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Pennsylvania modeled its labor law on the federal Wagner Act in the 1930s, including the exclusion of agricultural workers from the right to collectively bargain. The exclusion was the product of industry lobbying and the deliberate effort to deny rights to the predominantly Black workforce in the fields. Ninety years later, the Pennsylvania legislature still has not fixed it. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, UFCW Local 1776 Keystone State President Wendell Young IV and FarmSTAND senior staff attorney Hannah Wolf discuss the constitutional lawsuit filed at the end of September challenging that exclusion, what happened when workers at a southeastern Pennsylvania grow facility tried to organize without legal protection, the three constitutional arguments FarmSTAND is making and why Young says that protecting farm workers would help stabilize food prices for every American family. Visit farmstand.org for more.

First-year apprentice wages: $87,500. Wages and benefits within four to five years: $125,000 to $200,000. Student debt: zero. Three out of four teens say they would consider a trade over college. And the sheet metal industry still has more work than it can easily fill. On today's Trades Day episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Sheet Metal ITI Executive Director Michael Harris discusses 40 years in the trade, what the earn-while-you-learn apprenticeship model actually delivers, the data center and chip manufacturing construction boom driving demand for sheet metal workers across the country, why the trades offer meaningful protection against AI displacement and what National Careers in Trades Week — launched in spring 2025 with SMACNA and SMART — is doing to make sure young people actually know these opportunities exist. Visit sheetmetal-iti.org for more.

Two conversations about fighting for the people who need it most — one on what is at stake for Ohio’s schools and working families heading into November 3rd, and one on nearly three decades of labor law in Detroit and a campaign to bring that experience into the boardroom at one of the country’s most important social mobility universities. Ohio Federation of Teachers President and Ohio AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Melissa Cropper discusses the urgent need for school funding at both the local and state level, why this election carries real consequences for Ohio’s children and working families and the sense among OFT members that genuine change is within reach for the first time in a long time. Then, Miller Cohen, P.L.C., labor attorney Richard Mack discusses nearly 28 years of representing workers, the Detroit bankruptcy in which city workers earning $30,000 to $35,000 a year lost pension payments and all retiree healthcare before Medicare, while bankruptcy attorneys billed up to $1,100 an hour, and his campaign for the Wayne State University Board of Governors. Wayne State is the number one school in Michigan for social mobility and among the top 2% nationally, with graduation rates that have climbed from 26% to 60% over the past 15 years — but Mack says that is still not high enough for a student population of full-time workers, parents and first-generation college students navigating challenges most university students never face. He and his running mate, Sharif Akil, bring a combined 60 years of civil rights litigation experience to the campaign and a commitment to protecting students and faculty from federal pressure on First Amendment rights. Visit oft-aft.org for more from the Ohio Federation of Teachers and richardmackforwsu.com for more on Richard Mack’s campaign.

He had a meeting scheduled at the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11. His wife called. He canceled. The next morning, he was at Ground Zero through an empty Long Island Expressway on a police escort. Six days later, LIUNA Local 79 members had cleaned out the Verizon vault beneath 140 West Street, and the New York Stock Exchange was operational. On today's Trades Day episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, AECOM Tishman Senior Vice President and Labor Coordinator Frank Noviello marks the 25th anniversary of September 11 with a firsthand account of arriving at Ground Zero on September 12, the silica dust threat that LIUNA Local 79 worked to protect its members from, and the 25-year all-union rebuilding effort — on time, on budget — that produced One World Trade Center at 1,776 feet and is still going with Tower 2 under construction today. More information on LIUNA is available at liuna.org.

The University System of Maryland negotiated raises with its workers. The raises were legally binding. The state sent the money to cover them. The USM withheld them anyway. The governor had to order them to comply. Then UMD College Park laid off 73 workers — the first mass layoff of state-funded positions in the university's history, with more than 80% of those laid off being union-represented. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, AFSCME Local 1072 board member Krista Bulley, vice president Jen Patterson and at-large executive board member Patrick Trujillo discuss what is happening at the University of Maryland: how the union forced the governor's hand on the raises, who the 73 laid-off workers were and why the union says the budget crisis UMD is citing does not exist, and where the Step 3 grievance fight at the Office of Administrative Hearings stands as the union works to bring every one of those workers back. Visit afscmemd.org for more.

Two conversations about protecting what Americans have earned — one on helping veterans translate their military service into civilian careers and one on stopping an unelected commission from quietly cutting the Social Security benefits workers have paid into their entire lives. American Legion Director of Media and Communications Henry Howard discusses the Legion’s hundreds of annual veteran job fairs and union partnerships, the ongoing fight for military credentialing legislation to count service time toward civilian licensing requirements, and the November magazine cover story marking the 50th anniversary of women at the service academies. The central profile is Pat Locke of the first West Point class, who didn’t know what West Point was when someone first asked if she wanted to attend and has since become one of the Academy’s most prolific recruiters and one of only six women among 177 recipients of the West Point Distinguished Graduate Award. Howard also discusses how American Legion posts will mark Veterans Day, including the New York City Veterans Day Parade, a wreath at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington. Then, Alliance for Retired Americans Executive Director Rich Fiesta discusses the Social Security benefit cut threat — trustees project a 22% cut by 2032, a recent independent analysis says 24% — and the fiscal commission bill introduced by Representative Bill Huizenga that would create an unelected panel to fast-track a restructuring plan with no public hearings, no public input and no amendments allowed. The Alliance is in congressional offices now and will be back through the lame-duck session to stop it. He also covers the Alliance’s independent expenditure advertising in Huizenga’s Michigan district, the congressional voting record at retiredamericans.org and why, if your mail ballot hasn’t gone out yet, you should go vote early in person instead. If you or a veteran you know is struggling, call or text 988 or visit betheone.org. Visit legion.org and retiredamericans.org for more.

A projectionist at the Loft Cinema was making $15.50 an hour. After more than a year of bargaining with IATSE Local 415, the vote to ratify the first contract was unanimous. Projectionists now make approximately $20 an hour. Three days earlier, 20 workers at the Arizona Theatre Company ratified their first contract. Two wins in one week in Tucson. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, IATSE Local 415 Business Agent Ian Fritz, International Representative Amanda Sager and Loft Cinema organizer Victor Bostick discuss what it took to get here, why the nonprofit argument at the bargaining table is not the obstacle it sounds like and why Ian says entertainment workers at other Tucson venues are already paying attention. Visit iatse415.org and iatse.net for more.

Two conversations about the work happening right now — one on legislation to stop corporations from offshoring call center jobs while collecting taxpayer money, and one on the first day of early voting in Ohio and what the labor movement is doing to make November 3rd count. CWA District 4 Administrative Director Frank Mathews discusses the Keep Call Centers in America Act of 2025 (Senate Bill 2495), which would make companies that offshore call center jobs ineligible for federal grants, loans and taxpayer assistance, and Michigan’s anti-offshoring bills House Bill 6069 and 6070, which had a bipartisan statehouse rally in September. Texas, Louisiana and New York have already passed similar legislation. He also discusses CWA District 4’s election ground game across five states: more than 2,000 volunteer shifts, over 16,000 handwritten postcards to Ohio members and retirees, more than 50,000 Battleground Bulletin emails and why Elon Musk’s reported $275 million in campaign spending — including his failed intervention in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race — is no substitute for boots on the ground. Then, Ohio AFL-CIO President Tim Burga joins, fresh off his reelection, at the biennial constitutional convention alongside newly elected Secretary-Treasurer Melissa Cropper. He discusses the convention energy he compared to 2006 and the standout speaker, IUPAT International President Jimmy Williams Jr., the federation’s voter protection plan with poll observers deployed alongside the door-knocking operation on Election Day, top endorsements including Amy Acton and David Pepper for governor, Sherrod Brown for Senate and ironworker Brian Poindexter for Congressional District 7 and canvas operations running from eight locations across Ohio. Visit cwad4.org for more from CWA District 4 and ohioaflcio.org for more from the Ohio AFL-CIO.

He had been the driver of the month the month before. Top performer two weeks before that. Let go after five years. The stated reason: reduced routes. The actual reason: he was organizing with the Teamsters. The workers who were terminated are now flyering outside the station. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Teamsters Local 251 organizer Fred German discusses the DRI-1 organizing campaign in Providence, Rhode Island, where 90 Amazon delivery drivers have demanded recognition, which has been refused. Routes that topped out at 160 stops when he started now consistently run 200, with 250 actual delivery locations. Vans with broken transmissions keep getting sent out. Amazon's response is union-busting meetings, increased management presence and worker terminations. None of it has stopped the campaign. Visit teamster.org for more.

Two conversations about workers fighting back — one a hard-won arbitration victory against a prestigious publisher that broke its first contract two weeks after ratifying it, and one a monthly check-in on the transportation safety fights that never go away. OUP USA Guild operations chair Mark Longaker and NewsGuild-CWA general counsel Barbara Camens discuss the September 2026 arbitration award finding that Oxford University Press violated its collective bargaining agreement when it laid off 13 workers just over two weeks after ratifying its first contract and transferred their work to the United Kingdom — after announcing $50 million in profits. The employer refused to respond to information requests and claimed a lack of work. The guild followed the breadcrumbs, built the case through intensive fact-finding with laid-off workers and current employees and prevailed in a three-day New York arbitration hearing. Remedy discussions are ongoing with the goal of restoring 13 positions to the bargaining unit. Camens also discloses that the NewsGuild is now taking the Associated Press to arbitration over a global production center in India and the layoff of dozens of News Media Guild workers. Then, TTD AFL-CIO President Greg Regan discusses Rail Safety Week and the Railway Safety Act amendment’s passage out of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee with a large bipartisan majority — nearly four years after East Palestine — while Class I railroads continue spending heavily to block meaningful reform. He addresses AI programs already emerging inside the freight rail systems at CSX and Norfolk Southern, why now is the window to establish worker protections before the technology becomes too embedded, the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund’s solvency and the partial implementation of secondary cockpit barriers and the Trump administration’s plan to expand TSA privatization through the Screening Partnership Program from roughly a dozen airports to more than 300. Visit oxfordpressunion.org for more from the OUP USA Guild and ttd.org for more from the TTD.

Millions of workers say they want a union. The law makes it too hard to get one. Most of Europe has a model that sets wages for entire industries at once, covering every worker, whether or not their individual workplace is organized. Three US states are already trying a version of it for rideshare drivers. And an EPI senior fellow says the conditions for winning real labor law reform are better right now than they have been in decades. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, EPI Senior Fellow Lynn Rhinehart discusses sectoral bargaining, what Massachusetts, Illinois and California are doing for Uber and Lyft drivers through a Machinists and SEIU-led initiative, why wage boards are useful but not a substitute for unions, the two-edged problem with lifting federal preemption and why the moment to organize for labor law reform is now. Visit epi.org for more and read Rhinehart's full blog post at onlabor.org.

He came from Spain in 1986 with his father's encouragement. He worked his way up to foreman. He left, came back and became a U.S. citizen in 2008. And somewhere in between, he spent decades restoring the U.S. Capitol, the Washington Monument and the National Cathedral — working on stone set by craftspeople a century before him, trying to be worthy of what they left behind. On today's Trades Day episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 1 MVD foreman Victor Castro discusses his journey from Spain to four decades of historic restoration work in Washington, D.C., including a National Cathedral core drilling story involving a wedding, pressure loss and clouds of dust that will stay with you. Local 1 President Scott Garvin joins to reflect on what Victor's mentorship of the next generation means for the craft's future. Visit bacweb.org and baclocal1.org for more.

The city of Corvallis, Oregon, calls itself an employer of choice. Over the past four years, 75% of its union-represented workforce has turned over. Management recently gave itself extra pay steps for retention. Workers at the bargaining table are being offered a contract worse than the one they already have. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, AFSCME Local 2975 President Evan Newton discusses where the contract fight stands after months of bargaining, state mediation and a declared impasse — why the real negotiation is happening at city council, not at the bargaining table, and why a strike is on the table for the workers who clean Corvallis's streets, treat its water and run its library. Visit afscme2975.org for more.

Every three hours in the United States, a vehicle or a person is hit by a train. More than 2,300 people are injured or killed every year in North America at railroad crossings and along tracks. More than 60% of those collisions happen at crossings already equipped with lights or gates. And the train that derailed at East Palestine, Ohio, started in Decatur, Illinois. SMART-TD crews flagged it before it left. They were required to take it anyway. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, SMART-TD Illinois Legislative Director Bob Guy discusses what rail safety looks like from inside the industry: what Precision Scheduled Railroading's 30% workforce cut did to freight rail reliability, what actually happened at East Palestine, why the two-person crew standard still needs federal protection and what the CSX Barr Yard closure is doing to freight delays in Chicago right now. Visit illini-smarttd.org for more.

Two conversations that cut to the heart of what workers are facing right now — one on the fight to lift airport workers out of poverty wages today and one on what AI and quantum computing are doing to skilled work tomorrow. 32BJ SEIU Executive Vice President Jaime Contreras discusses the campaign to amend the Secure Maryland Wage Act to raise wages, secure employer-paid healthcare and establish paid time off for more than 1,000 airline-contracted workers at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport who currently earn $17 an hour with no healthcare benefits, while comparable airports in New York, Boston and Philadelphia already pay wages in the $20 range with healthcare and paid time off. Governor Wes Moore has committed to emergency legislation in the upcoming Maryland session. Contreras also shares his own story: from undocumented teenager fleeing El Salvador's civil war in 1988, to US Navy veteran, to citizen in 1996, to leader of a 195,000-member union that runs its own legal fund to cover every cost for green card holders seeking citizenship. Then, IAM retired International President Tom Buffenbarger shares what an internationally recognized architect told him on the drive to the IAM Kentucky State Council meeting: that AI and quantum computing have compressed 18 to 24 months of architectural design work into five minutes, that contractors are beginning to bypass architects entirely and that the profession is going away. Tennessee Valley Authority members at the same meeting described new manufacturing plant designs that are eliminating cafeterias, break rooms and parking lots because the future those plants are designed for has very few human workers in it. And they described a coming return to nuclear energy — with a wave of construction jobs followed by facilities that will need almost no one to operate — as the practical answer to the electricity demands that AI infrastructure is generating. Visit seiu32bj.org for more from 32BJ SEIU and goiam.org for more from the IAM.