--- title: "Saavedra: Unions provide viable pathway to the middle class" description: The America’s Work Force Union Podcast is the nation’s premier daily labor program. Vince Saavedra of SNBTU joined us on today’s show. image: https://awf.labortools.com/hubfs/Southern%20Nevada%20BCTC%20blue%20mic.jpg --- 1 min read Season 3, Episode 258 # Saavedra: Unions provide viable pathway to the middle class [ awfblog ](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/author/awfblog) December 30, 2022 [Building Trades](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/tag/building-trades) [America's Work Force Union Podcast](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/tag/americas-work-force-union-podcast) ![Southern Nevada BCTC](https://awf.labortools.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Southern%20Nevada%20BCTC.jpg?width=400&height=400&name=Southern%20Nevada%20BCTC.jpg)   Guest Name: --- Vince Saavedra Guest Website: --- ## [https://snbtu.org/](https://snbtu.org/)  Guest Social Media: --- [ Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/BCTNNevada/) [ Twitter](https://twitter.com/snbtu1) [ YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/) [ LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/southern-nevada-home-builders-association/about/) Supportive Documents: --- [Southern Nevada Building Trades Union’s (SNBTU)](https://snbtu.org/) Executive Secretary-Treasurer Vince Saavedra joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed the generational change unions provide working families as a pathway out of poverty and into the middle class. He explained how a first-year apprentice needs six months of wages to bring a family of four out of poverty. Saavedra talked about the opportunities unions provide and advocated for the implementation of Community Work Force Agreements. These agreements stipulate 30 percent of a project’s workforce be from the community in which it is located.  He then spoke about the opportunities unions provide women, but acknowledged childcare can often be a roadblock. Saavedra said he is currently working with Nevada legislators to craft legislation that would provide childcare to all registered apprenticeships in Nevada to help fill this need. Listen to the entire episode to learn more about these topics: --- 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. - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) ##### SUBSCRIBE ON: --- [![Group 342](https://awf.labortools.com/hs-fs/hubfs/AmericasWorkForce/podcast%20logos/Apple%20Podcasts%20Button-Dark.png?width=171&name=Apple%20Podcasts%20Button-Dark.png)](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/americas-work-force-union-podcast/id1511224946) [![Group 341](https://awf.labortools.com/hs-fs/hubfs/AmericasWorkForce/podcast%20logos/Spotify%20Button-Dark.png?width=100&name=Spotify%20Button-Dark.png)](https://open.spotify.com/show/0GzkHxFSBxiXvuX0lZpQBn) [![Group 343](https://awf.labortools.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Group%20343.png?width=135&name=Group%20343.png)](https://www.iheart.com/podcast/americas-work-force-union-podcast-62567752/) [![Group 339](https://awf.labortools.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Group%20339.png?width=110&name=Group%20339.png)](https://www.pandora.com/podcast/americas-work-force-union-podcast/PC:47979) [![Group 397](https://awf.labortools.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Group%20397.png?width=125&name=Group%20397.png)](https://americasworkforceradiopodcast.podbean.com/) [![Group 397](https://awf.labortools.com/hs-fs/hubfs/YouTube_button.png?width=125&name=YouTube_button.png)](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuQo1PAtRAel1_tS7-PQOkA)   #### [Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen on the Union Pacific Merger Threat](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/brotherhood-of-railroad-signalmen-on-the-union-pacific-merger-threat) : July 6, 2026 # Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen on the Union Pacific Merger Threat Brandon Elvey, Secretary-Treasurer of the [Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen](https://www.brs.org/),... [Read More](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/brotherhood-of-railroad-signalmen-on-the-union-pacific-merger-threat) #### [AFL-CIO's Fred Redmond on the Convention, AI and America at 250](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/afl-cios-fred-redmond-on-the-convention-ai-and-america-at-250) : July 3, 2026 # AFL-CIO's Fred Redmond on the Convention, AI and America at 250 Fred Redmond, Secretary-Treasurer of the [AFL-CIO](https://awf.labortools.com/), joined the [America's Work Force...](https://awf.labortools.com/) [Read More](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/afl-cios-fred-redmond-on-the-convention-ai-and-america-at-250) #### [C/COBCTC's Dorsey Hager on Drones, Data Centers and Growth](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/c/cobctcs-dorsey-hager-on-drones-data-centers-and-growth) : July 2, 2026 # Dorsey Hager on Drones, Data Centers and Central Ohio's Building Boom Dorsey Hager, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the [Columbus/Central Ohio...](https://columbusconstruction.org/) [Read More](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/c/cobctcs-dorsey-hager-on-drones-data-centers-and-growth) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "awfblog", "url" : "https://awf.labortools.com/listen/author/awfblog" }, "dateModified" : "2022-12-30T23:38:36.915Z", "datePublished" : "2022-12-30T23:29:50.000Z", "headline" : "Saavedra: Unions provide viable pathway to the middle class", "image" : [ "https://awf.labortools.com/hubfs/Southern%20Nevada%20BCTC%20blue%20mic.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://awf.labortools.com/listen/saavedra-unions-provide-viable-pathway-to-the-middle-class", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://awf.labortools.com/hubfs/labor-tools-logo-white.png" }, "name" : "BMA Media" } } ```