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.
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.
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.
Washington Bureau Chief of 
Sue McConnell, with the