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Season 5, Episode 193

CPWR, NLO and NABTU working to address opioid misuse in the trades

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Guest Name:


Merrilee Logue | Chris Trahan Cain

Guest Website:


NLO 

CPWR 

NABTU 

Guest Social Media:


NLO

Twitter

LinkedIn

CPWR

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

LinkedIn

NABTU

Facebook

Twitter

Supportive Documents:


Merrilee Logue, Director of the National Labor Office (NLO) and Chris Trahan Cain, Executive Director at CPWR — the Center for Construction Research and Training — joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss the work NLO, CPWR and the North America’s Building Trades Union’s (NABTU) are doing to assist building trades members improve their mental health and the impact of the opioid epidemic on the trades as part of our National Suicide Awareness Month coverage.

Trahan Cain also serves as the chair of the NABTU Opioid Task Force. She discussed what led to the creation of the Task Force and what they have done to begin addressing the negative impacts opioid misuse has created in the trades. Logue, who also serves on the Opioid Task Force's board, discussed what the NLO and Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BCBS) companies have done to help members who have been affected.

To assist members, Trahan Cain discussed the resources that the CPWR and NABTU have provided to raise awareness about the dangers of opioids and suicide in the construction industry. She said these free resources alert workers to hazards and provide statistical trends and other helpful information for toolbox talks. Trahan Cain said there is constant work to destigmatize mental conversations in the trades. She said these resources have helped to make the conversations more common among construction workers.

BCBS companies have expanded members' access to telehealth services, increased the number of mental health providers and leveraged non-clinical support personnel. With the trades experiencing nearly five times the number of deaths by suicide than the general public, Logue said they want to provide members with the tools they need when they need them. She added that members should contact their union leadership if they need more information on their coverage and how to access these resources. 

If you or someone you know is in crisis and needs assistance please call or text the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, 988.

For more on CPWR, the NABTU Opioid Task Force or the resources available from the NLO, listen to the show above.


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.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

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