Josh Nassar, legislative director for the United Auto Workers spoke with America’s Work Force on Nov. 14 about the United States-Mexico-Canada-Agreement (USMCA), the new NAFTA.
Nassar first spoke about the General Motors UAW members who were on strike for a better contract, finally reached an agreement on a tentative contract last week. The USMCA, now known as NAFTA, still needs improvements to be made to the agreement. Nassar believes that they need to include stronger labor laws that are enforceable to protect workers and punish those who try to break the laws. Nassar ended his interview on AWF by discussing the impeachment hearings against President Trump.
Wendy Patton, senior project director for the State Fiscal Project with Policy Matters Ohio joined AWF to speak out on the 2021 Ohio state budget. She expressed concerns about the lack of funding and investment into students and schools. Patton said that Ohio is falling behind on investing in their school systems and has not been adjusting their investments to the cost of inflation so the schools are missing out on potential funding. Wrapping up her interview, Patton talked about the lack of funding in Ohio’s public transit system.
A special guest stopped by AWF, Senator Sherrod Brown, as he discussed federal contract employees and how they were hurt by the government shutdown earlier this year. As a result of the shutdown, Ohio had a repayment plan set in place to make up for their lost wages, but it was turned down by Mitch McConnell, Kentucky senator.
AWF host Ed “Flash” Ferenc spoke about a McDonald’s CEO being fired for having an inappropriate relationship with and employee and another McDonald’s employee filing a sexual harassment claim.