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Season 4, Episode 231

Government shutdown aside, AFGE employees facing more AI questions

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Guest Name:

Joey Graceffo and Bryan Johnson

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https://www.afge.org/ 

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Legislative Political Coordinator for AFGE Local 3283, Joey Graceffo, and Vice President of the Local, Bryan Johnson, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss how the Local handled recent shutdown questions. They also discussed the increasing concerns about the future of AI in the workforce.

Graceffo has been with the AFGE for over 15 years now. Starting in the Cleveland area after graduating from Cleveland State University, he worked his way through a few different government jobs before his current role as the Legislative Political Coordinator for AFGE Local 3283. Johnson has been with Local 3283 since 2015 and was recently appointed the Local’s Executive Vice President. Local 3283 represents the Defense Finance and Accounting Services employees in Cleveland.

Throughout the recent issues with a potential government shutdown, the DFAS funding was at risk, and employees were potentially going to go unpaid. When the shutdown happened in 2018-19, Johnson was furloughed and couldn’t work to pay his bills. The fear for many AFGE workers is the multiple unknowns, thanks to the ongoing struggles within Congress. There have been many different methods pitched for handling the workforce if there were a shutdown, and Graceffo and Johnson discussed one of the scariest ideas they heard.

Artificial Intelligence is a focus of concern for many DFAS and AFGE members. Johnson described several jobs already being done by robots and AI. Graceffo added that technology grows so quickly that developments need to be monitored to ensure a safer transition to using AI. He then went into detail on the way that AFGE members are staying informed and preparing for the future.

Hear more from Graceffo and Johnson on the way Local 3283 is preparing for the future.

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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