly Black workforce in the fields. Ninety years later, the Pennsylvania legislature still has not fixed it. On today's episode o...

First-year apprentice wages: $87,500. Wages and benefits within four to five years: $125,000 to $200,000. Student debt: zero. Three out of four teens say they would consider a trade over college. And the sheet metal industry still has more work than it can easily fill. On today's Trades Day episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Sheet Metal ITI Executive Director Michael Harris discusses 4...

Two conversations about fighting for the people who need it most — one on what is at stake for Ohio’s schools and working families heading into November 3rd, and one on nearly three decades of labor law in Detroit and a campaign to bring that experience into the boardroom at one of the country’s most important social mobility universities. Ohio Federation of Teachers President and Ohio AFL-CIO Sec...

He had a meeting scheduled at the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11. His wife called. He canceled. The next morning, he was at Ground Zero through an empty Long Island Expressway on a police escort. Six days later, LIUNA Local 79 members had cleaned out the Verizon vault beneath 140 West Street, and the New York Stock Exchange was operational. On today's Trades Day episode of Ameri...

The University System of Maryland negotiated raises with its workers. The raises were legally binding. The state sent the money to cover them. The USM withheld them anyway. The governor had to order them to comply. Then UMD College Park laid off 73 workers — the first mass layoff of state-funded positions in the university's history, with more than 80% of those laid off being union-represented. On...

Two conversations about protecting what Americans have earned — one on helping veterans translate their military service into civilian careers and one on stopping an unelected commission from quietly cutting the Social Security benefits workers have paid into their entire lives. American Legion Director of Media and Communications Henry Howard discusses the Legion’s hundreds of annual veteran job...

A projectionist at the Loft Cinema was making $15.50 an hour. After more than a year of bargaining with IATSE Local 415, the vote to ratify the first contract was unanimous. Projectionists now make approximately $20 an hour. Three days earlier, 20 workers at the Arizona Theatre Company ratified their first contract. Two wins in one week in Tucson. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union P...

Two conversations about the work happening right now — one on legislation to stop corporations from offshoring call center jobs while collecting taxpayer money, and one on the first day of early voting in Ohio and what the labor movement is doing to make November 3rd count. CWA District 4 Administrative Director Frank Mathews discusses the Keep Call Centers in America Act of 2025 (Senate Bill 2495...

He had been the driver of the month the month before. Top performer two weeks before that. Let go after five years. The stated reason: reduced routes. The actual reason: he was organizing with the Teamsters. The workers who were terminated are now flyering outside the station. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Teamsters Local 251 organizer Fred German discusses the DRI-1 or...

Two conversations about workers fighting back — one a hard-won arbitration victory against a prestigious publisher that broke its first contract two weeks after ratifying it, and one a monthly check-in on the transportation safety fights that never go away. OUP USA Guild operations chair Mark Longaker and NewsGuild-CWA general counsel Barbara Camens discuss the September 2026 arbitration award fin...

Millions of workers say they want a union. The law makes it too hard to get one. Most of Europe has a model that sets wages for entire industries at once, covering every worker, whether or not their individual workplace is organized. Three US states are already trying a version of it for rideshare drivers. And an EPI senior fellow says the conditions for winning real labor law reform are better ri...