--- title: "Weingarten: U.S. democracy is in disarray but the struggle continues" description: The AWF Union Podcast is the nation’s premier daily labor program. Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers joined us on today’s show. image: https://awf.labortools.com/hubfs/AWF-blog-image-template_AFT_RED.jpg --- Season 3, Episode 129 # Weingarten: U.S. democracy is in disarray but the struggle continues [ awfblog ](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/author/awfblog) July 4, 2022 [America's Work Force Union Podcast](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/tag/americas-work-force-union-podcast) [American Federation of Teachers](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/tag/american-federation-of-teachers) [Government Affairs and Policy](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/tag/government-affairs-and-policy) ![AWF-Blogo-Logos-Template-400x400_aft](https://awf.labortools.com/hs-fs/hubfs/AmericasWorkForce/podcast%20logos/AWF-Blogo-Logos-Template-400x400_aft.png?width=400&name=AWF-Blogo-Logos-Template-400x400_aft.png)   Guest Name: --- Randi Weingarten Guest Website: --- [www.aft.org](https://www.aft.org/) Guest Social Media: --- [ Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/AFTunion) [ Twitter](https://twitter.com/AFTunion) [ YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/user/AFTHQ) [ LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/american-federation-of-teachers) Supportive Documents: --- [American Federation of Teachers](https://www.aft.org/) President Randi Weingarten joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed the state of America in the wake of Republican culture wars and the shootings in Buffalo, N.Y. and Uvalde, Texas. Weingarten believes America has a long history of taking two steps forward and one step back. She described efforts to arm teachers as “insanity,” and praised recent gun control legislation signed by President Biden as an important step.  She also talked about her own efforts to establish a summer camp and educational opportunities in Poland for Ukrainian refugees. 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" : "2022-07-04T16:00:00.827Z", "datePublished" : "2022-07-04T16:00:00.000Z", "headline" : "Weingarten: U.S. democracy is in disarray but the struggle continues", "image" : [ "https://awf.labortools.com/hubfs/AWF-blog-image-template_AFT_RED.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://awf.labortools.com/listen/weingarten-u.s.-democracy-is-in-disarray-but-the-struggle-continues", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://awf.labortools.com/hubfs/labor-tools-logo-white.png" }, "name" : "BMA Media" } } ```