Politics in the Pub LIVE - The Future of Unionism

Welcome to the Politics in the Pub Podcast!

Through the ages, the most authentic conversations about current affairs have taken place in the pub with a pint in hand.

Politics in the Pub seeks to cultivate an honest conversation with San Diegans about the most pressing issues of the day. Hosted by Ryan Ginard and Dike Anyiwo, this show is a live, no stone unturned, beverage induced dive into the politics that push San Diego to be the dynamic and vibrant place we are lucky enough to call home.

Today’s episode is brought to you from the kind folk that brought you the weekend, paid vacation, sick leave, social security and a minimum wage among many other workplace health and safety benefits we almost take for granted.

Thats right, were talking about unions.

Unions have seen a steady decline in numbers over the years. While there are a variety of reasons for this, some self-inflicted through a reluctance to modernize certain practices, none have been more prominent than the systematic dismantling of their capacity to organize - kicked off clinically by Reagan, and most recently reinforced by the Supreme Court in a 5-4 vote which resulted in public employees no longer having to pay fees to unions to cover the costs of collective bargaining. The court, split along partisan lines, overruled 41 years of precedent in deciding that requiring employees to pay fees violates their First Amendment rights. You’ll receive a quick 101 on this later on in the show.

Janus vs AFSCME isn’t the death knell from unions - far from it, but it definitely created a very real fork in the road especially for the cutlery manufacturers union.

We all know that economic inequality is at historic highs and this could potentially be exacerbated through new technologies and automation. A recent McKinsey report said that automation could eliminate 73 million U.S. jobs by 2030, which will see middle-wage jobs further decline, further widening the divide between the wealthy and the poorest households.

America needs a new kind of labor movement. What that looks like, well we’ll leave that to our panel to share. In this episode we are joined by some emerging leaders from the movement including Satomi Rash-Ziegler from the AFL-CIO, Nate Fairman from the IBEW and Maggie Ta from the SEIU. All three panelists share a deep understanding of what’s at stake for workers in this post-janus world and they aren't afraid to put forward bold, innovative ideas to drive the most audacious of comebacks.