The Leslie Marshall Show

Leslie is joined by the incoming President of the United Steelworkers (USW), David McCall.

During this interview, they remember the late Tom Conway, former President of the USW, who sadly passed away on September 25th of this year.

While the labor movement and the union both lost a great leader, thanks to Tom’s vision and hard work, both are on firm footing and primed to continue the fight for economic justice and fairness for working families.

Tom’s legacy involves innovations and breakthroughs on a number of fronts:

He bargained cutting-edge contracts across USW sectors.

- He understood that companies needed to be successful so they could pay workers good wages and benefits, so where he could, he worked with them.

But Tom understood that fighting for working families wasn’t just about pay; it was about securing the future.

Tom was also committed to building a diverse movement and many of his efforts contributed to building a strong future for workers.

- He spearheaded an innovative organizing initiative connecting rank-and-file members with their fellow workers to talk about joining the labor movement. This quickly paid dividends, resulting in organizing victories in the United States and Canada, including some of the union’s biggest wins in years.

- These include 3,500 faculty members at the University of Pittsburgh who joined the USW, as well as baristas at Starbucks coffee shops across Canada, and 1,500 workers at Georgia’s Blue Bird Corp. bus factory.

Tom also invested heavily in building out the bench, and under his leadership, the union held its first international Next Gen conference in November 2019.

Finally, Tom fought relentlessly for both for fair trade and job creation.

- This included working with government leaders in Washington to ensure that they enforced trade laws to prevent illegally subsidized and dumped products that damage American industries and destroy good paying jobs.

Tom will be missed a great deal, but his strength as a leader, and vision for the future, have helped countless working people and will continue to help countless more moving forward.

The new USW President, David McCall, has a career of fighting for fairness and justice for workers that began as a member of Local 6787 in Burns Harbor, Indiana, where he worked as a millwright at the sprawling integrated steel facility.

The website for the United Steelworkers is www.USW.org.

Leslie is joined by Scott Paul, President of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), a partnership established by some of America’s leading manufacturers and the United Steelworkers union.

Leslie is joined by Amber Miller, Director of the USW’s Rapid Response Department, a nearly 30-year tradition of member-driven, issue-based, nonpartisan legislative activism. Amber has been a proud second-generation Steelworker since 1997 where she began her career at Chase Brass and Copper in northwest Ohio.

The two discuss the power of ordinary people, strengthened by their Union, the United Steelworkers (USW).

The website for the United Steelworkers is USW.org. Their handle on both Twitter and Instagram is @steelworkers.

Leslie is joined by Scott Paul, President of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), a partnership established by some of America’s leading manufacturers and the United Steelworkers union.

Leslie is first joined by Vincent Perrone, Teamsters International Trustee and a member of the Teamsters National Negotiating Committee for the UPS contract. He's also the President of Teamsters' Local 804 in New York.

The two discuss the historic new UPS contract won by the Teamsters.

Highlights of the tentative 2023-2028 UPS Teamsters National Master Agreement include:

- Historic wage increases. Existing full- and part-time UPS Teamsters will get $2.75 more per hour in 2023. Over the length of the contract, wage increases will total $7.50 per hour.

- Existing part-timers will be raised up to no less than $21 dollars per hour immediately, and part-time seniority workers earning more under a market rate adjustment would still receive all new general wage increases.

- General wage increases for part-time workers will be double the amount obtained in the previous UPS Teamsters contract — and existing part-time workers will receive a 48 percent average total wage increase over the next five years.

- Wage increases for full-timers will keep UPS Teamsters the highest paid delivery drivers in the nation, improving their average top rate to $49 per hour.

- Current UPS Teamsters working part-time would receive longevity wage increases of up to $1.50 per hour on top of new hourly raises, compounding their earnings.

- New part-time hires at UPS would start at $21 per hour and advance to $23 per hour.

- All UPS Teamster drivers classified as 22.4s would be reclassified immediately to Regular Package Car Drivers and placed into seniority, ending the unfair two-tier wage system at UPS.

- Safety and health protections, including vehicle air conditioning and cargo ventilation. UPS will equip in-cab A/C in all larger delivery vehicles, sprinter vans, and package cars purchased after Jan. 1, 2024. All cars get two fans and air induction vents in the cargo compartments.

- All UPS Teamsters would receive Martin Luther King Day as a full holiday for the first time.

- No more forced overtime on Teamster drivers’ days off. Drivers would keep one of two workweek schedules and could not be forced into overtime on scheduled off-days.

- UPS Teamster part-timers will have priority to perform all seasonal support work using their own vehicles with a locked-in eight-hour guarantee. For the first time, seasonal work will be contained to five weeks only from November-December.

- The creation of 7,500 new full-time Teamster jobs at UPS and the fulfillment of 22,500 open positions, establishing more opportunities through the life of the agreement for part-timers to transition to full-time work.

- More than 60 total changes and improvements to the National Master Agreement — more than any other time in Teamsters history — and zero concessions from the rank-and-file.

Leslie is then joined second by Greg Unterseher, Manager of Pilot Representation for the Teamsters Airline Division.

They detail the Teamsters lawsuit against Cape Air and Republic Airways for unlawfully requiring pilots to sign employment contracts with non-compete clauses that impose penalties ranging from $100,000 to $250,000.

The lawsuit asserts the employment contracts are an attempt by the airlines to change pilots’ working conditions unilaterally, in violation of federal labor law under the Railway Labor Act.

Founded in 1903, the Teamsters Union represents 1.2 million hardworking people in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico.

Leslie is joined by Steve Sallman, Director of the United Steelworkers Health, Safety and Environment Department, where he's worked for over 19 years.

The two discuss the urgent and timely topic of protecting workers from deadly heat.

As the planet gets hotter, and wide swaths of the United States are seeing record temperatures, heat is becoming an ever more urgent workplace health and safety issue – in both in-door and out-door occupations.

It’s no surprise that unions work to provide solutions.

The USW works to negotiate common sense solutions into their contracts like rest breaks, ample supplies of water, electrolytes, and proper ventilation.

UPS drivers made this a centerpiece of their recent contract negotiations too, signaling that this was so significant that they were willing to strike as necessary.

However, all workers need protections, starting with a national standard on heat exposure like workers have for other hazards like falls and asbestos exposure.

The Biden administration is taking this threat seriously, enabling workers to make some headway.

A handful of states – California, Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Minnesota – also issued their own heat exposure standards. Only Minnesota and Oregon have protections for indoor workers as well.

But corporations and the Republicans who serve them are unfortunately pushing back hard, lobbying against protections and, in some cases, even overturning them.

Business groups in Oregon are suing the state over heat related workplace protections.

This isn’t just a matter of lost productivity, though heat can impact that as well. It’s truly life and death.

The USW continues to fight for workers, as demonstrated by the union’s comments to OSHA in the federal register.

The website for the United Steelworkers is www.USW.org.

Leslie is joined by Scott Paul, President of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), a partnership established by some of America’s leading manufacturers and the United Steelworkers union.

The two discuss how Americans feel about 'Made In America' products, whether 'Bidenomics' is working, and why it’s time to end 'permanent normal trade relations' with China.

The AAM website is AmericanManufacturing.org and their Twitter handle is @KeepItMadeInUSA.

Leslie begins today's show with her 'Ripped from the Headlines' news segment, where she details the now unsealed 38-count federal indictment against former President Trump in the classified documents case.

During the remainder of the show, Leslie is joined by Liz Shuler, president of the 60 unions and 12.5 million members of the AFL-CIO, and the first woman leader of America’s labor movement.

The two discuss the resurgence of the labor movement, key accomplishments from the past year, and building a modern and more inclusive movement.

The website for the AFL-CIO is AFLCIO.org and their Twitter handle is @AFLCIO. Liz's handle is @LizShuler.

Leslie begins today's show with her 'Ripped from the Headlines' news segment.

Here are the stories that she gave her take on:

1. ASSOCIATED PRESS: "‘No corner of the global economy will be spared’: How America’s first-ever default would tank the entire world"

2. AUDIO: Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat, outlines Republican Carelessness and Hypocrisy when it comes to the debt ceiling

3. AXIOS: "Nearly 2 billion at risk from "unprecedented" climate conditions"

4. AXIOS: "U.S. lawmakers OK'd more pro-gun bills than safety measures since Uvalde"

5. AXIOS: "Surgeon general issues advisory about social media risks for kids"

For the remainder of the show, Leslie is joined by Jessica Levinson, Professor at Loyola Law School, Legal Contributor for CBS News, Columnist for MSNBC, and host of the 'Passing Judgment podcast.'

The two discuss two important legal stories that affect America's children.

The first story is about Penguin Random House, advocates and authors suing a Florida school district over book bans.

The subject of the second story is legislation that was recently passed by Iowa's Republican legislature that would rollback certain child labor laws in the state. The Department of Labor is pushing back on the legislation though, which will likely setup a court battle between the two.

Jessica's Twitter handle is @LevinsonJessica and you can find her podcast, 'Passing Judgment,' by searching for it at the webpage: Podcasts.Apple.com.