A Conversation with National Wildlife Federation President and CEO Collin O'Mara

In this episode of The Voice Podcast, UUP President Fred Kowal talks with National Wildlife Federation President and CEO Collin O'Mara. Kowal, who hosts the podcast, is chair of the NWF's board of directors. 

O'Mara discusses how he became the NWF's president and CEO and what led him to the post. He and Kowal talk about the intricacies of navigating political channels to protect and preserve the nationwide organization's conservation efforts and move its agenda forward. 

They talk about organized labor's role in conservation and enviromental efforts and discuss the NWF's collaboration with unions and union organizations, including the Blue Green Alliance. 

O'Mara also strongly supports UUP's fight against proposed SUNY cuts to faculty and staff and important environmental, conservation and forestry programs and facilities at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. The following are O'Mara's quotes regarding SUNY ESF: 

• "Yeah, I mean, you know, you're getting me fired up on this one, because I sort of revere ESF, like, I mean, it's the best public school, you know, environmental program in the country, and not put on par with anybody. You know. It's absolutely, bar none."
• "We need leaders in from ESF in every agency in state government and every agency in federal government. And so the idea of contracting right now, especially as the state is trying to argue that its a leader on cutting climate action, and given some of the other things that have happened last few years, you can't win the future unless you have the talent to actually be there to meet the moment in the future right now."
• "And we're seeing this across the board, right? We're seeing the disinvestment in public institutions, you know, across the country, and it's not specific to New York. But of all the areas to disinvest and not invest in, the folks that are gonna help solve the climate crisis and biodiversity crisis in this moment and also create the jobs and the opportunities of the future is just absolutely ludricrous."

O'Mara became the National Wildlife Federation’s president and CEO in 2014, overseeing America’s largest wildlife conservation organization, with 52 state and territorial affiliates and more than 6 million members and supporters. Founded in 1936, the organization is one of the nation’s most influential conservation groups. 

It also publishes the beloved “Ranger Rick” magazine, which O’Mara read as a child and says spurred his lifelong interest in conservation and protecting the environment.

From serving as captain of his high school baseball team to running for governor in Delaware in 2024, O’Mara’s rise has been swift and sure. And he’s showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. 

Episode Transcript

Fred Kowal (00:00):
Hello. I'm Fred Kowal, President of United

(00:02):
University professions, and thisis The Voice.

(00:27):
The Voice Podcast theme songplays here.

Mike Lisi (00:33):
The Voice Podcast is a production of United
University Professions, thenation's largest higher
education union, representingmore than 42,000 academic and
professional faculty andretirees at state operated SUNY
campuses across New York State.
UUP also represents employees atSUNY system administration and

(00:53):
SUNY public teaching hospitalsin Brooklyn, Stony Brook and
Syracuse. I'm Mike Lisi.

Fred Kowal (01:09):
Our guest today is National Wildlife Federation
president and CEO Colin O'Mara,before becoming the CEO and
President of NWF in 2014 Colinmade a name for himself in his
hometown of Syracuse. Colingraduated from West Genesee high
school and earned his master'sin public administration from
Syracuse University. He workedas a staffer for former Syracuse

(01:32):
area Congressman James Walsh,and earned the title of whiz kid
from the Syracuse newspapers forleading at the age of 23 a
computer based EfficiencyInitiative at Syracuse City
Hall. He also served asexecutive director of the
Onondaga County Democraticcommittee at Syracuse
University. He was a universityFellow at the Maxwell School of

(01:54):
Citizenship and Public Affairsin 2009 he was appointed to lead
Delaware's Department of NaturalResources and Environmental
Control. He became the NationalWildlife Federation's president
and CEO in 2014 overseeingAmerica's largest wildlife
conservation organization with52 state and territorial
affiliates and more than 6million members and supporters,

(02:16):
founded in 1936 the organizationis the nation's leading
conservation group, from servingas captain of his high school
baseball team to running forgovernor in Delaware in 2024
o'mara's rise has been swift andsure, and he's showing no signs
of slowing down anytime soon.
Collin, welcome to The Voice.

Collin O'Mara (02:36):
Thanks, Fred. I'm thrilled to be here.

Fred Kowal (02:40):
Full transparency, I started in June in a new role. I
am the chair of the Board ofDirectors of the National
Wildlife Federation. I'veactually been on the board for
nine years. It's a voluntaryposition for those of you
listening who are UUP members.
No, it's not affecting my socalled day job, besides the fact
that actually the reality is,Colin and the staff do all the

(03:01):
hard work. I just showed up forphoto ops. But anyway, Colin,
it's great to have you on reallylooking forward to this
conversation. Going back to yourearly years in Syracuse, what
would you point to that steeredyou in a direction of
conservation work? Was itexperiencing the outdoors with
your family. What was it aboutthat that then also led you in a

(03:23):
direction of an interest inpolitics? Because it's really
both that come together in yourcareer, especially now,

Collin O'Mara (03:31):
yeah, I mean, I think for me, Syracuse, it's
just a great place to grow up,in addition to the incredible
seasons and everything. But youknow, you're, you're five
minutes from, you know, thecity, with all the attributes
that the city offers, but you'realso kind of amazing around
amazing nature and Finger Lakesand so growing up fishing and
hunting and just being outdoorsall the time, there's a story I
tell. I think you've probablyheard me tell many times about

(03:52):
the Ranger Rick experience withmonarch butterflies and having
my mom mail away for the packetof milkweed seeds, and I was
planting them and seeing theplants come by. But I'll say
that the experience that really,again, solidified my commitment
to both the economy and theenvironment was to clean up on
Duke lake. So when I was growingup, Onondaga Lake was the most
polluted lake in the state andmaybe the country, by some
measures. There's a big fightover, you know, was Honeywell

(04:14):
going to clean it up after theyacquired the assets from the
subsidiaries that had gone away.
And being a kid with this hugelake, if you're driving by all
the time, you're going to thefair, you're going to the dome,
you're going by, whatever yousee it all the time. You can
look, but you can't touch right,because it was so polluted.
Flash forward a few years, whenI was working for Jim Walsh. You
know, one of his big goals wastrying to have more federal
funding to clean up theSuperfund site element of it,
kind of the public piece of it,and pushing on the companies. So

(04:34):
Republican doing that, pushinginto a good environmental
steward. Then I was working fora Democrat and Matt Driscoll
when he was mayor. Also, youknow, the big fight then was, in
the cleanup plan, was it goingto be a series of waste,
wastewater treatment plants onthe south side and the, you
know, in historically, you know,underserved communities, they
were already facing bigenvironmental justice issues.
You know, we didn't call it thatat the time, but that's really
what it was. And you had, youknow, the Republican county exec
at the time basically saying,you know, just keep all the
pollution in the city. Like,don't have it still under the
neighborhoods. And so it was oneof those fights where it's like,

(05:02):
oh, like, not only we sufferingfrom a legacy of jobs that have
been gone for decades in thatpoint and the pollution, but you
had an asset that if you couldrevitalize, it'd be great for
the ecosystem and great for, youknow, wildlife, but it also is
great for the community. And sokind of being at the front end
of that thing, it's now no placewas a beautiful Lake Trail you
can actually go fishing, pushany too many, too many of them
still, but you know, there'soffspring overhead, there's bald

(05:23):
eagles, you'll see it inspiredon me what is possible by
remediating some of our naturalresources and got me hooked.
Yeah.

Fred Kowal (05:31):
And you know, you mentioned in your discussion
about that cleanup, both partiesengaged, and we all saw that,
right? I mean, you know, growingup actually grew up in a
household where it tended moreRepublican. I grew up in
Massachusetts, but it was, itwas a legacy of progressive,
environmentally orientedRepublicans, and in looking

(05:52):
back, what was it that made itclick whereby you could get both
parties to agree that this wassomething necessary that needed

Collin O'Mara (06:01):
Yeah, I think, I think it's there's kind of, what
to be done.
I call it, kind of a patriotismof place, right? Like,
regardless of party lines, likefolks all cared about, like, the
local natural resources, youknow, for the city, was like,
Well, why do we have all thesefolks visiting Skaneateles or
Kyrgyz night or, you know, orgoing up to Oswego, right for

(06:23):
the lake, and when they have abeautiful lake here, like, if
you clean it up, could be anamenity. And so it wasn't
partisan in a real way. And, youknow, one of my favorite things
was watching Matt driscolls workon, you know, fighting against
the proposals to kind ofdecimate the city as part of the
cleanup project. And then havingjoining Mahoney make that a
priority when she was runningfor county executive as a

(06:47):
Republican. So all of a suddenyou had this, like, you know,
continuity for a greenerstrategy, to clean it up,
instead of just a bricks andmortar, you know, kind of 1950s
strategy, but it was focused onplace and not based on party,
and it was, and there's alsojust giving a vision for what
could be instead of what alwayshas been that folks could rally
around. And I think, you know,it's just, it's one of those
great examples that taught methat if you can keep it focused
on, like the vision, right, andnot like the partisan dialectic,
you can all of a sudden, kind ofbring people together in a in a
real way, to get big thingsdone. And that was a half a
billion dollar cleanup, probablymore than that. Now, yeah, but,

(07:08):
you know, everyone was all onboard because, you know, the
there was a aspiration for whatit could become. And, you know,
not just a lake next to a mall.

Fred Kowal (07:14):
And I have a suspicion, you know, when you
cut through, I mean, it'sdifficult today, in today's
world, but I think when you seewhat in the example that you
gave, that even in today'sclimate, that kind of politics
of place can still resonate andget through and in our
conversations, obviously, inNWF, we've talked a lot about

(07:37):
the coalitions we've builtworking with both parties on
protecting public lands. Do yousee a similar kind of echo in
that, in terms of a defensiveplace and the importance
specifically, like on publiclands? I know I lived in Montana
for a while, and party doesn'tmatter. Those lands are vitally
important for those of us whohike, who fish, who hunt, all of

(07:58):
it. It's so vital to that place.

Collin O'Mara (08:00):
Yeah, yeah. I have a friend that was a former
governor of Wyoming, and hetells a story about how, you
know, the hardest thing he hadto do as governor was typically
visiting the families of fallensoldiers from various overseas,
you know, conflicts inAfghanistan. And I react during
his tenure. Then he said he goesto a person, there wasn't a
single, you know, example, wherethey didn't bring out a picture
of the soldier in nature, right?
On public lands, enjoying theoutdoors. And I think when it's

(08:22):
built into our psyche like that,right, all of a sudden it isn't
partisan. And so when somebodyin the Senate proposes selling,
you know, multiple millions ofacres of public lands, everyone
immediately is gravitated tolike the place they care about,
because it was, wasn't specific.
And so a lot of places were atrisk. And so all of a sudden
folks that voted for differentpeople for Senate or president
or things like that, werejoining common cause. There was

(08:43):
a there's a rally in in NewMexico, and it's a great sign.
And it said tree huggers andrednecks united for public
lands, right? Yes, there's asimilar thing in Missoula. Was
the hippies and the gun toters.
And so I'm really proud of theNational Wildlife Federation,
sportsman heritage, because I dothink that the sportsmen led the

(09:06):
men, women led the but thedefense of our public lands. But
it's because it was local. Itwasn't about the president, it
wasn't about party. It wasbasically saying, like, Don't
let these places be turned intodevelopment. Because once you
lose them, they're gone forever.
And I think when you have that,both the incredible threat, it's
not, it's not fear mongering. Itwas, it was a realistic proposal
to sell multiple millions ofacres of land, and they visceral
love. You know, it's fine,because some of our colleagues
were like, No, we need to talkabout the hundreds of millions

(09:31):
of acres that are at risk andthis and that it's like, no, no.
We didn't talk about the placewhere they shot their first elk,
right, the place they caughttheir first cut through, and
having it be hyper, hyper local.
So again, so it doesn't getcaught up in the culture where
it doesn't get caught up in the

Fred Kowal (09:39):
Exactly. I was just out in Buffalo for the labor day
parade and the usual routethrough Montezuma right, which I
just loved that drive. And everytime I'm through there, it's
like, I gotta stop. I gottastop. You know, in New York
State, a lot of the focus is onthe Adirondack Park, justifiably
so, great step in preservingwildlands Catskills and. My

(10:00):
impression having lived now inNew York State, for God, I don't
know, 40 years, it strikes methat there isn't as much of an
awareness of the federal landslike the wildlife refuges that
are in New York State. Do yousee that in that in some eastern
states, there's more of a, I'llput it this way, an attachment

(10:22):
to lands elsewhere, like in theWest. You know, people in the
Northeast want to go out and gotto go out the Yellowstone, got
to go out the glacier and allthat. Not as much awareness of
the great lands that can bevisited here, for instance, in
New York State, that arefederally preserved.

Collin O'Mara (10:37):
Yeah, I think that's right. I mean, I think
the work of Roosevelt and otherspreserving the Adirondacks. And
I mean, basically they got toconservation of public lands
before the Feds were heavilyinvolved, right? So the
Adirondack Park precedes therefuge system, right? Precedes
most national parks in thecountry. Catskills, same thing.
I mean, I think the state parksin New York are on par a lot of

(10:59):
national parks and other places,just because the state protected
them first, and a lot of otherplaces they would other places,
they would have been federal.
Obviously, in a state like NewYork that had more private land
ownership than, you know, thenWestern states had, there
weren't as many opportunities.
But monism is good example. Wewere, I was taking the kids to
sea breeze, you know, couplemonths ago, driving across from
from Syracuse towards towardsRochester, and we stopped just
for a little bit, and we saw anesting pair of bald eagles. And
so I was like, hey, we'll justrun over. Just run over really
quick, and there's some moredancers and shuttlers and, like,
whatever. It's just the wetlandcomplex is great. It was funny,

(11:22):
though, because, like, you know,some of the folks in the car
with us, they had no idea thatit was there right driven on 90
1000 times, idea that it wasright there. So I think, you
know, one thing I'd like to talkabout is, how do we promote
public lands more broadly. Sodoesn't mean federal lands, it

(11:45):
just means, you know, publiclyavailable spaces. Most of the
lakes in New York, right, arepublic, right? Even though I
think there's some shorelineissues in different places. You
know, when you think about theamazing experiences that are
within, like I said, 1520minutes of every major city,
and, you know, the five majorcities up in New York, upstate
New York, or, you know, indifferent places, like,
everyone's got nature close by,um, even here in East New York
City, right? Jamaica. ButJamaica Bay is incredible. You
got to the island, and there's abunch of places that are, are

(12:06):
incredible. I think we could doa better job branding them. It's
been such a federal fightbecause of, like, ownership
issues and, like, you know, selloff and all these kind of things
that I think folks take it forgranted. But like, it's not,
it's not just everything I was,I would just go up in New
Hampshire and, you know, thepublic lands, the mountains,
like the Presidential mountainpeaks and all the stuff that you
know we do with the MountainClub, just spectacular. You
know, again, it's folks talkabout a little differently, but

(12:27):
it's still just, it's, it's ourit's the benefit of all the
people, as Roosevelt would havesaid.

Fred Kowal (12:31):
Exactly. And it's something that obviously we can
pass down and like you're doingwith your kids, I did the same
with my sons. Is introducingthem to wild places, and even at
early age to be able to talkabout, yeah, maybe when they're
10, whatever 11, start talkingabout the fact, yeah, this is
the public's land. This belongsto everybody. And this is
something that generationsbefore us did kind of to

(12:54):
inculcate the idea that this isan obligation we have for those
who come after us.

Collin O'Mara (12:58):
Well, one of my favorite stories, is the
Catskills where, like, you know,you're the two competing
veterans around New York Citysaw it as a source of the
freshwater drinking supply.
Instead of building a bunch oftreatment plants, they just had
to pick the Catskills the partof this. Rather, not a lot of
folks realized that there wascompeting proposals for a ton of
development in the cat skills tobuild a whole bunch of like,
subdivisions for folks that weregoing to jet in down 87 or
whatever. Yeah, and that was thecompeting proposal the New York
City actually got bit up in thepricing before, for the
protection of that land, becausethey're developers and want to
develop it. I mean, imagine inNew York state without the
Catskills, yeah, yeah, right, orhaving just, just 10s of 1000s

(13:21):
of housing units all scatteredthroughout it, you know, like
other places in the country. Sothese are these choices, and I
think we take them for granted,right? You know, it takes
courage of the time. And Iworked for a governor in
Delaware, they used to say, youknow, they're not gonna remember
our names, but they remember ournames, but they remember the
places that we say, andremember, like, you know, the
experiences that they had. Ithink that's the business we're
in. We're in the, you know, theexperience business to make sure

(13:41):
folks can have that connectionto nature at a time when more
and more folks are moredisconnected from the natural
world.

Fred Kowal (13:53):
You mentioned your time in Delaware. You were what,
29 when you became the head ofthe Delaware Department of
Natural Resources andEnvironmental Control. A lot of
words there. So what did the jobentail? How did you get it? And,
God, I mean, you know, you're 29maybe that's a good age to do,
because you figure, right? Youknow everything and you're going
to solve all the problems. Whatwas that like? Don't have to

(14:16):
accept the job, right? Like thatwas in it.

Collin O'Mara (14:19):
Delaware is a small state, has basically all
the natural resource agencies inone group. Or New York, you'd
have Dec separate from NYSERDA,separate from, you know, the
parks and the Adirondackcommission, all that stuff. And
so in Delaware, it's basicallyall of the EPA, all of the
departments here, all of theDepartment of Energy, all the
Army Corps of NOAA, all in one,one shop, which is fantastic.
And it had been an agency thathad had faced some challenges. I

(14:42):
mean, Delaware, for its smallsize, has, you know, one of the
bigger refineries on the EastCoast is the largest chicken
industry in the in the EastCoast now you also have some of
the most amazing tidal wetlandsand best beaches, by far in the
state. And so you kind of haveall the challenges of like the
East Coast industrial economies,as well as some of the rural
challenges. As you might face inthe south, and so regulating it
is and kind of managing it, it'sa challenge because for the most

(15:06):
part, a lot of the work in thepast been seen as zero song. And
so I'm working for the mayor ofSan Jose. At the time, I was
supposed to go to law school outin California, and decided,
driving across a buddy of mine'sfather in Mishawaka, Indiana,
said, like, Well, why do youwant to be a lawyer? And I
realized I didn't really want tobe a lawyer. So I got to
Stanford, I realized I didn'tactually want to practice law,
so I ended up working for themayor of San Jose, who was just
elected. And San Jose wasfascinating because it was a

(15:28):
place that had such a strongeconomic driver, government's
almost an afterthought. I mean,just like the economy so strong
at the brink of, like, the kindof clean tech revolution, a lot
of the innovation, especially inlike, solar and advanced
renewables, happening at thatsame time. And so the the
Mayor's Challenge to me, wastrying to come up with
strategies to take advantage ofthat, to make sure there's jobs
created kind of good paying jobscreated in in the area, not just
the tech, not just the R D jobs,with the actual production

(15:51):
manufacturing jobs. And thenalso use that as a way to build
out the parks, build out, youknow, the cleaner air, cleaner
water, more recycling, and allthe all the basics. And we built
this thing called the Greenvision. The interesting thing is
that Mary, I worked for a guynamed Chuck Reed, was a
decorated World War or adecorated Vietnam veteran, and
he was a fighter pilot who hatedto fly. And so he would get all
these invitations to talk aboutthe work that he was doing and
didn't want to go. And so yousent me on all these different

(16:14):
places. And I was like randomlyat the in Tarrytown, New York,
at the Rockefeller estate,speaking about what we're doing
in San Jose and some lessons forother cities. And there's
somebody in the crowd that was awas presenting on what Delaware
was aspiring to do. It was closeto this incoming governor,
Governor Jack Markel. And thenfour months later, I get this
random call in my office, hey,thing you want up on this list?

(16:35):
Because some speech you gave,trying to come in and talk to us
about it. And so that was thebeginning of my experience in
Delaware, which is, you know,quite the move, quite a quite a
difference from going from theheart of Silicon Valley to to
the great State of Delaware, thefirst state.

Fred Kowal (16:47):
And having traveled a lot there, my son spent a lot
of their growing years inDelaware, and I used to have to
go downstate for the baseballtournaments and stuff Delaware.
And for, you know, obviously alot of our listeners probably
don't realize this, it is anincredibly diverse state, and so
small, and yet, the differencebetween the urban north and the
wealthy suburbs, almost in away, connected to Philly. And

(17:10):
then you head south, and youknow, you get down into southern
Delaware. It's very rural. And,yeah, it's agribusiness, the
huge chicken productionfacilities. How did you manage
the plethora of issues you hadto address in your role, given
the political differences,political culture very different

(17:31):
between North and South Delawareand the diversity of issues such
that Delaware could maintain ahealthy environment for
everybody.

Collin O'Mara (17:40):
Yeah. I mean, the nice thing is, I worked for a
governor who ran against themachine, ran against the system,
and won, and so he didn't owe alot of people. And so that gave
us the ability to actually,like, be more innovative, and
not just kind of fall into thenormal kind of zero sum
approaches that I think, youknow, kind of challenged the
environmental movement. In thepast, I had an incredible
deputy, guy named Dave small,who was just brilliant, who
just, yeah, I spent my firstweek there, just traveling every

(18:02):
inch of the state, you know,every all 20 miles of it, trying
to really get to know everybodyon the ground, every every
legislative district, everySenate District, and really
trying to see everythingfirsthand and gig in the kind of
process the talent. The otherthing I did is, I don't like
bringing a ton of folks in fromthe outside. I think there's
just incredible talent inside oforganizations. And so I inside,
inside dinner, I started askingaround, like, who are the people

(18:29):
people go to to fix things, whenthe Secretary screws things up,
when the it's a bad budgetdecision, like, who's the fixer?
Then I promoted all thosepeople. I made all those people
my division directors. And soall of a sudden I had the folks,
and it's not a signal, right,that like folks that had had
experience in the agency weregoing to be listened to. They're
going to have a real voicefolks, while they had their
champions in their work. Andthere's it was funny. I think
the fear of me coming in soyoung with that that kind of
know it all right, like, what?
Like, I just listened right? And90% of the solutions are the
biggest problems, kind of vexingthe state our team had these. No

(18:52):
one was listening to them toactually implement them, or what
they weren't resourcedappropriately, or whatever. And
so I view my job as basicallysurfacing the best solutions
that they had, and thenresourcing to make sure they can
get done. And what we found is,pretty quickly, we were able to
reduce air pollution more thanany other state in the country,
percentage wise, just bysolutions that were already on
the books, most of which theindustry actually supported with
a little bit of kind ofpartnership over how to make

(19:15):
some switches to different fuelsor different kinds of pollution
controls. The work of theagriculture. A lot of it was
like technology improvements, asopposed to just more heavy
handed regulations, investing inthe beaches and our resilience.
So when Hurricane Sandy comesalong four years later, we don't
get decimated the way the jerseydid and right across the bay.
And so it was, but it was justhaving trust in the expertise,
right? And having trust inpeople, and not assuming, you

(19:36):
know, everything coming in,going to see it yourself. Don't
always show up to be briefed onpaper, be briefed in the field.
And just kind of having thatjust a more servant minded, more
humble leadership style where, Imean, it's funny, because I
think I was brought in for,like, all these new ideas, and
like, I of course, have plentyof ideas, but what I realized
when I got there is justempowering others to actually
implement the things that theirexpertise has led them to know
for years, and actually having.

(19:59):
That the way we get big thingsdone. And so again, it wasn't
perfect. I made plenty ofmistakes, and most mistakes for
me, checking my own, choosingsome things, but we were able to
make progress because welistened.

Fred Kowal (20:11):
Do you think, let me put it this way, was the
interest in National WildlifeFederation in that position,
when it became open and you weregoing for it? Was it a case
where you wanted to move intothe arena of NGOs and influence
national policy, or was there areach out to you, given the

(20:31):
success you had in Delaware?
Well, it's because you're stillyoung at that point, and no, you
didn't come from a biologistbackground. So what was that
dynamic, like, because, youknow, it's a big shift from, you
know, a policymaker to NGO.

Collin O'Mara (20:45):
yeah, it's funny.
I was, like, the kid that had,like, the five year plan in
college, like, when did this,when do this? And, like, it all
went to hell when I didn't go toschool, right? And so, I mean, I
had been asked to considerdifferent positions, like the
Obama administration and someother state things, and none of
them kind of them kind of feltquite right. And I really loved
being in Delaware. And then Igot a call out of the blue, the
on the National WildlifeFederation job. And it's funny,

(21:06):
I've been kind of a NationalWildlife Federation adjacent for
my entire life, right? Goingback to Ranger Rick, I did a ton
of our state affiliates, and theaffiliates in adjacent states
for always, some of my bestpartners on projects and things.
And so I get this call out ofthe blue from Shelly Cohen, who
was on the board at the time,and she had been doing, you
know, some she does kind of realenergy work, and some things
around energy efficiency, so Iknew her kind of socially a
little bit, but she's like, Hey,it's like, I saw this picture of

(21:28):
you, like, you know, with seaturtles doing a Sea Turtle
Rescue. And I was like, You'reprobably too young, but like,
you know, and you haven't reallydone the NGO thing, but like,
Would you be willing to have aconversation with the board
about this position and and justcompletely out of the blue. And
so the board had already gonethrough 98% of their process
that point, you know, the greatBruce Wallace was, was leading
the transition. And I kind ofwent in with just trying to

(21:49):
learn more. And it was funny. SoI come in, and I thought was
there for like, a more of adiscussion about, like, the
position, and like, you know, itturns out the full blown
interview I got, like, themurders row, of like, you know,
12 people that, like, it wasfascinating, right? And I think,
and I mean, I love theFederation, and kind of always
have, but I'd never been, youknow, on the staff side, we have
this conversation about theaffiliates and the conversation
about different things. Youknow, the great Ken Salazar was
really curious about affiliaterelationships, and I was one of
the few that actually knew theaffiliates and all the different
places, just from different mywork in the region. Then one of
the board members from Montanais one of my favorites. I was

(22:19):
like, this is all great, buthe's never raised a dime, right?
He's He's never donephilanthropy, and the Federation
was in a pretty big financialhole at the time then. So
another friend of mine, theMontana the Secretary of Natural
Resources, the Director ofEnvironmental Quality, was able
to allay concerns. But no, itwas completely serendipitous,
right? It wasn't based on, like,a strategy. It wasn't like a
headhunter. It was like,literally, a board member saw a
picture and was like, picture.
Was like, oh, like, this kidcould be interesting. Like, it's

(22:40):
really outside the box forsomebody that's not just on the
DC bubble.

Fred Kowal (22:48):
That's fascinating.
So when you arrive, it's in theObama years, and then Donald
Trump is elected his first term,and then Biden's serves his four
years, and now we're into Trump.
You know, some refer to as apendulum. It's almost worse than
that in terms of these massiveshifts, and at the same time,
you're coming into a hugeorganization that has a great

(23:10):
reputation across the politicalspectrum. What kind of
adjustment was that for youright from the start in leading
this massive organization? Asyou said, yeah, there were some
financial challenges, but thenas things go on, and like I said
earlier, I joined a board in 16,we're going through this
whiplash of leadership. How doyou steer that course, just to

(23:31):
maintain the stability of theorganization? And I will testify
to that so our listeners canunderstand it, that
organizations can get throughthese big swings in what's
happening at the nationalleadership level. How did you
experience it, first, when youwere coming in, and then you

(23:51):
have to deal with it.

Collin O'Mara (23:54):
The one thing that the board didn't share kind
of fully was the state of thefinances, how deep the hole was,
and that we were kind of raidingour reserves as a way to, you
know, kind of keep the endowmentas a way to keep the
organization going. But thatalso just found incredible
people, right? Just absolutely,just absolutely, just
incredible, incredibly talentedfolks. And I think there's a
challenge in DC where it's easyto become, like, just federal,
you know, I used to, I used tosay that, like, the National
Wildlife Federation doesn't meanfederal, and kind of climate and
then, you know, kind of, as anorganization, it actually means,

(24:17):
like, nationwide, right? It getsto be in all 50 states and the
territories and all the greatwork of the regional level. It's
got to still center wildlife,like wildlife and people, right?
It can be kind of equal measure,but there has to be a focus on
wildlife, because that's ourunique niche, and that what
makes us different is theFederation. And so in some ways,
it was kind of getting back toour roots, to get to kind of
prepare us for the future, wasthe idea. And, you know, I

(24:38):
wanted to make sure that we weresquarely focused on the
wildlife, the biodiversitycrisis, climate crisis,
absolutely, but the climatecrisis with solutions that
aren't going to harm the naturalworld, there's such a push on
technology that, if we're notcareful, that we can put a lot
more species even further atrisk by just displacing one
technology for another, and ifways that aren't cited well or
kind of thought through, andthen we're focused on people,

(24:59):
right? And. Now we focus ontalking very explicitly about
environmental justice, but it'sthis focus on making sure that
communities that are just tryingto make sure they can breathe
clean air and breathe cleanwater have a place and a voice
of their own, voice in themovement. And I saw pretty
quickly that our role, becauseof our history and also kind of
our approach to things, was asmuch being like the bridge

(25:20):
between groups, and trying toshow how movements fit together
to do big things, trying not tojust to be an appendage of like
the Democratic Party, but reallytrying to show how these things
are non partisan, or they shouldbe at a high level, and maybe
not all the regulatory pieces,but anything investment based,
at least anything voluntary,should be non partisan. And
really trying to show thatthere's a bigger hole that we're
part of right, not part simplyof like the sportsman groups or
simply of like the sportsmangroups or simply the
environmental justice groups, orsimply the green groups, or
simply the land trusts, but thatall those groups actually have a

(25:46):
ton in common in terms of theoutcomes they want. They talk
about it differently. Thereasons they talk about it are
different. We also have a lot ofoverlap with other groups, other
industry associations, that theyneed access to clean water or
clean air, access to a welltrained workforce, or tourism
related to wildlife watching orhunting or fishing or something,
and so we spent a lot of timetrying to, like, kind of
distill, like, what our role is.
And I think that helped lead toa lot of fundraising

(26:09):
opportunities, because it madeus appeal to a broader swath of
the population and also tofoundations. It allowed us to
operate with almost equaleffectiveness in Republican and
Democratic administrations,while still calling balls and
strikes fairly when we disagreewith some of the Biden
administration, we said it. Wesaid, No, we don't. Same thing
with it with the Trumpadministration, we tend not to
be make it as personal as maybesome other groups, even though

(26:29):
there's a lot to get frustratedabout. But my I view our job is
making progress every inch wecan every day, regardless of the
politics, regardless of thecomposition of the Congress or
the state houses, or whatever,the scientific imperatives
demand that we do better, thatwe do better every day. And I
think having that as a as kindof an organizing principle, it
just serves really well. And oneof my former colleagues, one of

(26:50):
my favorites, used to saycollaboration is our brand. And,
you know, I just think it's theold adage that, you know,
overused, but it's, you know, ifyou want to go far, you know, if
I don't want to go fast, goalone. If I go far, go together.
We gotta go far right now. Thechallenges are existential in a
lot of ways, and we need tobigger tense, I mean, things
that can transcend the partisandivides and the regional divides
and the racial divides. Andthat's I mean, just we've been
ripped apart for decades now,and very much the last few

(27:13):
years. And so we want to be oneof the groups that can stitch
people together to still do big

Fred Kowal (27:20):
Yeah, and as you talk about coalitions,
obviously, this is a unionpodcast, and you've been central
in the blue green Alliance, andthat work, and something that
has also featured our nationalaffiliate, American Federation
of Teachers, aft, led by RandiWeingarten. And I'm involved in
that work, so I'm kind of inboth worlds. Do you see progress

(27:43):
in unions and conservationorganizations or environmental
organizations working together?
I think there are some isolatedmoves where we can make common
ground. So I would ask you,where do you see progress? Where
do you still see stumbling

Collin O'Mara (27:58):
Yeah, no, it's a great question. And like, I
mean, I'm a union kid throughand through, right? Like, I want
to be able wouldn't be able togo for college if my mom was a
blocks?
member of the teacher theteachers union, and when she was
a public school teacher. And mydad actually was with UA for a
little while before he went intothe military. I come from Irish,

(28:20):
right? So I got cops andfirefighters, fop and, you know,
everything else I go through theranks. I got IBEW cousins and
all that kind of stuff for me,like the movements actually put
together beautifully. And, youknow, because the same
conditions for worker safetyinside of a steel workers
organized facility for healthand toxics are the same
pollutants are going to affect,you know, the critters outside,
and the folks at huntingfishermen. So there was a great

(28:43):
vision by Leo Gerard, who's thelongtime head of the steel
workers, to bring this togetherCarl Pope, who was the head of
the Sierra Club at the time. Andthe goal was to focus on things
you agree on, right and so, andwhen I think about the house of
labor, no, obviously, a lot ofalign with the teachers, a lot
of alignment with with SEIU andservice workers, a lot of
alignment with ask me where Iget most excited to work with
the building trades, though,because I just think, like we
have to rebuild the country. Wecan put a ton of folks at work.

Unknown (28:44):
And a you We got to rebuild the energy
system. We got to build outtransmission. We got to
transform the transportationsystem. Hopefully do it all in

(29:06):
the way that enhances whyenhances wildlife populations
and not diminishes them. But, Imean, those are the tough
conversations, right? And Ithink, you know, I tend to be
more of a technology optimist,where I want to push the guards
of, you know, what we can getfor cleaner energy, but also for
pollution controls, and, youknow, everything else, there's a
ton of work in that. I mean, I'dlove all those projects to be

(29:29):
PLAs and make sure everyone'sworking under the best possible
working conditions. And robustapprenticeship programs, and
really be thoughtful about, youknow, responsible contracting
and all the different ways to doit, right? But anyway, someone
who's kind of lifted into themiddle class by unions, you
know, if we can also, you know,lift up the country and make our
country more resilient and makeour country have cleaner energy
and all these additionalbenefits, it's just a win, win.
And so when there's a leadershipchange at the Sierra Club, and
the blue green Alliance waslooking for a new co chair. I
was actually flying to the steelworkers. Suggested that I beat
the guy. But it's a fascinatingspace to have these
conversations that you don'thave in many places, right? Like

(29:51):
folks just end up kind of, theyhave their corner, bite the
other corner, and it's kind ofzero sum. Somebody wins,
somebody loses, where what wesaw in like the inflation
Reduction Act and the bipartisaninfrastructure. Ship bill is
working really closely with likewith nap to the national the
North American building tradesunions and all the member
companies, we're able to makegreat strides right on climate
and infrastructuresimultaneously, right on energy

(30:12):
and on reducing pollutionsimultaneously. Still a lot of
work to do. We're doing it rightnow on permitting, trying to
figure out smart ways to improveour permitting system. Because
it's just we can't get goodthings done either. I guess it's
just kind of, we've kind ofcreated a block to be able to
move things and at the same timemake sure communities have
unfolded, making sure we're notdestroying habitat in the
process, and all the otherthings. But I'm really
optimistic, and I think there'sobviously, you know, fights that
occur over pipelines anddifferent things. You know, I'd
rather have a new, updatedpipeline, in many cases, that's

(30:34):
going to be safer than an oldone that's could rupture. So I'm
not quite as far to the left tosome of my colleagues and
organizations that are trying tostop things all the time, but at
the end of the day, I mean, Istill feel like, you know, we're
stronger together. And, youknow, I think when the when the
labor movement, the conservationmovement, and, you know, EJ
movement, and sportsmen and allthey're saying, saying the same
thing, you can move mountains,time, it's connected to those

(30:54):
places where those individualsregardless of what the politics
of the day are, yeah.

(31:51):
in the apprenticeship programsmight want to take their
families to hike, might want togo boating, might want to hunt,
might want to fish. Do you seethat as a potential?

Collin O'Mara (31:59):
Yes, absolutely.
And we're doing some of italready. So I mean, it's, you
know, it's estimated at least75% of folks in the building
trades and manufacturing tradeseither have hunting or fishing
licenses. I mean, like the oldmap is just massive, and folks
that just enjoy the outdoors onthe weekend after working hard
all week. And so, yes, I thinkthere's also, we've been working
with some of, like, the pathwayto apprenticeship type programs
and the and kind of the LEAPtype programs trying to get

(32:21):
folks ready for apprenticeships,that kind of pre work to get on,
you know, kind of in the queue,you know, one of the things that
we're finding is that a lot ofapprenticeship programs, or pre
apprenticeship programs, want tohave their members, know, like,
what they're building for,right? Like, so understand the
energy system a little more,understand different types of
technology, understand the typesof jobs that are going to be
available, especially as they'remaking the decision, like, do I
want to join UA, or do I joinIBEW? Or do I want to join the
iron workers or theBoilermakers? Kind of thinking

(32:43):
through the, you know, thedifferent opportunities, and
then by having PLAs on some ofthe projects, right, we
guarantee that pipeline ofactual work. I know, no pun
intended. So I think it's beyondjust nature. I think it's
actually, you know, helpingfolks know the opportunities
that exist, giving you someadditional opportunities. Kim
Martinez, who does a phenomenaljob with our education
programming. It's not just k 12anymore, right? It's kind of
case, kind of K through yourlifetime, and just focusing on

(33:05):
the kids who are in college andall the green campuses and all
that kind of stuff, which isgreat, but also folks that are
ready for the workforce andready to kind of get into those
programs and giving them away,to both have a great salary and
good benefits and great trainingand do some good at the same
time. And that's a pretty goodvalue proposition for a lot of
folks right now, and better thanhaving a ton of debt for some
folks. So yeah, exactly

Fred Kowal (33:25):
One of our institutions that you know well,
where we represent is College ofEnvironmental Sciences and
forestry, and we do have someconcerns, because some programs
are being eliminated. It's aninstitution that just, you know,
they turn students away, becauseespecially today, there is such
an interest in ESF into programsthere. Where do you feel higher

(33:47):
education in an institution likeESF? What kind of role does it
play going forward as we facewhat in NWF is referred to as
those three areas of concern,the two crises, the biodiversity
crisis, the climate crisis, andthen issues around environmental
justice. Where do institutionsof higher ed? What role can we
continue to play, hopefullygoing forward?

Unknown (34:06):
Yeah, I mean, you know, you're getting me fired up on
this one, because I sort ofrevere ESF, like, I mean, it's
the best public school, youknow, environmental program in
the country, and not put on parwith anybody. You know. It's
absolutely bar none. And when Iwas at Maxwell School in my
fellowship there, I did a bunchof classes that were cross lists

(34:26):
of ESF with some of the greatfaculty there. It's where you
prepare the leaders of tomorrow,right? And I think the thing
that's interesting about ESF isthat, especially given this
intersection with like Maxwell,Maxwell School of Syracuse, is
that you teach folks not justthe foundational science, but
how to apply it, how to actuallycreate change. And I think
that's like, one of the biggestweaknesses we have right now as
a movement is that theeconomists speak a foreign

(34:48):
language. The policy folks areso kind of insiders speak. It's
hard that scientists can't talkto talk to anybody. And there's,
like, there's a lack of folksthat can translate across
disciplines. The thing that ESFdoes better than anybody else is
kind of explain. Is the why, notjust the how, right? So all of a
sudden, you're taking anenvironmental economics best one
class, and then connects the whythe energy system incentives are
creating these Pigovianexternalities, right? And kind

(35:13):
of the role of, kind of howdifferent market signals or not,
and kind of dictate, you know,certain decisions like you come
up with a more well rounded viewof how to affect change in real
way. It makes you more dynamic,right? It's why they everybody
that graduated from ESF getsnatched up immediately, because
they're so valuable compared toother places. And I was in

(35:36):
Arizona recently with MichaelCrow as the great president of
ASU. I was a very controversialfigure, but one of the things
that he said, he goes, Okay,goes, I don't want 7000 kids to
get a great education. I want70,000 kids to get a great
education so I can change theworld. And it actually kind of
put a and someone who went toDartmouth and Oxford in these
different kind of fancy places,it actually was kind of a light
bulb where it's like, if we havea great institution, let's move
as many folks through aspossible, you know, having their
staff support and theprofessional ranks to support
that. But like, why wouldn't wewant, you know, as being kids
going through in this moment inparticular, given the crises

(36:01):
that we're facing that havethat, you know, kind of a unique
ability. And yes, there's aprestige factor, you know,
having smaller classes and allthat kind of thing. But like, We
need leaders in from ESF inevery agency in state government
and every agency in federalgovernment. And so the idea of
contracting right now,especially as the states trying

(36:22):
to argue that they're a leaderon cutting climate action, and
given some of the other thingsthat have happened last few
years, you can't win the futureunless you have the talent to
actually be there to meet themoment in the future right now.
And we're seeing this across theboard, right? We're seeing the
disinvestment in publicinstitutions, you know, across
the country, and it's notspecific to New York, but of all
the areas to disinvest and notinvest in the folks that are
gonna help solve the climatecrisis and biodiversity crisis
in this moment and also createthe jobs and the opportunities
of the future is just absolutelyludricous.

Fred Kowal (36:34):
And you make an excellent point a lot of them
there. But one is that theattacks on the public sector.
You know, lot of focus on thepresent administration in DC,
but the attacks on the publicsector go way back. You know, in
our experience in New York, itwasn't a Republican. It was it
was Andrew Cuomo. And you can goback and make the argument, it

(36:54):
was Mario Cuomo, where thisthing got started, in terms of
attacking the public sector.
It's non partisan. But what wehave to do is get back to the
idea that the public sector iscrucial for the well being of
our society. We're up againstthe clock, but I wanted to give
you a chance. You're a hopefulguy, I have to admit. And you've
heard me say this in ourmeetings, that that I have a
tough time sometimes stayinghopeful. What do you say to our
audience as to what fuels yourhope for the future given the

(37:17):
crises that we're facing?

Collin O'Mara (37:20):
Yeah, I mean as far as you know, I'm a girl dad,
right? I got little ones. I gota two year old, an eight year
old and a 13 year old. We haveno choice but to succeed. I
mean, like the apocalypticalternative is just like
unthinkable, and so that's whatkeeps me up. And I've also seen
folks that disagree oneverything come together on
things. And there's a story Ioften tell about Jim Inhofe, who
was a senator from Oklahoma,who's one of the biggest climate
skeptics probably to ever servein the US Senate, and when the

(37:44):
chips were down late in thecongressional session, we were
trying to get help the city ofFlint get some funding to
replace the lead pipes, and wehad this meeting. And now the
mayor kind of spoke outeloquently and made the case
beautifully about why theyneeded it. And she talked about
the impact of lead on kidsbrains and the whole thing, and
the Senator said, I'll do it.
And there was this kind ofhesitation, you'll do I'm like,
you'll do what. He's like,they're all God's children.
There's my kids. I wouldn't wanttheir brains to be polluted, so
we'll find the money. Andthere's somebody that most of
the environment community hadjust ridiculed for years, right,
for being on the wrong side ofthings. But in that moment,

(38:11):
there's a humanity that camethrough, right? They're
basically saying enough. No kidshould have to drink dirty water
and have their brain, you know,contaminated. And I've seen the
same thing like mercurypollution and pollution, again,
these episodic moments, but theygive me hope that they're still
good, right? They could be done,and can bring people together,
and we're in it right now,right? I mean, the attacks on
offshore wind, the differentoutcome, attacks on Climate

(38:34):
Foundation, climate science, butat the same time, you know,
there's communities across thecountry that are saying, like,
look, I we were ravaged by thishurricane last year, or this
forest fire got so much worse,or I don't want my public land
sold. I mean, so we're beginningto transcend politics. These
folks are seeing theconsequences of inaction or
insufficient action. Is probablywhy I should put it, and that's
what gives me hope. Because I dothink that what breaks us out of
this kind of current US, them,kind of division of the country,
is getting back to like, whatfolks care about, right? Their

(38:58):
family, their community, thepatriotism place that I
mentioned, this idea of, like,the love they have for their
community. And if we can winthose conversations, you can
still move mountains. And we'reseeing different places like we
were to save a bunch of money inthe reconciliation package for,
you know, agriculture, right?
For conservation and wildlife onprivate lands. I mean, the
public lands fight was a bigpublic fight. And again, it's

(39:20):
not enough to overcome some ofthe bad things that we're
seeing, but it's laying afoundation for the big things
when those opportunities presentthemselves, you know? And I
think one of the big lessons forme for the last few years is
that a lot of the environmentalmovements focus is historically
been on Democrats, andunderstandably, Democrats have
done great allies on things, butyou know, it's going to raise a
Syracuse fan, right? You live bythe three, you die by the three.
There's there's a challenge whenyou put all your eggs in that
basket. And then there is thetrifecta Republican public
control like we're seeing now, alot of it gets torn down pretty

(39:43):
fastly, and probably prettyfastly. And so one of the things
that I'm focused on is thatdurability. And so how do you
use those glimmers of hope tobuild a durability that actually
allows us to make sure that it'snot just the whipsaw, you know
this, I agree. It's not apendulum. It's swinging too fast
for a pendulum. It's like a sortof banana please, or something
kind of coming at us. It's tomake. Sure that we're not in the
crosshairs for that all thetime, because there's enough
support on both sides wherefolks like, hey, just leave that

(40:05):
alone. And we saw the publiclands right? Cofounders, like,
selling again, I was like, no,no, that's not a rail. We want
to touch. We don't want to makethat the third rail. That's what
gives me hope. And so Iencourage all your members, you
know, like, it's just don't giveup on anybody, right? Like, we
got to convince folks, and it'shard. It's organizing, it's
boundaries, I know we started.
It's basic organizing on theground, you know, block by
block, still talking to folks,because, you know, we can't
write off half the country if wewant to make progress for all

(40:27):
the country.

Fred Kowal (40:29):
Yeah, this great way of closing our conversation. And
I think it relates to our work,where, when we fight to save a
program or save a campus, or,you know, last year with the
fight at downstate save ahospital, it's about the
communities and the progress wecan make in those communities
that can make a huge differencein the lives of people and move
us forward. Colin, it's been apleasure. Enjoyed it very much,

(40:51):
and thanks for joining us andsharing your wisdom and
experience.

Collin O'Mara (40:57):
Thanks for having me, and thanks for all your
members do good stuff. Let'ssave ESF!

Fred Kowal (41:01):
Yes, absolutely.
Very good.

Collin O'Mara (41:03):
Thanks, everybody,

Fred Kowal (41:11):
Thanks.

Mike Lisi (41:17):
Welcome to Labor Lookback where we take a look
back at labor story past, fromstrikes and uprisings to dynamic
union leaders and huge unionwins, we'll cover it all. Here's
a look back at labor historyfrom the month of September.

(41:41):
From strike breaking thugswielding bats to battalions of
armed lawmen brave unionworkers, especially those in the
early 20th century, routinelyput their lives on the line for
basic job safety protections andfair wages. Such was the case in
late August and early Septemberof 1921 when some 10,000 armed

(42:03):
West Virginia union coal minerssquared off against 3000 police
company hired ruffians and antiunion vigilantes dubbed the
Logan defenders in what is nowknown as the Battle of Blair
mountain, part of the coal wars.
The Battle of Blair Mountain isone of the largest union
uprisings in American history.

(42:26):
Things got ugly quickly. Nearly1 million rounds of ammunition
were fired during the week longstandoff, which took place in
Logan County, West Virginia. USPresident Warren G Harding
called in the West VirginiaNational Guard on September 2,
and the confrontation came to anend two days later, but not

(42:47):
before, Don Chafin, thenotoriously anti union Logan
County Sheriff, decided to dropbombs on the workers. Literally
decided to drop bombs on them.
Chafin recruited private pilotswho used their planes to drop as
many as four homemade explosiveand gas bombs on the miners. No
one was killed by the bombs,which were filled with nuts,

(43:10):
bolts and shrapnel and leftoverWorld War One gas shells. It
marked the first time in UShistory that American citizens
were bombed on US soil byprivate aircraft. As for Chafin,
he was roundly hated by unionminers. We'll hang Don Chafin
from a sour apple tree. Was apopular miners song back then,

(43:33):
when the federal troops arrived,the miners quickly gave up their
guns and surrender. Many of themwere veterans, and they refused
to fight against the government.
Nearly 1000 miners were indictedfor murder and treason, but most
were acquitted by sympatheticjuries. The clash and bombing

(43:55):
illustrated the power andbrutality used by coal companies
and their supporters to put downunions in the early 20th
century, it also broughtnational attention to the
horrible working and livingconditions of miners and the
acute need for change

Music (44:12):
Battle of Blair Mount
Mill Mother's Lament
we kiss our children goodbye.

Mike Lisi (44:27):
Ella Mae Wiggins worked as a spinner at American
mill number one in BessemerCity, North Carolina, in 1929
her life was hard. By age 29 shehad given birth to nine children
and lost four of them tomalnutrition and disease. Her
husband, an alcoholic, desertedWiggins and her kids in 1926

(44:51):
leaving them to live in wages of$9 a week, which was earned by
Wiggins, but she believed in thepower of being in a union and.
The power of music. A talentedsinger and songwriter, Wiggins
wrote about the difficulties ofbeing a single working mom in
songs like the big fat boss andthe workers, two little strikers

(45:13):
and the mill mother's lament.
Folk legends Woody Guthrie andPete Seeger performed her songs
and Seager recorded the millmother's lament when nearly 2000
workers at the Loray mill inGastonia, North Carolina, went
on strike in April 1929 Wigginsjoined the National textile
workers union, which representedthe striking workers, and she

(45:36):
joined them, convinced thatbeing in a union was the only
way to make a better life forherself with her children,
Wiggins spoke at rallies andjoined picket lines. A few weeks
after the strike began, mostmill workers, harassed by the
mill owners and their hired millthugs, went back to work, but
about 300 workers, includingWiggins, set up on the outskirts

(45:59):
of town, picketing and holdingunion rallies. Police raided the
camp in June 1929, the townpolice chief was killed in the
altercation. Wiggins furtherinfuriated the town's elite by
encouraging black labor leadersto join the strike. On September
14, a truck Wiggins was ridingin to a union rally was

(46:23):
ambushed. Pregnant at the time,she was shot in the chest and
was killed. No one else on thetruck was shot, leading many to
believe the ambush was actuallyan assassination. Five men were
charged with Wiggins murder.
More than 50 eyewitnessestestified against the men, but

(46:44):
the jury found them not guiltyafter deliberating for just 30
minutes. On the 50th anniversaryof her death in 1979 the local
chapter of the NationalOrganization for Women erected a
marble cross on her unmarkedgrave site. The cross read, she
was killed carrying the torch ofsocial justice, September 14,

(47:07):
1929for UUP Labor Lookback. I'm Mike
Lisi, and now here's Fred with

Fred Kowal (47:16):
Thanks Mike. Well, hopefully you enjoyed today's
interview with Collin O'Marafrom the National Wildlife
Federation. Know what peoplehave gone through in this
Kowal's Coda.

(50:02):
country to make it better, tomake it more in line with the
principles articulated in theDeclaration of Independence. We
hold these truths to be selfevident, that all men are
created equal and endowed bytheir creator to certain
unalienable rights among these,life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness. And yes, I did saymen. I used the original wording

(50:22):
because in those days, forThomas Jefferson and for the
Rebels, American rebels, to saythat all men were equal was
considered insane, because thegeneral perspective was, men are
not equal. There are those whoare wealthier, more endowed with
property and thus better, neveroccurred to them to consider

(50:44):
gender not yet, although AbigailAdams made sure that her
husband, John Adams was aware ofthe necessity for gender
equality as well. Now what's allthis leading to? It's all
leading to one of the mostphenomenal books I've read over
the past couple years, writtenby Pulitzer Prize winner David
Zucchino. It's calledWilmington's Lie.

(52:01):
be where our nation is going ifwe are not vigilant, good night

(53:01):
and good luck.

Mike Lisi (53:08):
The Voice Podcast is a production of United
University professions. You canfind UUP on Facebook, Instagram,
X and blue sky at UUP info. UUPis on the [e-mail]
This episode was produced byMike Lisi, communications

(53:28):
director for UUP. UUP directorof administration, Lynn
Alderman, is associate producer.
The host of the voice is UUPpresident, Fred Kowal. You can
download the voice podcast themefor free by going to United
Universityprofessions.bandcamp.com,

(54:32):
thanks for listening. You