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Season 5, Episode 218

Recent federal policy changes have helped AFGE organize more members

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Guest Name:


Kevin Cooper

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AFGE 

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Kevin Cooper, National Political Director for the American Federation of Government Employees, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss his career path to the AFGE. He also discussed how government policy has positively impacted organizing over the past few years and how members have reacted to educational opportunities around the election.

Cooper came to his position with AFGE after a career in grassroots and political labor acts. He started his work with the Communication Workers of America, the largest telecommunications union in North America, and assisted in growing their political department. Cooper was then offered a position to work with the Bernie Sanders campaign, where he worked with Local labor unions. Eventually, Cooper joined AFGE as their national political director, and his mission was to make the workplace better for members through political action.

The growth of AFGE over the past two years is due to multiple factors, but Cooper pointed to policies passed under the Biden Administration that helped the hard-working organizers. He said the organizers engaged with their local communities and workers not part of the union to learn what they needed to improve their workplace. Cooper discussed why the policies relating to AFGE having shop stewards in the workplace have improved organizing in the past two years.

Other government policies have also created a workplace that encourages union participation among government workers. Cooper talked about proposed policies from Project 2025 that could reverse all of the positives gained under the union-friendly Biden Administration. In response to the potential threats, he said it saw the highest volunteer participation in educational outreach around an election in 16 years. Cooper attributed the passionate volunteers to their personal experiences under the former Trump Administration and their lives under the Biden Administration.

Listen to the show above for more information from Cooper and the AFGE.


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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