Twenty-nine years ago, Dave Baker was told Iron Workers Local 44 was going to build a bridge. This week, drill shaft work on the Brent Spence Bridge companion project officially began.

On this episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Local 44 Business Manager Dave Baker discusses the decades of political and funding gridlock that stalled one of the most critical infrastructure projects in the Midwest, what finally broke the impasse and what 6 million projected building trades work hours and 1,200 peak construction jobs mean for iron workers, apprenticeship programs and the Cincinnati trades community.

He also shares his own story — four years working non-union before joining Local 44 in 1997 — and what the union difference has meant for his wages, retirement and family healthcare over 30 years.

Visit ironworkers44.com to learn more about Iron Workers Local 44.

Workers at Trinity Health Grand Haven Hospital voted 89 to 66 to keep their union — after their employer had already illegally stripped it from them. The NLRB went to court seeking an emergency order to restore recognition while the case was litigated. Two Trump-appointed Sixth Circuit judges said no. The dissent came from a Reagan appointee.

On this episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, union attorney and Brooklyn Law School adjunct professor Andrew Strom breaks down what that ruling means, why the NLRA's four-year enforcement process makes preliminary injunctions the only real deterrent against illegal employer conduct and why the same court that gives employers automatic injunctions against workers who violate non-compete agreements refuses to apply the same logic when employers strip workers of their collective bargaining rights.

Read the full analysis at onlabor.org.

Trey Martin joined the Iron Workers at 19 with no clear path to the middle class. Twenty years later, he watched his wife nearly die from two autoimmune diseases and nearly go bankrupt in the process — even with solid union health insurance. That experience, and a Congress that has failed to address healthcare for his entire lifetime, convinced him it was time to run.

On this episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Iron Workers Local 48 President Trey Martin talks about his congressional campaign in Oklahoma ahead of his Tuesday primary, the platform he is running on and why he believes kitchen table issues — wages, healthcare, public schools, congressional stock trading — cut across party lines in a way that can win in a state with a conservative supermajority.

Follow the campaign at treyforoklahoma.com.

A profitable MillerCoors distributor in West Virginia is demanding wage cuts, retirement rollbacks and health insurance premium increases of up to 880%. The company is not claiming financial hardship. And 49 Teamsters Local 175 members voted unanimously to strike — and have been running 24-hour, seven-day-a-week picket lines ever since.

On this episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Teamsters Local 175 Secretary-Treasurer and Staff Attorney Luke Farley walks through exactly what Beverage Market is demanding, why it has no justification, how the community has rallied behind the striking workers and what Teamsters International is doing to put pressure on MillerCoors parent companies, whose West Virginia market share is evaporating heading into the Fourth of July weekend.

Follow the strike and show your support at teamsters175.org.

AT&T Mobility wireless workers just ratified a strong new contract covering 9,000 people across 36 states — and a 95% strike authorization vote is a big reason why the bargaining committee had the leverage it needed.

On this episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, CWA District 4 Administrative Director Frank Mathews discusses the contract win, the CWA Worker Power Agenda built directly from responses by more than 9,000 union members and the legislative conference that sent thousands of CWA members to Capitol Hill with 17 bills and the knowledge to discuss every one of them. He also previews the double overtime legislation unveiled at the conference by Congressman Greg Casar and explains why the No Tax Breaks for Outsourcing Act and the Raise the Wage Act are long overdue.

Read the full Worker Power Agenda at cwa-union.org.

Three years after the East Palestine derailment, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has adopted the Rail Safety Act as an amendment to the Build America 250 Act — mandating two-person freight train crews, new hazmat transparency requirements and improved defect detector standards. It is the biggest rail safety step in more than two decades.

On this episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, SMART Transportation Division National Safety and Legislative Director Jared Cassity explains exactly how East Palestine happened, why silenced wayside defect detectors were a deliberate railroad policy choice rather than a malfunction and what the legislation does — and does not — address. He also explains why September 30 is the hard deadline and what it means if Congress misses it.

More information on SMART Transportation Division's legislative work is available at smart-union.org.

US employers spend $1.7 billion every year trying to stop workers from organizing. One union-busting consultant earned $7 million alone last year. Amazon spent more than $26.6 million on outside consultants in 2025. And the Department of Labor is enforcing disclosure requirements for unions while largely ignoring the same rules for companies and law firms that fight workers.

On this episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, LaborLab founder Bob Funk breaks down a new report produced with the Economic Policy Institute on the scale and structure of the union avoidance industry — from the law firms that drag out contract negotiations for years to the healthcare systems spending millions on union busters while patients wait for beds.

Funk also explains how LaborLab's Persuader reports put legally required information directly in workers' hands during organizing campaigns. If you are facing a union-busting campaign, visit laborlab.us or email [email protected].

The worker's share of Gross National Income just hit its lowest level ever recorded. Corporate profits just hit their highest share in nearly 80 years. And CEOs took home $1.24 million in raises last year while average workers earned around $50,000. AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond has seen enough.

On this episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Redmond breaks down the new GNI data, the AFL-CIO's annual Executive Paywatch findings, the defeat of a federal provision that would have blocked state AI worker protections for 10 years and what organized labor is bringing to its quadrennial convention in Minneapolis — record organizing rates, court victories and a message of solidarity heading into the midterm election cycle.

Read the AFL-CIO Executive Paywatch report and get convention updates at aflcio.org.

Central Ohio is on pace to work 20 million building trades hours in 2026 — nearly double its 2023 record. So when Governor Mike DeWine suspended Ohio's data center sales tax exemption without warning or consultation, Columbus Building Trades Executive Secretary-Treasurer Dorsey Hager had plenty to say about it.

On this episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Hager breaks down the economic case for the exemption, the real numbers behind what data center construction is generating in local tax revenue and jobs and why the governor's decision risks sending the wrong message to developers who have other options. He also delivers an encouraging Intel update, describes record apprenticeship applications across central Ohio's building trades Locals and recaps a fundraiser for Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin.

Visit columbusconstruction.org for more on the Columbus Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council.

Ohio AFL-CIO President Tim Burga just wrapped a seven-city labor roundtable tour across Ohio — and the message from workers was the same at every stop. Affordability is the number one issue, trust in government is near rock bottom and working people are ready for something dramatically different come November.

On this episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Burga breaks down what he heard from union leaders in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton, Akron, Marietta, Columbus and Toledo, why Democratic primary turnout reached its highest midterm level since 2006 and what the Ohio AFL-CIO is doing to educate members and mobilize votes between now and Election Day. He also raises a sharp warning about Republican plans to place voter ID in the Ohio constitution — despite it already being state law — and previews what is on the agenda at the AFL-CIO national convention in Minneapolis.

Visit ohioaflcio.org for more information on the Ohio AFL-CIO's election work.