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The Rick Smith Show 10-22-2026 · The Rick Smith Show

0:00
[SPEAKER_04]: It's time for the Rick Smith show!
0:02
[SPEAKER_05]: Now, here is the voice of the working class, Rick Smith.
0:16
[SPEAKER_06]: And welcome, brothers, sisters working class heroes.
0:21
[SPEAKER_06]: This is the RxMet Show.
0:22
[SPEAKER_06]: Thanks so much for being here.
0:24
[SPEAKER_06]: Today, I have a big program.
0:25
[SPEAKER_06]: Lots to get to, lots to talk about.
0:27
[SPEAKER_06]: I don't know if you've been paying attention, you've been watching Trump out on the campaign trail, slipping, rambling, more than usual, which is, which is a lot of rambling.
0:38
[SPEAKER_06]: I gotta be honest.
0:40
[SPEAKER_06]: it's it's wow way off on the deep end still talking about cognitive tests and how he's the smartest best ever still talking about the election still talking just lots of I can't imagine hours hours on and the listening
1:00
[SPEAKER_06]: To him and look I do some of it.
1:02
[SPEAKER_06]: I I can't get through all of it But I do I do pick and choose and and I came across one of his statements in Kansas And look we've always known the Trump is is going it's all about punishing the perceived enemies All that's anybody who doesn't vote for him.
1:20
[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, you're you You're on American if you don't vote for him right At least that's what he believes and
1:29
[SPEAKER_06]: He's in Kansas talking about Roger Marshall, who I think is going to lose.
1:33
[SPEAKER_06]: I think there's a good chance that Roger Marshall loses that seat that hasn't seen a Democrat sitting in what 107 years because just how bad one he is and how bad they've done.
1:48
[SPEAKER_06]: And the fact that Marshall is embracing Trump to come and stump for him, tells you how desperate how desperate Marshall is.
1:59
[SPEAKER_03]: And with rods your marshal in the Senate, we will make year round E-15 permanent.
2:05
[SPEAKER_03]: But if Adam Hamilton is in, I'm not doing it.
2:09
[SPEAKER_03]: That's it.
2:11
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm only doing it for him.
2:16
[SPEAKER_03]: That's a big deal for Kansas, actually.
2:19
[SPEAKER_06]: And with rock, but I thought yeah help me here because I thought I thought when he sold his sold the Russia that was the big deal remember we're supposed to get all this diesel coming and it was supposed to be really it's supposed to lower the price immediately not in my neighborhood it the price actually went up.
2:37
[SPEAKER_06]: So now we're going to E 15 which is a little bit cheaper and now they're going to they're going to they're going to do more of this
2:47
[SPEAKER_06]: only however, if they win.
2:53
[SPEAKER_06]: So basically America, I get what I want or you suffer.
3:01
[SPEAKER_06]: I win my elections or you suffer.
3:05
[SPEAKER_06]: And if the other guy gets in, I'm going to do everything I can
3:14
[SPEAKER_06]: And I got to be honest with you, that is not, that's not how our system's supposed to work.
3:19
[SPEAKER_06]: Now you go, but Rick, you know, there's always been some of that, yeah, Republicans have done it really well.
3:24
[SPEAKER_06]: Democrats have been the ones who, and I've argued for years that, you know, the good government people do the right thing, even though it's in to their detriment.
3:34
[SPEAKER_06]: Joe Biden, lots of investment in red states.
3:38
[SPEAKER_06]: when you go hey wait a second what about the loyal states not about punishing the the disloyal so to speak but it's about helping those who were who helped you and most of the southern states got some investment in renewables that trump is now gone and killed which again is one of those weird moments regocances what uh seriously what uh
4:04
[SPEAKER_06]: But hey, you know, maybe they'll get cheaper guys.
4:07
[SPEAKER_06]: Maybe maybe the E15 is enough in the five grand.
4:11
[SPEAKER_06]: That everyone seems that maybe possibly think that will actually somehow possibly come to fruition if Trump gets what he wants.
4:19
[SPEAKER_06]: And if you believe that, you might as well believe that they've got a healthcare plan just rip ready to go.
4:24
[SPEAKER_06]: Gonna get you cheap healthcare.
4:26
[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, that back after this.
4:35
[SPEAKER_06]: And I'm Rick Smith, and this is Labor History Inter.
4:39
[SPEAKER_06]: On this day in Labor History, the year was 2001.
4:42
[SPEAKER_06]: That was the day that Thomas Morris Jr died from breathing in anthrax.
4:47
[SPEAKER_06]: A week earlier, he had been exposed to the deadly poison when an envelope containing the powdery substance was opened at the Mail Distribution Center where he worked.
4:56
[SPEAKER_06]: Thomas Morris was a member of the American Postal Workers Union.
5:00
[SPEAKER_06]: His union brother, Joseph Kersin, died two days later.
5:03
[SPEAKER_06]: Both men worked at the U.S.
5:05
[SPEAKER_06]: Postal Service Brentwood Processing and Distribution Center in Washington, D.C.
5:10
[SPEAKER_06]: The poisoned letters were addressed to Senators Tom Dashall and Patrick Lehi.
5:14
[SPEAKER_06]: More postal workers at a Distribution Center in New Jersey also fell ill from exposure to anthrax poisoned mail.
5:21
[SPEAKER_06]: In total, 22 people were seconded by anthrax that fall from letters addressed to politicians and news outlets.
5:28
[SPEAKER_06]: In addition to those injured, five people died, including a seven-month-old infant who was visiting NBC News in New York City with his mother who worked there.
5:38
[SPEAKER_06]: Coming the month after the September 11 attacks, the anthrax poisoning sent another wave of fear of terrorism throughout the
5:46
[SPEAKER_06]: United States.
5:47
[SPEAKER_06]: The Brentwood Distribution Center was closed down for decontamination until December 2003.
5:53
[SPEAKER_06]: When it reopened, the facility was renamed for the two fallen postal workers.
5:58
[SPEAKER_06]: The next year, Senator Joe Lieberman gave an address to the APWU.
6:02
[SPEAKER_06]: He said, quote, the postal workers who were exposed to anthrax and still got the mail out and kept our system running.
6:09
[SPEAKER_06]: They are proud union members.
6:12
[SPEAKER_06]: I know I'll never forget that and America won't forget that.
6:15
[SPEAKER_06]: All of you at the APWU deserve our respect and our support.
6:20
[SPEAKER_06]: One person suspected of the poisonings committed suicide and the case was closed.
6:25
[SPEAKER_06]: No one was ever convicted of the crimes.
6:28
[SPEAKER_06]: For more information, go to laborhistoryintu.com, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter at LaborHistoryintu.
6:38
[SPEAKER_05]: Welcome back to the Rick Smith Show.
6:40
[SPEAKER_05]: Now, here is Rick Smith.
6:46
[SPEAKER_06]: So yesterday on the Daily Jolts, our radio program, and you can check that out, the Daily Jolt with Rick Smith, wherever you get your podcasts, make sure you check that also your dailyjolt.com, our website.
6:58
[SPEAKER_06]: But we're talking about the Trump folks and the Republicans and their love of working people.
7:05
[SPEAKER_06]: And how the whole no tax on tips people were really out there working really hard to make sure you don't get tips.
7:12
[SPEAKER_06]: Just like working really hard
7:16
[SPEAKER_06]: But the narrative that they spin and you got to give them credit, they know the right cords to play Is that they actually care about working people But when you look at what Trump's Department of Labor is done not great Not even good And that's why I've asked David Borer to come share some thoughts with us David is an employment lawyer with Gilbert Employment Law I can check out their website at g e lawyer dot com David, thanks for the time for us
7:43
[SPEAKER_04]: Thanks for having me on, Rick.
7:45
[SPEAKER_06]: So I'm looking at this latest edict from the Department of Labor saying that they're going to withdraw three opinion letters on tipped employment, because the other, at first my, my thought was, it, you know, it's just something the Biden people did.
8:00
[SPEAKER_06]: Everything Biden did is bad.
8:02
[SPEAKER_06]: Everything Biden did has to be has to be repealed.
8:05
[SPEAKER_06]: And then I looked a little bit further and I'm like, no, this is more than just undoing something that Biden did.
8:09
[SPEAKER_06]: This is really a giant.
8:12
[SPEAKER_06]: after you to tipped employees.
8:14
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, really is.
8:15
[SPEAKER_04]: And some of these rules go back to the 80s, so it wasn't Biden and hell.
8:20
[SPEAKER_04]: But yeah, they like to, you know, brag about the no tax on tips thing, which on tax law alone wasn't what it was portrayed to be.
8:31
[SPEAKER_04]: It's not really that beneficial.
8:33
[SPEAKER_04]: But then on, you know, they, they, what they give was one hand, they take away with the other, right?
8:41
[SPEAKER_04]: would change what was known as the 80-20 rule so that employers in the hospitality industry can pay tip to employees for all of their time, even when they're not doing tip work, if they're working in the back of the house, if they're bus and tables or filling the salt shakers, they used to have to track that and if it was more than 20% of their work, they had to pay the
9:10
[SPEAKER_04]: Now, they won't have to track that, and they can get away with paying the tip wage and make up the difference with the tips.
9:26
[SPEAKER_04]: So essentially you're shifting the wage burden for that extra amount over the minimum wage,
9:38
[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, and just so just so people are clear, the tipped minimum wage hasn't changed since 1996.
9:45
[SPEAKER_06]: If my math is right, and I think it is, that was 30 years ago, that means a waiter or waitress 30 years ago was making the exact same hourly wage as they are now.
9:59
[SPEAKER_06]: They could have retired and never seen a wage increase.
10:03
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, it's really.
10:06
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, the whole idea of it is an athlete of me, that you can claim justification to pay anybody to.
10:14
[SPEAKER_04]: But what is it to 13 or to 33 or something an hour now?
10:18
[SPEAKER_06]: 2013 on the federal level, it's been that right since 1996.
10:21
[SPEAKER_06]: Where I live in Pennsylvania, I believe it's a whopping $2.96.
10:27
[SPEAKER_06]: So there's that 83 cent huge raise that workers in Pennsylvania, I'm surprised there are any waitress jobs or waiter jobs in this state with that wage difference.
10:38
[SPEAKER_06]: But here we are.
10:40
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, it's a good point to note that it does vary from state to state.
10:45
[SPEAKER_04]: So the federal rule is changing a lot of states have already stepped in because that minimum wage is so low for tipten boys that it's just, you know, you can't justify that.
10:59
[SPEAKER_04]: So a lot of states have stepped in and raised it so that they won't necessarily be affected by this.
11:05
[SPEAKER_06]: But there are some states also, you know, David, to be clear, have done away with the tip to minimum wage, which I think actually has to happen.
11:12
[SPEAKER_06]: So we don't have these kind of these kind of shenanigans going on.
11:17
[SPEAKER_06]: Look, if you show up for work, you should make the minimum, at least the minimum wage.
11:22
[SPEAKER_06]: And if people want to give you tips on top of that, that's the way it should be.
11:26
[SPEAKER_06]: But this idea that 2, 13 an hour, what's the, why even, why even have a wage at all at that rate?
11:34
[SPEAKER_04]: exactly and you know it's the comedian Chris Rock used to do a bit where he said you know what's the the minimum wage what's that about he said that's the employer telling you I would pay you even less but it's against the law you know it's like
11:49
[SPEAKER_04]: Come on, 230, 5 an hour, come on.
11:53
[SPEAKER_04]: It's ridiculous.
11:55
[SPEAKER_04]: Nobody can live on that.
11:57
[SPEAKER_04]: And of course, we all know people that are waiters and waitresses and we hear the horror stories about tipping.
12:05
[SPEAKER_04]: It's just no way to live.
12:07
[SPEAKER_04]: And all this does,
12:10
[SPEAKER_04]: is shift some of the wage burden off of these employers.
12:16
[SPEAKER_04]: So they get richer.
12:18
[SPEAKER_04]: There are revenue stays the same and they get richer because now the tips are permitted to cover more of the minimum wage for non-tip work.
12:28
[SPEAKER_06]: And also, but here's the thing, David, you know, all those tips that not taxed anymore magically, you know, and for at least until Trump leaves office as I understand it, that does sense a sunset after a certain point billionaire tax cuts those are forever.
12:44
[SPEAKER_06]: I'm working no tax on overtime and the no tax on tips that does sunset, but in this as I said when they when they rolled it out, they're just going to figure out how to not get you tips and not get you over time.
12:56
[SPEAKER_06]: And this is kind of where this is kind of playing into that.
13:00
[SPEAKER_04]: That's exactly right.
13:01
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, if you're making 235 an hour taxes aren't your problem.
13:06
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, it's the minimum wages or problem and the employers, manipulation of tips and you know, we all know the conference gate tips and there's tons of abuse that in the past, the wage and hour division that issued this rule would have been out there enforcing and now they're doing something like this to get the employers more money and their pocket instead of the workers.
13:31
[SPEAKER_06]: which is why when when I leave a tip, even if I'm paying for the bill with my credit card, I leave cash on the table so that person can put it in their pocket.
13:39
[SPEAKER_06]: And even that, you know, the sad reality is they're confiscating that even in places where they have to pull tips and there's there's this is where we should be doing away with this, where if you want to give a tip to someone for excellent service, we should do that.
13:53
[SPEAKER_06]: It shouldn't be dependent, they're living, shouldn't be dependent on my generosity.
13:57
[SPEAKER_04]: Now, I absolutely, and, you know, people from other countries look at us like we're crazy for having a system like this.
14:05
[SPEAKER_04]: And, you know, that dovetails with the whole living wage, the movement, right?
14:11
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean,
14:12
[SPEAKER_04]: you can't make a living on this stuff.
14:14
[SPEAKER_04]: And sure, there are restaurants that are busy and popular and a clientele can afford the tip well and whatever, but that's not the norm.
14:26
[SPEAKER_04]: There is a gazillion people working in the industry that are just getting by.
14:31
[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, no, it's terrible.
14:32
[SPEAKER_06]: And this isn't going to help.
14:34
[SPEAKER_06]: Even though they were this administration, you know, claims to be the administration, you know, fighting for the working person.
14:41
[SPEAKER_06]: Well, I would argue fighting to ensure that you don't make it.
14:43
[SPEAKER_06]: And I look at this next thing.
14:45
[SPEAKER_06]: I know Trump has an axe to grind with, you know, especially with AFGE and a number of the other federal unions.
14:53
[SPEAKER_06]: Uh, who, who didn't endorse him, again, retribution payback.
14:58
[SPEAKER_06]: This is part of it, but you know, Trump went after collective bargaining rights for a million federal employees, and I guess back in August, there was a directive that came out of the FDA to its employees saying, oh, by the way,
15:11
[SPEAKER_06]: your labor activities, you might get you into some trouble, not just at work, but at home.
15:17
[SPEAKER_06]: And this is kind of a new step, but I wanted to get your take on on what the directive was, and obviously what a FGE and the treasury union, what they did, but I wanted to get your take on that.
15:29
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, given ancient, they take a mile, right?
15:31
[SPEAKER_04]: So they implement the executive order that basically decimated union rights, collected bargaining in the federal sector.
15:43
[SPEAKER_04]: And then they come around and say, well, since there's no longer collected bargaining rights, you don't have the right in the workplace to do anything connected with union activity.
15:55
[SPEAKER_04]: contrary to many years of the way the law was administered in the past.
16:01
[SPEAKER_04]: And of course, I should say that those executive orders are still something to hold a bunch of litigation.
16:08
[SPEAKER_04]: and remains to be seen how all that'll turn out.
16:11
[SPEAKER_04]: But then they wouldn't be on.
16:13
[SPEAKER_04]: They couldn't just be satisfied with destroying unions in the federal workplace.
16:19
[SPEAKER_04]: They said in the way it was initially announced that you couldn't even do union activity on not work time.
16:30
[SPEAKER_04]: So in my mind, that conjures up in the early days of a labor movement in the 1700s and 1800s.
16:40
[SPEAKER_04]: People that thought they wanted to have a union were meeting in addicts and basements with no lights and no candles and whispering for fear that the some employer would send the sheriff
16:58
[SPEAKER_04]: And, you know, here we are, there's any can't do it even on your own time.
17:03
[SPEAKER_04]: That has since after the unions raised hell about it, that piece is sort of been rescinded in a subsequent letter from the agency's general counsel.
17:17
[SPEAKER_04]: But, you know, they still have a dispute because they're saying the executive ordered Trump's the statute.
17:26
[SPEAKER_04]: The statute has a men repeal.
17:29
[SPEAKER_04]: And so theoretically, these folks still have rights in the workplace.
17:34
[SPEAKER_04]: And this memo that they put out is completely at odds with the law.
17:42
[SPEAKER_06]: And garbage, you look, you know, the reality is I've done some organizing in the private sector and whenever the boss breaks the law, whenever they get mislapped with an unfair unfair labor practice, they have to, their punishment is the, the dreaded really, really harmful, noticed posting, that's a post of a notice saying, we promise, we won't do it again until next time.
18:08
[SPEAKER_04]: And even, you know, it's just a cost of doing business to these guys.
18:13
[SPEAKER_04]: They don't care about it, notice.
18:14
[SPEAKER_04]: And even if they're fine, the fines are like, you can't find Amazon a thousand dollars per violation.
18:22
[SPEAKER_04]: They, you know, they glossed more money than that in like a broken vending machine at the headquarters, right?
18:28
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, it's like, they don't give a shit about a thousand dollars, I'm sorry.
18:34
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, you know, but where we're at, the memo talked about limiting the employees' use of company systems like the e-mail system for anything related to the union, even though they're allowed minimal personal stuff on a company e-mail per policy.
18:59
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, under even their own theory, if the law doesn't apply, the Constitution still does.
19:06
[SPEAKER_04]: And according to the Constitution, the government can't discriminate between people based on what they're saying.
19:14
[SPEAKER_04]: If there is any non-work use allowed of the system, you can't say, well, we're going to allow everything, but union work on the email system.
19:27
[SPEAKER_06]: Now, this has also been decided in the private sector as well, right?
19:31
[SPEAKER_06]: Exactly.
19:32
[SPEAKER_04]: Exactly.
19:33
[SPEAKER_06]: So, so the reason I ask is because there's always a trickle down effect.
19:36
[SPEAKER_06]: You know, we go back to the 80s when Reagan fired the Pat co-workers or what I call the the shot heard across the boardroom and open season on, you know, private sector workers.
19:48
[SPEAKER_06]: This to me seems like another one of those shots across the bow, while even even though they have backed off of it a little bit,
19:56
[SPEAKER_06]: I see this maybe being problematic going forward, so for all of my private sector union members who voted for this abomination, this could be an area that affects them.
20:20
[SPEAKER_04]: Pick a strike, the T.D.B.
20:22
[SPEAKER_04]: way strike, 8,000 plighted thinnets got fired, you know, there has been a whole generation where striking workers had to be concerned they're going to be fired because Reagan said it was okay.
20:38
[SPEAKER_04]: And it's the same with this.
20:40
[SPEAKER_04]: I think if this survived some of the court battles that are going to ensue here, you'll see private employers saying, oh, well, if we can crack that on Union Business in the workplace, boy, before long, we don't have any unions to worry about.
20:57
[SPEAKER_06]: Right.
20:58
[SPEAKER_06]: No, the reason I bring this up is because looking at Trump's packed the NLRB, they're moving administrative law judges in that direction.
21:05
[SPEAKER_06]: The court system seems to be moving more even more corporate than you can then then was before.
21:11
[SPEAKER_06]: So this seems like without even maybe legislative change could
21:15
[SPEAKER_06]: Let me ask it this way.
21:16
[SPEAKER_06]: Is it possible, given the fact that they've taken over the NLR be, they're packing within the administrative law judges with corporate friendly people?
21:25
[SPEAKER_06]: We've got a court system that is moving towards the corporate side when you look at what three quarters of all cases that the Chamber of Commerce weighs in on at the Supreme Court level.
21:35
[SPEAKER_06]: They went on, could this then become something that they just,
21:40
[SPEAKER_06]: The legal system overrides the legislative part of this and this becomes the norm where maybe we're bringing back yellow dog contracts only this time they're going to be orange dog contracts
21:50
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, it's possible, Rick.
21:53
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, you know, the legislature writes these laws in per 70, 80 years, we think we understand or roughly what they say, although even for the pet, though all those decades, they were gradually kind of chipping away at the rights of the workers without changing the law.
22:12
[SPEAKER_04]: But now it's like a wholesale operation.
22:14
[SPEAKER_04]: They're just, you know, they're saying plaque is white
22:21
[SPEAKER_04]: And, you know, they're getting their Supreme Court to agree with him on some of those kind of things.
22:26
[SPEAKER_04]: So, could they go in and reinterpret the law in a way that, you know, severely limits the rights of workers?
22:35
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, they, I think they could and they, they will try, just like they've brought, you know, hundreds of,
22:45
[SPEAKER_04]: election fraud cases supposedly, only to be shot down every single time in the courts, they're going to try this because their mission is to destroy unions.
22:57
[SPEAKER_04]: It was right in, you know,
23:03
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, so they'll try and when you've got so many Republican judges on all of the federal benches and you've got sort of a supermajority on the Supreme Court that we know are hostile workers, you know, all of those pretzel logic kind of interpretations that
23:30
[SPEAKER_06]: uh... you know turn along as head suddenly become possible yeah but they if they're they're not anti worker they're just anti union worker because we've got to separate that without understanding that the union workforce actually helps raise conditions and wages and benefits for all workers we're supposed to forget that part yeah and you got to kind of forget that part right they
23:55
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, they're anti-worker.
23:57
[SPEAKER_04]: They're especially anti-union, but they're also anti-worker.
24:01
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, what, how they're screwing around as fast as again, with AI thinking,
24:07
[SPEAKER_06]: And it's like a thing that they're thanking is while we can replace all these workers with a Yeah, look, I went to a football game over the weekend and you know the person that I was I usually gave my ticket to wasn't there It was a key ask that was just somebody who was watching over them and we bought concessions There were no people there
24:30
[SPEAKER_06]: I was all AI.
24:31
[SPEAKER_06]: You throw your stuff on the counter the AI thinks scans it and you put your credit card in because they nobody takes cash anymore Cash has been completely done away with and this is the this is the brave new world
24:43
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, now exactly, and you know, when I forget which one of the all-wood guards said it, but one of them said, well, you know, humans use a water starting to interfere with our ability to build up this AI system.
24:55
[SPEAKER_04]: So that's going to be a problem going forward.
24:58
[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, well, you know, look at who is the guy who run the CEO of Nestle who said water is not a human right, because Nestle is one of the biggest water companies in the world.
25:07
[SPEAKER_04]: they then in one of the most despicable, you know, if we're up to them, we'd add to pay them for every drop of water we drink.
25:15
[SPEAKER_06]: Well, it's coming.
25:16
[SPEAKER_06]: It is coming.
25:18
[SPEAKER_06]: Last question I've got for you.
25:19
[SPEAKER_06]: What do we do about this?
25:20
[SPEAKER_06]: I mean, the reality is this is they're showing us who they are while they're telling us how wonderful they are and they're standing at the factory door saying, we're gonna help and we're gonna do all this.
25:31
[SPEAKER_06]: What they're actually doing is destructive.
25:34
[SPEAKER_06]: What do we do?
25:35
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, two things.
25:36
[SPEAKER_04]: Obviously, we get a vote in November and both the people out.
25:44
[SPEAKER_04]: I almost used an infected there, but both them out because of, you know, they're constantly acting against the interests of normal working people and that's got to stop.
25:58
[SPEAKER_04]: But number two,
26:04
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, we can protest and we just had a no king's thing and that's great and that was aimed at voter turnout and voter registration and that's great.
26:15
[SPEAKER_04]: But when your demonstrations start to have corporate sponsorship.
26:21
[SPEAKER_04]: Is it really, you know, are we challenging authority here, you know, at that point?
26:26
[SPEAKER_04]: We need more militant demonstrations in the street.
26:31
[SPEAKER_04]: We need people more about, clearly, you know, there's a lot of anger out there about the minimum wage, about data centers, about the cost of, uh,
26:42
[SPEAKER_04]: you know gasoline and hamburger in most countries there's there's one one things get that bad you start to see more militant action in the street and demand not just politely march around and say you know brought to you by you know Philip Morris here's our this week's good corporation yeah exactly
27:10
[SPEAKER_04]: No, and so we've got to make more like real demands like or else kind of demands and that for workers often is going to mean we have to be looking in more strikes.
27:24
[SPEAKER_06]: Well, things aren't bad enough yet for that.
27:26
[SPEAKER_06]: Things are going to get much worse before that actually happens, at least that's my thought.
27:30
[SPEAKER_06]: But David, as always appreciate the thoughts, the input, the expertise, good stuff.
27:36
[SPEAKER_04]: Thanks for having me on Rick keep on great work.
28:00
[SPEAKER_06]: I'm Rick Smith, and this is Labor History in 2.
28:03
[SPEAKER_05]: On this day in Labor History, the year was 1965.
28:07
[SPEAKER_06]: That was the day, a claim to photojournalist Dorothy Lang died.
28:10
[SPEAKER_06]: She is celebrated for her work documenting the great depression for the farm security bureau.
28:15
[SPEAKER_06]: Lang's photos captured images of migrant workers, shared croppers, and the rural poor.
28:21
[SPEAKER_06]: Her iconic photo, Migrant Mother, is probably her most well-known image.
28:26
[SPEAKER_06]: It depicts a despondent, dustbowl mothers surrounded by her hungry children.
28:30
[SPEAKER_06]: Lang was born in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1895.
28:33
[SPEAKER_06]: She suffered the effects of polio as a child, which left her with a permanent limp.
28:38
[SPEAKER_06]: She studied photography at Columbia University in New York and eventually settled in the Bay Area.
28:43
[SPEAKER_06]: When the Great Depression hit, she began photographing labor strikes, breadlines and soup kitchens, the homeless, and unemployed.
28:50
[SPEAKER_06]: The resettlement administration hired her soon after.
28:53
[SPEAKER_06]: Nowadays, we can access images from around the world at a moment's notice that broadened our understanding of current events.
29:01
[SPEAKER_06]: But until the 1930s, few Americans could access media that adequately depicted the desperate social conditions in golfing the nation.
29:09
[SPEAKER_06]: Federal programs that funded projects like Lang's broad depression era images into the public eye.
29:15
[SPEAKER_06]: Americans soon realized their suffering wasn't caused by personal failure.
29:20
[SPEAKER_06]: That millions across the country were experiencing destitution brought on by broader economic forces.
29:27
[SPEAKER_06]: During World War II, laying worked for the war relocation authorities.
29:31
[SPEAKER_06]: where she documented forced evacuation and internment of Japanese Americans.
29:35
[SPEAKER_06]: Her images, especially of man's anar, were withheld from the public until after the war and were accessible to the public through the National Archives.
29:44
[SPEAKER_06]: After the war, she taught at San Francisco's art institute and co-founded the magazine, Aperture.
29:49
[SPEAKER_06]: She has been heralded as an innovator and has influenced generations of documentary photography.
29:56
[SPEAKER_06]: Like what you hear, check out more at laborhistoryintu.com.
30:00
[SPEAKER_00]: You probably won't believe this boys and girls, but there was a time when government regulatory officials believed it was their public duty to get this served the public.
30:10
[SPEAKER_00]: How?
30:11
[SPEAKER_00]: By enforcing laws intended to protect consumers' workers' environment and other targets of raw corporate greed.
30:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Today, though, far-right plutocrats behind Trump's project 2025 have turned our national protection agencies into private escort services for corporate predators.
30:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Consider them monopolistic airline giants that have made price gouging and passenger abuse their normal business practice.
30:37
[SPEAKER_00]: The transportation department finally mandated a handful of minimal reforms a few years ago.
30:43
[SPEAKER_00]: How minimal?
30:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Such basic stuff as requiring airlines to tell customers the actual price of their ticket upfront.
30:51
[SPEAKER_00]: No hidden fees.
30:52
[SPEAKER_00]: And requiring airlines to compensate customers if corporate mismanagement causes their flight to be disrupted.
30:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, making airlines liable for damages they do to wheelchairs of disabled passengers.
31:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Any honest business would already be doing such things as a matter of personal integrity.
31:11
[SPEAKER_00]: But Sean Duffy now screeches that corporate integrity is none of the public's business.
31:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Who is Duffy?
31:18
[SPEAKER_00]: A run of the mill lays a fair extremist former Republican congressman, MTV reality show personality and former Washington lobbyists for a firm representing the big three airlines.
31:31
[SPEAKER_00]: This is Jim Hyder saying he's now in Scotland's transportation secretary in Trump's cabinet, where he is pushing a sweeping agenda to repeal consumer protections.
31:41
[SPEAKER_00]: His agenda reads like a wish list, put forth by the airline executives he wants lobbied for.
31:47
[SPEAKER_00]: If this seems like profiteering corporate elites are making public rules to serve their own selfishness, bingo.
31:54
[SPEAKER_00]: To keep tabs on their corporate theory, go to the revolvingdoorproject.org.
32:03
[SPEAKER_05]: Welcome back to the Rick Smith show.
32:05
[SPEAKER_05]: Now, here is Rick Smith.
32:10
[SPEAKER_06]: We talked about last week and I really love the idea that there are so many women getting into the trades that there are so many opportunities popping up, especially look, as we do have to rebuild the nation.
32:23
[SPEAKER_06]: We're going to need a lot of people, a lot of minds, a lot of hands to rebuild and to move our country in the right direction.
32:32
[SPEAKER_06]: But as we talked about the last week, the reality is, you know, some 6,000 women converged in Houston, Texas, the weekend of October 9 through the 11th to talk about women in the trades, about rebuilding the future opportunities, all the things that we've been talking about and and look, great stuff.
32:50
[SPEAKER_06]: Oh, that's why I've asked our good friends over at Lyonah to send us someone.
32:53
[SPEAKER_06]: They said Rebecca Regier, she's a senior policy analyst there at Lyonah, the laborers in
32:59
[SPEAKER_06]: of North America.
33:00
[SPEAKER_06]: You can check out their website at launa.org.
33:03
[SPEAKER_06]: Rebecca, thanks for taking time for us.
33:05
[SPEAKER_06]: Thank you for having me, excited to be here.
33:07
[SPEAKER_06]: So walk me through.
33:08
[SPEAKER_06]: I mean, this had to be kind of amazing.
33:11
[SPEAKER_06]: I mean, you're generally in an industry of mostly men, to be surrounded by, well, folks that look a lot more like you, like you, them look like me.
33:22
[SPEAKER_02]: That had to be something.
33:24
[SPEAKER_02]: It is.
33:24
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, every year that I get to participate in
33:30
[SPEAKER_02]: the highlight of my year for sure.
33:32
[SPEAKER_02]: I began my work.
33:34
[SPEAKER_02]: So I represent like you know on the NAB2 Trades of the Committee, the bulk of the work we do on that committee is planning for the Trades of Mible Nation at the annual conference.
33:45
[SPEAKER_02]: It rotates cities every year.
33:46
[SPEAKER_02]: We try to be geographically diverse so that women from all over the country, United States and Canada actually
33:55
[SPEAKER_02]: there.
33:56
[SPEAKER_02]: And it's also held over the weekend for that reason.
33:59
[SPEAKER_02]: So that rake and file trades women have to take as little time off work as possible.
34:05
[SPEAKER_02]: And every year, it gets better and better.
34:08
[SPEAKER_02]: And it's more electric in it.
34:09
[SPEAKER_02]: It revitalizes me.
34:11
[SPEAKER_02]: And I know all of the attendees there for the year to come.
34:16
[SPEAKER_02]: It's it's a pretty cool thing.
34:18
[SPEAKER_02]: If anybody in the movements never experienced it, I would highly, highly recommend.
34:23
[SPEAKER_02]: finding, finding yourself at the tradesmen vote nation's cup.
34:26
[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, I was reading the largest confab of union women in the world, union people in the world, not just union women.
34:36
[SPEAKER_06]: Okay, so you've been bigger than that.
34:39
[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, the largest union gathering in the world.
34:41
[SPEAKER_06]: That's fairly impressive now, is it just from the U.S. and Canada, or did you bring people from all over the place?
34:48
[SPEAKER_02]: Just United States and Canada.
34:50
[SPEAKER_02]: In the past, we have had some global international union partners.
34:54
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't think we had any attend this year, but I know some unions have relationships globally.
34:59
[SPEAKER_02]: And so it's it's open to allies and union union workers.
35:07
[SPEAKER_02]: So, if, yeah, if there are people internationally who had an interest in attending, they certainly would be able to.
35:11
[SPEAKER_06]: Now, I saw some of the footage from that there was a big parade, there was a lot of story telling going on, I would say, I think it's great because I think, you know, look, my generation and I'm an old white guy, the reality is, is, you know, my generation, most people on construction sites looked a lot like me.
35:29
[SPEAKER_06]: We're as now the building trades I think have done a much better job of reaching out and bringing more diversity into the trade.
35:38
[SPEAKER_06]: Do you see that or am I just assuming that's happening?
35:58
[SPEAKER_02]: attend and then this past year.
36:02
[SPEAKER_02]: We had about 850 women and allies that attended.
36:07
[SPEAKER_02]: So our own growth in the conference, I think speaks to the larger growth of women in the industry.
36:13
[SPEAKER_02]: And not just growth, because we can recruit women every day, but it's the retention that is also important to keeping the industry moving forward.
36:25
[SPEAKER_06]: Well, walk me through some of this because look, you know, I get a lot of questions from people going, you know, do, do, do, do women get into it?
36:31
[SPEAKER_06]: Do they stay?
36:32
[SPEAKER_06]: And I said, look, I think it's just like, man, I know a lot of people who have gotten into it.
36:36
[SPEAKER_06]: They've attempted it.
36:37
[SPEAKER_06]: It didn't, it didn't hold.
36:38
[SPEAKER_06]: It didn't work for them.
36:39
[SPEAKER_06]: And they moved on to something else.
36:41
[SPEAKER_06]: And as I've told my son, who is in a union apprenticeship program?
36:45
[SPEAKER_06]: Even if you stick with it a year to five, ten.
36:48
[SPEAKER_06]: the skills that you learn, those are portable, those are things that you're going to have through the rest of your life.
36:54
[SPEAKER_06]: And oh, by the way, you're not going to have to pay for it.
36:56
[SPEAKER_06]: You're not going to go into a lifetime of debt to get an education that quite frankly is going to follow you for the rest of your life.
37:03
[SPEAKER_06]: So I don't know that really matters, does it?
37:06
[SPEAKER_02]: No, I think that's exactly it.
37:08
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think it doesn't matter who you are if it's not for you, it's not for you.
37:12
[SPEAKER_02]: It's definitely a hard industry to work in, and it is not for everybody.
37:15
[SPEAKER_02]: but those who are able to find their niche to find their lane to find the trade that works for them, the program that works for them, it's a great career, it's not just a job, it's a career that, like you said, was skills that can never be taken away from you and that you'll have forever.
37:30
[SPEAKER_06]: So what's your story?
37:31
[SPEAKER_06]: How did you get involved in this?
37:32
[SPEAKER_06]: Well, what drew you to the labors and what kind of work did you do before you were, you were the senior policy person there?
37:41
[SPEAKER_02]: So I have never worked on this world, but I found my way into advocating for our female members sort of by happenstance, the woman who served in the role that I do on the NAB2 committee was retiring, and she pulled me aside, and I really didn't even know she served in that capacity.
38:02
[SPEAKER_02]: I didn't know what it was, and she said, is this something you're interested in?
38:06
[SPEAKER_02]: And I said, yeah, why not, you know, it sounded like
38:08
[SPEAKER_02]: Sort of, you know, a good step in the redirection more exposure and levels that I know I was saying yes to being a part of this huge empowering movement.
38:18
[SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, I've been I've been in this role, like I said, some's 2022 and each year I've become a little bit more involved in the conference.
38:27
[SPEAKER_02]: I get to help plan that banner parade that you mentioned, which is definitely the hallmark moment of the weekend where all 6,000 participants.
38:37
[SPEAKER_02]: Marks through the streets of whatever city we were in and it's loud, it's rowdy, it's solidarity, it's union spirit and union colors being shown.
38:47
[SPEAKER_02]: To we were just in Houston so to a city that's not as familiar with the union movement and so part of the reason he was Houston was chosen.
38:59
[SPEAKER_02]: was for that reason to that the building trades and can sort of reestablish themselves and tell those stories.
39:05
[SPEAKER_06]: Look, when I talk to people who are, they don't know anything about unions and look, I've spent my entire working life as a card carrying teamster union is in my blood, but when I run into people and they're out there, I know you need to be hard to believe, but there are people out there who don't know anything about unions, other than what the boss tells them.
39:24
[SPEAKER_06]: They know nothing other than what corporate America has jammed down their throats on the PR campaign that the right wing has done and and making unions look bad, but when you start talking about you know safe working conditions, you talk about superior wages and you talk about the kind of health insurance benefits that basically saved my life and my our family and my wife after her accident.
39:45
[SPEAKER_06]: you talk about the kind of things that unions fight for every day, they're more interesting than to listen to.
39:52
[SPEAKER_06]: And out of this conference, one of the things that I came away with is just listening to the people's stories, you know, just reiterating that union job better life frame that I've used, you know, all 21 years of doing this program, which I think is so very important
40:11
[SPEAKER_06]: where they don't have any real field of understanding.
40:14
[SPEAKER_06]: So I think that's the right move that you're doing there.
40:18
[SPEAKER_06]: If my opinion matters.
40:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, now, no, of course, it's always good.
40:22
[SPEAKER_02]: And one thing I'll add to your comments you just made, too, is for women, there's no wage gap in the trades.
40:27
[SPEAKER_02]: You're going to make the same exact wage as your male labor or standing next to you.
40:31
[SPEAKER_02]: And so in a lot of other industries, that's just not the case women are making 70, 80% to the dollar of a man.
40:39
[SPEAKER_02]: bonus on top of all of the things you ran off there.
40:43
[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, absolutely.
40:44
[SPEAKER_06]: Now, also part of it is, you know, I say all the time, individually, I don't have a lot of power and Congress individually.
40:51
[SPEAKER_06]: I don't have a lot of power or sway in the local state house, but as part of a labor union, I've got some, I've got some political cloud.
40:59
[SPEAKER_06]: We've gotten your unions got a drive pack.
41:01
[SPEAKER_06]: We've got lobbyists that are lobbying on issues that are important to me as a truck driver and my team
41:09
[SPEAKER_06]: They're building projects that you guys want to see built and wages and, you know, prevailing wage and, and, and the, those kind of things that I think are really important to fight for, this has got to be kind of like you're super bold as senior policy analyst for the legislative and political departments.
41:26
[SPEAKER_06]: What are you guys working on?
41:28
[SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, there's an election in just two weeks.
41:31
[SPEAKER_02]: So, we're pretty busy over here.
41:33
[SPEAKER_02]: We do, we support a lot of our folks in the field.
41:36
[SPEAKER_02]: A lot of our political mobilization
41:39
[SPEAKER_02]: is run from our folks in all of the states across the country, all 50 states were engaged right now, some way somehow in politics, whether that's sending out volunteers, whether that's political contributions, registered people to vote, you know, getting people out to the early vote, we are involved everywhere, definitely right now.
42:00
[SPEAKER_02]: A few of the places that I would just say were most excited about,
42:05
[SPEAKER_02]: have been spending more of our energy definitely were excited in California for the governor's race there, where we have one of our own running for governor Habia Rosera.
42:15
[SPEAKER_02]: He's a lie, you remember, his father was a multi-generated or multi-year member of local 300 in California.
42:21
[SPEAKER_02]: And so excited that we'll have a labor in the governor's mansion there.
42:27
[SPEAKER_02]: Another area we've really been excited about.
42:29
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think the whole country is just coming from Texas.
42:32
[SPEAKER_02]: I would be remiss if I didn't
42:34
[SPEAKER_02]: talk about the two races at the top of the ticket there.
42:37
[SPEAKER_02]: James Hillary go and you know, you know, Rosa just exciting to see the momentum and, you know, the tides really feel like they're shifting their who knows.
42:46
[SPEAKER_02]: What happens when the dust settles, but those are places where we definitely been trying to grow as a union, grow in our political influence and hoping that we see both of those candidates to get across the finish line in Texas.
42:59
[SPEAKER_02]: We're also excited about Maine, another car carrying union member,
43:03
[SPEAKER_02]: running for Senate up there.
43:04
[SPEAKER_02]: I know he tells his union creds for a few of a few unions, including like UNSO excited for Troy Jackson.
43:13
[SPEAKER_02]: And then the last one is Georgia.
43:15
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean Senator offs off and Kieshelim's bottoms running for governor, you know, we've sent a lot of.
43:21
[SPEAKER_02]: resources and time and another area sort of we're helping to grow and so excited to see how both of those races and that as well.
43:29
[SPEAKER_06]: Also places that are building, you know, your social places that are going to need the kind of support and representation that you guys
43:37
[SPEAKER_06]: I do and look, you know, I say all the time, you know, union labor is the the most cost effective labor out there because one highly trained highly skilled, but the reality is also costly.
43:48
[SPEAKER_06]: So the boss is going to be going to be using it to the best of their ability to get the best bang for the buck and this is why I'm a big fan of prevailing wage and project labor agreements, which we should see across the board.
43:59
[SPEAKER_06]: And I think these are issues in those places, right?
44:02
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, absolutely all of those places, I think, you know, having democratic union friendly, you even candidates elected officials who understand how unions work makes a huge difference.
44:14
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, candidates and elected officials who are union members themselves carry the book and their pocket and makes a huge difference when they're signing the bills negotiating legislation.
44:23
[SPEAKER_02]: because they know they have the voice of their brothers and sisters in the movement in the back of their head.
44:27
[SPEAKER_06]: That said, we're we're fairly divided society right now and I'm hoping that at some point we find our way back together and I keep saying the only way I think we're going to reunite this country as if we reunionized this country and bring people back together in the workplace first.
44:42
[SPEAKER_06]: But, you know, look, the building trades like a lot of unions seem to be split on, you know, on the, on the right left, the red hat blue hat on the reality is is it beyond right or left, red or blue, it's always going to be up and down in the reality is when someone like Elon Musk is spending the kind of money in places like Texas.
45:03
[SPEAKER_06]: to get one side elected for me.
45:05
[SPEAKER_06]: It's kind of like, yeah, he understands something that is important to him, not necessarily important to me.
45:11
[SPEAKER_06]: So what is the message to your members as you're out there on the ground, you know, canvassing and talking to your members in those states?
45:18
[SPEAKER_06]: Let's take Texas.
45:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so what we like to say is we don't vote rather blue, we vote Lyona Orange.
45:25
[SPEAKER_02]: And we endorse candidates who support Lyona Orange.
45:28
[SPEAKER_02]: The letter behind their name, yeah, we endorse a lot of Democrats, but we also endorse Republicans when they're common sense and they vote for the issues that impact and protect our members.
45:38
[SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, when we do our member education and when we are talking to our members, it's
45:43
[SPEAKER_02]: we've picked and we've endorsed these candidates because they are laying to orange candidates and not red team or blue team candidates.
45:51
[SPEAKER_06]: So what's the final message?
45:53
[SPEAKER_06]: What 13 days away, what's the push now?
45:57
[SPEAKER_02]: What's that message?
45:59
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, early in person, get out there and cast your vote.
46:04
[SPEAKER_02]: If you can do it early, if you're in a place where you can do that, if not,
46:08
[SPEAKER_02]: show up on election day, but once the dust settles, if you don't go, it's hard to be upset if you didn't, you know, give your voice down.
46:15
[SPEAKER_06]: If you didn't vote, you can't complain.
46:17
[SPEAKER_06]: You need to shut up.
46:18
[SPEAKER_06]: I want to finish on one place because we started off with the women's conference.
46:21
[SPEAKER_06]: You know, and look, I love to talk about apprenticeship programs, as I said, my son is in one of the best ones with the elevator constructors, union, and there are excellent opportunities for the, for young people and for old people, older people alike.
46:35
[SPEAKER_06]: Give me that push for, you know, why are apprenticeship programs especially union apprenticeship programs at the top of the top of the heap?
46:44
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I think the first one is, you know, you earn while you earn.
46:47
[SPEAKER_02]: You're not walking away with $200,000 a hundred thousand dollars in debt like you would if you attempted a different university.
46:56
[SPEAKER_02]: And so oftentimes they give people the chance that they need people who are coming from different circumstances in life.
47:03
[SPEAKER_02]: who just need a hand up and some skills.
47:05
[SPEAKER_02]: And the beauty of a lot of our apprenticeship programs, there's they have these wrap-rumb services that help people get the driver's license.
47:13
[SPEAKER_02]: They need to get back, help them with transportation costs, help them with boot costs.
47:17
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's an amazing life-changing program.
47:20
[SPEAKER_02]: And I wish more people young people would find it first, instead of thinking the default is,
47:29
[SPEAKER_02]: a four year or two year university.
47:31
[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, I'm not lucky.
47:32
[SPEAKER_06]: The reality is my son comes every day and you know, just filled with, I did this today and you can't go past the past a place that he's worked on going, yeah, I did that.
47:42
[SPEAKER_06]: All of that.
47:42
[SPEAKER_02]: I did that, yeah, I think that's kind of important.
47:46
[SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely, it's pride, it's ownership, it's something you can show your kids, your family, your loved ones.
47:51
[SPEAKER_06]: Rebecca, great stuff, I appreciate the time.
47:54
[SPEAKER_06]: Good on you, I hope next year when the women's conference comes around again, you'll come back and share some more
47:59
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and maybe we'll even see you, Kansas City, October 20, 22nd.
48:02
[SPEAKER_06]: We would, we would be thrilled to be there.
48:05
[SPEAKER_06]: All right.
48:06
[SPEAKER_02]: We'll make it happen.
48:07
[SPEAKER_06]: Thanks so much.
48:07
[SPEAKER_06]: We're back around here.
48:08
[SPEAKER_06]: Well, I want to thank you.
48:10
[SPEAKER_06]: I want to hear your thoughts.
48:11
[SPEAKER_06]: Email me, Rick, at thewrigsmithshow.com.
48:13
[SPEAKER_06]: Big election 13 days.
48:14
[SPEAKER_06]: Hope you're registered.
48:15
[SPEAKER_06]: Hope you're ready to vote.
48:16
[SPEAKER_06]: My union brothers and sisters, you ready?
48:20
[SPEAKER_06]: I want to hear it, Rick, at thewrigsmithshow.com.
48:22
[SPEAKER_06]: Right back, step up.
48:29
[SPEAKER_06]: I'm Rick Smith, and this is Labor History in 2.
48:33
[SPEAKER_06]: On this day in Labor History, the year was 1999.
48:36
[SPEAKER_06]: That was the day that 270 workers from the embassy vacation resorts in Maui voted to join local five of the hotel employees and restaurant employees union.
48:47
[SPEAKER_06]: Local five got its start in Hawaii in 1938.
48:51
[SPEAKER_06]: Back then, it was called the hotel in restaurant employees and bartenders international union.
48:57
[SPEAKER_06]: Today, it's a local of the night here.
48:59
[SPEAKER_06]: Local five was part of the surge of union organizing in Hawaii during the 1930s in 1940s.
49:06
[SPEAKER_06]: Starting in the 1950s, tourism became increasingly important for the Hawaiian economy.
49:12
[SPEAKER_06]: From 1940 to 1957, sugar production jobs on the island declined from 35,000 down to 17,000.
49:20
[SPEAKER_06]: With the rise of air travel, more and more jobs opened up in the tourism industry.
49:25
[SPEAKER_06]: Today, tourism is the largest gross domestic product of Hawaii.
49:29
[SPEAKER_06]: It represents 21% of the Hawaiian economy.
49:32
[SPEAKER_06]: Visitors spent $14 billion on the islands in 2012.
49:37
[SPEAKER_06]: Yet the service sector workers who made this growth of the tourism industry possible,
49:42
[SPEAKER_06]: often work long hours for low wages.
49:45
[SPEAKER_06]: Many resorts in hotels fight any effort to bring in a union.
49:49
[SPEAKER_06]: Such was the case at the embassy vacation resorts.
49:52
[SPEAKER_06]: In 1998, the employees voted against forming a union by account of 126 to 86.
49:59
[SPEAKER_06]: The union challenged the results of the election and won.
50:02
[SPEAKER_06]: They held a second election the next year during their organizing drive.
50:06
[SPEAKER_06]: four employees were fired at the resort.
50:08
[SPEAKER_06]: In 2003, the National Labor Relations Board found that the employees had been let go for their union activities.
50:15
[SPEAKER_06]: The company was ordered to reinstate the workers.
50:18
[SPEAKER_06]: These legal decisions were victories by the service workers of Hawaii in their fight to win union protections.
50:25
[SPEAKER_06]: Like what you hear, check out more at laborhistoryintu.com.
50:42
[SPEAKER_06]: So, just when you thought the party of family values couldn't stoop any lower, just when you thought it can't get any worse, in tropes of Vivek Rema Swami.
50:56
[SPEAKER_06]: Who you thought, hey, can't possibly be any worse than Donald Trump can't possibly find a lower basement.
51:03
[SPEAKER_06]: Well, he found what and I'm gonna play this campaign ad starring Amy Acton's mother her own mother
51:16
[SPEAKER_06]: This is the Remuswami October surprise.
51:21
[SPEAKER_06]: This is what they're making their closing argument with.
51:25
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm a star and I'm Arthur, and I'm Amy Afton's mother.
51:30
[SPEAKER_01]: I work to children and family service association, building one of the first two sexual abuse programs in America.
51:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I love my daughter, but when I saw her lying about her opponent, it's not easy for a mother to say this.
51:46
[SPEAKER_01]: But Amy has a serious problem.
51:49
[SPEAKER_01]: She is a liar.
51:51
[SPEAKER_01]: She lies the better past.
51:53
[SPEAKER_01]: She says she grew up living in a tent, not a baddest room.
51:58
[SPEAKER_01]: She's lied her entire life.
52:01
[SPEAKER_01]: My daughter needs help.
52:03
[SPEAKER_01]: And she can't help you if she needs help herself.
52:07
[SPEAKER_01]: People can change, but first they have to tell the truth, and my daughter still isn't doing that.
52:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't vote for people who lie.
52:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't let her become your governor.
52:18
[SPEAKER_01]: If you think she'll make your life better, you're fooling yourself.
52:23
[SPEAKER_01]: It will only get worse.
52:25
[SPEAKER_06]: The only thing in there that I find to be real is don't vote for people who lie.
52:30
[SPEAKER_06]: And I look at this and I don't know how Donna Arthur can look into the camera and call her daughter a liar and say she needs help when there's a record.
52:41
[SPEAKER_06]: And understand, you have Vivek didn't hide from the reality of what he's done.
52:57
[SPEAKER_06]: they're spending four million dollars to put a little girl's worst nightmare on television.
53:05
[SPEAKER_06]: That's their closing argument.
53:06
[SPEAKER_06]: The closing argument is we are horrible, horrible people.
53:10
[SPEAKER_06]: And here's what mom is calling lies.
53:15
[SPEAKER_06]: According to the Mohan County court records,
53:24
[SPEAKER_06]: I was arrested, charged with sexually abusing her.
53:27
[SPEAKER_06]: She was 12 years old, 12 years old.
53:32
[SPEAKER_06]: Nah, he didn't, he pled not guilty, made bond, and then split.
53:38
[SPEAKER_06]: And stayed a fugitive until he died in 2004.
53:43
[SPEAKER_06]: Amy and her brother were both taken out of mom's home.
53:46
[SPEAKER_06]: A mom lost custody.
53:51
[SPEAKER_06]: Amy's brother Phil said it was, said it best.
53:53
[SPEAKER_06]: I think in one sentence about their mother said, mom stayed married to Amy's rapist until he died.
54:02
[SPEAKER_06]: I think that speaks volumes about the woman that we saw.
54:06
[SPEAKER_06]: Now, that's the woman that team Vivek has picked as their character witness in the closing days of the campaign.
54:16
[SPEAKER_06]: You will look at at Vivix spokesperson this Connie luck.
54:20
[SPEAKER_06]: Who I'm hoping I'm hoping there's a room for down below her line We we don't know what happened between Amy and her mother We don't know You you don't know well, there's a court record.
54:34
[SPEAKER_06]: There's a court file, Connie You didn't want to know because knowing
54:42
[SPEAKER_06]: with getting the way of the ad, with getting the way of your October surprise.
54:47
[SPEAKER_06]: Then she called Amy Actin, a doctor who climbed out of that hell hole, a serial fabillist.
54:55
[SPEAKER_06]: And I'm gonna tell you, that's not campaign work.
54:57
[SPEAKER_06]: That's a hired gun with a thosaurus.
55:00
[SPEAKER_06]: And I've always said, look, there are people who are horrible.
55:04
[SPEAKER_06]: I've always said you need a license to get a dog, any idiot can have a kid, and I look at the woman in that video.
55:10
[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, we know which side of the equation that's on.
55:13
[SPEAKER_06]: And some of the worst things that happened to children are done by the people who are supposed to be protecting them, like mom.
55:20
[SPEAKER_06]: You know, according to the federal government's national incident study, they found that kids living with one parent and a parent's unmarried partner, the highest rates of abuse of any household type of study.
55:35
[SPEAKER_06]: a study from the journal on pediatrics found that young kids living in an unrelated, with an unrelated adult, mostly moms boyfriend, we're nearly 50 times, 50 times more likely to die from abuse than kids living with both biological parents.
55:52
[SPEAKER_06]: So when Republicans spend every waking moment screaming about trans people coming for your kids, ask them where they got that from.
56:01
[SPEAKER_06]: Because the data, the data is pretty clear on who's hurting children.
56:06
[SPEAKER_06]: And it doesn't, it doesn't point to trans people.
56:10
[SPEAKER_06]: It points to the man that mom brings into the house, the stepfather, the boyfriend, the second husband, the third husband.
56:21
[SPEAKER_06]: which is exactly what according to reports Amy Acton's mom did stood by her man and that story of abuse, it was Amy Acton's life.
56:35
[SPEAKER_06]: And what does the party of family values do?
56:41
[SPEAKER_06]: They pass a bill that would cut a trillion dollars from Medicaid and chip over the next decade.
56:47
[SPEAKER_06]: The congressional budget office says, 10 million more Americans are going to have no health insurance by 2034.
56:52
[SPEAKER_06]: You know, kids, that's kids, doctors, we're going to have to get paid.
56:58
[SPEAKER_06]: That's kids coverage gone.
57:00
[SPEAKER_06]: Some family values.
57:02
[SPEAKER_06]: And then, then, they're the Epstein files.
57:06
[SPEAKER_06]: You go back to September of 25, the Senate voted 51 to 49.
57:11
[SPEAKER_06]: Almost all Republicans voted the killing amendment that would have forced those files out for us to see in the House, all but nine Republicans voted against bringing their release forward.
57:25
[SPEAKER_06]: And only when Trump said it was okay, flipped and gave permission, did we see them even talk about it?
57:33
[SPEAKER_06]: Now, understand, survivors are asking some interesting questions.
57:36
[SPEAKER_06]: Like, why is it that all the men that were all these powerful guys, you know, the alleged criminals?
57:44
[SPEAKER_06]: Why is it that the alleged criminals?
57:46
[SPEAKER_06]: Their names are all blocked out while the people who are the victims, their names are right out there.
57:54
[SPEAKER_06]: That's who this party protects, not the kids, the Epstein class.
58:03
[SPEAKER_06]: not a plan for Ohio workers, not a way to make life more affordable for children, not how to make a child's life happy and bright.
58:15
[SPEAKER_06]: Nope, a man's so desperate, so pathetically desperate for power that he paid to put in a abused child's mother on television to call her a liar.
58:29
[SPEAKER_06]: And here's what I'm hoping people in Ohio do.
58:33
[SPEAKER_06]: I'm hoping they call a friend a neighbor and tell them what the court record says.
58:38
[SPEAKER_06]: Make sure they have a plan to vote on November 3rd and send a very clear message that this, this is, I don't even, I can't even believe I have to say it.
58:51
[SPEAKER_06]: That this is wholly unacceptable and disgusting, but this is what, this is what the party of Trump, this is what the Trump party gets us.
59:01
[SPEAKER_06]: This is what the current conservative movement is about.
59:06
[SPEAKER_06]: And I find it despicable, and I hope you do too.
59:08
[SPEAKER_06]: I find it disgraceful, but not surprising.
59:12
[SPEAKER_06]: Not a bit of shock out of me when I saw this.
59:15
[SPEAKER_06]: Want to hear your thoughts?
59:17
[SPEAKER_06]: Email me, Rick at therixmithshow.com.
59:19
[SPEAKER_06]: Tell me what you think.
59:21
[SPEAKER_06]: And hopefully Ohio, you make the right choice.
59:24
[SPEAKER_06]: Miss any portion of the program grab the podcast.
59:27
[SPEAKER_06]: And as always,
59:28
[SPEAKER_06]: Thanks so much for being here.
59:30
[SPEAKER_06]: We'll see you back here next time.
59:54
[SPEAKER_05]: Until next time, this has been The Rick Smith Show.
59:57
[SPEAKER_05]: We're working people, come to talk.