Sue McConnell, president of the Better Business Bureau in Cleveland spoke with America’s Work Force on Jan. 6 to inform listeners about scams to be on the lookout for during the holiday season. Continue reading
Sue McConnell, president of the Cleveland Better Business Bureau spoke with America’s Work Force on Dec. 2 to inform listeners of scams to be on the lookout for during this holiday season. Continue reading
Mark Gruenberg, labor writer for Press Associates Union spoke with America’s Work Force on Nov. 4 about a union supporting the Protect the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. Continue reading
Sue McConnell, president of the Cleveland Better Business Bureau spoke with America’s Work Force on Oct. 7 about scams to be on the lookout for during the fall months.
McConnell first warned listeners about falling for contractor scams. She said that contractors are going door-to-door and telling people that they have left over materials and resources to rework their driveway and are willing to provide them a service for a discounted price in order to get rid of their surplus of material. Once the person agrees to the service, the contractor will either provide a shoddy service, or no service at all and take the scamee’s money.
A second scam that McConnell warned about was a FaceBook video scam. With this scam, she said that a person would receive a message in the FaceBook Messenger app saying to click on the link that was sent to them to see a video of themselves or someone they may know, and once the link is clicked, usernames and passwords are stolen and malware is downloaded onto your computer which accesses more of your personal information.
The last scam McConnell discussed involved Robinson Contracting in northeast Ohio. Robinson Contracting goes door-to-door asking house owners if they need any work done and once hired, they provide less than average quality work, or would even ruin other parts of a person’s home so they could be hired to fix that problem too.
Mark Gruenberg, labor writer for Press Associates Union spoke with AWF on Oct. 7 about jobless numbers and labor and civil rights cases. On the topic of joblessness, he said that it is under 3.5 percent, but wage growth is only 2.9 percent, which is slow. He also talked about labor and civil rights cases that will be taken to court soon, some of them involving collective bargaining. Lastly, Gruenberg discussed the unions standing against President Trump, and the progress on the impeachment inquiry against him.
AWF host Ed “Flash” Ferenc discussed week three of the General Motors strike and machinists workers walking out in Kansas City.
America’s Work Force host Ed Flash Ferenc talked to listeners on Labor Day about some of the victories labor unions have had and how they benefited all workers. One of the benefits labor unions gave the workforce is a 40 hour work week and work-free weekends. Before labor unions, workers worked over 60 hours, seven days a week, but thanks to unions, workers won weekends for leisure time and rest. Another important win for unions that Ferenc discussed was the right to collectively bargain for their contracts. By having the right to collectively bargain, power is shifted more equally than the power being held by corporations.
Sue McConnell, President of the Better Business Bureau in Cleveland spoke with AWF on Sep. 2 about specific scams to look out for now that the school year is back in session. Some major scams are directed toward college students; she told college students to look out for were job scams and roommate matching service scams. McConnell said that there is a significant increase in fake job postings targeting college students promising outstanding wages and hours but really end up just taking money from the job prospects. As for the roommate matching service, she said that an online company will ask people searching for roommates to fill out a questionnaire, making them think they will be paired with someone of the same interests, but, if anything at all, will just be matched for anybody looking to split rent. She also mentioned scams involving spoofing emails from major airline companies getting people to give up their personal information.
Mark Gruenberg, writer for Press Associates Union talked about some court decisions on redistricting and the National Labor Relations Board. He also talked about Walmart not ceasing the sale of firearms in the wake of all of these mass shootings and how people are beginning to boycott the company.
Mark Gruenberg, writer and editor for Press Associates Union spoke with America’s Work Force on July 1 to discuss his takeaways on what was said during the Democratic debates in the last week of June.
Gruenberg first spoke about the Supreme Court and their recent decision on a gerrymandering case in Ohio and other legislation surrounding the issues caused by gerrymandering. He then discussed the Democratic debates from the end of June and spoke about what he liked and did not like regarding the topics that were discussed. On the topic of the new NAFTA agreements, the United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement, Gruenberg said that before it gets voted on he wants it to be enforceable with a strong presence of worker rights written and explained thoroughly for all to understand them. Lastly, he talked about CEO compensation and how unbalanced it is compared to other workers at the same company.
Sue McConnell, president of the Better Business Bureau in Cleveland, spoke with AWF about scams to be on the lookout for during the summer. She talked about the website healthyandbeauty.com and how they claim to be selling brand name beauty supplies for an incredible discounted price, then when a person purchases from them, they never send a product. The second scam that McConnell discussed is about was a door-to-door DNA testing company who claims they provide a free DNA background examination as long as a medical card is provided, with which the scammers will steal the information off of. A third scam she said to be cautious of is a roofing company saying they will repair your roof for free, but they actually are offering a free consultation, not a free roof. Lastly, McConnell talked about a social security scam where a scammer will use a phone call spoofing method to pose as a social security worker and retrieve a persons sensitive information.
AWF host Ed “Flash” Ferenc spoke about the Youngstown Vindicator newspaper being shut down after being in publication for over 150 years.
Sue McConnell, president of the Cleveland Better Business Bureau spoke to America’s Work Force on June 3 about popular scams of the summer.
The first scam involves trying to sell your timeshare. McConnell said that there are companies that will tell someone they can help them sell their timeshares, and end up charging their victim ridiculously high fees for their services. The second scam that McConnell talked about was counterfeit goods online. She warned consumers to be careful when purchasing online, especially from China, because they sell counterfeit products and will scam the consumer out of their money. Lastly, McConnell addressed door-to-door magazine subscription scammers. She said that women will go door to door asking consumers to subscribe to a magazine because the money they make from the subscriptions will help them get their kids back from child services.
Mark Gruenberg, writer for Press Associates Union also appeared on this edition of AWF. Gruenberg talked about the Labor Federation dropping their budget for organizing efforts from 30 percent down to 10 percent of their budget. He also spoke about the Debbie Dingell plan for transportation and infrastructure funding, specifically how raising the gas tax might not be as effective as they think.
AWF host Ed “Flash” Ferenc discussed the American Federation of Government Employees negotiating a new contract with the Department of Veterans Affairs, and also the Trump administration stripping whistleblower protections.
Mark Gruenberg, editor of Press Associates Inc., union news, spoke to America’s Work Force on May 6 about giving first responders more bargaining power for themselves.
Gruenberg first spoke about how the United States is facing its lowest level of unemployment since 1969 and how certain jobs, such as factory jobs, have been increasing. He then went and talked about medicare for all, and also how the Trump administration has been trying to tear down the Affordable Care Act. Gruenberg then discussed first responders and how they should have more bargaining rights to negotiate contracts for themselves. He said that given their typically dangerous job, they should have the ability to bargain to negotiate for better hours, wages, equipment, safety standards, and more. Lastly, Gruenberg talked about three veteran women organizers who put together a coalition to lobby to put women and family issues as a top priority for 2020 presidential candidates. Some issues they want to tackle include equal pay for equal work, paid maternal leave, and not separating families at the border.
Sue McConnell, president of the Cleveland Better Business Bureau spoke with AWF on May 6 about employment scams. She discussed how scammers were taking advantage of people when Amazon was looking for a place to set up their HQ2 and scammers would take people’s applications and take their personal information and have them fall victim to identity theft. McConnell also talked about a Social Security Administration spoofer phone call claiming they would take away a person’s benefits, deactivate their number, or offer them better benefits if they provided their social security number.
AWF host Ed “Flash” Ferenc spoke about the gerrymandering in Ohio districts and how it was found unconstitutional. He also discussed postal service mail carriers and Stamp Out Hunger food drive.
On April 1, Mark Gruenberg writer with Press Associates Inc., discussed the potential 2020 presidential candidates.
Gruenberg spoke about the list of potential candidates for the upcoming 2020 presidential election. He discussed Joe Biden being incredibly high up on the polls for not even having announced his candidacy yet. Gruenberg then went on and discussed Michelle Obama’s book tour and how she has not been using union laborers to set up her stage production. He said that this is a big problem because of her husband, Barack, positive stance on unions and union workers. Gruenberg also talked about labor law reform along with equal work for equal pay laws being put into place.
Sue McConnell, president of the Better Business Bureau, spoke with America’s Work Force on April 1 about new scams that people have been falling into. One of the scams regards bitcoin where a scammer would pose as someone from the IRS or a utility company and tell you that you have to make a payment as soon as possible or you will suffer a consequence. The scammer then sends the victim a QR code that they scan at a bitcoin kiosk linked to the scammer’s account and wire money to the scammer in order to prevent whatever the fraudulent consequence was. A second scam that McConnell discussed was a kidnapping scam where a scammer would call a victim and tell them that their loved one has been kidnapped and they will let them go if they pay off their ransom.
AWF host Ed “Flash” Ferenc spoke today about workers in Illinois fired for going on strike that was legal under the National Labor Relations Board and have now filed a complaint against their former company.
On March 4, Mark Gruenberg, writer for Press Associates Inc. union news service, spoke about the progressive agenda set for 2019 while on America’s Work Force.
Gruenberg discussed pro-worker legislation being one of the main targets in the progressive agenda for the year. He said that the pro-worker legislation will include legislation on equal pay for equal work and workers freedom to negotiate act. Gruenberg also touched on the Green New Deal and how some Republicans are in favor of using alternative energy sources over fossil fuels. To wrap up his interview, Gruenberg discussed the long term effects of the government shutdown, such as huge financial hits on government workers who had to dip into their savings and 401k’s because they were not receiving pay during the shutdown.
Sue McConnell, president of the Cleveland Better Business Bureau, discussed a variety of scams for students to be on the lookout for during spring break season. She explained the importance of researching housing accomodations thoroughly before booking and paying for them, and to also look up the address to make sure that it is valid. McConnell also talked about “car wrap” scams and “friends and family” scams.