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Season 5, Episode 157

Franco: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is a champion of labor

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Guest Name:


Lucas Franco

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LIUNA Minnesota & North Dakota 

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Lucas Franco, Research Manager of Great Lakes Regional Organizing Committee for LIUNA Minnesota and North Dakota, appeared on the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and spoke about the decision by Democratic Party Presidential nominee Kamala Harris to select Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her Vice Presidential running mate.

Franco has known Walz since 2020 and discussed his background. Born in Nebraska, Walz spent 24 years in the Army National Guard, used his G.I. Bill to get his teaching degree, was named teacher of the year at the school at the school he taught at, coached football and ran for public office. Franco said Walz first ran for public office because he was discouraged by the way politicians were treating members of the LGBTQ community and veterans. 

Walz won a congressional seat in a Republican district in 2006 and held that seat until 2018, when he ran for governor. As governor, Franco said Walz invested in Minnesota workers and helped to bring back farm laborers into the Democratic Party. He worked to help farmers by protecting them from big monopolies that were guilty of undercutting grain prices. 

Since Walz became governor, Minnesota has prioritized workers and he has been a champion of labor, Franco said. Wins have come with legislation such as paid family medical leave, reproductive rights protections, 100 percent carbon-free energy by 2040, affordable housing, wage theft protection and several large infrastructure bills. Franco thinks Walz will be able to communicate effectively with voters and explain common-sense policy.

To learn more about Walz, listen to the podcast.


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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