Greg Regan, President of the Transportation Trades Department (TTD) at the AFL-CIO, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss the fallout from the recent government shutdown, the advancement of the Protect America’s Workforce Act and his new role on the Safety 21 advisory committee at Carnegie Mellon University.
Regan began by reflecting on the impact of the protracted government shutdown, which placed federal workers, particularly air traffic controllers, in a uniquely precarious position. Regan called the shutdown, “the stupidest thing a government can do to itself,” criticizing both the financial inefficiency and the personal toll on workers forced to do their jobs without knowing when they might be paid. He reiterated the need for policy changes to ensure that essential workers remain financially secure during potential future shutdowns, citing efforts to advocate for protections that guarantee pay even when Congress fails to fund the government on time.
Next, his conversation turned to the Protect America’s Workforce Act. Regan described it as critical legislation that would restore collective bargaining rights to federal employees, including transportation security officers and Department of Homeland Security staff, who lost them under previous executive orders. Regan explained that the bill, widely supported by House Democrats and some Republicans, surpassed a key procedural hurdle with 218 signatures on a discharge petition, positioning it for a full vote on the House floor. If passed, the act would reverse what Regan deemed to be one of the most significant union-busting moves by the government since their actions following the 1981 Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization strike.
Finally, Regan discussed his new appointment to the Safety 21 advisory committee at Carnegie Mellon University, an initiative focused on leveraging technology and automation to improve road safety. Representing labor on a panel traditionally dominated by technologists and academics, Regan advocated for implementing new technologies as tools that enhance, rather than replace, the skills of transportation workers. He stressed the importance of responsible, worker-centered innovation, cautioning against the all-too-common use of automation as a means to cut jobs rather than as an aid to the professionals responsible for maintaining safety in America’s transportation networks.
For more from Regan, please listen to the full episode of the America’s Work Force Union Podcast 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.
