Tim Burga, president of the Ohio AFL-CIO spoke with America’s Work Force on Feb. 4 to discuss why the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act is so important to the working person. Continue reading
Cedric de Leon, author of Crisis! When Political Parties Lose the Consent to Rule spoke with America’s Work Force on Jan. 7 about his book. Continue reading
Mike Haynie, founder of the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) spoke with America’s Work Force on Nov. 5 about his organization and what they do. Continue reading
Scott Vance, CEO and executive director of Union Sportsmen’s Alliance spoke with America’s Work Force on Oct. 1 about efforts to preserve America’s parks. Continue reading
Joe Cimperman, president of Global Cleveland spoke with America’s Work Force on Sept. 3 to talk about Global Cleveland’s Welcoming Week event. Continue reading
Tim Burga, president of the Ohio AFL-CIO spoke with America’s Work Force on August 6 about the passing of Ohio House Bill 6. Continue reading
Tim Burga, president of the Ohio AFL-CIO spoke with America’s Work Force on July 2 about Ohio’s budget plan and the progress being made on it. Continue reading
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. Continue reading
On April 2, Tim Burga, president of the Ohio AFL-CIO joined America’s Work Force to discuss the newly proposed budget in Ohio.
Burga spoke about Governor Mike DeWine and his proposed gas tax and the purpose behind it. DeWine proposed an 18 cent gas tax increase so that Ohio could use the money to rebuild and improve state infrastructure. The Ohio House countered DeWine’s gas tax increase proposal by saying they will accept the gas tax be increased by 10.7 cents. Burga said that the good part about the gas tax increase is that it will be used to build or improve infrastructure, creating jobs for Ohio workers. Lastly, Burga talked about workers gaining more power by working collectively for change.
Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing spoke with America’s Work Force about keeping jobs in America. He talked about Chinese state-owned companies that are going around and underbidding companies in the United States by millions and performing shoddy work, costing the state more in the long-run to continue to use their business. He said, at first, using the lower bidding companies saves money, but costing more and more to maintain and improve as the years go on because of the poor quality of work that was done. Paul also talked about the new NAFTA, United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement, and how he would like to see it include more protections for workers.
AWF host Ed “Flash” Ferenc talked about the 14 employees from the Plain Dealer who were laid off on April 1. In an obvious union busting move, 14 members of the News Guild lost their jobs at the Plain Dealer due to “downsizing”.
On March 5, Bill Brown from Ben Hur Construction, St. Louis, Missouri, spoke about the benefits of going into the construction trades during his time on America’s Work Force.
Brown, who was a former marine, discussed going into the construction trades after he transitioned from active-duty back into civilian life and how easy he had assimilated to the training. He talked about programs such as Helmets to Hardhats, that provide training in the trades while guaranteeing job placement or an earn while you learn apprenticeship with a federally approved apprenticeship program. Brown talked about all of the benefits of an apprenticeship, such as free training, earn while you learn, good starting wages and a path to the middle class rather than going to college or university and taking on student debt without being guaranteed a job. He then talked about the quality of training in union construction and how they spend hundreds of hours perfecting their craft to make sure the work that they will be providing is well above the competition’s quality of work.
Tim Burga, President of the Ohio AFL-CIO spoke with AWF on March 5 about Governor Dewine’s gas tax increase to help fix roads and other infrastructure. He also talked about the misguided priorities of legislators over the years, avoiding the problems with fixing roads, as well as giving tax breaks to corporations who could help fix the roads. Lastly, Burga discussed lawmakers trying to repeal prevailing wage, in a union busting fashion, in certain areas where they do not think it is necessary to have it.