This week on The Workers’ Mic, Powered by the NCL Ken Edwards and Phil Davidson, kick off the show by chatting with Dave Amerson, the Executive Director of the Police Benevolent & Protective Association (PBPA) Labor Committee, to discuss how high-ranking Chicago Police Department officials are seeking to unionize under Illinois’ Workers’ Rights Amendment. Next, the guys welcome Matt Oclon, Representative at Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council and East Dundee trustee, who joined the guys to talk about about the growth, economic benefits, safety standards, and environmental impact of data center developments in Chicagoland. Then, to close out the show, Phil and Ken discuss union related news pertaining to Meta, a bill that has the ability to change overtime into double-time and more.

On this special edition of Worker Wednesday on Your Money Matters, Ed Maher joins the show to discuss a new push by Chicago Police Department commanders and deputy chiefs to unionize. Ed explains how these supervisors, when promoted, lose key benefits such as uniform allowances, on-call pay, and banked sick time leading some officers to turn down advancement. Ed also covers how the Workers’ Rights Amendment and recent moves by school principals and fire commanders to organize could potentially pave the way for their recognition as a union.

This week on The Workers’ Mic, Powered by the NCL Ed Maher and Ken Edwards kick off the show by sharing a win for labor and Ascend Cannabis. Then, the guys recap their in-depth discussion on the economic, infrastructural, and community impacts of building data centers during their recent special Worker Wednesday segment on Your Money Matters. Next, Ken and Ed discuss the latest union related news pertaining to the future of Act 10, OSHA, and Cornell University’s ILR School Labor Action Tracker. To close out the show, Ken and Ed remind listeners what the Coalition is and how it was designed to help unions purchase top-tier benefits for their members at the lowest cost possible.

On this special edition of Worker Wednesday on Your Money Matters, Jon Hansen welcomes the crew from The Workers’ Mic, Ken Edwards, Ed Maher and Phil Davidson, who take over the program to conduct an in-depth discussion about the economic, infrastructural, and community impacts of building data centers.

On this special edition of Worker Wednesday on Your Money Matters, Ken Edwards, Ed Maher and Phil Davidson are joined by Michael Miller, Economics Professor, Western Washington University and Professor Emeritus at DePaul University who kicks off the conversation by talking about a NBER working paper examining 30 years of data on how data centers impact local economies. Miller explains that while data centers represent economic trade-offs, counties that house them see an overall net gain in local GDP. He highlights that data centers generate a massive multi-year boon for construction trades and high-paying permanent technical roles, while raising local property tax revenues to support public services like schools. Addressing common concerns, Miller notes that while heavy electricity demands can push up power rates if the grid isn’t expanded, water usage is relatively minimal compared to golf courses, and pausing development through state moratoria will simply drive these lucrative projects and AI job opportunities to neighboring states or Canada.

On this special edition of Worker Wednesday on Your Money Matters, Ken Edwards, Ed Maher and Phil Davidson are joined by Marc Poulos, Executive Director of the Indiana, Illinois, Iowa Foundation for Fair Contracting (III FFC) who talks about the societal benefits and local economic impacts of data center developments. Marc points out that physical data center infrastructure remains largely unregulated globally, but addresses community pushback by noting that developments frequently revitalize contaminated brownfield sites, like former auto plants in Janesville, and rarely produce the noise or disruption neighbors fear.

On this special edition of Worker Wednesday on Your Money Matters, Ken Edwards, Ed Maher and Phil Davidson welcome Sarah Ridgely VP, Campus Strategy at Compass Datacenters and the Chief Technology Officer Adil Attlassy with Compass Datacenters who address common community concerns regarding local data center developments. Sarah and Adil also explain that data centers are integral to everyday life and debunk water-waste concerns by highlighting their use of closed-loop cooling systems and pre-development environmental impact studies.

On this special edition of Worker Wednesday on Your Money Matters, Ken Edwards, Ed Maher and Phil Davidson welcome Mark Pruitt, Principal at The Power Bureau, LLC and adjunct professor within Northwestern’s Master of Science in Energy and Sustainability (MSES) Program on the show to discuss the complexities of modernizing the electric grid and the impact of data centers on energy infrastructure.

On this special edition of Worker Wednesday on Your Money Matters, Ken Edwards, Ed Maher and Phil Davidson welcome Mayor of DeKalb, Illinois Cohen Barnes to discuss DeKalb being a pioneer and anchor of the large-scale data center development, Meta. This center established a massive $1 billion campus that effectively extended the greater Chicago tech market westward.

This week on The Workers’ Mic, Powered by the NCL Ed Maher and Phil Davidson kick off the show by chatting with Charlie Singletary, Business Manager at Operating Engineers Local 564, and Lewis Crawford, IUOE Local 564 Business Agent and Lead Negotiator for the Texas City Metal Trades Council, to discuss the Ashland Specialty Chemicals strike. Next, the guys welcome Matthew Capece, Special Representative of the General President at United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America, who joins the program to talk about wage theft and tax fraud. Then, to close out the show, Phil and Ed remind listeners to tune in to Your Money Matters on 720AM on Wednesday, July 29th from 6pm-8pm for their special Worker Wednesday focusing on the booming world of data centers.