Educating new generations about unions the key to organize

Adam Keller, co-host for The Valley Labor Report, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss his speaking engagements from events this month focused on organizing and the power of unions. Keller then discussed recent organizing wins in the South and provided an update on the UAW’s efforts to organize in the region.

Keller’s fight for Alabama worker protections never stops, and he is always looking for new ways to get together and educate workers on what a union can do for them. The second iteration of the “Poor People’s Campaign.” a new version of Dr. Martin Luther King’s first efforts to help poor people in the United States. Keller was asked to speak at a March 2 event about Medicaid expansion on behalf of the Cover Alabama Coalition and how unions can assist in the cause. 

The next day, Keller attended the 59th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Ala. While this wasn’t his first time at the event, this was the first time he was asked to speak. He spoke on union organizing to over 500 students as part of the League of Women’s Voters and NAACP event called Next Generation Powering Democracy. Keller shared the power of union representation to underrepresented groups and how the old organizing mantra “educate, agitate and organize” can still be applied today. 

Finally, as a member of two unions, the Communication Workers of America and International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Keller has been able to witness some of the recent organizing wins for both. He discussed the Activision win for CWA and IATSE’s current negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) in Hollywood. Keller than discussed several other organizing efforts in the South, including an update on UAW’s concerted effort to organize vehicle production facilities in the region.

To hear more from Keller’s interview please listen to the show above.