Tim Burga, president of the Ohio AFL-CIO, joined the America's Work Force Union Podcast for his monthly segment to discuss what happened at Labor Day events around Ohio and what comes next.
Burga described a dozen events around the state, from Lorain to Portsmouth and from Youngstown to Cincinnati. He said the consistent theme was that workers are energized and frustrated, and that frustration is driving political engagement heading into November. He also previewed the Ohio AFL-CIO's biennial convention, scheduled for Sept. 21-23 in Columbus, including guest speakers Amy Acton, Sherrod Brown and IUPAT International President Jimmy Williams Jr. He addressed the Policy Matters Ohio State of Working Ohio Report released just before Labor Day, which found that Ohio lawmakers have allowed, and in some ways created, an economy where working people cannot get ahead.
Burga’s prediction heading into the November election is that voters will decide whether to reward and validate the inaction and worker-hostile policies of the current legislative majority or enter a new day for the state of Ohio.
Tim Burga spent Labor Day weekend the way he spends most of them: moving around Ohio — picnics, parades and community gatherings spanning from Lorain to Portsmouth and from Youngstown to Cincinnati. There was energy and frustration at every stop, and a clear desire for change.
Burga said the thread connecting every Labor Day conversation he had this year was political. Workers are fired up, and they are paying attention to what their elected leaders are and are not doing for them. According to Burga, the cost of living, childcare, groceries, rent and utilities — the everyday pressures squeezing Ohio workers — are not being addressed by the current majority in the Ohio Statehouse. That is what people were talking about this Labor Day, and Burga said it will drive the voter mobilization push heading into November.
The Ohio AFL-CIO biennial convention will be held Sept. 21-23 in Columbus, and Burga noted the historical significance. One hundred and forty years ago, Columbus was where the AFL was founded. The movement that grew from that founding has changed enormously. Work has changed, technology has changed and the economy has changed. But the need for unions and the desire of working people to organize and bargain collectively remains as strong as ever.
The convention delegates will elect officers and executive board members and take up resolutions that will guide state federation policy for the next two years. It will also serve as the launch point for the Ohio AFL-CIO's Labor 2026 voter mobilization program, with the November election focus for everything else on the agenda.
Guest speakers include International Union of Painters and Allied Trades International President Jimmy Williams Jr., gubernatorial candidate Dr. Amy Acton and U.S. Senate candidate Sherrod Brown, who is seeking to return to the Senate. Burga said the convention's central themes will be the cost of living, jobs and the election. He expects 400 to 500 attendees, acknowledging that competing international union conventions the same week will pull some participants away from Ohio.
A Policy Matters Ohio report released just before Labor Day provided data that Burga was hearing at events across the state. Lead author Ali Smith wrote that Ohioans are working hard, but legislators have allowed and, in some ways, created an economy where working people cannot get ahead. The results, Smith wrote, are wages that do not keep up with rising prices, childcare costs that push parents out of the workforce, an unemployment system that excludes too many workers and the absence of paid leave when families need it most. These are not isolated problems. They are the result of policymakers who have failed to put working people first.
Burga said the report is right on. What is coming out of the statehouse in Columbus and from Washington alongside it does not address what Ohio workers are actually dealing with. More tax cuts for the wealthy. More incentives for big business. Nothing to bring down the cost of utilities, nothing to make daycare affordable, nothing to raise wages. And in some cases, he said, active policy choices make the situation worse rather than better.
He noted that the state legislature has largely concluded its work for the year, which he said is not necessarily a bad thing given what that body has been producing. The real question now is November.
Burga framed the November election in terms he has been delivering at every Labor Day event and will continue to deliver through the convention and the voter mobilization program that follows. Ohio voters will decide whether to reward and validate the inaction and worker-hostile policy direction of the current majority, or whether a new day begins in Columbus and Washington, he said.
The Ohio AFL-CIO will do everything it can to ensure voters understand the stakes and where every candidate stands on the issues that matter most to working people. The energy is there, he said. The frustration is there. The question is whether it shows up in November.
More information on the Ohio AFL-CIO is available at ohioaflcio.org.
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