Tim Burga, president of the Ohio AFL-CIO spent some time speaking with America’s Work Force on June 4, about the renegotiation of the new NAFTA agreement.
Burga spoke about the new NAFTA agreement, renamed as the United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA), and how there is still work that needs to be done on it. He said that one of the main things that needs to be focused on is reversing some of the adverse effects that it has had on the United States over the past 25 years. Burga also said that they need to focus on the fair trade portion of the agreement and making sure that workers protections are kept in mind. Lastly, he spoke about the Great Lakes Regional Meeting, which he attended, and how there were workshops on programs to elect more union members into congress, keeping congress accountable for their actions and economics.
Michael Williams, the interim co-executive director for the Blue Green Alliance spoke with AWF on June 4 about rebuilding America’s infrastructure and preserving the environment. When talking about infrastructure improvements, Williams mentioned that it is good that there are all of these plans being brought up on the subject, but it will take real public investment to make a difference. He brought up that the more infrastructure improvements that are made, the environment will begin to be cleaned up. One example that Williams made is that if we were to fix our water systems, there would be less pollution in our water, and we will be able to move water around more efficiently. Finally, he talked about the Lift America Act.
AWF host Ed “Flash” Ferenc spoke about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) returning to bartending to advocate for a minimum wage increase and tipped worker minimum wage increase.