Listen: Vermont AFL-CIO Prez to Iron Bill: We Have to Triple Union Rolls in the US!

Work-Bites

On this episode of the “Iron Bill” Hohlfeld Show, Bill welcomes Vermont State Labor Council, AFL-CIO President David Van Deusen for a lively discussion about the conflicting streams of thought within the labor movement today, and what might be some ways to resolve those conflicts.

“When I see people who can’t see a doctor and die because they don’t have healthcare, then that tells me that whatever system we have now cannot be allowed to be an end in and of itself,” Van Deusen says.

What should organized labor do? Well, Van Deusen says, labor can stop throwing all of its money into a Democratic Party that “screws us every chance they get.”

“We’ve got to put those resources, that time, that energy and that know-how into building our unions, building the labor movement,” he says. “Not just gaining hundreds of thousands of members over a period of years — but millions of members.”

Listen to the entire discussion below: