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Season 5, Episode 168

New president of Kentucky State AFL-CIO discusses the ‘state’ of labor

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Guest Name:


Dustin Reinstedler

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Kentucky State AFL-CIO 

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Dustin Reinstedler, President of the Kentucky State AFL-CIO, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss his career in the labor movement and what led him to want to seek leadership roles in the labor movement. He also discussed the importance of union solidarity in the state and what is being done with school counselors to improve the pathway to the trades.

In December 2023, Reinstedler was elected and sworn in as the President of the KY AFL-CIO. He replaced the now-retired Bill Londrigan, who spent 24 years as the organization's president. Reinstedler comes from a family of union members. He is a member of the International Union of Bricklayers & Allied Craftworkers Local 4 Indiana/Kentucky. He talked about his time in BAC Local 4 and what led him to eventually become head of the KY AFL-CIO. 

Without union solidarity, there would be no labor movement, and Reinstedler discussed what he’s seen in Kentucky. He discussed the anti-labor actions taken by the last Kentucky governor and how they helped build a stronger labor movement. Now that Gov. Andy Beshear has been reelected for his second term, Reinstedler talked about the relationship between the governor’s office and labor in the state.

Finally, Reinstedler discussed the negative legislation that they were able to defeat. He outlined the work to defeat a proposed bill that would weaken child labor regulations. It wasn’t only working to defeat bad legislation, the KY AFL-CIO also supported the bill that will help improve outreach in high schools in the state, he said. With the new law, he believes more school counselors will begin suggesting the trades as an alternative to going to college.

For more from Reinstedler, please 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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