American Legion Director of Media and Communications Henry Howard discusses veteran job fairs, military credentialing legislation and the November cover story on the 50th anniversary of women at the service academies featuring Pat Locke of the first West Point class, one of only six women among 177 West Point Distinguished Graduate Award recipients. Alliance for Retired Americans Executive Director Rich Fiesta discusses the 22-24% Social Security benefit cut threat by 2032, the fast-track fiscal commission bill, the Alliance’s independent expenditure advertising and why seniors should vote early in person rather than by mail at this stage in October. Call or text 988 if a veteran you know is struggling.

IATSE Local 415 Business Agent Ian Fritz, International Representative Amanda Sager and Loft Cinema organizer Victor Bostick discuss the ratification of first contracts at the Loft Cinema, where projectionists moved from $15.50 to approximately $20 an hour in a unanimous vote, and at Arizona Theatre Company, where 20 workers ratified a contract three days earlier, the solidarity model that kept the Loft unit together through more than a year of bargaining and why the wins are generating interest from entertainment workers at other unrepresented Tucson venues.

CWA District 4 Administrative Director Frank Mathews discusses the Keep Call Centers in America Act, Michigan’s anti-offshoring bills, more than 2,000 volunteer shifts across five states, 16,000 handwritten postcards to Ohio members and retirees and 50,000 Battleground Bulletin emails heading into November. Ohio AFL-CIO President Tim Burga discusses his reelection at the biennial convention, standout speaker Jimmy Williams Jr., poll observers on Election Day, top endorsements including Amy Acton, Sherrod Brown and ironworker Brian Poindexter and canvas operations running from eight locations across Ohio.

Teamsters Local 251 organizer Fred German discusses the DRI-1 organizing campaign in Providence, Rhode Island, where 90 Amazon delivery drivers have demanded recognition and been refused, routes have risen from approximately 160 to 200-plus stops with 250 actual delivery locations on a solo route, vehicle maintenance is deferred creating safety risks, several union supporters have been unjustly terminated including a five-year employee who had been driver of the month the prior month and the terminated workers are now organizing outside the facility while the remaining unit prepares the next phase of the fight.

OUP USA Guild operations chair Mark Longaker and NewsGuild-CWA general counsel Barbara Camens discuss the September 2026 arbitration win finding Oxford University Press violated its first contract by laying off 13 workers two weeks after ratification and shipping the work to the UK, the NewsGuild’s foundational Article 1 work protection language and the upcoming Associated Press arbitration over a global production center in India. TTD AFL-CIO President Greg Regan discusses Rail Safety Week progress, AI emerging in freight rail systems, the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, partial cockpit barrier implementation and the Trump administration’s push to expand TSA privatization to more than 300 airports.

EPI Senior Fellow Lynn Rhinehart discusses sectoral bargaining — a model common across most of Europe that sets wages and working conditions for entire industries regardless of whether individual workplaces are organized — the Machinists and SEIU-led initiative establishing state-level collective bargaining for rideshare drivers in Massachusetts, Illinois and California, why wage boards help workers but are not a substitute for unions, the risks of lifting federal preemption broadly and why union support being more than 20 points higher than when labor law was last seriously debated makes now the right moment to organize for reform.

Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 1 MVD foreman Victor Castro discusses coming to the United States from Spain in 1986, working his way up through the masonry trade, and four decades of historic restoration work, including multiple phases of the U.S. Capitol restoration starting in 1998, the Washington Monument post-earthquake repair and two years on the National Cathedral restoration, alongside his own personal time spent mentoring apprentices on weekends. Local 1 President Scott Garvin joins to recognize Castro’s contribution to carrying the craft forward.

AFSCME Local 2975 President Evan Newton discusses the Corvallis, Oregon contract fight, bargaining since January 2026 with both sides now at declared impasse, a 75% employee turnover rate over the past four years, the city’s offer of 12% cost of living adjustments against the union’s ask of approximately 14% plus a new pay step, management training supervisors to do bargaining unit work as strike preparation accelerates and growing support from Oregon AFSCME Council 75 and neighboring Locals who have recent strike experience in the Willamette Valley.

SMART-TD Illinois Legislative Director Bob Guy, a freight conductor since 1994 and Illinois legislative leader since 2009, discusses rail crossing safety statistics showing a vehicle or person hit by a train every three hours, what SMART-TD crews observed before the East Palestine-bound train left Decatur, how Precision Scheduled Railroading’s 30% Class 1 workforce cut degraded safety and service to crisis levels, the CSX Barr Yard closure and its ripple effects on Chicago freight and the federal rail safety legislation still working through Congress with bipartisan support.

32BJ SEIU Executive Vice President Jaime Contreras discusses the campaign to amend Maryland’s Secure Maryland Wage Act to raise wages, add employer-paid healthcare and establish paid time off for more than 1,000 BWI airport contracted workers who currently earn $17 an hour with no benefits, alongside Governor Wes Moore’s commitment to emergency legislation and his own path from undocumented teenager to US Navy veteran and union leader. IAM retired International President Tom Buffenbarger discusses what an architect told him about AI compressing months of design work into minutes, what TVA members described about manufacturing plants being designed for a future with minimal human workers and where the durable jobs are most likely to be found.