America’s Work Force Union Podcast

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 ironworker who passed her journeyman exam with a 98% score and boomed across the United States before becoming a construction safety professional with more than 18 years on the job. She wrote the book in six weeks from a job site in Puerto Rico.

On today's Trades Day episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Kim discusses what it took to earn respect as the only woman ironworker on nearly every job she worked, why the disappearance of shop classes from American high schools cost an entire generation, why the skilled trades shortage is an economic crisis rather than just a construction industry problem and what the trades are doing — and still need to do — on mental health and suicide awareness on construction job sites.

If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988. Visit kapiercebooks.com for more.

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 even the state's cheapest county. And the childcare workforce has lost nearly 40% of its workers since 2019, with no recovery in sight.

On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Policy Matters Ohio Executive Director Hannah Halbert and Work and Wages Director Ali Smith discuss the annual State of Working Ohio report — what it found, what it recommends and what it would take to close the gap.

Download the full report at policymattersohio.org.

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 of America's Work Force Union Podcast, UFCW Local 1776 Keystone State President Wendell Young IV and FarmSTAND senior staff attorney Hannah Wolf discuss the constitutional lawsuit filed at the end of September challenging that exclusion, what happened when workers at a southeastern Pennsylvania grow facility tried to organize without legal protection, the three constitutional arguments FarmSTAND is making and why Young says that protecting farm workers would help stabilize food prices for every American family.

Visit farmstand.org for more.

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 40 years in the trade, what the earn-while-you-learn apprenticeship model actually delivers, the data center and chip manufacturing construction boom driving demand for sheet metal workers across the country, why the trades offer meaningful protection against AI displacement and what National Careers in Trades Week — launched in spring 2025 with SMACNA and SMART — is doing to make sure young people actually know these opportunities exist.

Visit sheetmetal-iti.org for more.

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 Secretary-Treasurer Melissa Cropper discusses the urgent need for school funding at both the local and state level, why this election carries real consequences for Ohio’s children and working families and the sense among OFT members that genuine change is within reach for the first time in a long time.

Then, Miller Cohen, P.L.C., labor attorney Richard Mack discusses nearly 28 years of representing workers, the Detroit bankruptcy in which city workers earning $30,000 to $35,000 a year lost pension payments and all retiree healthcare before Medicare, while bankruptcy attorneys billed up to $1,100 an hour, and his campaign for the Wayne State University Board of Governors. Wayne State is the number one school in Michigan for social mobility and among the top 2% nationally, with graduation rates that have climbed from 26% to 60% over the past 15 years — but Mack says that is still not high enough for a student population of full-time workers, parents and first-generation college students navigating challenges most university students never face. He and his running mate, Sharif Akil, bring a combined 60 years of civil rights litigation experience to the campaign and a commitment to protecting students and faculty from federal pressure on First Amendment rights.

Visit oft-aft.org for more from the Ohio Federation of Teachers and richardmackforwsu.com for more on Richard Mack’s campaign.

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 America's Work Force Union Podcast, AECOM Tishman Senior Vice President and Labor Coordinator Frank Noviello marks the 25th anniversary of September 11 with a firsthand account of arriving at Ground Zero on September 12, the silica dust threat that LIUNA Local 79 worked to protect its members from, and the 25-year all-union rebuilding effort — on time, on budget — that produced One World Trade Center at 1,776 feet and is still going with Tower 2 under construction today.

More information on LIUNA is available at liuna.org.

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 today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, AFSCME Local 1072 board member Krista Bulley, vice president Jen Patterson and at-large executive board member Patrick Trujillo discuss what is happening at the University of Maryland: how the union forced the governor's hand on the raises, who the 73 laid-off workers were and why the union says the budget crisis UMD is citing does not exist, and where the Step 3 grievance fight at the Office of Administrative Hearings stands as the union works to bring every one of those workers back.

Visit afscmemd.org for more.

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 fairs and union partnerships, the ongoing fight for military credentialing legislation to count service time toward civilian licensing requirements, and the November magazine cover story marking the 50th anniversary of women at the service academies. The central profile is Pat Locke of the first West Point class, who didn’t know what West Point was when someone first asked if she wanted to attend and has since become one of the Academy’s most prolific recruiters and one of only six women among 177 recipients of the West Point Distinguished Graduate Award. Howard also discusses how American Legion posts will mark Veterans Day, including the New York City Veterans Day Parade, a wreath at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington.

Then, Alliance for Retired Americans Executive Director Rich Fiesta discusses the Social Security benefit cut threat — trustees project a 22% cut by 2032, a recent independent analysis says 24% — and the fiscal commission bill introduced by Representative Bill Huizenga that would create an unelected panel to fast-track a restructuring plan with no public hearings, no public input and no amendments allowed. The Alliance is in congressional offices now and will be back through the lame-duck session to stop it. He also covers the Alliance’s independent expenditure advertising in Huizenga’s Michigan district, the congressional voting record at retiredamericans.org and why, if your mail ballot hasn’t gone out yet, you should go vote early in person instead.

If you or a veteran you know is struggling, call or text 988 or visit betheone.org. Visit legion.org and retiredamericans.org for more.

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 Podcast, IATSE Local 415 Business Agent Ian Fritz, International Representative Amanda Sager and Loft Cinema organizer Victor Bostick discuss what it took to get here, why the nonprofit argument at the bargaining table is not the obstacle it sounds like and why Ian says entertainment workers at other Tucson venues are already paying attention.

Visit iatse415.org and iatse.net for more.

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), which would make companies that offshore call center jobs ineligible for federal grants, loans and taxpayer assistance, and Michigan’s anti-offshoring bills House Bill 6069 and 6070, which had a bipartisan statehouse rally in September. Texas, Louisiana and New York have already passed similar legislation. He also discusses CWA District 4’s election ground game across five states: more than 2,000 volunteer shifts, over 16,000 handwritten postcards to Ohio members and retirees, more than 50,000 Battleground Bulletin emails and why Elon Musk’s reported $275 million in campaign spending — including his failed intervention in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race — is no substitute for boots on the ground.

Then, Ohio AFL-CIO President Tim Burga joins, fresh off his reelection, at the biennial constitutional convention alongside newly elected Secretary-Treasurer Melissa Cropper. He discusses the convention energy he compared to 2006 and the standout speaker, IUPAT International President Jimmy Williams Jr., the federation’s voter protection plan with poll observers deployed alongside the door-knocking operation on Election Day, top endorsements including Amy Acton and David Pepper for governor, Sherrod Brown for Senate and ironworker Brian Poindexter for Congressional District 7 and canvas operations running from eight locations across Ohio.

Visit cwad4.org for more from CWA District 4 and ohioaflcio.org for more from the Ohio AFL-CIO.