Tom Buffenbarger, former General President of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers spoke with America’s Work Force on March 24 to discuss the public disruptions due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Buffenbarger discussed how the Coronavirus pandemic has reached a point where many governors are issuing stay-at-home orders in hopes of slowing down the spread of the virus. He discussed how unfair it is that the government spent trillions of dollars to bailout the stock market, but people who are out of work are not receiving any assistance. Buffenbarger then talked about the American Airline bankruptcy and how their executives bought back stocks to save themselves as they were going under. Lastly, he spoke about the hypocrisy of former South Carolina Governor, Nikki Haley.
Jon Reiss, Executive Director of the Cuyahoga County Veteran Services Commission talked about their office shut down. With Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s orders to shut down all non-essential businesses, the CCVSC had no choice but to shut down their office until further notice. Reiss explained that he held off as long as he possibly could on the shutdown so that he was still able to offer their emergency services to veterans, but were finally told they could not work from the office any longer. Reiss, however, said that the CCVSC has provided food and transportation tickets to local Veteran Administration offices so that they can still help veterans that are in need.
AWF host Ed “Flash” Ferenc spoke about Congressman Tim Ryan’s outline of the Emergency Money for the People Act.
To listen to this show, click the play button below.