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Season 5, Episode 9

Sen. Sherrod Brown explains neutrality letter to non-union auto plants

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America's Work Force Union Podcast Government Health, Welfare, and Safety AWF Government Affairs and Policy United Auto Workers Congress Senator Sherrod Brown

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Guest Name:

Sherrod Brown

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brown.senate.gov 

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U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and talked about a letter written by 33 U.S. Senators to non-union auto plants following the United Autoworkers organizing announcement to target these plants. Brown also discussed the importance of the trades and union efforts to increase diversity within them.

Brown was one of 33 U.S. Senators to co-author a letter to non-union auto plants located mostly in the southern U.S., and urged them to remain neutral to potential union organizing efforts. Following the success of the UAW’s negotiations with the Big Three automakers in Detroit, many of these non-union plants began raising wages in an attempt to prevent potential unionization efforts. Brown led the charge for unionization and discussed the follow-up plans if they did not receive a response to their letter.

The efforts to unionize have never been easy, but Brown said workers who carry a union card tend to live better lives. He also shared a story about his wife and why she believes in the power of unions, which helped to reinforce Brown’s pro-union efforts. The goal is to get more people into the trades and provide them more opportunities to lift themselves into the middle class.

Brown hopes a diverse group of people are recruited into the trades. He discussed the focused efforts to diversify the trades. Brown explained why it is important for the trades to target underrepresented groups like workers of color or women and how these organizing efforts would help the surrounding communities.

Hear more from Brown by listening 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, American Alliance for Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 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, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North America, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, Survey and Ballot Systems, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

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