Tom Buffenbarger, former general president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers spoke to America’s Work Force on April 23 about the benefits of using union workers.

Buffenbarger first spoke about Machinists Local 912 and their unanimous strike authorization vote at General Electric. He said that G.E. began to resent the unions for sticking together to bargain for their own rights and protections and that he was proud of the union for not letting the corporation walk all over them. Buffenbarger then talked about Boeing in North Carolina remaining non-union but are bringing in International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers to show their employees the proper way to build, repair and maintain the 737 jets. Boeing continues to bring in union members to show their employees how to do the work, but won’t hire the union workers for full-time work. He mentioned that clearly, Boeing recognizes the quality of training and experience these union members have, but still won’t agree that hiring union is beneficial to the company.

Jon Reiss from the Cuyahoga County Veteran Service Commission spoke with AWF on April 23 about their dental, vision and hearing aid program. He said that the CCVSC offers this program as one of their financial services and is even available to the wives of veterans. Reiss then discussed the CCVSC hiring veterans to further follow their mission statement of “veterans serving veterans.”

AWF host Ed “Flash” Ferenc discussed the Stop N Shop strike, which ended this week, after union members and customers showed incredible solidarity and stood up for their own rights and protections against a big company.

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