America’s Work Force Union Podcast

BMA Media Group
  • 4.7 (54)
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America’s Work Force Union Podcast provides a clear and unfiltered voice for the working people of America. Radio veteran Ed “Flash” Ferenc leads the discussion with a focus on topics that include the impact of labor unions in America, workers’ rights, legislative actions and labor-management relations. Featured guests include various labor leaders, politicians, journalists and more. America’s Work Force Union Podcast provides updates and information from sources around the United States and continues to be the trusted voice for workers across the country.

  1. 1d ago

    AFSCME Council 65 on Political Firings and Organizing in South Dakota

    Two sheriff's deputies in Union County, South Dakota, had a yard sign for the losing candidate on their property. Three weeks after their sheriff won his election, they were fired in a letter citing the at-will employment law and no stated cause. They were in the middle of negotiating their first union contract when it happened. The county's lawyer had argued against including just cause language in that contract just weeks before the firings. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, AFSCME Council 65 Labor Representative Jordan Deffenbaugh discusses the Union County case, the active response campaign including petitions, rallies and appeals to the governor and attorney general, a pattern of conduct concerns at the sheriff's office that predate the deputy firings and why he believes this situation could spark a broader organizing surge in Southeast South Dakota, where union density currently sits at approximately 2.7 percent. Visit afscme65.org for more.

  2. 1d ago

    Mechanical Insulators LMCT on Boston Hospitals and Energy Waste

    70 percent of Boston's greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings. Boston hospitals consume four times as much energy as other city buildings. And a technology that already exists, installed by trained workers already on the job, could dramatically reduce both figures. It's called mechanical insulation. On today's trades day episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Mechanical Insulators LMCT Executive Director Pete Ielmini discusses a Commonwealth Beacon investigation into energy consumption at a Boston hospital and what it means for the broader push to make mechanical insulation energy audits mandatory. He also covers the Hale Building at Brigham and Women's Hospital as a model of what properly designed construction can achieve, the gap in inspection requirements that allows new buildings to be completed without the insulation they were supposed to have and the status of the Federal Mechanical Insulation Act in the Senate with December's end of Congress deadline approaching. Visit mechanicalinsulatorslmct.com for more.

  3. 2d ago

    OFT's Melissa Cropper on AFT Growth, a Library Win and Ohio Elections

    Columbus Metropolitan Library workers filed for their union election in December 2025, waited six months and faced weekly anti-union emails from administration the entire time. On July 7, they voted yes with 86 percent approval. OFT filed a demand to bargain the same day. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper joins us fresh from the AFT convention in Washington. She discusses the federation's growth to 1.875 million members, why she calls it the fastest-growing union in the country, the five fightback pillars shaping AFT's strategy, and the convention resolutions on school funding and child labor accountability. She also breaks down what is at stake in Ohio's governor, Senate and Ohio House races this fall and where to find the OFT voter guide. Visit oft-aft.org for more.

  4. 3d ago

    USW's Mariana Padias on Big River Sawmill Win and First Contracts

    An organizer showed up for a first meeting at a sawmill in rural Mississippi and was handed 40 signed union authorization cards before taking a seat. Workers at Big River Sawmill in Gloster, Miss., had already organized themselves. The Van Devender family's ownership fired four workers, held captive-audience meetings, and turned the mayor against them. On June 25 and 26, the workers won anyway. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, United Steelworkers Assistant Director of Organizing Mariana Padias tells the full story of the Big River campaign, including the unusual role of Blue Wolf Capital Partners, a pro-union minority equity investor that publicly backed the workers when the owner refused to stay neutral. She also explains why the national average time to a first contract is 480 days, how companies use that window to erode worker support, and what the bipartisan Faster Labor Contracts Act, now before the Senate, would do to change it. Visit usw.org for more.

  5. 4d ago

    AFM Local 4 on Cleveland Orchestra Talks and the AI Threat

    The Cleveland Orchestra contract expires at the end of August. Active bargaining is underway, with Local 4 having already exchanged financial presentations and delivered its first proposal. A key priority this round is relief weeks for string players whose instrument positions create real risk of repetitive stress injury over time. And four of the country's most storied orchestras are at the table simultaneously, setting benchmarks for the entire symphony sector. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, AFM Local 4 President Len DiCosimo discusses the Cleveland Orchestra negotiations, his election to the AFM international board at the 103rd convention in Ottawa and the growing threat artificial intelligence poses to working musicians, composers and lyricists. He calls on the public to support live music and human artistry with their discretionary spending, drawing a direct parallel between choosing AI-generated content over a working musician and choosing a self-checkout line over a cashier. Visit afmlocal4.com to learn more about AFM Local 4.

  6. Jul 17

    America's 250th Celebrations, Social Security and AI in Medicare

    America's Work Force Union Podcast brings together two conversations spanning American history, retirement security and a fight over who controls your Medicare coverage. American Legion Media and Communications Director Henry Howard opens with a recap of how the Legion marked America's 250th anniversary, including a reenactment of the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence in Lansing, Michigan on July 8, the date Colonel Nixon first read the document publicly in 1776. Howard also covers the conclusion of the USA 250 Challenge, which engaged more than 3,100 American Legion family members over the past year in fitness, wellness and community service, and a historic flag escort by American Legion riders from Pittsburgh to Arlington on July 4. He then previews the August edition of the American Legion magazine, which highlights ten notable American inventions that shaped the world and honors the late Diane Carlson Evans, the Vietnam combat nurse who led the decades-long fight to establish the Vietnam Women's Memorial on the National Mall. Then, Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans State Director Norm Wernet discusses two developments directly affecting retirees and disabled workers. The first is bipartisan momentum to scrap the Social Security earnings cap following a joint op-ed from Sen. Bernie Moreno and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and what that step would do to address the 2032 Social Security funding cliff. The second is the WISeR program, a pilot AI prior authorization program now running in Ohio and six other states that is delaying and denying Medicare Advantage coverage with a financial incentive built into the algorithm to keep saying no. Visit legion.org for American Legion updates and retiredamericans.org for the full congressional voting record on retiree issues.

  7. Jul 16

    National COSH on Heat Hazards, Silicosis and Worker Safety Rollbacks

    OSHA inspections are down. Penalties are down. The workers most at risk are afraid to speak up. And two preventable crises are claiming lives that should not be lost: the extreme heat epidemic that kills workers at dramatically higher rates if they are Latino or Black, and a growing wave of accelerated silicosis among young countertop fabricators exposed to engineered stone products so high in silica that they have been banned in Australia. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, National COSH Associate Director Katelyn Parady describes what is happening to workers right now and what workers, unions and advocates are doing to fight back. She covers the creative organizing happening at the city, state and supply chain level to address heat in the absence of a federal standard, the preemption laws being used in Texas and Florida to block rather than create protections and National COSH's preparations to call for a national ban on engineered stone as young Latino immigrant fabricators in their 20s and 30s continue to need double lung transplants and lose their lives. Visit nationalcosh.org for more.

  8. Jul 15

    DirecTV Contract Win, Ohio Organizing and Fighting Oligarchy Training

    America's Work Force Union Podcast brings together two conversations that capture the labor movement's momentum heading into a consequential fall election season. First, Ohio AFL-CIO President Tim Burga joins fresh from the AFL-CIO's 30th Constitutional Convention in Minneapolis, where delegates voted to set a new organizing target of 2 million new union members by 2032 after surpassing the previous goal of 1 million. Burga reports on a broad wave of organizing activity across Ohio spanning healthcare, construction, higher education, hospitality, libraries, museums and the arts, with recent wins including workers at Jeni's Ice Cream, United Academics of Ohio University and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. He also addresses the ongoing challenge of securing first contracts after organizing wins and what Ohio workers should watch for when the General Assembly returns from summer recess and the lame duck session begins after November's elections. Then, CWA District 4 Administrative Director Frank Mathews discusses a ratified four-year contract for approximately 300 DirecTV customer service workers across Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Minnesota and Colorado, delivering compounded wage increases of 13.4% and preserving health care after workers voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike in April. Mathews addresses the growing difficulty of protecting health care at the bargaining table, describes a roughly tenfold increase in CWA organizing activity since COVID and details the CWA's new Fighting Oligarchy political education training rolling out across Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan ahead of November's elections. Visit ohioaflcio.org for Ohio AFL-CIO updates and cwa-union.org for more from CWA District 4.

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About

America’s Work Force Union Podcast provides a clear and unfiltered voice for the working people of America. Radio veteran Ed “Flash” Ferenc leads the discussion with a focus on topics that include the impact of labor unions in America, workers’ rights, legislative actions and labor-management relations. Featured guests include various labor leaders, politicians, journalists and more. America’s Work Force Union Podcast provides updates and information from sources around the United States and continues to be the trusted voice for workers across the country.

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