The mid-term elections are right around the corner so we will be talking with Ross Templeton, Political and Legislative Director for the International Association of Ironworkers. It is a crucial midterm election year for all organized labor, especially the building trades since we have made some significant gains over the last 22 months. Now it is important that we get out to vote and vote wisely to ensure these gains are not reversed. We urge all of our members to vote like a union ironworker, research your candidates at www.ironworkersvote.org/scorecard and keep the politicians who are labor friendly in office. Let's get out there and show them what union workers can do! 

On this episode we'll talk one-on-one with our General President Eric Dean. We'll discuss organizing, why it's important to grow or membership, why the landscape today is more favorable to labor unions and why it's so important to organize the workers along with their employers.   

We’re back again with our guests Rich Rowe and Charlie McCollester, two of the preeminent labor historians, educators, and activists working today. We pick right back up where we left off last time looking at the history of unions, specifically our very own Iron Workers International Union. Then, we talk about one of the key issues that has always faced our labor movement: contractors, companies, and corporations dividing the working class to keep us from organizing and training our sights on their greed. We also discuss the labor movement’s transition from foe to ally during the Civil Rights Movement, and how the eventual, much-needed, and militant inclusion of ALL Workers has benefited the labor movement for generations. Finally, we end with a question everyone at one point or another in the labor movement has asked themselves: are unions still relevant? Our answer to that question: Organize or Die, Brothers and Sisters!

Join us on the first episode of the Ironworkers Rising Podcast where we welcome Rich Rowe and Charlie McCollester. Rich and Charlie are two of the preeminent historians, educators, and activists working in organized labor today. We discuss the history of the labor movement with a major focus on the all-out war it took to organize a nation of workers. We talk about the Haymarket Square Riot (Chicago, IL), the Homestead Strike (Homestead, PA), and go in-depth with the founding of the Iron Workers Union and why we need to organize and grow our proud union every single day!

We are fighting for workers' rights everywhere. Here's what to expect on this podcast.