Adam Keller, Co-host of The Valley Labor Report, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to talk about recent work they’ve done with Local unions and a fundraiser they’ll be co-hosting in the Huntsville, Ala. area. Keller also discussed some of the organizing victories in the South and what the North Alabama Area Labor Council is doing to educate high school students about the trades.
Tonight, Keller and his TVLR co-host Jacob Morrison will host an in-person fundraising event in collaboration with local union organizers in Huntsville. There will be live music, a screening of the new country music documentary Open Country and a discussion with the filmmakers. Keller said there are several tie-ins to the labor movement to discuss with the filmmakers. Now in his third year with TVLR, Keller explained how these in-person events, and growing their broadcast range to include four different radio stations across three states, have helped connect them directly with Local unions and their members.
As a member of the Communication Workers of America Local 3908, Keller talked about the union’s recent growth. He discussed the CWA organizing wins at Wells Fargo branches nationwide, including several in Florida. CWA Local 3908, based in Montgomery, Ala., recently organized two new AT&T authorized retailers, Alliance Mobile in Selma, Ala. and a Prime Communications retail store in Montgomery. Keller also talked about his organizing work with the International Union of Electrical Workers-CWA (IUE-CWA), who recently won a first contract at the New Flyer bus manufacturing facility in Anniston, Ala.
North Alabama Areal Labor Council’s Labor in the Schools campaign has put the group in front of about 200 high school students this spring. Keller said the conversations focus on educating the students on union basics and career opportunities within organized labor, whether in the building trades, the Federal government or becoming an advocate for the movement. He said he’s excited about future outreach efforts for the Council, including a training day in August where he hopes to bring several Local union members together with potential new union members in Decatur, Ala. Also upcoming is a second rendition of Unions 101 for Sweet Home Alabama —a webinar that covers union basics for workers — with the Economic Policy Institute’s Jennifer Sherer, for the Alabama League of Women Voters.
Listen to the show above for more updates from Keller on the Labor movement in the South.
America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.
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