Actions

Sponsored by the Milwaukee Building & Construction Trades Council and the AFL-CIO, National Apprenticeship Week celebrates leaders in business, labor, and education and allows them to demonstrate their support for apprenticeship programs.

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with the president of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, about union strategies following the midterm elections.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

There was plenty of punditry plastered across cable news last week. But, as the dust settles, there is one story that has come to define this election: working people standing together to make a difference. The labor movement unleashed an unprecedented political program this year.

Organized labor’s record voter mobilization efforts this year, which started earlier than ever before for a mid-term election, emphasized pocketbook issues and – says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka – will produce huge “momentum at the ballot box” on Nov. 6.

The president is the billionaire head of a global business empire, and his mostly millionaire Cabinet may be the richest in American history. His opponent in the 2016 election was a millionaire. Most Supreme Court Justices are millionaires.

The Trump administration plans to tackle two important labor policy issues in the coming months: overtime pay and “joint employer” liability for companies in staffing and franchise relationships.