Latest / The Rick Smith Show / The Rick Smith Show 8-25-2026

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The Rick Smith Show 8-25-2026 · The Rick Smith Show

0:00
[SPEAKER_03]: It's time for the Rick Smith show.
0:05
[SPEAKER_03]: Now, here is the voice of a working class, Rick Smith.
0:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And welcome, brothers, sisters working class heroes.
0:18
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the Rex Myth Show.
0:20
[SPEAKER_03]: Thanks so much for being here.
0:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Today on the big program, lots to get to.
0:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Lots to talk about.
0:24
[SPEAKER_01]: What a start today off with an email I got from Steve.
0:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Aw, Steve says, hey, you know, we had a great show today.
0:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you and he said me look.
0:33
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm 69 years old.
0:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I've got grandkids in their 20s and 30s I wish they would listen to you We're all blue collar working people so I think it would hit a nerve with them.
0:43
[SPEAKER_01]: He says look I've tried like you know what to get them interested in politics, but
0:48
[SPEAKER_01]: waste the time thus far.
0:50
[SPEAKER_01]: He says most of my friends are not interested either.
0:52
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't understand it because this is their country also.
0:55
[SPEAKER_01]: He goes on to say the hardest thing that I've ever done was trying to get someone.
0:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I know interested in politics.
1:02
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't understand it.
1:04
[SPEAKER_01]: And look, you know, the reality is.
1:17
[SPEAKER_01]: and we haven't been getting a lot.
1:20
[SPEAKER_01]: So Steve, thank you.
1:21
[SPEAKER_01]: I appreciate the kind words.
1:23
[SPEAKER_01]: It means a lot to hear from someone who spent looked literally a lifetime working with their hands, carrying enough to fight for the next generation.
1:31
[SPEAKER_01]: That's really what this is all about.
1:34
[SPEAKER_01]: So I hear the frustration because so many people feel like politics is something that happens to them instead of something that they can shape.
1:44
[SPEAKER_01]: But the truth is, whether it's our kids or our grandkids paying attention or not, politics is already, you know, the art, it is who gets what?
1:54
[SPEAKER_01]: So as our wages fall, as rents go up, as health carry goes away, as the rights it work disappear.
2:02
[SPEAKER_01]: And look, their futures are diminished.
2:05
[SPEAKER_01]: It's happening.
2:06
[SPEAKER_01]: And the question is whether, well, whether we, any of us get a say in it, or we just get
2:14
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think the challenge for all of us, and this is, you know, politicians, we're gonna talk about this a little bit later in the program.
2:21
[SPEAKER_01]: It's about making politics feel real.
2:23
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, not some cable news circus, not some bit of outrage candy, but stuff that hits us where we live, you know, in our pocket books, the bills that come into the house are rights to join in four mutants, dignity, you know, that idea that if you work hard play by the rules, that you may actually get ahead.
2:43
[SPEAKER_01]: And look, if those dots can be connected, people are going to listen.
2:47
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, the one thing that Trump was able to do and like it or not, he was able to get a group of working class people to go, yeah, I'm going to vote for the billionaire, because he's at least talking about issues that are important to me, like, oh, the jobs are all going away.
3:03
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's going to bring manufacturing back.
3:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Not everyone knew them, or you should have known.
3:11
[SPEAKER_01]: but at least there was the the lifeline was being thrown.
3:14
[SPEAKER_01]: No, it was an anchor and as I've said a million times you throw it a drowning man and anchor.
3:19
[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to grab for it.
3:21
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what Trump was that anchor that's pulled us even deeper into despair.
3:26
[SPEAKER_01]: So look, thanks for doing the hard work of trying to wake people up.
3:29
[SPEAKER_01]: It is.
3:30
[SPEAKER_01]: It can be frustrated and it may not always feel like it's landing, but I got to tell you it matters more than you know, and this is why I say keep talking to people you've got to keep having conversations, but they can't be in those you're an idiot and you're it's got to be you look here this is what's going up this is why it's how I see things and the more than you present hey this is how this is how I used to be this is what I'd like to see in a way that is not well.
3:59
[SPEAKER_01]: viewed as an attack on them personally.
4:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you have an opportunity.
4:03
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is where I think these next several months, especially as mega mega worlds in disarray, there's an opportunity to reach back to some of those family members that may, maybe off the roll of decks for a bit, there's an opportunity to reach out and go, hey, you know, our things going.
4:23
[SPEAKER_01]: and not rub their not smear their nose in it even though you know i got to tell you there would be some satisfaction in in doing that it's not helpful so for me uh... we just keep talking to people because eventually eventually come around eventually it's gonna land but still i appreciate the email i want to hear your thoughts email me rick at the ricksmith show dot com because i know it's frustrating
4:48
[SPEAKER_01]: come back for those of of my age group in a little bit older my next guest is going to be somebody to recognize Bowser from shot on us going to be here to share some thoughts on what he's working on back after this.
5:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm Rick Smith, and this is Labor History Inter.
5:07
[SPEAKER_01]: On this day in Labor History, the year was 1821.
5:11
[SPEAKER_01]: That was the day Euriah Smith Stevens was born near Cape May, New Jersey.
5:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Although he longed to be a Baptist minister, he worked as a tailor's apprentice and taught school.
5:21
[SPEAKER_01]: In 1845, he moved to Philadelphia.
5:24
[SPEAKER_01]: There, he became a member of the Garmin Cutters Association in 1863, until it dissolved in 1869.
5:31
[SPEAKER_01]: From there, he joined several other garment cutters to form a new union.
5:35
[SPEAKER_01]: They called themselves the Knights of Labor.
5:37
[SPEAKER_01]: It was originally a secretive labor organization.
5:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Stevens appreciation for religious ceremony infused the young union, which functioned like a fraternal order.
5:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Stevens took the title of first master workmen of district assembly one in the group.
5:52
[SPEAKER_01]: The organization would accept every worker.
5:54
[SPEAKER_01]: regardless of country of origin, race, religion, or trade affiliation.
5:58
[SPEAKER_01]: In fact, almost everyone was welcome to join, except for liquor dealers, lawyers, bankers, and professional gamblers.
6:06
[SPEAKER_01]: The Knights grew from just nine members in 1869 to more than 9,000 by 1878.
6:12
[SPEAKER_01]: That year, Stevens became the Grandmaster Workman, the top position in the organization.
6:18
[SPEAKER_01]: He soon resigned that position to become more involved in politics.
6:22
[SPEAKER_01]: but his organization continued to grow.
6:25
[SPEAKER_01]: It became the first national union to effectively organize across job types.
6:30
[SPEAKER_01]: In the 1880s, the union left behind its secret and became involved in the fight for the eight-hour workday.
6:36
[SPEAKER_01]: When the hay market tragedy occurred in Chicago, the Knights of Labor were caught up in the public backlash against organized labor.
6:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Although the group had no direct ties to hay market, its numbers plummeted.
6:47
[SPEAKER_01]: But the spirit of broad-scale worker organizing would live on in the United States, with organizing efforts such as the IWW and the CIO.
6:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Like what you hear, check out more at LaborHistoryInto.com.
7:07
[SPEAKER_03]: Welcome back to the RixMeth Show.
7:09
[SPEAKER_03]: Now, here is RixSmith.
7:14
[SPEAKER_01]: So midterm elections are ramping up.
7:17
[SPEAKER_01]: We're seeing a lot of activity.
7:18
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of energy.
7:19
[SPEAKER_01]: I know here in my state of Pennsylvania.
7:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I know the Lehigh Valley.
7:23
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a candidate out there.
7:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Firemen looks like could take a red seat and turn that blue.
7:31
[SPEAKER_01]: But across the country we're seeing that opportunity for just working people to get out and well.
7:37
[SPEAKER_01]: kind of fix the mess that's that's going on and that's why I've asked John Bowser Bowman to come share us the thoughts with us, Bowser's out traveling the country, Chris crossing the country, stumping for candidates.
7:49
[SPEAKER_01]: He's also the president of the Social Security Works Pack and a senior advisor there at Social Security Works.
7:55
[SPEAKER_01]: John, thanks for taking time for us.
7:58
[SPEAKER_04]: really gets great to be with you and we got to squeeze this in because yes, I am in the middle of Chris crossing the entire country.
8:06
[SPEAKER_04]: In fact, I'm going to do this crazy thing again where I'm going to go from Alaska to South Florida and I'm going to go from Northern Maine to Southern California.
8:17
[SPEAKER_04]: So this is this is crazyer than Chris crossing the country.
8:24
[SPEAKER_01]: And I love Alaska and I love the fact that Alaska is in play.
8:27
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's start there.
8:29
[SPEAKER_01]: How is Alaska in play?
8:32
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, given the fact that, you know, it really hasn't been for a while.
8:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Why now?
8:36
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, Alaska is in play for the most obvious of all reasons, which is, you know, the, the big ugly bill and the massive cuts to Medicaid from the big ugly bill affects Alaska, Mike Lee.
8:48
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, the less guns are not, are not the wealthiest people, you know, and there's a lot of people dependent on the programs that are really important that this administration, it literally can't find a program, the Trump administration can't resist.
9:09
[SPEAKER_04]: any way that it can find to make people's lives more miserable.
9:14
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, it's just an amazing phenomenon.
9:16
[SPEAKER_04]: Like this thing that happened yesterday, as we speak, about where there are custom Medicare.
9:23
[SPEAKER_04]: It's like, whoever thought of that, they figured out how to cut Medicare subsidies like during an election cycle, that's nuts.
9:32
[SPEAKER_04]: So,
9:33
[SPEAKER_01]: That is the definition of this administration.
9:36
[SPEAKER_01]: I end up Trump's presidency to be honest.
9:38
[SPEAKER_04]: Because look, Medicare and all those things that can make people suffer.
9:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Not look, Medicare is one of those things that we're reviewing a threat in my grandmother would take in that away.
9:45
[SPEAKER_01]: She'd have beat you with her walker.
9:46
[SPEAKER_01]: And I got to imagine, as you're talking to people, that's got to kind of be at the front of the mind when this administration's talking about ending Medicare part D subsidies, which a lot of people, like you said, need.
10:03
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, that's why Alaska is in play.
10:05
[SPEAKER_04]: And that's why a lot of the places that are, you don't think as being obvious or in play.
10:12
[SPEAKER_04]: And then particularly with regard to the Senate, it's why the Senate is in play.
10:17
[SPEAKER_04]: I think the House was in play anyway, but the Senate map is difficult.
10:21
[SPEAKER_04]: But now the Senate map includes states like Ohio.
10:30
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, very importantly, in the Senate map, okay, North Carolina is pretty obvious, it's a 50, 50 state and we got a great candidate.
10:42
[SPEAKER_04]: Maine is the bluest state that has a significant Senate race.
10:47
[SPEAKER_04]: But, you know, the next ones are Ohio, Iowa, Alaska, and then Texas.
10:53
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, even Texas is in blame.
10:55
[SPEAKER_04]: You can't get rather than Texas.
10:57
[SPEAKER_04]: So this is the cycle that we're dealing with.
10:59
[SPEAKER_04]: We have some great candidates out there, really great candidates all over the country in both house and Senate.
11:06
[SPEAKER_04]: And of course, it's very funny for me because, you know, a lot of my experience out there with candidates is subjective.
11:15
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, it depends on the age of the candidate and it depends on what their life experience has been.
11:21
[SPEAKER_04]: So right at the top of this discussion, you brought up the candidate where you live.
11:26
[SPEAKER_04]: Right near where you live at least in the seventh district of Pennsylvania, who was a fire fighter and the head of the fire fighters association of Pennsylvania guy named Bob Brooks and the reason I'm bringing up my own subjective experience is because I called Bob Brooks on the phone and Bob Brooks goes.
11:49
[SPEAKER_04]: I can't believe I'm talking about Bowser this is unbelievable.
11:52
[SPEAKER_04]: I used to watch you when I was a kid.
11:55
[SPEAKER_04]: It was I loved that show.
11:57
[SPEAKER_04]: It was on, you know, first was on the 730 of like the entire thing.
12:01
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
12:01
[SPEAKER_04]: The entire history of the Sean and I television show.
12:05
[SPEAKER_04]: And now I'm telling you that because yes, I will go to
12:10
[SPEAKER_04]: Pennsylvania, seven, Allen town in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the Lee High Valley.
12:14
[SPEAKER_04]: And yes, I will have a great time with Bob Brooks, but I'm also going to go to Alaska.
12:21
[SPEAKER_04]: And when I had that conversation with Mary Peltola, who's of a similar age,
12:27
[SPEAKER_04]: And I said, I'm Bowser from Sean and I, she looked at me like she had absolutely no idea what it's going for what I was talking about because, and then it occurred to me, I said, hey, when you were growing up in Bethel, Alaska,
12:45
[SPEAKER_04]: you know, and she's a native American.
12:49
[SPEAKER_04]: I said, did you have a TV?
12:51
[SPEAKER_04]: And she said, oh God, we've never been dreamed of having a TV at that point.
12:56
[SPEAKER_04]: I said, oh, okay.
12:58
[SPEAKER_01]: No, look, you're a cultural icon, I mean, the reality is if you grew up in the time that the time period that I grew up, much like Bob Brooks, you were the guy, everyone knew the whole thing, you know, with some people Rick, you know, and do other people, it's like who, who are we talking about here.
13:18
[SPEAKER_04]: So, but I'm going to go to Alaska and help Mary Peltola and Bill Hill.
13:23
[SPEAKER_04]: Bill Hill is the house candidate there.
13:26
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, that these are real races.
13:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
13:28
[SPEAKER_01]: But what do you say the person John who says, you know, Democrats, maybe are taking this a little too easy.
13:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, the thought that, hey, we're going to take the house, no problem.
13:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Given the fact that Districts have been so badly jerry-mandered for so long that, you know, just that the game is rigged for Republicans.
13:47
[SPEAKER_01]: And you're going to need a massive blue wave to get some of those seats.
13:52
[SPEAKER_04]: That's the way these guys are fighting back because they really know that they can't win on policy.
13:58
[SPEAKER_04]: That's hopeless for Republicans.
14:00
[SPEAKER_04]: They really have nothing to run on.
14:02
[SPEAKER_04]: So they have really districted fairly effectively.
14:06
[SPEAKER_04]: And some of the ones that we thought, we had a really good shot out like Tennessee's fifth district.
14:13
[SPEAKER_04]: We're not so sure we have that shot anymore.
14:17
[SPEAKER_04]: On the other hand, some of the ones that they may have dummy mandered like there's some of the Texas districts.
14:24
[SPEAKER_04]: I can't be of much help there, I think, because the districts are so Spanish-speaking and frankly, it's like I got together within the last few days with Bobby Toledo, who's a Grammy-winning Tejano singer.
14:37
[SPEAKER_04]: in Texas 15, he's running for Congress and he really knows his politics.
14:41
[SPEAKER_04]: I think he's a great candidate, actually.
14:43
[SPEAKER_04]: But once again, it's the kind of situation where so many people have come into that district more recently than the 70s and the early 80s when I had the shot on a television show.
14:55
[SPEAKER_04]: And I don't think I'm not much help there.
14:57
[SPEAKER_01]: But here's the thing, but also understand, the reality is, you know, my generation in a little bit older, you know, the sweet spot of your influence, we vote.
15:07
[SPEAKER_01]: We vote in overwhelming numbers.
15:09
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, having your endorsement, having you come around doing the taking picture, shaking hands thing can't hurt.
15:16
[SPEAKER_04]: And that's why I do senior issues as you know, that's why I gravitated to senior issues and made myself a policy expert, you know, with the help of real policy experts like Nancy Altman and Alex Lawson, you know, I am a policy expert on source security Medicare Medicaid drug prices.
15:35
[SPEAKER_04]: and the stuff that matters to people with kitchen table issues for older people.
15:40
[SPEAKER_04]: Although, you know, they're really kitchen table issues for everybody, everybody's paying in to the system and your retirement security has to be there for you.
15:49
[SPEAKER_04]: So, you know, I am going to travel the whole country.
15:52
[SPEAKER_04]: I am stronger in places like
15:55
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Florida, than I am in Alaska, let's say, but I'm not insignificant in Alaska, so I'm going to go there and put in the work.
16:09
[SPEAKER_04]: Um, you know, I think that's how we win.
16:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:12
[SPEAKER_04]: Is that everybody does what they can't.
16:15
[SPEAKER_04]: Everybody contributes what they are able to do.
16:19
[SPEAKER_04]: And that's how you create a wave.
16:22
[SPEAKER_04]: Waves don't just happen by themselves.
16:24
[SPEAKER_04]: They happen because because millions of people show up at no kings' protests and make their voices heard and then it carries over into the election.
16:39
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I'm looking.
16:40
[SPEAKER_01]: I watch your travel schedule.
16:42
[SPEAKER_01]: I, you know, good on you, man.
16:44
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope I can keep that pace up.
16:47
[SPEAKER_01]: But I got to get your thoughts because you had mentioned in a moment ago, your policy expert on social security, also probably in the recipient range, like a lot of the people that you talked to.
16:56
[SPEAKER_04]: Absolutely in the recipient.
16:58
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm 78.
16:59
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want to get your thoughts on the Spotify CEO this what's his name Todd Lutkey I told me Lutkey is his name and I'm sure you may have seen this story We're he's talking about proportional voting
17:15
[SPEAKER_01]: the more the higher taxes you pay the more votes you get the lower taxes you pay you don't get any and he was talking about in Canada you know the retirees who vote as them being kind of baggage you know people who are just deadweight kind of thing
17:30
[SPEAKER_01]: and not deserving of any say because they don't have a future.
17:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm curious if you have a thought on that comment and do you think that's something that maybe some of our right-wing politicians might want to think about as the next way to to rig another election?
17:46
[SPEAKER_04]: I shuttered to think of what they're going to think of and this was another lunatic, you know, with no serious level of
17:58
[SPEAKER_04]: human kind of contribution to humanity who came up with this ridiculous scheme.
18:06
[SPEAKER_04]: But yeah, there are not cases.
18:09
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, we're we're talking you and I are talking right after right after a Rand Paul attacked Anthony Fauci as if Anthony Fauci were the worst human being ever
18:25
[SPEAKER_04]: that ever walked the face of the earth, when in reality Anthony Fauci is like an amazing public servant, you know, who devoted his entire life, it literally is entire life to try to cure people, to try to help people get through their health problem.
18:44
[SPEAKER_01]: and for that and for that John you got Tommy Tuberville who is sworn that if he becomes governor of Alabama he is going to bankrupt Fauci and keep him in court and throw him in jail because the state of Alabama's main priority going forward is not educating children not not being the poorest state in the country not ensuring that seniors get what they need oh no it's going to be about torturing Anthony Fauci
19:09
[SPEAKER_04]: But let's talk about why they're doing that because it's actually kind of important at this moment.
19:15
[SPEAKER_04]: The reason they're doing that is because these are the only things that the right wing conspiracy theorists can actually still agree on.
19:27
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, this is like a moment of nostalgia for them.
19:30
[SPEAKER_04]: Um, we're where they they feel like oh yeah, let's go after Anthony Fauci.
19:35
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, that was fun.
19:36
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, that was good.
19:37
[SPEAKER_04]: That was a good one.
19:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm seeing trace stories again.
19:40
[SPEAKER_01]: My email boxes full of all the right wing groups going there's a trans athlete and Indian California all that all that all that's active keep us stupid.
19:49
[SPEAKER_04]: Exactly, and why are they doing that?
19:51
[SPEAKER_04]: They're doing that because they're doing that right now, because they have fractured in a very, very real way.
19:59
[SPEAKER_04]: And no one should overlook this.
20:02
[SPEAKER_04]: Not only is the bosos, you know, approval rating down to, in some cases, 32%, which is really unheard of territory.
20:12
[SPEAKER_04]: But
20:14
[SPEAKER_04]: He lost a lot of people over the Epstein files.
20:17
[SPEAKER_04]: He lost a lot of people over the war in Iran.
20:19
[SPEAKER_04]: He lost a lot of people fighting with the Pope.
20:22
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, he loses a lot of people every day.
20:24
[SPEAKER_04]: And I don't mean us.
20:26
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, that he loses people from their MAGA universe every day.
20:33
[SPEAKER_04]: It seems like, and that's why they have to pull out stuff like, oh yeah, let's go after Anthony Fauci.
20:39
[SPEAKER_04]: That was a good one.
20:40
[SPEAKER_04]: We all agreed on that.
20:41
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a laser pointer.
20:42
[SPEAKER_01]: The cats will follow it and you're right.
20:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Because you look, we were told that in my red hat friends at the first one to tell you, they believed I was going to be utopia.
20:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Life was going to get better.
20:52
[SPEAKER_01]: They didn't think it was going to cost them a hundred bucks to fill up their truck to get to work.
20:57
[SPEAKER_01]: They really bought into the idea that he was going to attack prices.
21:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Life was going to be great and we were going to make America great, John.
21:05
[SPEAKER_04]: And as soon as the number one underlying thing is the word that he mocks, you know, affordability when he says a fricking.
21:13
[SPEAKER_04]: He is the most whittless, I don't know how to put this, that thing at the White House car's fund in the center.
21:19
[SPEAKER_04]: That was the, he is literally the most whittless person.
21:24
[SPEAKER_04]: in America.
21:25
[SPEAKER_04]: You're so absolutely unfunny and uninteresting and has no actual skills of any kind.
21:32
[SPEAKER_04]: How could this possibly have happened?
21:36
[SPEAKER_04]: It's just so remarkable that we actually have to live through this.
21:42
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't know if I've shared my ultimate theory on this with your
21:50
[SPEAKER_04]: listeners, but you know, I really blame Mark Burnett for the entire thing.
21:59
[SPEAKER_04]: Mark Bernad, who was the creator of the Apprentice, and also of Survivor, which I also don't really like that much.
22:06
[SPEAKER_04]: But the Apprentice was the big one.
22:09
[SPEAKER_04]: Mark Bernad created this mythological character called, and I'm doing ear quotes, Donald Trump, who was a successful businessman, who was very strong.
22:21
[SPEAKER_04]: And he looked at these people and he said, you're fired, and that showed his strength.
22:27
[SPEAKER_04]: and that was a mythological character that person doesn't exist.
22:32
[SPEAKER_04]: Donald Trump is actually a person with zero skills who bankrupted three casinos but then six bankruptcies all told because three other bankruptcies had to do with those casinos.
22:46
[SPEAKER_04]: And
22:48
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, I don't think he's very strong.
22:49
[SPEAKER_04]: I think he's actually methodically weak.
22:51
[SPEAKER_04]: But what does it say about us?
22:53
[SPEAKER_01]: What does it say about us?
22:54
[SPEAKER_01]: That we would be drawn to a mythological figure who's tagline is your fire.
23:00
[SPEAKER_01]: And I never, I'll be honest.
23:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I never watched the show because I never did.
23:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I can't imagine that I would be okay with people being fired just out of whim.
23:14
[SPEAKER_04]: But the show got into the zeitgeist, and that's all that matters.
23:19
[SPEAKER_04]: And plenty of people, you know, and we know who they are, did watch the show, and are still walking around going like, oh yeah, so you know, it's a very good business man.
23:29
[SPEAKER_04]: He's very successful.
23:31
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, that's why, of course, right now, he really is a successful business man, because he's great billions of your tax dollars out of the out of the US government.
23:42
[SPEAKER_04]: This guy has figured out finally had to be successful and make money hand over fist when it's your money and it's really pitiful.
24:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Montana is also on the planet.
24:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to get the Montana a little bit because the fact is, you know, Sam's forestead guy, we've had on the show on the past.
24:12
[SPEAKER_01]: I like people like that.
24:14
[SPEAKER_01]: I like working people too.
24:16
[SPEAKER_04]: Who do you smoke, Trevor?
24:18
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm going there before Alaska.
24:21
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm going to do three days with Sam, you know, from here I'm going to go in a Fresno and Merced, you know, and doing stuff, and then I'm going to try to help John Larson out in Connecticut.
24:35
[SPEAKER_04]: We need to keep him because of social security, and then I'm going to a two Montana, Alaska, and after that, the Midwest run.
24:46
[SPEAKER_04]: with Christina Bohannon, Sarah Trone Garriott, these are in Iowa, Lindsey James in between them, which is a little bit more of a sleeper race, but I think is still possible.
24:58
[SPEAKER_04]: And then up to Wisconsin three, whoever gets through that primary, I will be in full support of.
25:05
[SPEAKER_04]: And it's a whole run of stuff in the Midwest.
25:08
[SPEAKER_04]: So a lot of opportunities.
25:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Not so much stuff.
25:11
[SPEAKER_04]: And out here in California, don't,
25:15
[SPEAKER_04]: Ignore Randy Villegas, who got through a very tough primary in California, 22, and is taking on David Velodale, and similarly, many routes and now, you know, these were both, I think, upsets of more progressive, actually Hispanic candidates, I don't know if that's a coincidence or not, defeating, um,
25:41
[SPEAKER_04]: more moderate candidates in two really significant house races and I love both of those guys so I'm going to be going to both of both of those and then there's a whole run of Pennsylvania you know which is critically important in the house for the house seats.
26:00
[SPEAKER_04]: which is Janelle Stelsson in the 10th District taking on Scott Perry, Page Cognetti Mayor of Scranton in the eighth district taking on Rob Briss and nothing but insider trading.
26:13
[SPEAKER_04]: Bob Brooks, who we've already talked about and then Bob Harvey in the Brian Fitzpatrick race, which is tougher.
26:20
[SPEAKER_04]: And then New Jersey, Rebecca Bennett, in the seventh district, against Tom Kane Jr., who doesn't even, and we didn't show up for three months, and now said he was depressed, which, you know, look, there's plenty to be depressed.
26:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, there'd be depression.
26:36
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, but I'm not sure that, you know, how do we follow along?
26:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Real quick, how do we follow along?
26:43
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay, so go to Social Security,
26:46
[SPEAKER_04]: works.org, and you'll be able to follow my exploits, or you can follow me, of course, on blue sky.
26:54
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, if you like it, you can even follow me still on X because we, on part of a group that makes sure that people know that we're
27:02
[SPEAKER_04]: out there.
27:03
[SPEAKER_04]: We don't want them to think that we don't exist.
27:07
[SPEAKER_04]: So we still find them on there.
27:09
[SPEAKER_04]: But you know all kinds of social media for me, but you can find that through social security works where I'm going and it's going to be everywhere and by the way Florida is in play.
27:21
[SPEAKER_04]: for seniors out there.
27:24
[SPEAKER_04]: Lots of stuff in Florida is in play.
27:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Lots of frequent flyer miles, John, as you're on the road.
27:29
[SPEAKER_01]: When you come to my neck of the woods, I'd love to see hope you come back and share some good news.
27:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Always great seeing you, my friend.
27:36
[SPEAKER_04]: I will absolutely be sure to look you up, Rick, and I hope you'll come to some of our events outstanding.
27:42
[SPEAKER_01]: John, Bowser,
27:47
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
27:48
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to hear your thoughts anywhere on the long line.
27:52
[SPEAKER_01]: You gonna get out and see Bowser?
27:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me know.
27:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Rick at theworksmithshow.com.
27:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Love that guy.
27:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Back after this.
28:00
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm Rick Smith, and this is Labor History, and this day in Labor History, the year was 1981.
28:07
[SPEAKER_01]: That was the day 13,000 workers in the professional air traffic controllers organization for Pat Co. went out on strike.
28:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Highly stressed workers had been driven to nervous exhaustion by long hours problematic technology and brutal management.
28:22
[SPEAKER_01]: They wanted better pay and working conditions in a 32-hour work week.
28:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Pat co-workers had proven that militancy bred victories throughout the 1970s, but public sector employers went on the offensive as the decade drew to a close.
28:36
[SPEAKER_01]: By the time Ronald Reagan was elected to office automation, deregulation and inflation had taken its toll.
28:42
[SPEAKER_01]: As Joseph McCarton details in his book Collision Course, controllers found new technology unreliable.
28:49
[SPEAKER_01]: They experienced, on average, a computer outage a day in critical moments of takeoffs and landings.
28:55
[SPEAKER_01]: As well, the Airline D Regulation Act and the Civil Service Reform Act became law in October 1978, serving to restrict union rights and worse in working conditions.
29:06
[SPEAKER_01]: By the late 1970s, inflation had tripled.
29:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Federal workers, unlike those in the private sector, lacked any cola protections.
29:14
[SPEAKER_01]: In Bolton by their skill level, solidarity, and previous victories, the controllers walked.
29:20
[SPEAKER_01]: In Vulking Taffed Hartley, President Reagan issued a 48-hour back-to-work ultimatum in a historic move.
29:26
[SPEAKER_01]: He fired the strikers, jailed their leaders, enforced costly injunctions that spelled doom for the union and the labor movement.
29:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Many labor activists had hoped the teamsters and machinists would walk out in support.
29:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Instead, the strike was a pivotal moment for labor.
29:42
[SPEAKER_01]: It ushered in an era of unprecedented attacks, not seen since the 1930s.
29:48
[SPEAKER_01]: As Robert weird notes, Pat Koz defeat touched off a new wave of downsizing, de-certification, and concession strikes.
29:56
[SPEAKER_01]: The labor movement continues to suffer its impact today.
30:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Not that it matters, but sometimes I wonder if the potent taste of artificial intelligence ever wonder why they've become so despised.
30:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I doubt it since introspection doesn't seem to be in the DNA of hebristic AI demagogues like Bezos Musk and Zuckerberg.
30:18
[SPEAKER_00]: nor are they programming such qualities into their superintelligent bots?
30:23
[SPEAKER_00]: So, let me help them see themselves.
30:26
[SPEAKER_00]: First, today's eruptions of public hatred toward them are not as they want us to believe, just petty jealousy by people who want to be like them.
30:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Really?
30:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Be like Musk?
30:37
[SPEAKER_00]: His ugliness is not just skin deep.
30:40
[SPEAKER_00]: It emanates from his inner core.
30:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Such aloof AI profiteers have sparked a nationwide purry fire of anger by plundering local water supplies, farmland, electric power, and tax subsidies.
30:53
[SPEAKER_00]: They're callously treating our communities as nothing more than a series of financial transactions for them to consummate.
31:00
[SPEAKER_00]: but people's rebellion is not merely about monetary prices and property.
31:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Fundamentally, it's fueled by corporate elites total disregard for the basic human value of fairness.
31:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Even preschool children comprehend the moral implication of, that's not fair.
31:18
[SPEAKER_00]: The corporate goal rush to an AI future is not about the mystical possibilities of technology, but all fashion greed.
31:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Money elites are grabbing more profits and control, and there's nothing fair about either.
31:32
[SPEAKER_00]: This is Jim Heiter saying, the spreading rebellion against AI arrogance is raising a politically explosive moral question.
31:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Who the hell elected you, selfish screw ups, to dictate our future?
31:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Musk and companies say they don't even believe in democracy, so why would we the people let them remake society in their totalitarian image?
31:53
[SPEAKER_00]: To join your local rebellion, go to jimheiter.com slash data centers.
32:03
[SPEAKER_03]: Welcome back to the Rick Smith show.
32:05
[SPEAKER_03]: Now here is Rick Smith.
32:10
[SPEAKER_01]: So you've heard me talk about my experience.
32:14
[SPEAKER_01]: First week on the job as a card carrying teamster.
32:17
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just a kid.
32:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I just didn't know what I didn't know.
32:20
[SPEAKER_01]: And an old timer came over to me and said, hey, put his arm around me and said, hey, kid, we're going to make a teamster out of you yet.
32:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And began to give me some advice and it was that advice in those first couple weeks that really stuck with me and one of those being, you know, make sure before you get used to spending all this money all this big union money that you're making now make sure you stick a little bit away you put some money in a sock in a drawer in a bank account somewhere.
32:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Where you know what if when bad things happen you're gonna be okay his philosophy was you might have to go on strike We might need that fund, but also you know when bad things happen because I look at myself I you know not too long ago herniated a disk in my back and thank goodness for my union's short term disability fund, but also
33:04
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I got one of my own and this is again, they had that old time or said some of those things.
33:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe it's what we should be talking about and that's why I've asked Andrew Haley to come share some thoughts with the customer.
33:15
[SPEAKER_01]: He is the president of union one.
33:16
[SPEAKER_01]: I just came across the work that they do.
33:19
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think this is really important stuff for every union member ought to pay attention to it.
33:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Andrew, thanks for taking time for us.
33:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for having me you know I go back to that that initial meeting of the old timer saying hey, you know what we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna make you okay and part of it was economic so I think about myself and you know thank goodness for my my my union's disability funds and thank goodness for some things I've taken an advantage of but your company kind of fills some of those gaps in providing some some basic background and some basic services doesn't it?
33:56
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, we do, we specialize in income protection benefits.
34:00
[SPEAKER_02]: We find that when union workers get sick or injured, that is not covered by workers' camp, they often find themselves in a predicament, right?
34:11
[SPEAKER_02]: A medical tragedy turns into a financial tragedy because while they have great medical insurance that can cover the expense of whatever procedure they need, the time off work recovering, put them in the poor house.
34:25
[SPEAKER_02]: anybody that's in that situation.
34:27
[SPEAKER_02]: So unions making income protection, supplemental benefits, short-term disability, long-term disability, available to their members.
34:35
[SPEAKER_02]: Really is providing their members a lifeline that most of them are going to need at some point in the career.
34:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely, especially if you work for a living and this is where I come back to, you know, I've been a truck driver for over 35 years and the reality is it takes a toll on your body, but also at home.
34:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Oddly enough, I got hurt at home, which is why I needed both my union short-term disability and also a private one that I purchased.
34:59
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think you play both those roles, don't you?
35:03
[SPEAKER_02]: We do.
35:04
[SPEAKER_02]: Primarily, we only work with labor unions in helping them offer their members voluntary disability and life insurance benefits.
35:13
[SPEAKER_02]: But the unique thing is that when unions
35:20
[SPEAKER_02]: They can make an program available to the members that is guaranteed approved.
35:25
[SPEAKER_02]: No question, no medical questions asked, nobody can be declined and every eligible member.
35:31
[SPEAKER_02]: And eligibility is determined by are you a dues paying member and are you actively working?
35:34
[SPEAKER_02]: And if so, you cannot be declined.
35:38
[SPEAKER_02]: The rates are more affordable than members would be able to buy on their own, and the union is simply the policy holder, so there's no cost to the union.
35:46
[SPEAKER_02]: There's no extra work on union leaders.
35:49
[SPEAKER_02]: We handle everything from enrollment to service to claim support for your members or for the members.
35:54
[SPEAKER_02]: And members are given access to a benefit that they cannot be declined to get if they just elect a participate.
35:59
[SPEAKER_01]: So as I'm here and this is the focus solely on folks who are put to go got a union card in their wallet.
36:05
[SPEAKER_01]: So I guess I guess the question I've got for you, how did you get to this focus strictly on unions and the members?
36:13
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, the truth is that with rising healthcare costs and with the collective bargaining agreements being so focused on wage and healthcare, income protection benefits have been the one give.
36:25
[SPEAKER_02]: So we were fortunate enough to get asked by a Wisconsin railroad labor union back in 2010.
36:34
[SPEAKER_02]: When they lost their disability benefits in a collective bargaining agreement to solve the problem for them.
36:42
[SPEAKER_02]: And really the problem we solved was that, well, well, everybody needs these benefits.
36:47
[SPEAKER_02]: it's not easy to put them in place.
36:49
[SPEAKER_02]: Employers don't want to pay for them.
36:51
[SPEAKER_02]: Unions aren't set up to educate and form their members of this ability benefit offerings.
36:57
[SPEAKER_02]: And they have to find a way to pay for them because payroll deduction is an option and many insurance companies don't want to roll these types of benefits out unless it's payroll deducted.
37:06
[SPEAKER_02]: So we created the solution
37:08
[SPEAKER_02]: to enroll and educate members, allow them to pay for it through an ACH private transaction from their own personal checking or savings accounts.
37:16
[SPEAKER_02]: So the Union plays no role in the administration, no role in the payment processing, and members can get the benefits that they need.
37:23
[SPEAKER_02]: And shortly after we put that plan in force for one railward labor union, we ended up working with the
37:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, because it's like, you know, I, I, I got a short term policy in the private marker, and it's fairly expensive.
37:40
[SPEAKER_01]: And I wish that my union had done that to that point.
37:42
[SPEAKER_01]: I now, I now, they're moving towards it.
37:44
[SPEAKER_01]: I know there's organizations like yours.
37:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Because, you know, look, you work for a living, something's going to happen.
37:51
[SPEAKER_01]: And I look at my friends in the building trades, I look at my friends in the trucking industry and other transportation industries, warehouse workers, stuff happens when the body starts to break down, you know, you need that protection, as you said a moment ago.
38:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Income protection is so incredibly vital, and I think about it in my own life.
38:09
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we were able to collect for six months and it made that healing process so much easier.
38:15
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, we listen, we ensure everything that matters to us, right?
38:18
[SPEAKER_02]: We buy insurance from our homes or cars.
38:20
[SPEAKER_02]: We only ensure our toys, our jewelry.
38:24
[SPEAKER_02]: And the one thing that most people don't ensure is what funds everything in your life and that's your income.
38:29
[SPEAKER_02]: And the reason most people don't is or just isn't enough awareness around it.
38:35
[SPEAKER_02]: There isn't enough opportunity to get it.
38:37
[SPEAKER_02]: If you go to your typical trademen,
38:40
[SPEAKER_02]: or truck driver, you know, in your case, went to their local state farm all-state American family agent and tried to buy a disability policy.
38:46
[SPEAKER_02]: They'd probably be declined simply because of the craft to work they do.
38:51
[SPEAKER_02]: Let alone, if they can pass the health parameters that these insurance companies put out, you know, height and weight parameters, you smoke, you're out.
38:58
[SPEAKER_02]: Do you see a chiropractor, you're out?
38:59
[SPEAKER_02]: Do you have pre-existing conditions?
39:00
[SPEAKER_02]: We're not going to cover those.
39:02
[SPEAKER_02]: With these programs, done at a group level through union one,
39:06
[SPEAKER_02]: Everybody is approved.
39:07
[SPEAKER_02]: It doesn't matter what your height and weight is.
39:09
[SPEAKER_02]: It doesn't matter if you smoke, it doesn't matter what your preexisting conditions are.
39:12
[SPEAKER_02]: The union is making available to everybody and everybody has the same guarantee to prove access to the program.
39:17
[SPEAKER_01]: And it is that guaranteed acceptance that makes you guys different.
39:21
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the union advantage.
39:23
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, ultimately, one of the things I talk about all the time, Andrew, is the union advantage.
39:27
[SPEAKER_01]: the advantage of people coming together collectively doing in their interest what we can't individually do.
39:33
[SPEAKER_01]: And this sounds like one of those, one of those things that I'm all on on.
39:37
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, not only that, but I think that in today's labor world, like in the environment we live in today with with right to work and with the Janice ruling unions,
39:49
[SPEAKER_02]: really have to give their members more reasons to pay dues.
39:53
[SPEAKER_02]: And what we believe is that when unions show up for their members outside of the workplace, when they show up at home, and when somebody's sick and injured and unable to work, and it's because of their union that they can get by that disability and recover with dignity and get back to work when they're healthy,
40:11
[SPEAKER_02]: when they show up their home for things like the mortgage programs that we offer or a college tuition rewards program and deliver meaningful value when their kids are going to college by taking that same collective strength.
40:23
[SPEAKER_02]: and leveraging it to deliver value to members in their everyday lives.
40:27
[SPEAKER_02]: It really makes that doos payment more of an investment in their future and it allows the union to be a true partner in their members' lives.
40:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's talk about the future because the reality is I go back to that old time or put his arm around me and told me, you know, we're going to be okay.
40:42
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of it was economic.
40:44
[SPEAKER_01]: It was about, you know, hey, thinking about the future.
40:45
[SPEAKER_01]: You may have to go on strike at some point, make sure you got some money set aside.
40:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Make sure that you do have some money set aside for it.
40:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, you may have a kid.
40:53
[SPEAKER_01]: You may something come along.
40:55
[SPEAKER_01]: You guys do a lot of that kind of planning and help that maybe a truck driver like me wasn't thinking about it 1920 years old.
41:03
[SPEAKER_01]: So there's an opportunity to maybe a little education process here.
41:06
[SPEAKER_02]: No doubt about it, listen, we build the programs, we service the programs, we create, we designing, we create the programs that allow unions to show up for their members at life's most meaningful moments for them.
41:19
[SPEAKER_02]: Like I said, when they're buying a home and they're put their kids through college, when they're retiring, when they're off-secret injury, got forbid the worst case scenario, the death of a loved one through our group life insurance programs.
41:29
[SPEAKER_02]: But the truth of the matter is, none of the programs are possible without the union,
41:34
[SPEAKER_02]: bringing us in and partnering with us and making these programs available to the membership so that we can leverage the size and strength of their union to be a true partner to them.
41:45
[SPEAKER_02]: So they can be even better partner to their members.
41:48
[SPEAKER_02]: And we've been so fortunate.
41:50
[SPEAKER_02]: We work with the Teamsters, the Teamsters VIP that stands for voluntary protection plan.
41:55
[SPEAKER_02]: The Teamsters VIP plus plan is available now to all 1.3 plus million Teamsters nationwide
42:04
[SPEAKER_02]: brother at a local mode of engineers and trainmen.
42:07
[SPEAKER_02]: You name it just about every craft we're working with in some capacity and it's because of them that we exist and we never lose sight of that privilege.
42:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Tell me about the, your, your most, your, your member value to programs.
42:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Because like, you know, it's, as you said, it's not just short-term disabilities, not just life insurance.
42:25
[SPEAKER_01]: It's about all of the stuff.
42:27
[SPEAKER_01]: So tell me a little bit about that.
42:28
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, well, well, MVP really is too,
42:33
[SPEAKER_02]: two meanings.
42:33
[SPEAKER_02]: One is we want to be a union's most valued partner.
42:36
[SPEAKER_02]: We want to help them deliver member-valued programs to their memberships so that they can show up for their members outside of the workplace at their members' most meaningful moment.
42:48
[SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, for example, we have a home-buying program called Home-Ahead and it allows
42:56
[SPEAKER_02]: Union members to go through, you know, an advocacy program where a union one home advocate works with them to prepare the documentation get through the readiness process and at the end when they're ready to apply for the loan if they go through one of the banks that are partnered with us.
43:13
[SPEAKER_02]: Those banks, because they're not paying originators, have agreed to reduce the rate that they qualify for on their mortgage.
43:20
[SPEAKER_02]: And in a lot of cases, we've seen people who've gone through our program save more on their mortgage every month than they pay and dues to their union.
43:28
[SPEAKER_02]: But it's only because they make that to his payment that they're eligible for this.
43:32
[SPEAKER_02]: And so, yeah, the member-valued programs are not discount programs, they're not your, you know, your typical savings plan that program that anybody can get through a credit card or through, you know, some form of membership.
43:45
[SPEAKER_02]: This is only being caring, you know, do's paying member of a union that partners with union one gets access to these programs.
43:55
[SPEAKER_02]: and what we've found is that it's helping unions attract more members, retain more members, engage their membership more, and that's what we're all about.
44:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I said, value-edited proposition of holding that union card.
44:06
[SPEAKER_01]: And I love the fact that you pointed out that as being a union member, you get access to a program that actually could save you all the money, all the money back at what you're paying and you're doing, because I say this all the time, being part of a larger unit, a collective union,
44:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Give you the opportunity to have the buying power and the purchasing power you can individually and I look at my health insurance my health insurance has been phenomenal I have nothing but amazing things about to say about the central Pennsylvania health and welfare fund in fact every person in this country should have the kind of insurance that I have but it's only accessible
44:40
[SPEAKER_01]: because I carry that union card because they fight for that, they negotiate for it, they push for it.
44:46
[SPEAKER_01]: And it sounds like this is what we're doing in all of these other arenas where maybe Wall Street was lying in their pockets.
44:53
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you're looking at how, hey, how do we take care of the members?
44:56
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, we want to move one out of the banks pocket, and into the members' pockets, we want to move it out of the college's pockets and into the members' pockets when they're putting their kids through college.
45:05
[SPEAKER_02]: We want to move it out of the insurance company's pockets and into the members' pockets when when God forbid, you know, tragedy strikes and the truth is that your point, so many union members, have quality, the best Cadillac health insurance plans.
45:19
[SPEAKER_02]: And you know how many of them never use them, they go to work marginally disabled every day.
45:23
[SPEAKER_02]: They got a hip that needs to be replaced or a knee that or a rotator cuff that's torn and they need to have the surgery.
45:29
[SPEAKER_02]: And they have great insurance that would be able to do it but they instead go to work every single day injured because they can't afford the time off worth of covering from that surgery.
45:38
[SPEAKER_02]: Our income protection plans our VIP program gives the strength back to the member allows them to get healthier and we're we're all about making a healthier workforce man when when the workforce is healthier and able to take care of their body ailments and listen if you're in the trades your body starts getting disabled from the first day you get on the job eventually it's going to be it's going to break down and you know that tool is going to break and so.
46:02
[SPEAKER_02]: having access to the volunteering and production programs that we offer only because their unions make it available to them.
46:08
[SPEAKER_02]: It allows people to use that health insurance plan a little bit more wisely.
46:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
46:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm actually living in bodyment of that.
46:14
[SPEAKER_01]: I had a hit per place.
46:16
[SPEAKER_01]: I was offered about six months going through it exactly what you said.
46:20
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's one of those things where I've become an advocate to younger guys.
46:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Kind of like the old timer did for me.
46:25
[SPEAKER_01]: This is what, this is not generations move through the process of passing stuff along.
46:31
[SPEAKER_01]: the work that you do.
46:33
[SPEAKER_01]: No, you know, tech technology's coming into some of this as well.
46:37
[SPEAKER_01]: You said a moment ago, it doesn't come through to do this deduction that there's a way of doing some private stuff because I think unions have to figure out, you know, since Janus, especially our public sector workers, they've had to figure out how to maybe to get around what we've gotten used to, which is, you know, do you check off in the paycheck?
46:55
[SPEAKER_01]: You guys have done a little bit of that as well.
46:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Walk me through some of the techy work you do.
46:59
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
46:59
[SPEAKER_02]: So we have a full tech company in Denver.
47:02
[SPEAKER_02]: It's called Union Hub.
47:04
[SPEAKER_02]: My brother actually and I own the company.
47:07
[SPEAKER_02]: My brother runs it.
47:08
[SPEAKER_02]: And we built the technology to be able to serve as an educational and enrollment platform that members could also elect benefits on and pay for the benefits that they elect
47:22
[SPEAKER_02]: 24, 7 from the comfort of their own home through our proprietary technology.
47:26
[SPEAKER_02]: So what it's allowed is for the unions to be able to offer these types of benefits to their members at scale and their members not be subjected to aggressive sales techniques, right?
47:37
[SPEAKER_02]: Like we don't have sales people.
47:39
[SPEAKER_02]: We do everything during open enrollment.
47:41
[SPEAKER_02]: So when a union brings our plans into their membership, our MVP programs into their membership, they're given an open enrollment that's typically a 30 or 68 period of time.
47:51
[SPEAKER_02]: During that time, members will get an email, they'll get a text, they'll say, hey, this is the link to enroll if you want to participate in these benefits, this is the link to learn more if you'd want and members can do it at their own time, it's it's there's no aggressive sales techniques, nobody shows up your home, nobody calls you, it's simply you have to act as a union member if you want to get enrolled in the technology allows people to do that when they're ready and the comfort of their own home without any pressure for many sales people.
48:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Union1.com is the website and your last question I've got for you, you know and the years you've been doing this I'm sure you've collected thousands of stories.
48:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Is there a story that pops out in your mind?
48:33
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I talk about myself and how fortunately I had a program like yours helped us do exactly what you said I was able to stop being in pain all the time at the time to heal any particular story that sticks out in your mind you want to share
48:48
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, there are so many, we actually do claim stories when we have really unique situations.
48:53
[SPEAKER_02]: We have a production company and a media department that will go out and tell individual stories and how these benefits made the difference.
49:00
[SPEAKER_02]: The one that stood out the most to me was a railroad union member who's an engineer on the Union Pacific Railroad and he got cancer and he had short-term and long-term disability and ultimately when his,
49:17
[SPEAKER_02]: when he beat cancer, he wrote a long letter to me and actually told a story on camera that because he had these benefits, he was able to afford alternative treatment that his health insurance company didn't approve.
49:34
[SPEAKER_02]: And because he was able, he had the funds coming in from his disability benefits to be able to pay for that treatment, he's alive today.
49:42
[SPEAKER_02]: And so, you know,
49:45
[SPEAKER_02]: I like to believe that we're doing really good work, you know, we're not, we're not saving babies, but when people have access to programs that allow them to focus on themselves and and and and put themselves first for once in their life when they need to do that the most that means a lot.
50:02
[SPEAKER_02]: So to hear somebody say that these benefits were the difference between life and death for them.
50:06
[SPEAKER_02]: No, it made, it made everything we do really worthwhile.
50:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Makes it all worthwhile.
50:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Andrew Haley, I appreciate you taking time for us.
50:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Union1.com, the website.
50:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Check out the work they do.
50:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Andrew, thanks so much.
50:18
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you so much.
50:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Want to hear your thoughts?
50:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Email me, Rick at therixmithshow.com.
50:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Is this something new?
50:24
[SPEAKER_01]: You think about, I'll be honest with you.
50:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Greatful, greatful.
50:29
[SPEAKER_01]: I had mine, Rick at Therixmithshow.com.
50:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Right back, stick around.
50:41
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm Rick Smith, and this is Labor History Inter.
50:45
[SPEAKER_01]: This day in Labor History, the year was 1912.
50:48
[SPEAKER_01]: That was the day that became known in California as the Wheatland riot.
50:53
[SPEAKER_01]: The industrial workers of the world, or wobbleies, were trying to organize hot pickers who worked near the city of Wheatland in northern California.
51:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Living conditions for the hot pickers were rough.
51:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Durst Ranch was the largest agricultural employer in the state, hiring hundreds of seasonal farm workers each summer.
51:12
[SPEAKER_01]: The Durst workers slept in tents.
51:14
[SPEAKER_01]: The bathrooms were latrine ditches dug into the ground.
51:17
[SPEAKER_01]: The well water they drank was contaminated and fouled.
51:21
[SPEAKER_01]: The northern California heat was excruciating, with temperatures soaring above 100 degrees.
51:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And while the temperatures were high, the wages were unbearably low.
51:31
[SPEAKER_01]: On this fateful day, thousands of workers gathered to hear IWW Organizer, Richard Ford, talk about calling a strike.
51:39
[SPEAKER_01]: In response, the local sheriff formed a posse to arrest Ford.
51:43
[SPEAKER_01]: During the arrest, one of the posse shot his gun into the air to disperse the crowd.
51:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Chaos erupted.
51:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Gunfire was exchanged for people laid death, including the District Attorney, a deputy sheriff, a worker and a young boy.
51:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Authorities blame the IWW for the violence.
52:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Ford stood trial for causing the riot even though he had fired no shots.
52:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Another wobbly organizer, who was not even there that day, was also tried for the events at Wheatland.
52:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Both received sentences of life in prison for second-degree murder.
52:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Today, an historic marker commemorates the site.
52:18
[SPEAKER_01]: It explains that the event, quote, focused public opinion for the first time on the plight of California's agricultural laborers.
52:26
[SPEAKER_01]: and resulted in new state legislation to regulate labor camp conditions.
52:31
[SPEAKER_01]: A new state commission on immigration and housing was created to improve working conditions.
52:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Like what you hear, check out more at laborhistoryintu.com.
52:53
[SPEAKER_01]: So the reality is, the union advantage is very clear.
52:56
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm gonna say in this for years, it's nothing new you've heard me talk about better wages, better hours, better conditions, better pay.
53:03
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, better health insurance benefits, sick leave, all of the things vacation, pay time off, all of those things that they'd unions fight for every day and negotiate retirement benefits, you know, pensions, defined benefit pensions, safe working conditions, job security, you know, do process,
53:21
[SPEAKER_01]: uh... just cause production all that the end of at will employment those important things uh... you know a stronger voice and in what happens to you during the work day in scheduling or hours uh... protection from harassment and intimidation and all of that but beyond that and it looked if that weren't enough uh... what you need to do really well is they uh...
53:46
[SPEAKER_01]: they protect the whole family, you know, not just the individual worker while you're at work and this is this is something I don't think it's talked about enough and I look at myself.
53:56
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm about ready to have a hip replacement surgery done.
53:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I just got the bill from my, I just got the estimate from the, the, the, the doctor's office.
54:06
[SPEAKER_01]: They worked with the insurer.
54:07
[SPEAKER_01]: They, they mocked up an estimate.
54:08
[SPEAKER_01]: My surgery is going to be almost $41,000.
54:12
[SPEAKER_01]: To get a brand new shiny titanium hip to match the other one.
54:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, because look at the end of, you know, what have been doing this almost 40 years of manual labor of, you know, picking things up and putting them down.
54:31
[SPEAKER_01]: And for that, that $41,000 surgery, which is remarkable, my out-of-pocket expense is 90 bucks.
54:40
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's the hospital fee, that 90 bucks, that's it.
54:45
[SPEAKER_01]: And a $30 for the first visit for the doctor, 120 bucks total for all of the surgery.
54:56
[SPEAKER_01]: And look, I'm not saying this.
54:57
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not pointing this out because look how lucky I am.
55:00
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm saying that everyone.
55:01
[SPEAKER_01]: This is this is how it should be for everyone and understand you know years ago, it wasn't even the 120 bucks.
55:08
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the this is everyone pulling even the union insurance down.
55:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Just not nearly as fast as everyone else goes through it because I just talked to somebody who's like, yeah, I got to pay 20% of that.
55:21
[SPEAKER_01]: which, you know, I'm sorry, do the math.
55:24
[SPEAKER_01]: 20% of that's 8200 bucks.
55:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Because they're deductibles 10 grand.
55:32
[SPEAKER_01]: So you start and you start thinking about all of the things that you need to do bring and it's quite remarkable.
55:37
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the one thing that Andy hit on that I think is really important as well.
55:41
[SPEAKER_01]: The reason that I invited Andy to come on the program.
55:46
[SPEAKER_01]: understand, you know, I've got great health insurance.
55:48
[SPEAKER_01]: I still need to have, you know, some way to put food on the table.
55:53
[SPEAKER_01]: And I have, you know, our union to negotiate short-term disability.
55:56
[SPEAKER_01]: So we get a bit out of that.
55:58
[SPEAKER_01]: But you can also, you know, get other things to help and unions do that as well.
56:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Do that really well.
56:04
[SPEAKER_01]: They negotiate that stuff.
56:05
[SPEAKER_01]: They really, they really push for it.
56:07
[SPEAKER_01]: And for me, that's, it's that whole, that whole world.
56:13
[SPEAKER_01]: we don't talk enough about the whole package and understand and I've said this for years.
56:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I've got a lobbyist in Harrisburg.
56:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I've got a lobbyist in DC who are looking out for my economic interests because unions do lobby.
56:28
[SPEAKER_01]: They are out there pushing right now.
56:30
[SPEAKER_01]: They're pushing for this faster labor contract act.
56:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Which I think is, you know, great, let's get that done.
56:36
[SPEAKER_01]: If we can,
56:41
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not the answer, not what we need, but it's a small step in getting us a bit closer to at least when you win an organizing campaign, that you at least got to negotiate that first contract, which we know is incredibly difficult to get and takes months and months if not years or ever to actually get pen to paper and signatures and ink.
57:07
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, so for me, this is, this is one of those moments where I come back to there's so much that the seven seconds sound by doesn't get us like union.
57:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I'm right there.
57:21
[SPEAKER_01]: But why?
57:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Wages hours conditions opportunity.
57:26
[SPEAKER_01]: all of those things for me match it and yeah uh... the hyperplacement is coming uh... but my soul lay that out as well august twelve we're going to be going in uh... to have that done will hear the program going to be off for i'm hoping two weeks uh... so we'll be we'll be looking back at the list of the stuff we put out recently uh... for that two weeks and i hope people wish me well
57:52
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll tell you I had it done seven years six years ago and probably the smartest thing I did Because it took me 10 years to decide to go and have it done not wait that long this time around so For programming purposes, that's that's what's going to be happening if you want to Hey, oh, I where you bad that's where I'm gonna be all right and
58:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, I come back to how grateful I am in the moment to have the access to the kind of health insurance that I have, that was negotiated by my team, Sturgeonan.
58:23
[SPEAKER_01]: And this isn't unique to me.
58:25
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why I think these stories are so important and why I think it's important for people to really sit back and think about for themselves.
58:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, what kind of situation would I be in?
58:35
[SPEAKER_01]: And I've had this conversation with numerous people recently since I got the bill.
58:40
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, they're going really, that's it.
58:42
[SPEAKER_01]: And I've showed them I go, here it is right here.
58:44
[SPEAKER_01]: It's quite remarkable.
58:45
[SPEAKER_01]: And what's even more remarkable is out of a $41,000 bill that the guy actually doing the surgery, the doctor, only gets 1,400 bucks of it.
58:55
[SPEAKER_01]: But again, it seems kind of low for the guy who's literally chopping my leg off.
59:02
[SPEAKER_01]: That is what it is.
59:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, do you have a union story?
59:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you have an advantage story?
59:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you got one of those?
59:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, I did this.
59:09
[SPEAKER_01]: My union does this.
59:10
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to hear it.
59:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Rick at theworksmithshow.com.
59:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Mr. D. portion of the program.
59:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Make sure you grab the podcast.
59:16
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll wherever you get your favorite podcast.
59:18
[SPEAKER_01]: You'll find hours from iTunes and Amazon and all of those places.
59:22
[SPEAKER_01]: It's literally everywhere.
59:24
[SPEAKER_01]: And as always, thanks so much for being here.
59:27
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll see you back your next time.
59:42
[SPEAKER_03]: You've been listening to the Rick Smith Show.
59:46
[SPEAKER_03]: Email Rack at RickSmithshow.com.
59:54
[SPEAKER_03]: Until next time, this has been the Rick Smith Show, where working people come to talk.