Union Talk

With hospitals reaching capacity nationwide and a shortage of healthcare professionals, AFT President Randi Weingarten assembles a roundtable of nurses and nurses' union leaders to discuss the most immediate and tangible solutions to prevent dangerous conditions for patients and healthcare professionals alike. Listen as January Belcher (RN), Howard Sandau (RN), and David Keepnews (Executive Director/Washington State Nurses Association) get honest about what needs to be done.

AFT President Randi Weingarten is joined by four congressional candidates—Reps. Rosa DeLauro and Jahana Hayes (Connecticut) and candidates Nikki Budzinski (Illinois) and Robert Zimmerman (New York)—during the AFT Votes bus tour to discuss what is truly at stake during this pivotal election.

Teacher and school staff shortages can be solved. In places like Houston, Texas, districts are working with educators to raise salaries, which has hugely helped address shortages. AFT President Weingarten is joined by Texas AFT President Zeph Capo and Dallas math teacher Rosemary Curts to discuss the findings of the AFT's teacher and school staff shortage report, "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow?" and dig into the real solutions to improve conditions for our educators.

Randi joins Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, White House COVID Response Coordinator Ashish Jha, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, and NEA President Becky Pringle for an important discussion to help families navigate Back to School season amidst COVID, Monkeypox, a teacher shortage, and more.

This year's convention saw an amazing roster of speakers -- labor leaders, entertainers, elected officials, activists and even the First Lady of the United States -- who all took the stage to share inspirational messages of hope and power. In this episode you will hear highlights from: US Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, Senator Elizabeth Warren, AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler, Amazon union leader Chris Smalls, First Lady Jill Biden, Senator Ed Markey, Gun safety activists David Hogg, RuQuon Brown and Sarah Lerner, Chief Medical Officer of Cook County Health Claudia Fegan, Representative Ayanna Pressley, Ukrainian Labor Union leader Olga Chabaniuk, and Representative Val Demings.

This year's AFT convention kicked off with a rousing state of the union speech by President Randi Weingarten where she addressed more than 3,000 delegates, launched a landmark What Kids and Communities Need campaign and challenged the union's 1.7 million members to fight for freedom and democracy, uphold decency and dignity, and "knit the rich tapestry of our country together … by rebuilding the essential foundations for a better life for all." Listen to the full speech in this special episode of Union Talk.

AFT president Randi Weingarten joins Dr. Pamela Cantor (Founder of Turnaround for Children), Abbey Clements (Teachers Unify), and Sarah Lerner (Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School teacher) to talk about the real steps educators and parents can do to help their children navigate and heal from the traumatizing news about school shootings.

AFT president Randi Weingarten hosts an emotional and informational episode exploring the deadly mix of hate and guns that have led to mass shootings in Buffalo, Uvalde, Tulsa and more. Parkland survivors Jim Gard, Lori Alhadeff, and historian Eric Ward join Randi to discuss what educators, parents and politicians can do and examine the deep-seated racial issues that act as a threat to our schools, our lives and our democracy."

Randi hosts a conversation with "Facebook Whistleblower" Francis Haugen, Warren Ng from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Dalia Hashad from Parents Together about the impact social media is having on our children and what we can do to help them. Later, Randi is joined by two high school students – Lola Nordlinger and Devin Lee – who bring their first-person perspective on the pitfalls of growing up on the internet. NOTE: This is a recording from an On 24 webinar.