November 2024 Election Endorsements

Sponsored by the Milwaukee Building & Construction Trades Council and the AFL-CIO, National Apprenticeship Week celebrates leaders in business, labor, and education and allows them to demonstrate their support for apprenticeship programs.

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with the president of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, about union strategies following the midterm elections.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

There was plenty of punditry plastered across cable news last week. But, as the dust settles, there is one story that has come to define this election: working people standing together to make a difference. The labor movement unleashed an unprecedented political program this year.

Organized labor’s record voter mobilization efforts this year, which started earlier than ever before for a mid-term election, emphasized pocketbook issues and – says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka – will produce huge “momentum at the ballot box” on Nov. 6.

The president is the billionaire head of a global business empire, and his mostly millionaire Cabinet may be the richest in American history. His opponent in the 2016 election was a millionaire. Most Supreme Court Justices are millionaires.

The Trump administration plans to tackle two important labor policy issues in the coming months: overtime pay and “joint employer” liability for companies in staffing and franchise relationships.

For the people of Flint, justice may come from a courtroom, but change comes at the ballot box.

November 6 is Election Day.

It seems every talking head in Washington has been in a frenzy recently, rushing to either glorify or condemn the new North American Free Trade Agreement, known as the United States Mexico Canada Agreement. But the truth is that it is still too early to pass any final judgment.

Richard Trumka came to Milwaukee Tuesday to fire up labor activists and tear into Gov. Scott Walker.

The national president of the AFL-CIO used his address at the group's state convention to portray Walker as a "little puppet" of the billionaire Koch brothers.

Labor has always held electoral power, especially when wielded by women.

Lorraine Llauger is a journeyman electrician and a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) in Orlando, Florida. Llauger hoped to earn a college degree, but did not know how she'd be able to fit college in with her busy life as an electrician and a mother. A coworker mentioned the Union Plus Free College Program, and within weeks, Llauger was registered and taking classes online.

Labor union leaders Liz Shuler and Mary Kay Henry discuss how they rose up through the union ranks and what they’re trying to do to increase the number of women in the labor movement.