America's Work Force Union Podcast

Two conversations that connect the fight for workers in the halls of Congress to the fight for workers on the streets of Cleveland — one making the legislative case for tipped wages, overtime pay and AI transparency and one tracing 55 years of a labor-rooted organization that has never stopped asking what workers need that nobody else is providing. Congressional Labor Caucus co-chair and Culinary Workers Union Local 226 member Steve Horsford of Nevada discusses the Big Beautiful Bill's betrayal of tipped workers and his Tips Improvement Act to make tax relief permanent, the federal minimum wage frozen at $7.25 since 2009 and down 30% in purchasing power, the Double the Wage Act to require double pay after 40 hours, the PRO Act and Faster Labor Contracts Act and legislation requiring transparency on AI-related layoffs and hiring. He also shares the personal story behind his public service: an immigrant mother from Trinidad, a father shot and killed when he was 19 and a decade running the Culinary Training Academy before he ever ran for Congress. His Labor Day message: the problems workers face are not personal failures, and when workers fight, they win. Then, United Labor Agency Executive Director Dave Megenhardt traces 55 years of worker-centered service in Cleveland, from a 1971 kidney dialysis program seeded by the Cleveland AFL-CIO, the UAW and the Teamsters through durable medical equipment, workforce development, housing rehabilitation and the placement of more than 2,000 workers across Northeast Ohio last year. He addresses what deindustrialization's legacy of abandoned communities without transition plans should teach us about AI-driven job displacement, the current federal grant landscape and the ULA's role in seeding Policy Matters Ohio. His Labor Day message: look back on a year of hard work, recognize your contribution to the economy and always fight for someone else. Visit horsford.house.gov and laborcaucus.house.gov for more from Representative Horsford and ulagency.org for more from the United Labor Agency.

The tornado is the high interest rates. The Scarecrow is the caricature of the uneducated farmer. The Tin Woodsman is the industrial worker who lost his humanity as wages fell. The Yellow Brick Road is the gold standard. The Emerald City is Washington. And behind the curtain at the end, a few powerful people are pulling strings. L. Frank Baum wrote The Wizard of Oz as a populist labor parable. NABTU's Dr. Tom Kriger says it is the most important thing you can watch this Labor Day weekend. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, NABTU Director of Education and Research Dr. Tom Kriger discusses the Fitzgerald Act of 1937 and how registered apprenticeship was created, why the union model of training workers in the full range of an occupation is the gold standard, how NABTU's 300,000 apprentices represent roughly half of all registered apprentices in the United States, why the tech industry has badly failed to explain why data centers are necessary and what happens if the US stops building them and why L. Frank Baum's populist parable from the 1890s is more relevant today than most people realize. Visit nabtu.org for more.

A machinist named Matthew Maguire proposed Labor Day in 1882. When Grover Cleveland signed it into law in 1894, he gave the ceremonial pen to a carpenter with a similar name and told Maguire's wife he was sorry. The machinist never got proper credit. The debate starts every Labor Day again. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast — the final episode of the Labor 132 series, one week before Labor Day — IAM retired International President Tom Buffenbarger discusses the life and career of William ‘Wimpy' Winpisinger, the IAM general president from 1977 to 1989 who wheeled a wheelchair into his first AFL-CIO executive board meeting to tell George Meany it was time to go, led a walkout of the 1980 Democratic National Convention, put IAM-sponsored race cars on national television with drivers including Roger Mears and Josele Garza to showcase union craftsmen and made trade unionism a religion. Buffenbarger also settles — for another year at least — the debate over who really created Labor Day. Visit goiam.org for more.

Her father-in-law was fired for union activity, contracted tuberculosis and was sent west to die. He came back to Detroit, won a congressional seat and helped write the Social Security Act — standing in the room when Roosevelt signed it in 1935. That history is what Congresswoman Debbie Dingell carries into Congress every day. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Dingell joins the Labor 132 series as co-chair of the 129-member Congressional Labor Caucus. She discusses why USMCA has not created a level playing field with Mexico, the national security threat posed by Chinese autonomous vehicles collecting data on American streets, why the chaotic application of tariffs has cost average households approximately $3,500, the need to scrap the Social Security earnings cap before the 2033 funding cliff and why she is one of the lead House sponsors of Medicare for All — a bill that now has more than 100 co-sponsors. Visit debbiedingell.house.gov and laborcaucus.house.gov for more.

Without the union, he says, he would qualify for Medicaid and food stamps doing the same insulation work. He has been sober for more than 20 years. He holds a Massachusetts license in addiction counseling. And he watches his members vote against their own economic interests every election cycle and cannot figure out how to get through to them. On today's Trades Day episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Heat and Frost Insulators Local 6 Business Manager Jeff Saliba joins on behalf of Pete Ielmini and the Mechanical Insulators LMCT. He discusses why the Boston hospital energy report is a call to action for mechanical insulation, how Local 6's MAP-based recovery program gives apprentices a structured path through addiction and a genuine door back into the program, and why the drift toward individualism — workers thinking me instead of we — is the most significant internal challenge unions face heading into this Labor Day. If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988. Visit insulators6.org and follow @InsulatorsLMCT for more.

Two conversations that connect the health of workers to the history of the movement that fights for them — one looking at what union members eat and how it affects their long-term health, and one tracing 49 years of a union that keeps the aviation system safe and has been fighting for the right to do that work well since 1977. Blue Cross Blue Shield National Labor Office Executive Director Merrilee Logue discusses the Food Is Medicine movement and what it means for the 18 million union members covered through BCBS plans. She outlines updated USDA dietary guidelines emphasizing protein, healthy fats and minimally processed foods, the specific nutritional challenges facing union members doing shift work and physically demanding jobs and a range of programs now available through union insurance plans — from registered dietitians and medically tailored meals to produce prescription programs in which healthcare providers can literally prescribe fruits and vegetables as part of a treatment plan. She also discusses the American Psychiatric Association's documented connection between nutrition and mental health and Blue Cross Blue Shield's investment of millions in nutrition programs, food banks and educational initiatives in every zip code across the country. Then, Professional Aviation Safety Specialists President Dave Spero traces the 49-year history of PASS National — from Howard Johnnssen's decision to start a union after being suspended for kicking in a door to put out a fire, through founders sleeping in their cars and burning through their leave by Memorial Day every year to sign up members, to the eight-year fight for the first contract. He discusses what PASS did on September 11, 2001, when the president suspended the collective bargaining agreement in the first hours so members could focus entirely on securing the aviation system, current FAA workforce shortfalls and the threat of a government shutdown at the end of September 30. Follow @BlueLabor on LinkedIn and X for BCBS NLO updates and visit passnational.org for more from PASS National.

Carnegie's name is on libraries, museums, endowments and an entire town in Pennsylvania. His 1889 essay, The Gospel of Wealth, said the wealthy should give away their fortunes for the public good. After Homestead broke the union in 1892, workers who had eight-hour shifts went to 12-hour shifts and eventually to 24-hour shifts every two weeks. A worker killed in a blast furnace left his family $75, including burial. That is the other side of the Carnegie story. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, United Steelworkers Director of Education John Lepley traces the full arc of the 1892 Battle of Homestead — Carnegie's castle in Scotland, Frick's Fort, the Pinkerton detectives on the Monongahela, the day-long battle and the militia that broke the union — through the 1937 Memorial Day Massacre and the long, costly fight to build the collective bargaining agreements that changed workers' lives. He also recommends Out of This Furnace by Thomas Bell as essential reading on what steelworker life actually looked like from the inside. Visit usw.org for more.

The federal minimum wage has been frozen at $7.25 an hour since 2009. The Congressional Labor Caucus has 128 members — and everyone must actually support the PRO Act to join. Clean energy projects that were creating union jobs across the Midwest have been canceled by the Big Beautiful Bill. And 50 million Americans would join a union today if the barriers were lower. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Wisconsin Congressman and 30-plus-year IUPAT member Mark Pocan discusses what worker power looks like from inside the House of Representatives. He covers the Labor Caucus membership requirement and why virtually no Republicans qualify, the 17-year freeze on the federal minimum wage and the $2.13 subminimum wage for tipped workers, what the Big Beautiful Bill did to clean energy job creation in Wisconsin and the Midwest and why organizing at Starbucks, Amazon and REI is some of the most exciting labor movement news he has seen in years. Visit pocan.house.gov and laborcaucus.house.gov for more.

Two conversations that connect the service of the past to the policy fights of the present — one honoring those who answered the call after September 11, and one sounding the alarm about a Social Security funding cliff that Congress has the tools to prevent but has not yet used. American Legion Media and Communications Director Henry Howard joins with the September update as the 25th anniversary of September 11 approaches. The September cover story of the American Legion Magazine, Sacred Honor, was written by Ben King — a Radio Shack worker in Washington who decided within hours of the attacks that if it was war he would go, signed up for the Army Reserves within days, was deployed to Baghdad in 2006 and survived an IED strike that pushed the engine block of his Humvee into him, receiving a Purple Heart before going on to serve as operations director of the Virginia War Memorial. Howard also previews a new Tango Alpha Lima podcast episode publishing September 8 featuring military pilot Heather Penney, whose September 11 mission was to intercept Flight 93 and bring it down with her own aircraft if necessary — a mission from which she would not have returned. He then discusses a September magazine feature on America's shipbuilding decline, from 180,000 shipyard jobs in 1980 to roughly 105,000 by 2010, with current capacity estimated at more than 200 times China's. Then, Alliance for Retired Americans Executive Director Rich Fiesta discusses a 2032 Social Security funding cliff that would trigger a 22% across-the-board benefit cut if Congress does not act, where the Warren-Moreno scrap-the-cap bill stands and the Alliance's primary fight for the remainder of the 119th Congress: defeating a fiscal commission bill sponsored by outgoing senators that would fast-track Social Security recommendations to a vote while bypassing hearings, testimony and amendments. Visit legion.org for American Legion updates, listen to the Tango Alpha Lima podcast episode on September 8 and visit retiredamericans.org for the full congressional voting record on seniors' issues.

In 1806, members of America's first labor union were found guilty of criminal conspiracy for demanding higher wages. In 2017, wage theft cost 2.4 million workers more than $8 billion. Today, construction workers die by overdose at approximately 16 times the rate of conventional workplace accidents. The fight for a fair day's wage is 232 years old and still going. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, New Mexico Building Trades Wellness Coalition Director Bill McCamley joins the Labor 132 series for a conversation that runs from the 1794 Cordwainers through the Gilded Age robber barons, the Teddy Roosevelt trust-busting era and the FDR New Deal to the present-day crisis of 40 million men outside the American workforce and 11,000 construction workers dying by overdose each year. He also discusses what it will take to bring young men into the trades, cut the 40-60% apprentice dropout rate, and ensure that workers who do the essential work of building everything know they are valued for it. Call or text 988 if you need help. Visit nmbtwellness.org and billmccamley.net for more.

Two conversations that connect the long arc of labor's fight for workers and their families to the battles happening right now — one tracing a century of organized labor's role in winning healthcare coverage for Americans and one reporting from the front lines of public education in Ohio as the school year begins. National Nurses United Medicare for All Campaign Director Jasmine Ruddy traces the labor movement's century-long fight for national health insurance, from the first push tied to the Social Security Act in 1935 through the AMA's repeated opposition campaigns, the AFL-CIO's landmark 1957 declaration of government health insurance as its top legislative priority, Walter Reuther's role in marshaling labor support and the July 1965 passage of Medicare and Medicaid. She then updates listeners on where the Medicare for All campaign stands today: more than half of House Democrats now co-sponsoring the Jayapal-Dingell bill, 16 or 17 Senate co-sponsors on Senator Sanders' bill and a coalition of more than 335 organizations on record in support. Then, Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper joins for her monthly update as the 2026-2027 school year opens across Ohio. She discusses the federal administration's death-by-a-thousand-cuts approach to Head Start, first contract wins at Menlo Park Academy, KIPP Charter School and Columbus College of Art and Design, the Columbus Metropolitan Library's path toward a first contract following last month's organizing win and what Ohio's governor race means for public education and teachers unions — with one candidate calling for the elimination of teachers unions and the other actively engaging with OFT on education policy. Visit medicareforall.org and nationalnursesunited.org for more from National Nurses United and oft-aft.org for the OFT voter guide and updates.

They audited the EAP numbers. They called them. One program — marketing comprehensive mental health services — told them it did not do mental health when faced with a complex case. That is when SMART's Chris Carlough and Union EAP's Ben Cort knew something had to be built from scratch. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, SMART Director of Wellness and Mental Health Support Chris Carlough and Union EAP CEO Ben Cort discuss 14-plus years of peer training inside the sheet metal trades, what the audit of existing EAPs actually revealed and how Union EAP was built specifically to meet union members where they are — with licensed therapists who answer the phone directly and who understand the culture of union construction work. Member locals using Union EAP are seeing utilization rates 300% to 1,000% higher than their previous providers. If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988. Visit smohit.org for peer training resources and unioneap.com for more on Union EAP.

Two conversations that connect the labor movement's past to its present — one showing what union solidarity looks like in action today and one tracing the legal history that explains why that solidarity is still so necessary. Cleveland Teachers Union President Errol Savage discusses his first day in office — the same day the district announced 310 teacher layoffs — and how he responded the only way he knew how: by organizing, showing up and fighting alongside his union brothers and sisters. More than 600 teachers and Cleveland community members showed up at a Board of Education meeting that typically drew a handful of people. The board engaged. The superintendent made different choices. Today fewer than 50 of the original 310 teachers are still not back in Cleveland classrooms in a full-time capacity, and most of those plan to return. Savage also discusses what the fight means for the broader attack on public education and how he is already supporting teachers in Fairview Park, Ohio facing their own contract battle. Then, labor lawyer and OnLabor contributor Andrew Strom traces 100 years of American labor law from the 1926 Railway Labor Act through the NLRA, Taft-Hartley, the birth of right-to-work through judicial interpretation and three Supreme Court decisions — Republic Aviation in 1945, Lechmere in 1992 and Epic Systems in 2018 — that illustrate how the same law that was once called the Magna Carta of workers' rights came to be described by the Supreme Court as a mouse hole, all without Congress changing a single word. Visit ctu279.org for more from the Cleveland Teachers Union and onlabor.org for more of Andrew Strom's writing on labor law.

It is being marketed as a permitting reform and affordability act. But the 41 pages of California's Proposition 45 bypass the state's landmark environmental review law, strip local elected officials of meaningful discretion over what gets built in their communities, include no requirement that any savings reach the public and contain a provision that overrides any conflicting law — including environmental protections. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, State Building and Construction Trades Council of California President Chris Hannan explains what Proposition 45 actually does and why a coalition of more than 270 organizations — including the California building trades, the environmental movement, firefighters and educators — is working together to defeat it in November. He also discusses Climate Jobs California, the new labor-academia initiative the council is building to advance clean energy in California, the right way. Visit noprop45ca.com to get involved and cabuildingtrades.org for more.

About one construction worker dies in a trench collapse every week. Every death is preventable. Work zone run-over and back-over incidents are also preventable. And the federal agency responsible for enforcing the rules that would stop these deaths just had its already-thin resources cut further. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Laborers' Health and Safety Fund of North America Director Travis Parsons discusses the history of worker safety from the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire to the creation of OSHA in 1970, the three simple methods that prevent every trench collapse, why work zones need physical barriers rather than cones and barrels and what the current administration's anti-regulatory environment means for laborers on job sites right now. He also discusses the LHSFNA's founding in 1988 as a labor-management fund and why meaningful OSHA fines are the enforcement lever the industry needs most. Visit lhsfna.org for more.

In August 1989, CWA chief steward Gerry Horgan was struck and killed by a replacement worker driving through a picket line during the NYNEX strike in New York. He was a Marine, a volunteer firefighter, a mountain rescue team member and a family man who gave everything for working people. Since that day, CWA members have worn red on Thursdays in his honor. August 15 marks the 37th anniversary of his death. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast — part of the Labor 132 series presented by the National Labor Office of Blue Cross Blue Shield — CWA District 4 Administrative Director Frank Mathews traces the history of the Communication Workers of America from its 1947 founding through landmark contract wins, barrier-breaking leadership elections and the member relief fund that removes one of management's most reliable bargaining weapons. He then tells the full story of Gerry Horgan and what wearing red on Thursdays has meant to the CWA family over the past 37 years. Visit cwad4.org for more.

More than 30% of union election wins never produce a first contract. Not because workers gave up. Because employers face no real punishment for running out the clock. The BAC has two active situations in California and Florida, where employers have been delaying for two years with zero consequences. On today's Trades Day episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers President Timothy J. Driscoll discusses the PRO Act, the Faster Labor Contracts Act and why the arbitration provision critics call government overreach is simply a necessary guardrail. He also addresses AI's growing impact on construction design and engineering, what responsible data center siting requires from developers, why the administration's immigration enforcement is a deliberate wedge strategy that has swept up BAC members with valid work authorization in ICE raids and why congressional efforts to expand independent contractor status are moving in exactly the wrong direction for workers. Visit bacweb.org for more.

Two conversations that connect the fights of the past to the fights happening right now — one tracking the policy battles shaping transportation workers today and one tracing the 200-year labor history that explains why those battles keep coming. Transportation Trades Department President Greg Regan discusses the TTD's concerns about newly confirmed TSA Administrator David Cummins, who has said collective bargaining inhibits airport security workers and plans to expand privatized screening from approximately 20 airports to 200. Regan also addresses a bipartisan bill to fix the Railroad Retirement Board's ability to pay out earned benefits to railroaders who have contributed to one of the world's healthiest pension systems and a September 30 surface transportation funding cliff that would simultaneously cut off roads, bridges, Amtrak, commuter rail and public transit funding — at a moment when Amtrak is posting record ridership and revenue as proof that infrastructure investment works. Then, Ohio AFL-CIO President Tim Burga traces Ohio's labor history through his own family story — a grandfather who survived the 1940 Willow Grove Mine explosion in Belmont County, a father who served as president of a United Steelworkers local in the 1960s and a debt he said his family owes entirely to the United Mine Workers of America and the United Steelworkers. He covers the 1890 founding of the UMWA in Columbus, William Green's authorship of Ohio's workers' compensation law and the defeat of Senate Bill 5 in 2011 by the same 62-to-38 margin that defeated right-to-work in Ohio in 1958. He closes with what the current organizing surge among young workers means for the movement's future and why getting from a successful union vote to a first contract remains the most urgent labor law reform priority. Visit ttd.org for more from the Transportation Trades Department and ohioaflcio.org for more from the Ohio AFL-CIO.

His mother took three buses every morning to clean houses in the suburbs. His father worked every job he could find until he landed his first union contract at an aluminum mill on Chicago's southwest side. Then Fred Redmond's family started going to a doctor's office instead of the free clinic. That is why the labor movement is personal to him — and why he has given more than 50 years to it. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond joins for the first Friday with Fred of August as part of the Labor 132 series. He shares the story of his parents' journey from sharecropping in Mississippi to union membership in Chicago, reflects on his proudest moments with the United Steelworkers, including organizing rubber plantation workers in Liberia and surviving strikes at Reynolds and Alcoa, and explains why union popularity is now at its highest point in 70 years. Visit aflcio.org and explore the AFL-CIO's labor history timeline.

Columbus just landed Electra's $850 million EL9 Ultra Short hybrid-electric aircraft manufacturing plant at AirPark Ohio, is building a $100 million early childhood learning center on a former jail site and generated 6.5 million union building trades work hours at Google facilities alone last year. And the American Federation of Labor was founded downtown in 1886. On today's Trades Day episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, C/COBCTC Executive Secretary-Treasurer Dorsey Hager delivers his monthly update covering Intel's continued ramp-up, upcoming public hearings for two major gas-powered energy centers that will supply data center campuses in Fairfield County and Asheville, a new project labor agreement for the $100 million Franklin County early childhood learning center, the state of Ohio's data center conversation at the local government level and what happened when building trades members brought brick walls and concrete finishing to the Ohio State Fair. Visit columbusconstruction.org for more.

The Screen Actors Guild was founded in 1933. AFTRA was founded around the same time. For nearly 80 years, they tried to become a single union and kept falling short of the 80% supermajority required by both constitutions. Then, in 2008, employers used the gap between them to restructure primetime scripted television in ways that stripped members of their health insurance. By 2012, the two unions were one. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast — part of the Labor 132 series — SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland tells the full story, from the very different founding cultures of SAG and AFTRA in the 1930s through the McCarthy era, Ronald Reagan's complicated labor legacy, the 2008 employer maneuver that finally made the cost of disunity impossible to ignore and what the merged union has built in the 14 years since. He also addresses the AI fight, now the most urgent focus of SAG-AFTRA's resources, and explains why the strength of the merged union is exactly what that fight requires. Visit sagaftra.org for more.

He joined the laborers in 2014, has been sober since 2009 and spent years working in addiction treatment before the trades. Now he is one of three recovery specialists covering approximately 22 LIUNA locals and up to 12,000 members across Massachusetts through the LEAN program — Laborers Escaping Adversity Now — the first program of its kind in the Laborers union when it launched in 2018. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Massachusetts Laborers' Benefits Fund recovery specialist Jonathan Ashwell discusses how the LEAN program works: cold outreach to members with substance use claims, presentations at every apprenticeship class, a hotline, vetted treatment access that gets members into care quickly and personal in-person follow-up a week after placement. He also addresses the construction industry's suicide crisis, LIUNA General President Brent Booker and General Secretary-Treasurer Michael F. Sabitoni's national push to reduce stigma and why the peer support model — a union brother who has lived the same life reaching out to another — is the most effective tool available. If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988. Visit mlbf.org for more.

In 2003, the Teamsters celebrated their 100th anniversary and discovered they had almost no institutional record of their own history. Previous administrations had discarded materials that should have been preserved. That realization launched a 20-year effort that has now produced teamsterhistory.org — more than 27 unfiltered, unedited oral history interviews with the people who lived through one of the most turbulent and consequential periods in American labor history, from 1975 to 1999. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast — the first episode of Labor 132, presented by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association National Labor Office — Teamsters veterans Bret Caldwell and Brian Rainville discuss the launch of teamsterhistory.org, the history of the Teamsters Archives at George Washington University and an interview project that captured participants from across the full political spectrum, from TDU founder Ken Paff to General President James P. Hoffa, all in their own unedited words. General President O'Brien's decision to let the unflattering material stay in, Rainville said, is what made the whole thing possible. Visit teamsterhistory.org to explore the interviews and download full transcripts.

Two conversations that cut to the heart of what workers and retirees are navigating right now — one about what happens when an employer decides union members are expendable, and one about finding the right healthcare coverage when the landscape keeps shifting. The University of Maryland, College Park, laid off more than 80 workers earlier this summer. More than 80% were union members. The university's nearly billion-dollar endowment went untouched. So did the president's $1 million-plus annual salary and the multi-million-dollar coaching contracts for coaches with losing records. And almost immediately after the layoffs were announced, the university lifted its hiring freeze. AFSCME Local 1072 President Todd Holden, union steward Sarah Eppley and laid-off member Sarah Grun describe what happened, why the local filed 40 grievances covering workers laid off while on FMLA, pursuing grievances or active in union organizing and how to sign the AFSCME toolkit letter to the University System of Maryland at afscmemd.org. Then, BCBS NLO Executive Director Merrilee Logue and BCBS Association Medicare market analyst Duncan Lawson discuss a Medicare Advantage landscape that has become more complicated for union retirees to navigate. For the second consecutive year, more than 2 million Medicare Advantage consumers had their plans terminated and even more saw their benefits reduced. Logue and Lawson explain which plans and regions have been most affected, why Medicare Advantage remains the most popular retiree coverage option despite the changes and what union members approaching 65 need to know to find coverage that fits — including how to work with a broker, check union fund coverage and take advantage of special enrollment periods. Visit afscmemd.org for more on the AFSCME Local 1072 fight and bcbs.com/MedicareAdvantage for Medicare Advantage resources. Follow @BlueLabor on LinkedIn and X for updates from the BCBS National Labor Office.

She did not grow up thinking about roofing. She spent years in other work before deciding she wanted real pay, real benefits and a real career path. A woman she knew had gone through Hire360 and told her to look into it. She did. Now she is an apprentice with Roofers Local 11 in Chicago, and she is not going back. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Donetta Thomas tells her story of entering the building trades through Hire360, the Chicago workforce development organization that connects women and people of color to union construction careers. She walks through what Hire360's pre-apprenticeship program actually does to prepare people for the trades, what life on a roof in Chicago really looks like and what she would say to any woman or person of color who is sitting on the fence about making the move. Visit hire360chicago.com to learn more about Hire360 and rooferslocal11.org for more on Roofers Local 11.

Today's episode of the America's Work Force Union Podcast brings together two conversations that cut to the heart of what it means to be a worker in America right now — one focused on who keeps people safe and one on who makes the decisions that shape their lives. First, National Nurses United President Jamie Brown and NNU Assistant Director of Health and Safety Jane Thomason discuss a workplace safety crisis that most Americans never see. Healthcare workers account for approximately 73% of all nonfatal workplace violence injuries in the United States, nurses are five times more likely to be assaulted at work than people in any other industry and the actual rate is dramatically higher because most incidents never get reported. Brown and Thomason make the case for the Nurse and Health Care Worker Protection Act, which would mandate safe staffing ratios and workplace violence prevention programs at hospitals receiving Medicare and Medicaid funding, and address chemical and environmental hazards nurses face daily, including antineoplastic drug exposure, post-COVID disinfectants and wildfire smoke entering hospital facilities through filtration systems not designed to stop it. Then, IAM Union retired International President Tom Buffenbarger delivers his monthly independent labor voice segment covering three significant stories. Boeing's new CEO, Kelly Ortberg, is meeting directly with machinists, reinstating union advisory channels and committing to keep manufacturing in Puget Sound, representing what Buffenbarger calls the most meaningful cultural shift at the company in years. Tariff uncertainty, rather than tariff levels, is causing profitable companies to lay off manufacturing workers because the planning horizon has disappeared. And the One Big Beautiful Bill is structured to remove an estimated 11 to 12 million people from Medicaid through administrative burden and shift SNAP costs to states in ways that will reduce benefits for children, veterans and working families. Visit nationalnursesunited.org for more from National Nurses United and goiam.org for more from the IAM Union.

The conventional wisdom says union contractors cost taxpayers more on public projects. A peer-reviewed study of 128 Sacramento County public works projects completed between 2018 and 2022 found the opposite: union contractors were associated with 5 to 6 percent lower costs and 14 to 22 percent faster completion times than non-union contractors. On today's trades day episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, NorCal CIC Policy and Research Analyst Dr. Larissa Petrucci walks through how the study was built using California's publicly available certified payroll data and hundreds of public records requests, why the statistical methodology ensures the findings are genuinely about union contractor status rather than other variables and what building trades councils in other states can do right now to push for the data transparency that made this research possible. Visit norcalcic.org for more.

Over one million federal workers lost collective bargaining rights by executive order. For the second year in a row, a union member in Congress has added bipartisan language to the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act to start reversing that for 770,000 Department of Defense employees. And IFPTE just organized approximately 200 NOAA fisheries workers in Hawaii. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, IFPTE President Matt Biggs discusses the Norcross NDAA language and what happens next in the Senate reconciliation fight, why stripping DoD collective bargaining rights harms rather than protects national security, the SAVE Act's voter registration barriers and what the numbers on voter fraud actually show and an organizing surge producing more requests for union representation than IFPTE has organizers to handle. Visit ifpte.org for more.

Two sheriff's deputies in Union County, South Dakota, had a yard sign for the losing candidate on their property. Three weeks after their sheriff won his election, they were fired in a letter citing the at-will employment law and no stated cause. They were in the middle of negotiating their first union contract when it happened. The county's lawyer had argued against including just cause language in that contract just weeks before the firings. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, AFSCME Council 65 Labor Representative Jordan Deffenbaugh discusses the Union County case, the active response campaign including petitions, rallies and appeals to the governor and attorney general, a pattern of conduct concerns at the sheriff's office that predate the deputy firings and why he believes this situation could spark a broader organizing surge in Southeast South Dakota, where union density currently sits at approximately 2.7 percent. Visit afscme65.org for more.

70 percent of Boston's greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings. Boston hospitals consume four times as much energy as other city buildings. And a technology that already exists, installed by trained workers already on the job, could dramatically reduce both figures. It's called mechanical insulation. On today's trades day episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Mechanical Insulators LMCT Executive Director Pete Ielmini discusses a Commonwealth Beacon investigation into energy consumption at a Boston hospital and what it means for the broader push to make mechanical insulation energy audits mandatory. He also covers the Hale Building at Brigham and Women's Hospital as a model of what properly designed construction can achieve, the gap in inspection requirements that allows new buildings to be completed without the insulation they were supposed to have and the status of the Federal Mechanical Insulation Act in the Senate with December's end of Congress deadline approaching. Visit mechanicalinsulatorslmct.com for more.

Columbus Metropolitan Library workers filed for their union election in December 2025, waited six months and faced weekly anti-union emails from administration the entire time. On July 7, they voted yes with 86 percent approval. OFT filed a demand to bargain the same day. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper joins us fresh from the AFT convention in Washington. She discusses the federation's growth to 1.875 million members, why she calls it the fastest-growing union in the country, the five fightback pillars shaping AFT's strategy, and the convention resolutions on school funding and child labor accountability. She also breaks down what is at stake in Ohio's governor, Senate and Ohio House races this fall and where to find the OFT voter guide. Visit oft-aft.org for more.

An organizer showed up for a first meeting at a sawmill in rural Mississippi and was handed 40 signed union authorization cards before taking a seat. Workers at Big River Sawmill in Gloster, Miss., had already organized themselves. The Van Devender family's ownership fired four workers, held captive-audience meetings, and turned the mayor against them. On June 25 and 26, the workers won anyway. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, United Steelworkers Assistant Director of Organizing Mariana Padias tells the full story of the Big River campaign, including the unusual role of Blue Wolf Capital Partners, a pro-union minority equity investor that publicly backed the workers when the owner refused to stay neutral. She also explains why the national average time to a first contract is 480 days, how companies use that window to erode worker support, and what the bipartisan Faster Labor Contracts Act, now before the Senate, would do to change it. Visit usw.org for more.

The Cleveland Orchestra contract expires at the end of August. Active bargaining is underway, with Local 4 having already exchanged financial presentations and delivered its first proposal. A key priority this round is relief weeks for string players whose instrument positions create real risk of repetitive stress injury over time. And four of the country's most storied orchestras are at the table simultaneously, setting benchmarks for the entire symphony sector. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, AFM Local 4 President Len DiCosimo discusses the Cleveland Orchestra negotiations, his election to the AFM international board at the 103rd convention in Ottawa and the growing threat artificial intelligence poses to working musicians, composers and lyricists. He calls on the public to support live music and human artistry with their discretionary spending, drawing a direct parallel between choosing AI-generated content over a working musician and choosing a self-checkout line over a cashier. Visit afmlocal4.com to learn more about AFM Local 4.

America's Work Force Union Podcast brings together two conversations spanning American history, retirement security and a fight over who controls your Medicare coverage. American Legion Media and Communications Director Henry Howard opens with a recap of how the Legion marked America's 250th anniversary, including a reenactment of the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence in Lansing, Michigan on July 8, the date Colonel Nixon first read the document publicly in 1776. Howard also covers the conclusion of the USA 250 Challenge, which engaged more than 3,100 American Legion family members over the past year in fitness, wellness and community service, and a historic flag escort by American Legion riders from Pittsburgh to Arlington on July 4. He then previews the August edition of the American Legion magazine, which highlights ten notable American inventions that shaped the world and honors the late Diane Carlson Evans, the Vietnam combat nurse who led the decades-long fight to establish the Vietnam Women's Memorial on the National Mall. Then, Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans State Director Norm Wernet discusses two developments directly affecting retirees and disabled workers. The first is bipartisan momentum to scrap the Social Security earnings cap following a joint op-ed from Sen. Bernie Moreno and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and what that step would do to address the 2032 Social Security funding cliff. The second is the WISeR program, a pilot AI prior authorization program now running in Ohio and six other states that is delaying and denying Medicare Advantage coverage with a financial incentive built into the algorithm to keep saying no. Visit legion.org for American Legion updates and retiredamericans.org for the full congressional voting record on retiree issues.

OSHA inspections are down. Penalties are down. The workers most at risk are afraid to speak up. And two preventable crises are claiming lives that should not be lost: the extreme heat epidemic that kills workers at dramatically higher rates if they are Latino or Black, and a growing wave of accelerated silicosis among young countertop fabricators exposed to engineered stone products so high in silica that they have been banned in Australia. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, National COSH Associate Director Katelyn Parady describes what is happening to workers right now and what workers, unions and advocates are doing to fight back. She covers the creative organizing happening at the city, state and supply chain level to address heat in the absence of a federal standard, the preemption laws being used in Texas and Florida to block rather than create protections and National COSH's preparations to call for a national ban on engineered stone as young Latino immigrant fabricators in their 20s and 30s continue to need double lung transplants and lose their lives. Visit nationalcosh.org for more.

America's Work Force Union Podcast brings together two conversations that capture the labor movement's momentum heading into a consequential fall election season. First, Ohio AFL-CIO President Tim Burga joins fresh from the AFL-CIO's 30th Constitutional Convention in Minneapolis, where delegates voted to set a new organizing target of 2 million new union members by 2032 after surpassing the previous goal of 1 million. Burga reports on a broad wave of organizing activity across Ohio spanning healthcare, construction, higher education, hospitality, libraries, museums and the arts, with recent wins including workers at Jeni's Ice Cream, United Academics of Ohio University and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. He also addresses the ongoing challenge of securing first contracts after organizing wins and what Ohio workers should watch for when the General Assembly returns from summer recess and the lame duck session begins after November's elections. Then, CWA District 4 Administrative Director Frank Mathews discusses a ratified four-year contract for approximately 300 DirecTV customer service workers across Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Minnesota and Colorado, delivering compounded wage increases of 13.4% and preserving health care after workers voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike in April. Mathews addresses the growing difficulty of protecting health care at the bargaining table, describes a roughly tenfold increase in CWA organizing activity since COVID and details the CWA's new Fighting Oligarchy political education training rolling out across Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan ahead of November's elections. Visit ohioaflcio.org for Ohio AFL-CIO updates and cwa-union.org for more from CWA District 4.

In the most recent year with available data, roughly 1,000 construction workers died from workplace accidents. In the same year, approximately 5,000 died by suicide and 11,000 died from overdose. Construction workers are approximately 16 times more likely to die by suicide or overdose than from a conventional workplace injury. And the industry is not yet treating mental health with the same intensity it brings to fall prevention. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Bill McCamley, director of the New Mexico Building Trades Wellness Coalition, discusses the wellness coalition model he believes every building trades council in the country should adopt. He shares his own mental health story, explains why peer support from workers with lived experience is the most effective tool available for reaching workers before a crisis becomes fatal, and makes the case for why contractors have a direct financial interest in funding these programs. If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988. Visit nmbtwellness.org for more. CONTENT NOTE: TODAY'S EPISODE CONTAINS FRANK DISCUSSIONS ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH AND SUICIDE. LISTENER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

More than 335 organizations have signed an open letter to every member of Congress calling for Medicare for All. A national day of action is planned for July 30 to mark the 61st anniversary of Medicare's original passage. And nurses say people are arriving at hospitals too sick to be saved because they put off care they could not afford. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, National Nurses United President Jamie Brown and Medicare for All Campaign Director Jasmine Ruddy make the case for why this is the most important moment for health care reform in a generation. They discuss what nurses are seeing on the hospital floor as federal cuts take effect, why Medicare for All is a fundamentally labor issue that would remove health coverage from the bargaining table and eliminate employers' ability to threaten benefits during strikes, and how unions, including the UAW and UE, are active partners in the campaign. Visit medicare4all.org to join the July 30 day of action or sign up for updates.

A nursing home company cheated nearly 6,000 workers out of wages for years. The Department of Labor sued, went to trial and won $35.8 million. Then a federal appeals court ruled that federal wage law does not cover some of those unpaid hours and told workers to go find their own lawyer in state court to recover the rest. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, longtime union lawyer Andrew Strom breaks down what happened and why it matters for working people everywhere. He explains what overtime gap pay is in plain terms, why a rule the Department of Labor has had on the books since 1968 was not enough to protect these workers, why the dissenting judge called the result unfair and why being in a union is the most practical protection against exactly this kind of wage theft.

Bloomberg Philanthropies just committed $90 million to get high school students directly into registered apprenticeship programs across 10 cities. Chattanooga got approximately $9 million of it. And UA Local 43 — chartered in 1890 and at near full employment today — is part of the team building the program. On today's trades day episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, UA Local 43 Plumbers and Steamfitters JATC Training Coordinator Joe Coke and Business Manager Matt Johnson discuss how a partnership with community workforce organization Chattanooga 2.0 and IBEW helped land Chattanooga's share of the initiative, what a direct high school pathway into a registered apprenticeship program looks like in practice and how Local 43's most recent apprentice class drew 200 applications from people aged 17 to 50. With 1,300 members at near full employment, new projects added to the pipeline weekly and the Bureau of Labor Statistics projecting 44,000 plumbers, pipe fitters and steam fitters needed annually nationwide, both guests described the moment as one of the brightest in the Local's 136-year history. Visit ualocal43.org to learn more.

Someone created a deep fake video of SAG-AFTRA's chief negotiator saying false things about the union's own contract during the 2023 ratification vote. Tens of thousands of people saw it before Instagram took it down five days later. It is the kind of story that explains why the fight for AI protections in the entertainment industry matters far beyond Hollywood. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland discusses a ratified 2026 contract that achieved what the 2023 strike demanded — without another strike. He walks through the contract's two-tiered AI protections covering both digital replicas of real performers and the use of synthetics — AI-generated performances with no human source — and explains the bipartisan No FAKES Act moving through Congress that could give every American a legal right in their own image and voice for the first time. He also discusses the planned merger of the SAG Producers Pension Plan and the AFTRA Retirement Fund, set for early 2028, which will provide retirement benefits to nearly 1,000 SAG-AFTRA members per year who currently earn enough across both plans to qualify but not enough in either one to collect. Visit sagaftra.org for more.

Renewables produced zero megawatts for four straight days during a recent winter storm while coal, gas and nuclear carried the full grid load. Southwestern Pennsylvania has the second-largest natural gas deposits in North America, barely tapped. And Boilermakers Local 154 Business Agent Shawn Steffee believes his region can lead the national energy and data center build-out — with a workforce ready to do it. On today's trades day episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Steffee discusses the Homer City campus, where he believes a 4,200-megawatt natural gas power block is under active construction alongside hyperscale data center plans he projects could generate 3,500 building trades jobs on that site alone. He addresses community concerns about water and electricity prices, makes the case that natural gas is the only near-term solution to the grid reliability crisis and describes a Local that went five years without taking a single apprentice and is now on pace for 175 new ones — with more needed still. Visit boilermakerslocal154.com to learn more.

One carrier controlling 40 percent of the U.S. rail freight market. Monthly grade-crossing safety inspections are being reduced to quarterly. And a Long Island Rail Road strike that stopped the trains and finally delivered what two presidential emergency boards had already recommended. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen Secretary-Treasurer Brandon Elvey walks through three active fronts in the rail industry. He discusses Union Pacific's third attempt to acquire Norfolk Southern through the Surface Transportation Board, why the BRS and a coalition of rail unions and customer associations oppose it and what a 20 percent membership reduction on Union Pacific already signals about what that railroad looks like for workers. He addresses the AAR's push to reduce grade crossing warning device inspections from monthly to quarterly — a deregulatory move the BRS says contradicts 30 years of safety data. And he describes the Long Island Rail Road strike in which six rail unions working together finally forced an agreement after three years of bargaining under the Railway Labor Act. Visit brs.org to learn more about the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen.

The top 1 percent of American households now hold 31.7 percent of all U.S. wealth — the highest concentration since the Federal Reserve began tracking in 1989. Workers' wages are not keeping pace with their productivity. And the AFL-CIO just came out of what its secretary-treasurer called the best convention he has attended in twenty years. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast — the day before America's 250th anniversary — AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond discusses the Minneapolis convention's 2-million-member organizing goal, why that number is the floor rather than the ceiling and the federation's carefully calibrated position on artificial intelligence: not opposition, but a demand that workers have a seat at the table in every decision that affects their jobs. He also addresses Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger's veto of collective bargaining legislation after AFL-CIO leaders left a campaign meeting believing they had her full support — and explains the strict endorsement standard the federation has adopted in response heading into the midterms. Visit aflcio.org for more.

The first drone is expected off the assembly line this week at an Anduril manufacturing campus in Pickaway County that didn't exist eighteen months ago. Data center and power plant construction is breaking ground in Asheville. A $325 million courthouse is going up in downtown Columbus under a community benefit agreement. And the Columbus building trades are on pace to work more than 20 million hours in 2026 — more than double just three years ago. On today's trades day episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Columbus Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council Executive Secretary-Treasurer Dorsey Hager delivers a monthly update that covers all of it — plus a nurses organizing drive at Children's Hospital, the airport expansion hitting 83 percent union, why women in Local Unions have quadrupled since 2016 and what America's 250th birthday means to a union trades leader who owes everything he has to the labor movement. Visit columbusconstruction.org for more.

Two conversations built around a single question: what does real economic security look like for working people — and who is actually delivering it? United Labor Agency Executive Director Dave Megenhardt closes out a strong program year with 1,002 job placements at an average wage of $23.58 per hour, climbing to $28.78 for workers who completed vocational training first. He discusses healthcare's continued dominance in Northeast Ohio placements, the gig-like patchwork of hours many entry-level workers still face, the cautious and still-undecided employer posture toward artificial intelligence and why the AFL-CIO's insistence on worker inclusion in AI decisions matters. He also announces the opening of a brand new Ohio Means Jobs center at 1975 East 61st Street in Cleveland — a newly renovated building replacing a Carnegie Avenue location displaced by a highway expansion project — and shares that ULA is actively hiring career transition counselors. Center for American Progress Senior Fellow David Madland presents new research showing the typical union household holds approximately $460,000 in wealth compared to $220,000 for non-union households — more than double. He breaks down why the gains are largest for Black workers, Hispanic workers and those without a college degree and addresses a new Department of Labor financial disclosure rule targeting large unions alongside the Trump administration's simultaneous retreat from corporate anti-bribery enforcement and the weakening of the DOJ's Public Integrity Division. Visit ulagency.org for more on the United Labor Agency and americanprogress.org for the full CAP wealth report.

He won an eight-way Democratic primary with nearly 38 percent of the vote — 16 points ahead of his nearest competitor. He is a union ironworker, the son of a machinist and the grandson of an autoworker, now running to unseat Rep. Max Miller in one of Ohio's most closely watched House races. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, congressional candidate Brian Poindexter returns to discuss his primary victory, why today's end-of-second-quarter fundraising deadline is the most important date on his campaign calendar and the bipartisan momentum building around Social Security reform. He also makes the case that the Faster Labor Contracts Act is a good start but is incomplete without fixing the chronically underfunded National Labor Relations Board, and discusses his role in securing a project labor agreement for the new Cleveland Browns stadium in Brook Park, expected to create 6,000 unionized construction jobs. Visit poindexterforcongress.com to learn more about the campaign.

The people who maintain the radar, navigation aids, communications equipment and automation systems that air traffic control depends on have been understaffed for years. In May, the FAA delivered a workforce plan — required by Congress — that commits to hiring 750 new technicians over two years, establishes advance-of-retirement hiring authority and draws a formal line between certified technicians and trainees. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, PASS National President Dave Spero breaks down what is in the plan, what still needs work and what a $12 billion air traffic control system upgrade means for the technicians who will maintain it long-term — including a training gap that is leaving some newly installed equipment in contractor hands because PASS members have not yet been certified on it. He also addresses why flat aviation safety inspector hiring projections over the next decade are incompatible with the emerging reality of unmanned aerial systems regulation. If you have a background in military electronics, radar or navigational aids, the FAA has an active job advertisement for ATSS technicians right now. Visit passnational.org to learn more.

Two conversations. One theme: workers fighting for what they deserve — and winning when they stand together. First, IAM Union retired International President Tom Buffenbarger joins as the independent labor voice to cover three urgent stories. A Washington Post-covered study reveals the United States spends just $4,000 on average training a skilled tradesperson against a needed investment of approximately $50,000 — and calls for a $9 billion infusion into trades training programs now, as AI-driven infrastructure expansion creates a surge in demand for exactly the workers whose apprenticeship programs were gutted, starting with Jack Welch's GE. Buffenbarger also discusses the IAM District 776 Lockheed Martin contract ratification, delivering historic wage increases for 5,000 Fort Worth workers who build the nation's most advanced fighter aircraft. And he weighs in on the Faster Labor Contracts Act passing the House, using Amazon's Staten Island workers — organized in 2022 with no contract four years later — as Exhibit A for why it matters. Then, SEIU Local 1021 Chapter President Barbra Lynn Hamilton and Union Steward Shelly Martin describe a contract fight at Vacaville Unified School District that was about far more than wages. Workplace violence reports jumped from 67 to 266 in a single year — a figure that remains an undercount because management discouraged filings. A Cal/OSHA investigation is now underway. Paraprofessionals and behavior assistants who support special needs students are going unfilled while the district ends the year 31% over budget and hires more administrators. After 200-plus members showed up to a board meeting with a strike vote, the district found money it had claimed did not exist. A two-year contract has been signed. The fight continues. Visit goiam.org for IAM Union updates and seiu1021.org for more from SEIU Local 1021.

Construction workers make up 7.4% of the U.S. workforce but account for nearly 18% of all suicides with a reported industry classification. The data on the problem is established. The root causes have never been comprehensively studied. That may be about to change. On today's trades day episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Mechanical Insulators LMCT Executive Director Pete Ielmini joins from Phoenix, where the insulators are holding their national apprenticeship conference and crowning an apprentice of the year tonight. He provides a Federal Mechanical Insulation Act update — the House bill in suspension and Senate Bill 4312 building co-sponsor support with a December deadline in view — and highlights a new bill from Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto directing the Secretary of Health and Human Services to fund a comprehensive study of why construction workers are suffering from disproportionately high rates of suicide and substance abuse. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988. Visit mechanicalinsulatorslmct.com for more.

On this episode of the America's Work Force Union Podcast brings together two conversations that could not be more timely — one on the state of the labor movement heading into a critical political year, and one on keeping union members safe and covered during peak travel season. First, North Coast Area Labor Federation President Pat Gallagher joins fresh from the AFL-CIO convention in Minneapolis to share what he saw and heard. The convention set a bold goal of organizing 2 million new union members across affiliated unions over the next five years and featured a demonstration of AI deep fake technology so advanced that delegates could not tell a fabricated video of a real union representative from the genuine article — a sobering preview of what labor and democracy face heading into the fall elections. Gallagher also breaks down two trade policy fights: the Trump administration's Jones Act waiver extension through mid-August and what it means for American maritime dominance, and the steel dumping fight heading into USMCA renegotiation this summer, including the definitional standard — steel melted and poured in the United States — that would close the transshipment loophole once and for all. Then, Merrilee Logue of the Blue Cross Blue Shield National Labor Office and Lynn Pina of Blue Cross Blue Shield Global Solutions join for a practical summer travel conversation every union member heading abroad needs to hear. From why domestic health plans often fall short outside the United States, to the critical difference between travel insurance and travel medical insurance, to what 24-hour global support, telemedicine access and provider finder tools mean in practice — this is the pre-departure checklist every traveler should run through before leaving the country. Visit aflcio.org for AFL-CIO updates and follow @BlueLabor on LinkedIn and X for more from the Blue Cross Blue Shield National Labor Office.