November 26, 2025 • 42 mins
Leslie is joined by Roxanne Brown, President-Elect of the United Steelworkers. Currently serving as the Union's international Vice President, Brown will be sworn in to her new position on March 1, 2026. Following the USW's regular four-year nomination and election process that recently took place, Brown was elected to be the Union's new President!
During today's interview, Leslie and Roxanne discuss how working families have taken major hits to their rights and their pocketbooks in 2025, thanks to the Trump administration.
Before President Trump was elected, his advisors laid out a terrifying vision for the nation called, 'Project 2025.' And over the past year, working families have unfortunately borne the brunt of the administration rapidly enacting these policies. On top of this, the administration has failed to rein in – and in many ways added to – costs for necessities like groceries, energy and health care.
Roxanne details how these attacks have hit bargaining rights for workers, veterans' benefits, workplace safety, healthcare and more.
Taken together, we’re seeing an economy in which the rich get a whole lot richer, while everyone else is lucky to scrape by, just as Trump planned.
Follow the USW on Facebook, Instagram and X, using the handle @steelworkers, and visit their website at USW.org. Also, check them out on Blue Sky where their handle is @steelworkers.bsky.social.
Roxanne's handle on X is @BrownRox.
(Image Credit: Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty)
During today's interview, Leslie and Roxanne discuss how working families have taken major hits to their rights and their pocketbooks in 2025, thanks to the Trump administration.
Before President Trump was elected, his advisors laid out a terrifying vision for the nation called, 'Project 2025.' And over the past year, working families have unfortunately borne the brunt of the administration rapidly enacting these policies. On top of this, the administration has failed to rein in – and in many ways added to – costs for necessities like groceries, energy and health care.
Roxanne details how these attacks have hit bargaining rights for workers, veterans' benefits, workplace safety, healthcare and more.
Taken together, we’re seeing an economy in which the rich get a whole lot richer, while everyone else is lucky to scrape by, just as Trump planned.
Follow the USW on Facebook, Instagram and X, using the handle @steelworkers, and visit their website at USW.org. Also, check them out on Blue Sky where their handle is @steelworkers.bsky.social.
Roxanne's handle on X is @BrownRox.
(Image Credit: Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Leslie Marshall Show, the only true democracy and talk
radio of four and by you the people, live nationwide
and streaming live at Leslie Marshallshow dot Com.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Here to sent You're Free. You know, when we shows
that theme song, it's because you know, not only am
I a woman, but at the time, I was one
of the very few women that did talk radio. I
was the youngest person ever syndicated in talk radio. And
you know, back in the day, it was a lot
of like, you know, a white conservative guys you know
(00:59):
that were hosting. And I love today even more so
that that song is our intro into this program. And
for this reason, I am not only honored and blessed
and excited to have with us today rock Sam Brown.
Now many of you know her name, but some of
you didn't know her name, certainly know it now and
if not, you will. She is currently serving as the
(01:21):
USW the United steel Workers International Vice President at large,
but following the usw's regular four year nomination and election
process that recently took place, she was elected to be
the union's new president. She's going to be sworn in
on March first, or twenty twenty six. She replaces David McCall,
(01:43):
who you've heard and seen here on this program. He
did not seek reelection and she has served. He served
as the USW International President since September of twenty twenty three.
Here's what he said about her. And you know, just
so excited. Okay, not just a woman, we had Liz
Schulero a f l c IO. I just said, but
(02:05):
you know, Roxanne is the first African American woman to
lead a union. So this is awesome. This is progress.
This is the type of progress that we need in
this nation to have leaders in our unions that are
a proper reflection of the society that we all live
in and are part of. Here's here's what President McCall said, quote.
(02:26):
Roxanne has devoted her life's work to advancing the interest
of working families, fighting for fair wages, affordable healthcare, dignified retirements,
and strong labor rights. I can think of no one
better qualified to lead our union as we navigate this
unprecedented era of largely unchecked corporate greed. Be sure to
follow the USW on Facebook, Instagram, and x the handle
(02:47):
at steel Workers. Visit their website at USW dot org.
Also on blue Sky their handle is at steel Workers
dot bsky dot social and you can get soon to
be President president grown follow her on x at Brown
Rocks that's brown r X. First of all, congratulations soon
(03:07):
to be Madam President.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Thank you so much, Leslie.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
I really appreciate it, and I just always appreciate your
support of not just our union, but me as a
woman in the labor movement. You always lift us up
and just really appreciate you. I can't tell you how
excited I am to become the first woman president of
an industrial union. The industrials have never had a woman president,
(03:33):
and so I'm very excited about that.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
I mean, you get a double aammy there. Yeah, you
got double diversity there.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
That's also double diversity.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
And you know what, you do not have an easy task.
And the reason you don't have an easy task is
because when you look at this year of twenty twenty five,
which is soon to come to a close, those that
are taking the biggest hits, the major hits in this
current economy and political client that are working families who
(04:02):
you are in charge of so many of. Now, before
President Trump was elected and you were part of the USW,
then his advisors laid out a vision for this nation
called Project twenty twenty five, and that vision is terrifying
for many people, especially for the majority of the people
in this country, the middle class, the working class. Over
(04:22):
this past year, working families have borne the brunt of
this administration, of those policies which are rapidly being enacted,
and on top of it, the administration has failed to
rein in in many ways, they've added to costs that
were already higher than many people are comfortable with necessities
(04:43):
like groceries, energy, healthcare. The list goes on. So first,
let's talk about before we break it down more, let's
talk about this economic fight that you know, working families
have this uphill battle and bear the brunt of with
this administration and these types of policies.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
Yeah, and it's it's just it's really ironic and just cool.
Working families are having a hard time, you know, and
I think you and I on this call could talk about,
you know, the challenges that we're facing. But so many
people in our families, my members, so many people in
communities all across this country are just playing out having
(05:23):
a hard time. You know, you go to the grocery
store and you know, before maybe when you didn't look
as close. Now you have your calculator out calculating how
much you can afford. Forty dollars a year ago is
like fifteen dollars today. It feels like when you go
to the supermarket and so the But the just one
(05:44):
of the cool irony about all of this is a
lot of Americans voted for President Trump because there was
this view that he was better on the economy, that
under a Trump administration, the economy was going to thrive,
that American families were going to thrive, that American workers
(06:04):
were going to thrive. And what we have is the
complete opposite, and an unwillingness, to be quite frank, of
the Trumpe administration, to even admit what's happening is actually happening.
It drives me crazy when I see President Trump on
television being confronted with the reality of high gas prices,
(06:27):
high grocery prices, high utility prices, and his answer is,
Americans are doing great, greater than they've ever done before.
Gas prices are coming down. Americans can't eat that, they
can't cook those words, they can't put those words in
their refrigerators, they can't put those words, and their gas pipes.
(06:48):
They cannot put those words to you light up their
houses every day. So it's not the reality. It's really
not the reality. The reality is quite the opposite. And
you know, you you met Project twenty twenty five. Forty
eight percent of this plan that President Trump said when
he was candidate, Trump knew nothing about. Forty eight percent
(07:11):
of that plan has been implemented by this administration. So
for a plan that he and his team knew nothing about,
they sure are working their way through that plan to
the detriment of the American people.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
It's also insulting to the American people. And I don't
care if you're a Democrat or Republican when you basically say, oh,
gas is down, it's two dollars a gallon, and you
know you don't have to just live in California where
I live. But people are like no, or they're like, oh,
Thanksgiving dinner is less.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
No.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
What they had was one example from Walmart of a
dinner for an entire family that was less because there
are less things in the dinner. You know, if you
take things out, of course, it's going to be less.
So but you're paying more because you're paying less. But
you were getting let's say fourteen items and now you're
getting nine, so you're you know, yeah, it's an insult
(08:07):
to the intelligent, the American people. So let's talk even
more specifically about union workers. Since since the first you know,
Trump presidency, his candidacy, his presidency is candidcy for Trump
two point zero. And now there's constantly this attack on
unions and more specifically this attack on bargaining rights, which
(08:28):
allows unions and allows union workers to sit down, to
get down at the table and to help alleviate some
of those costs by being paid a higher decent wage
or being able to retire, you know, rather than saying, oh,
work longer, right, work longer, No, being able to retire
because you've worked. And people forget there's difference between manual
(08:50):
label labor, blue collar work and sitting at a desk
nine to five. There is, I mean, physically on your bottom.
My husband's a doctor, he'll tell you that. So the
Trump administration attacked bargaining rights in several fronts, and right
after taking power, which which is what people on my
side of the eye of warm would happen, he put
elon Musk, one of the world's most notorious union busters
(09:12):
and an example of corporate greed, likely to be the
world's first trillionaire in charge of efficiency. It allowed him
not only to lay off hundreds of thousands of workers,
many of whom were union members, also decimate essential services
which workers rely on, cutting education, VA benefits and cuts
(09:33):
to other aspect of veterans' lives and benefits, and even
the Social Security administration. Then he fired Jennifer Abruzzo, a
great general counsel for the NLRB and then non president
to Moody also fired gwyn Wilcox, who everybody loves. Republican's
loves Amber, I mean, a member of the I've never
heard a negative word about that woman, a member of
(09:55):
the board who had a history of upholding workers' rights.
So don't you had the NRLB crippled? Now the president
is working to stack pro corporate cronies, which is completely
adverse to what the NLRB was even established for in
the first place. How much more can this get bad?
Get can this get for workers? For union workers and
(10:19):
for those that want to unionize or want to just
sit down at the table and get a fair shake
and a fair deal. We're going to have you answer
that on the other side of this. I went along.
I'm sorry, so you have time to think about that answer.
Let's talk about the attack of marketing. Right, So we
come back with our soon to be madam President of
the United steel Workers. I get kills because I've known
(10:40):
her for years and it's just just very exciting, not
just as a woman, but to see somebody who's works off.
I really deserves it. You earned it, girl, really really
deserves it and really understands this struggle. She I mean,
just you know, google her during the breach. Right, we'll
come back and we'll talk more with her and with
you right after this. Don't go away. We are back
(11:02):
on Leslie Marshall and she is Rob Sam Brown.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
She currently is the USW International Vice President at Large,
but on March first of twenty twenty six, next year,
she will be sworn in replacing current President David McCall
of the United Steelworkers Union.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
She will be the first woman leading an industrial union
and the first African American woman leading any union of
any type. Very proud of her, very excited to have
her with us, specially when she's busy and needs some
well deserved time off. Because she's busy as it is.
It's going to get a lot busier. Check out the
USW on Facebook, X and Instagram. Check out their handle
(11:39):
at steel workers on their website. There's a plethor of information.
They are about so much more than steel. Check out opportunities.
Maybe you and you know, wherever you're working, are interested
in unionizing. We have so many industries unionizing now that
nobody ever would have thought of or heard of doing that,
and it's happening. USW dot org is where you can
check that out. Also on Blue Sky followed them there
(12:00):
steel steel Workers dot besguy dot social and you can
follow Roxanne. Her handle is on x at Brown Rocks
b r O W n R o X you know,
Vice President Brown, thank you for holding and welcome back.
So talk to me about, you know, additional attacks that
have continued from the first administration, and really we're stepped
(12:22):
up in Trump two point zero because they hit the
ground running on this specifically attacking the workers and their
rights of the bargaining table.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
You know, Leslie, you laid it out so beautifully before
the break about the extent of the attacks on collective
bargaining rights against against workers across this country, and you
know the Trump administration hit the ground running in March
when he figned an executive order to eliminate the collective
(12:53):
bargaining rights for you know, almost a million federal sector workers.
And so you just think about it. I think about
you know, Leslie Marshall, who you know works for the
Department of Energy, who has worked for DOE for thirty years,
goes to bed at night after working a day at
(13:13):
the Department of Energy, and you wake up in the
morning and you do not have a collective bargaining agreement
because a stroke of the pen took it away. And
that happened for almost a million workers in March, and
then you fast forward to August, where again the Trump
administration layered on even more loss of collective bargaining rights
(13:36):
for federal sective workers. So you're looking at now over
a million workers in the federal sector that have been
stripped of their collective bargaining rights. That's it should be criminal, really,
because it is the right of workers to organize and
to collectively bargain. That's a very fair, core, basic right.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
That our laws allowed for.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
And this administration who's chosen to to just completely fly
in the face of all of that and What that
means for workers is not just the ability to earn
a good living. It means the ability to go to
work and come home safely at the end of the day.
It's the ability in their jobs to provide for American
people around this country. It's they're doing these key services
(14:22):
in communities and at the federal level for workers all
across the country. And this was basically a slap in
the face to say, you know what, you chose to
be a public servant. We don't appreciate you. We're going
to take away your rights and it's going to be
harder for you to do what you do every single day.
And it continues, and so you know, us in the
private sector, we've looked at what's happened in the federal
(14:45):
sector as a warning for what is possibly to come
with private sector unions, and so we've not seen it
as a fight just for federal sector unions. It's a
fight for the entire labor movement. Collective bargaining rights are
a right for workers and for working people, and we're
(15:05):
going to fight as hard as we can with our
brothers and sisters and siblings in the federal sector to
make sure that they're able to retain those rights.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
I don't know what workers who don't have a union
fighting for them and having their backs yeah, do in
this climate I mean where I mean, there's so many things,
you know, based on what you said, I just wanted
to comment on an example that you gave and illustrates
it perfectly. One, where do you go after thirty years
doing one kind of a job in one area. That's
(15:37):
not easy to find somebody who's going to hire you
when you're in your fifties or your sixties, depending when
you started, you know, in this job. Two, there are
people in the federal government, cash Ptel and others that
have said, oh well there are other you know, you
can get another job in the federal government. You just
have to move to Alabama. And it's sort of like,
well wait a minute, but I've lived in Virginia for
(15:59):
thirty years. My children are here, my grandchildren are here,
you know, my my family, my extended families here, the
you know, the people I play golf with on you know, Saturday,
or I mean really I mean just uprooting. And you know,
it's really it. Look, you can sometimes teach in old
dark new tricks, but it really bothers me. I have
(16:21):
friends who work in the federal government who lost their
jobs and just get demonized. These people working, you know,
I mean, oh yeah, some of them work remotely. It
doesn't mean you're not working. You know, I worked. I
worked through you know, I worked through COVID behind me
at this, you know, television studio. I wasn't in New
York or DC on set. You know, come on, right,
you know, I mean it just it drives me crazy
(16:43):
how they demonize hard working people and just really pulled
the rug out from under them, because I mean, how
many people were looking at well, I'm going to retire
in five years, right, right, one year?
Speaker 3 (16:57):
You know.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I mean, it's so the you had talked about further unconscionable.
And I have to say, Doug Collins, who hands up
the Veterans Affairs Secretary of Veterans Affairs, I know him,
and I know him from Fox. He's actually a very
nice man, and he is a veteran. I say that
because it's nice when somebody knows this, And I would
(17:18):
say this if he were here, Doug, if you're watching
or listening, I don't think these are his decisions, a
lot of them because how can they be How can
you hurt veterans like this? I just don't understand. I mean,
the attacks on the veterans. These are the men and
women who really make us who we are, right, I mean,
(17:39):
it's because of them that we have the freedoms that
we do. But there's so much There are so many
veterans that work in government, you know, and that's kind
of what they're trained to do in the various branches
of service. And so many of the workers that were
laid off were veterans. And this is where tried out
my head round. They were providing essential services and those
(18:03):
so they're veterans who work in the federal government who
are working to provide benefits to service members. Not only
do they lose their job, but those benefit programs get
caught or eliminated. It's insane. Tens of thousands of jobs
over the past ten months were in the Department of
Veterans Affairs. It resulted in cuts to transportation programs for
disabled veterans, who reduced telephone support for caregivers, postponement or
(18:28):
cancelation of suicide prevention trainings. I mean, isn't there a
point at the end of the day It's like, Okay,
I'm not a Democratic Republican. I'm not male or female,
black or white, you know, rich or Poort, Northern or Southerner,
you know, Christian, Jewish, Muslim. I'm a human being. How
is a human being? Can you postpone or cancel suicide
prevention for any group of people? But even more so
(18:50):
when you look at the stats of how many veterans
take their lives and what many of them go through
and they come back to and there's no transition between
being over there and coming back over here. Officials also
canceled hundreds of contracts with outside providers, and they immediately
scaled back. These decisions were reckless. They know they needed
(19:13):
help perform essential work physician, recruitment, burial service. I mean,
the list just goes on. Am I at that time? Again? No,
are we all right? When we come back, I want
to talk about veterans, who are a vulnerable segment of
our population and who comprise many of these union federal
(19:36):
worker jobs. We'll talk about the veterans. We're also gonna
start to talk about workplace safety, because how safe can
it be when you have all these cuts? America? You'll
find out right after it. We are back, and when
I say we, I mean meet Leslie Marshall, Haymor and
(19:57):
Roxanne Brown. She's currently serving as usw's international Vice President
at Large. She will be the new president for the
United steel Workers Union, the USW, being the first female
and first African American female of an industrial union. I
want to point that out. I don't think I said
industrial prior. There are other black women who have led unions,
(20:17):
but she will be the first black woman African American
woman leading an industrial union, which the United steel Workers
is being sworn in March first of twenty twenty six.
Like I said, check out their website USW dot org
find out not just about her. You can find out
about her. Her handle on x is at Brown roxby
rownrox on us w's handles at steel Workers. Follow them
(20:40):
on x, Instagram, Facebook, plethora of information there and also
check them out on Blue Sky follow them at steel
Workers dot, bskuy dot social to learn more. Because we
don't get to everything that's going on with the workers
and with the unions and all the fights and all
the success stories. But let's talk about another fight, and
that's just fighting for p people that have literally fought
(21:01):
for our freedom and you know, are injured or you know,
gave a great deal of their lives, the years of
their lives, and now they are being attacked. Would you
say this was not an abstract attack, This is quite intentional.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
I you know it, but it's bizarre. You know, it
was a bizarre intentional attack. And you know, I don't
know if it's because this was you know, a doge splash,
Elon Musk led attack. And clearly Elon Musk neither as
president you know Trump but served the day in his
(21:39):
life in battle to even understand conceptually what it is
that the men and women who put their lives and
their bodies on the line, as you said before the
break ensure our freedom in this country had sacrificed.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
For themselves and for us.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
So the fact that he had no context allowed him
to take a pen and just arbitrarily cut and to
say it was egregious is not. It's not a strong
enough word when you think about the things that were
taken from veterans. You laid out a whole bunch of
(22:17):
really key programs, but suicide prevention.
Speaker 6 (22:20):
Research into cancers that a lot of our veterans, you know,
wind up developing over time after their service and prevention
and treatment for those cancers.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
Simple services that are big services.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
Like being able to get them to their appointment, accessibility
just to doctors or to medical professionals, access to a
VA that is close to their house and they don't
have to travel hours away, because how does an eighty
year old VET get to an appointment that's an hour
and a half away from their house. But there was
(22:57):
no I think, the one consistent thing across all of
these cuts. We could sit here literally forward day and
a half, two days and talk about the cuts just
to the Veterans Administration, just to the VA, right, But
if you think about all of the cuts across the
federal government, there was no thoughtfulness that was taken as
(23:22):
we thought about what these cuts were going to mean
to the people. You had bosses who were looking at
words on paper and numbers on paper and charts and
grass and not attributing people to those words, to those numbers,
to those graphs. And when the cuts were made, people's
(23:45):
lives were devastated and they remain devastated. And you have
veterans that got you know, I even hate to think
about it, but it's the reality right. You have veterans
who could potentially have cut their lifespan shorter because of
benefits or treatment or care or again the loss of
(24:10):
things like the suicide prevention line that are so necessary
for that population. So it's the complete lack of care
and thoughtfulness that towards the American people, but specifically towards
this treasured group of Americans that was not taken into
(24:31):
account by this administration and by you know, the boss
Elon Musk.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
It was just terrible.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Yeah, you know, I'm so glad I asked you this
question because your answer is founded into things common sense
and compassion. Yes, and you're absolutely right. You know, what
would it have taken and how long would it take
to have provided some kind of an exit ramp, an
off ramp instead of pushing them off the bridge, and
(25:03):
not just veterans like you know, the people we you know,
you gave the example of the person who's worked in
you know, that department for thirty years and that that's
what they know, you know what I mean, that is
what they know. That is their job, and it's an
important job. I mean, you know, yeah, Look, we always,
you know, we always have to look at things and
say we need to make some cuts here and there.
But to your point, like you said, it's almost like
(25:26):
they didn't look at what they cut. And obviously they
didn't because I mean, there are people out there that
I would see that would post I'm fired. I think
I'm not sure because see I was fired, I was
called back to work, I was fired again, So I
don't know what's going on. You know, you can't even
apply for, you know, unemployment. Let's talk about safety in
the workplace, and I just want to say one more
thing about suicide men, especially in the military. We've spoken
(25:51):
to many don't feel comfortable talking about going to a therapist,
talking about PTSD whatever it is, and that's why some
of their numbers are so much higher disproportionate to the
rest of our population, because they just hold it all
in until they implode, and then what happens. They need
(26:13):
to pick up that phone, that lifeline. That could be
the very last call, and that call could be the
difference between them living another day, are going six feet
under in a pine box. I mean, really, not to
be nasty, it's true, you know, it's reality. It is
Another reality is workplace safety. When you look at this
year and We've talked about you and I've talked about it.
(26:35):
I've talked about workplace safety a number of times over
the years, but this year, workers have suffered massive setbacks
on workplace health and safety. Obviously, that correlates to the
steep cuts at various organizations national Institutes for Occupational Health
and Safety, that's an IOSH and attempting to outright kill
(26:55):
the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, the CSB. Talk
to us about some of these cuts in these setbacks
this year that we've seen when it comes to workplace
health and workplace safety.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
You know, one of the things that I've been saying
at every opportunity that I have to speak to steel
workers or working people around this country, they use the
day right. So today is November twenty fifth, twenty twenty five.
Today steel workers and working people are less safe than
(27:32):
they were November twenty fifth of twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
No no excuse for that, no excuse to that.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
There's no excuse.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
And again there's no reason. And I go back to
what we were talking about with the veterans. There is
no thoughtfulness, there's no strategic thinking about what it is
that keeps workers safe on the job. What it is
that allows you know, Joe Smith to wake up in
(28:00):
the morning or wake up you know, seurdshift, go to work,
come back home safely. There's no there's no thoughtfulness to
how we make sure that that happened.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
It's just cut, cut, cut, cut, cut to cut.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
And so today workers are less safe on the job
than they were a year ago today. And what that
looks like is we'll take the Chemical Safety Board. Okay,
this is a couple of months ago, we had a
disaster here in the Pittsburgh area at US Deal in
the Moon Valley where there was an explosion at one
(28:35):
of our facilities, and unfortunately, you know, two of our
brothers lost their lives and others were injured. Okay, one
of those brothers is a single father. The CSB, their
job is not to regulate. They're not a regulator like
OSHA is. They're an investigator. So their job is to
(28:57):
go in and determine why did this bad thing happens
and how can we prevent this bad thing from happening again,
so that workers know and companies know.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
It's not just something that's the workers.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
Companies want to operate well, right, So it's making sure
that everyone is on the same page about how to
go back in safely and how to operate safely. Now,
the Trump administration, as you mentioned once, the zero that
out is a fiscal year twenty twenty six budget. Why
the CSP does not lend to any significant costs for
(29:36):
the federal government, the tiny little agency that does work
that is talk about punching above your weight. It punches
above its weight significantly, but the goal is to zero
it out.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Right. You go to things like.
Speaker 4 (29:52):
Heat standards, which, especially in the face of climate change
and raising temperatures on the planet. You know, he standards
for workers like mine who work in steel mills and
entire plants that are really really hot, a heat standard
keeps them safe, and a live at work rolled back.
(30:13):
I can go down the line, but today workers are
less safe than they were a year ago.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
We're going to take a break a week back. We're
going to talk more about some of those cuts. We're
also going to talk about strides that were made that
have been reversed in Biden administrating the Trump administration. And
we're going to talk about healthcare. By the way, number
two issue among voters doesn't matter if you're a Democrat
or Republican. Doesn't matter if you're a white collar worker,
blue collar worker, rich Port as some people care about.
(30:40):
Will be back with the International Vice President of the
United steel Workers who will be President of the United
steel Workers, rox Sam Brown. Right after this Don't Go Awact,
we are back with the USW International Vice President at
Large Roxam Brown, who, after a four year nomination and
(31:02):
election process that recently took place, was elected to be
the union the usw's new president, the first African American woman,
the first woman of an industrial union, being sworn in
March first of twenty twenty six. I've known her for years.
I'm proud of her. I'm very happy for her, and
I'm very happy for the steel Workers and all the
people that look to her leadership in the years ahead.
(31:26):
Follow USW Facebook, excuse me, follow you to W on Facebook, Instagram,
at x at steel Workers, visit the website USW dot org,
on Blight Blue Sky, follow them at steel Workers dot
b Sky, dot Social and follow Roxanne. You know you
can say, hey, I'm following the new student to be
you know, Madam President USW at Brown rocks, thank you
(31:47):
for holding and I you know, talking about worker safety.
You mentioned the heat standard of common sense there, right, OSHA,
but also the MSHA. They have a rule to protect
miners from silica right right. And there's also a rule
to protect healthcare workers from infectious diseases, which by the way,
(32:10):
can infect the people to go home to and then
there their kids go to school with your kids. You know,
the list goes on.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
So speak to us a little.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
More about this and and what about the strides that
were made in the Biden administration. I mean, our manufacturing
base was expanded, investments and key industries, you know, the
money that was ensured out there to support companies, companies
that respected and you know, you know, programs and finances
that would back and respect labor rights and honor commitments
(32:42):
to the community that they operate within. Have those all
been erased? Have those all been undone completely? At this point?
Speaker 3 (32:51):
You know, the word of the moment is uncertainty.
Speaker 4 (32:55):
Honestly on the on the safety and health front, it's
uncertain tea for working people across this country because of
the rollbacks that we talked about with NIOSH and the
CSB and what you just mentioned with the Mind Safety
and Health Administration or EMSHA, where the silica standard that
(33:16):
again another standard that is really important to keeping miners
safe and reducing the exposure that they have to pilica
which can lead to silicosis, which which is which you know,
you talk to any minor and they can tell you
a story about a family member who has suffered from
(33:37):
silicosis and unfortunately died from silicosis at some point, so
you know it.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
The goal is for us to constantly be.
Speaker 4 (33:47):
Pushing the ball forward when it comes to worker safety
and health, not rolling it back. And the harsh reality
of the moment that we're in right now around uncertainty
is that there is a very clear and deliberate effort
to follow out the gains that we have made, not
just in the preceding four years under the Biden administration,
(34:09):
but but you go all the way back to you know,
George H. W. Bush and the onset of the Clean
Air Act that happened under that administration. So this is
not a Republican versus nonfer.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Res founded during the next send administration.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
Exactly right, So you know, this is really about what's.
Speaker 4 (34:33):
Right and what's wrong, and unfortunately, what this administration has
done has really taken us back significantly significant steps back
in terms of what we the labor movement have fought
and scrabbled and gained for for workers all across this
country for for quite literally decades. And so I can't
(34:57):
even tell you, you know, in any real measure, what
we look like as working people in this country on
the other side of this administration at the close of
this administration.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
If we keep the pace.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
That we've kept for the last eleven months, if we
keep this pace, that word uncertainty that I use, it's
on the prefaces of devastation. But I think we get
there if we keep this pace, and we're going to
have to work so hard to not just get back
what we've lost, but try to develop something new and
(35:32):
better for working people across so many different fronts, including
worker safety and health. You talked about the rollback in
what we were able to gain under the Biden administration
with investments. You know, you talk to anyone any industrial union,
and we've been begging, screaming, imploring various administrations and Congresses
(35:57):
for almost five decades now for industrial policy. We've wanted
industrial policy, and we've all, you know, tried.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
To extract it in different ways.
Speaker 4 (36:08):
Our union is really needed to trade policy as a
way to try to, you know, have some industrial policy
over the years. But during the Biden Paris administration, we
had three once in a generation build with a bipartisan
infrastructure law build, the Inflation Reduction Act, which.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
Is the worst.
Speaker 4 (36:28):
Name ever in life for a build because it should
have been called Industrial Policy for America, right, because that's
really what it was, and the Chips.
Speaker 3 (36:37):
And Science Act.
Speaker 4 (36:38):
These were three just by themselves as standalone builds.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
These were once in generation builds.
Speaker 4 (36:44):
We had three in a four year period, and embedded
within each of those bills was resources, resources for American workers,
for training, resources, and funding for industrial facilities to innovate
and modernize. You know, you look at facilities like Heidelberg Cement,
(37:05):
which got five hundred million dollars in Inflation Reduction Act
funding to modernize their facilities a still worker represented facility
and they were going to install carbon capture to operate
more efficiently and make cleaner. Cement scrapped by this administration
that claims to care about making you know, manufacturing great again, right,
(37:31):
Strapped in the future Tilberg, you know, we'll see in
the global marketplace.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
Right.
Speaker 4 (37:36):
This was a huge investment of money that was going
to help them to be able to bring their facility
into the future. Oh I same thing Owens Illinois, a
glass manufacturer that's also still worker represented. You know, they
lost about fifty seven million dollars. They were going to
install a new furnace again to modernize and bring them
(37:57):
and their jobs into the future. So you can't you
can't say that you're for a greater America when at
every single turn you are weakening America, weakening our industrial
and manufacturing might, weakening the ability for manufacturing workers to
(38:18):
earn a living right and the future for other generations
for hopefully these facilities to go into.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
All of that has been weakened.
Speaker 4 (38:29):
And so uncertainty is the word of the day right now.
And again we're you know, we're teetering on the precipice
of devastation. If we keep at this pace for the
next three years.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
Absolutely, you know so well said, and you would you
would say, why would somebody do this? I mean, clearly,
this president, this administration have an economy in which the
rich get richer, including him and his family, and that
clearly what he wants to see happen. Let's switch gears.
In the last few minutes here too. Not switch gears,
(39:06):
but you know, move on to you know, another compartment
of this devastation to work, you know, working families to
workers in their families, and that's healthcare. Look, healthcare costs
have you know, just been through the moon. Affordable Care
Act did help with that. Some Republicans have been try
and get rid of the Affordable Care Act since it started.
(39:27):
You know, former President Obama member he said, if it
is a success, they'll call it the ACA, and if
it's a failure, they'll call it Obamacare. And so now
they're back to calling it Obamacare. And it's not that
it's a failure. The failure is Congress, right, The failure
is this administration. When it comes to healthcare. The failure
is honestly Republicans who've been trying to dismantle a healthcare
(39:50):
program and have nothing to replace it with, not even
like a page, you know, like here's an idea. We
have lots of ideas, really, could you share one or
two with us? And they don't, and you know, so
it's it's very expensive. But Congress and this administration have
teamed up to basically destroy whatever progress has been made
(40:13):
when it comes to making healthcare more affordable. That that
hurts employers big and small. It hurts the workers because
it trickles down, you know, to them. And you know
there's people out there that work at places because they're
not union shops and they should be, that don't have
health care provided by their employers, so they need something
like the ACA. So talk to us about this. We've
(40:37):
heard attacks on programs like Medicaid, but you know, talk
to us about this attack on healthcare, which is yet
another pillar of security for American workers.
Speaker 4 (40:46):
I think simply, but healthcare is another item that's on
the chopping rock for this administration.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
If you talk to you.
Speaker 4 (40:54):
Look at any pole, any pole that's taken Republican or Democrat,
health care remains either either it one or two in
terms of priority for Americans and American voters. And instead
of leaning in and trying to make sure that we
have systems that ford Americans, there's again an arbitrary, not
(41:15):
thoughtful approach to cutting the benefits for millions, quite literally
millions of Americans.
Speaker 3 (41:22):
Who would suffer economic devastation if they lost their healthful.
Speaker 4 (41:29):
So again, uncertainty for so many millions of Americans.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
I hate that we're out of time. That's one of
about so fast, but we will have you back. I
hope you're not to be too important and too busy.
Speaker 7 (41:41):
Far never for you, Leslie ever, ever, ever, Thank you,
Vice President Brown, soon to be Madam cousind and Brown
will be won in a March verst of twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
The first female and African American female of an industrial union,
the United steel Workers. Check them out go to USW
dot org their website, Please follow them on Facebook, Instagram
and X the handle at steel Workers. Please follow Vice
President soon to be President Brown on x at Brown
Rocks b r o W n r o X and
also check out on blue skydsteel Workers at steelworkers dot,
(42:13):
besguiy dot social. I'm Lesliemarshall. Thank you for watching, thank
you for listening. And you know, support workers. Think of
that when you're buying this holiday season. Support and support
the American workers work hard to make it possible. Thank
you so much, Vice President Brown, thank.
Speaker 3 (42:28):
You, Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (42:29):
Lovely
The Leslie Marshall Show, the only true democracy and talk
radio of four and by you the people, live nationwide
and streaming live at Leslie Marshallshow dot Com.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Here to sent You're Free. You know, when we shows
that theme song, it's because you know, not only am
I a woman, but at the time, I was one
of the very few women that did talk radio. I
was the youngest person ever syndicated in talk radio. And
you know, back in the day, it was a lot
of like, you know, a white conservative guys you know
(00:59):
that were hosting. And I love today even more so
that that song is our intro into this program. And
for this reason, I am not only honored and blessed
and excited to have with us today rock Sam Brown.
Now many of you know her name, but some of
you didn't know her name, certainly know it now and
if not, you will. She is currently serving as the
(01:21):
USW the United steel Workers International Vice President at large,
but following the usw's regular four year nomination and election
process that recently took place, she was elected to be
the union's new president. She's going to be sworn in
on March first, or twenty twenty six. She replaces David McCall,
(01:43):
who you've heard and seen here on this program. He
did not seek reelection and she has served. He served
as the USW International President since September of twenty twenty three.
Here's what he said about her. And you know, just
so excited. Okay, not just a woman, we had Liz
Schulero a f l c IO. I just said, but
(02:05):
you know, Roxanne is the first African American woman to
lead a union. So this is awesome. This is progress.
This is the type of progress that we need in
this nation to have leaders in our unions that are
a proper reflection of the society that we all live
in and are part of. Here's here's what President McCall said, quote.
(02:26):
Roxanne has devoted her life's work to advancing the interest
of working families, fighting for fair wages, affordable healthcare, dignified retirements,
and strong labor rights. I can think of no one
better qualified to lead our union as we navigate this
unprecedented era of largely unchecked corporate greed. Be sure to
follow the USW on Facebook, Instagram, and x the handle
(02:47):
at steel Workers. Visit their website at USW dot org.
Also on blue Sky their handle is at steel Workers
dot bsky dot social and you can get soon to
be President president grown follow her on x at Brown
Rocks that's brown r X. First of all, congratulations soon
(03:07):
to be Madam President.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Thank you so much, Leslie.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
I really appreciate it, and I just always appreciate your
support of not just our union, but me as a
woman in the labor movement. You always lift us up
and just really appreciate you. I can't tell you how
excited I am to become the first woman president of
an industrial union. The industrials have never had a woman president,
(03:33):
and so I'm very excited about that.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
I mean, you get a double aammy there. Yeah, you
got double diversity there.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
That's also double diversity.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
And you know what, you do not have an easy task.
And the reason you don't have an easy task is
because when you look at this year of twenty twenty five,
which is soon to come to a close, those that
are taking the biggest hits, the major hits in this
current economy and political client that are working families who
(04:02):
you are in charge of so many of. Now, before
President Trump was elected and you were part of the USW,
then his advisors laid out a vision for this nation
called Project twenty twenty five, and that vision is terrifying
for many people, especially for the majority of the people
in this country, the middle class, the working class. Over
(04:22):
this past year, working families have borne the brunt of
this administration, of those policies which are rapidly being enacted,
and on top of it, the administration has failed to
rein in in many ways, they've added to costs that
were already higher than many people are comfortable with necessities
(04:43):
like groceries, energy, healthcare. The list goes on. So first,
let's talk about before we break it down more, let's
talk about this economic fight that you know, working families
have this uphill battle and bear the brunt of with
this administration and these types of policies.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
Yeah, and it's it's just it's really ironic and just cool.
Working families are having a hard time, you know, and
I think you and I on this call could talk about,
you know, the challenges that we're facing. But so many
people in our families, my members, so many people in
communities all across this country are just playing out having
(05:23):
a hard time. You know, you go to the grocery
store and you know, before maybe when you didn't look
as close. Now you have your calculator out calculating how
much you can afford. Forty dollars a year ago is
like fifteen dollars today. It feels like when you go
to the supermarket and so the But the just one
(05:44):
of the cool irony about all of this is a
lot of Americans voted for President Trump because there was
this view that he was better on the economy, that
under a Trump administration, the economy was going to thrive,
that American families were going to thrive, that American workers
(06:04):
were going to thrive. And what we have is the
complete opposite, and an unwillingness, to be quite frank, of
the Trumpe administration, to even admit what's happening is actually happening.
It drives me crazy when I see President Trump on
television being confronted with the reality of high gas prices,
(06:27):
high grocery prices, high utility prices, and his answer is,
Americans are doing great, greater than they've ever done before.
Gas prices are coming down. Americans can't eat that, they
can't cook those words, they can't put those words in
their refrigerators, they can't put those words, and their gas pipes.
(06:48):
They cannot put those words to you light up their
houses every day. So it's not the reality. It's really
not the reality. The reality is quite the opposite. And
you know, you you met Project twenty twenty five. Forty
eight percent of this plan that President Trump said when
he was candidate, Trump knew nothing about. Forty eight percent
(07:11):
of that plan has been implemented by this administration. So
for a plan that he and his team knew nothing about,
they sure are working their way through that plan to
the detriment of the American people.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
It's also insulting to the American people. And I don't
care if you're a Democrat or Republican when you basically say, oh,
gas is down, it's two dollars a gallon, and you
know you don't have to just live in California where
I live. But people are like no, or they're like, oh,
Thanksgiving dinner is less.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
No.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
What they had was one example from Walmart of a
dinner for an entire family that was less because there
are less things in the dinner. You know, if you
take things out, of course, it's going to be less.
So but you're paying more because you're paying less. But
you were getting let's say fourteen items and now you're
getting nine, so you're you know, yeah, it's an insult
(08:07):
to the intelligent, the American people. So let's talk even
more specifically about union workers. Since since the first you know,
Trump presidency, his candidacy, his presidency is candidcy for Trump
two point zero. And now there's constantly this attack on
unions and more specifically this attack on bargaining rights, which
(08:28):
allows unions and allows union workers to sit down, to
get down at the table and to help alleviate some
of those costs by being paid a higher decent wage
or being able to retire, you know, rather than saying, oh,
work longer, right, work longer, No, being able to retire
because you've worked. And people forget there's difference between manual
(08:50):
label labor, blue collar work and sitting at a desk
nine to five. There is, I mean, physically on your bottom.
My husband's a doctor, he'll tell you that. So the
Trump administration attacked bargaining rights in several fronts, and right
after taking power, which which is what people on my
side of the eye of warm would happen, he put
elon Musk, one of the world's most notorious union busters
(09:12):
and an example of corporate greed, likely to be the
world's first trillionaire in charge of efficiency. It allowed him
not only to lay off hundreds of thousands of workers,
many of whom were union members, also decimate essential services
which workers rely on, cutting education, VA benefits and cuts
(09:33):
to other aspect of veterans' lives and benefits, and even
the Social Security administration. Then he fired Jennifer Abruzzo, a
great general counsel for the NLRB and then non president
to Moody also fired gwyn Wilcox, who everybody loves. Republican's
loves Amber, I mean, a member of the I've never
heard a negative word about that woman, a member of
(09:55):
the board who had a history of upholding workers' rights.
So don't you had the NRLB crippled? Now the president
is working to stack pro corporate cronies, which is completely
adverse to what the NLRB was even established for in
the first place. How much more can this get bad?
Get can this get for workers? For union workers and
(10:19):
for those that want to unionize or want to just
sit down at the table and get a fair shake
and a fair deal. We're going to have you answer
that on the other side of this. I went along.
I'm sorry, so you have time to think about that answer.
Let's talk about the attack of marketing. Right, So we
come back with our soon to be madam President of
the United steel Workers. I get kills because I've known
(10:40):
her for years and it's just just very exciting, not
just as a woman, but to see somebody who's works off.
I really deserves it. You earned it, girl, really really
deserves it and really understands this struggle. She I mean,
just you know, google her during the breach. Right, we'll
come back and we'll talk more with her and with
you right after this. Don't go away. We are back
(11:02):
on Leslie Marshall and she is Rob Sam Brown.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
She currently is the USW International Vice President at Large,
but on March first of twenty twenty six, next year,
she will be sworn in replacing current President David McCall
of the United Steelworkers Union.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
She will be the first woman leading an industrial union
and the first African American woman leading any union of
any type. Very proud of her, very excited to have
her with us, specially when she's busy and needs some
well deserved time off. Because she's busy as it is.
It's going to get a lot busier. Check out the
USW on Facebook, X and Instagram. Check out their handle
(11:39):
at steel workers on their website. There's a plethor of information.
They are about so much more than steel. Check out opportunities.
Maybe you and you know, wherever you're working, are interested
in unionizing. We have so many industries unionizing now that
nobody ever would have thought of or heard of doing that,
and it's happening. USW dot org is where you can
check that out. Also on Blue Sky followed them there
(12:00):
steel steel Workers dot besguy dot social and you can
follow Roxanne. Her handle is on x at Brown Rocks
b r O W n R o X you know,
Vice President Brown, thank you for holding and welcome back.
So talk to me about, you know, additional attacks that
have continued from the first administration, and really we're stepped
(12:22):
up in Trump two point zero because they hit the
ground running on this specifically attacking the workers and their
rights of the bargaining table.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
You know, Leslie, you laid it out so beautifully before
the break about the extent of the attacks on collective
bargaining rights against against workers across this country, and you
know the Trump administration hit the ground running in March
when he figned an executive order to eliminate the collective
(12:53):
bargaining rights for you know, almost a million federal sector workers.
And so you just think about it. I think about
you know, Leslie Marshall, who you know works for the
Department of Energy, who has worked for DOE for thirty years,
goes to bed at night after working a day at
(13:13):
the Department of Energy, and you wake up in the
morning and you do not have a collective bargaining agreement
because a stroke of the pen took it away. And
that happened for almost a million workers in March, and
then you fast forward to August, where again the Trump
administration layered on even more loss of collective bargaining rights
(13:36):
for federal sective workers. So you're looking at now over
a million workers in the federal sector that have been
stripped of their collective bargaining rights. That's it should be criminal, really,
because it is the right of workers to organize and
to collectively bargain. That's a very fair, core, basic right.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
That our laws allowed for.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
And this administration who's chosen to to just completely fly
in the face of all of that and What that
means for workers is not just the ability to earn
a good living. It means the ability to go to
work and come home safely at the end of the day.
It's the ability in their jobs to provide for American
people around this country. It's they're doing these key services
(14:22):
in communities and at the federal level for workers all
across the country. And this was basically a slap in
the face to say, you know what, you chose to
be a public servant. We don't appreciate you. We're going
to take away your rights and it's going to be
harder for you to do what you do every single day.
And it continues, and so you know, us in the
private sector, we've looked at what's happened in the federal
(14:45):
sector as a warning for what is possibly to come
with private sector unions, and so we've not seen it
as a fight just for federal sector unions. It's a
fight for the entire labor movement. Collective bargaining rights are
a right for workers and for working people, and we're
(15:05):
going to fight as hard as we can with our
brothers and sisters and siblings in the federal sector to
make sure that they're able to retain those rights.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
I don't know what workers who don't have a union
fighting for them and having their backs yeah, do in
this climate I mean where I mean, there's so many things,
you know, based on what you said, I just wanted
to comment on an example that you gave and illustrates
it perfectly. One, where do you go after thirty years
doing one kind of a job in one area. That's
(15:37):
not easy to find somebody who's going to hire you
when you're in your fifties or your sixties, depending when
you started, you know, in this job. Two, there are
people in the federal government, cash Ptel and others that
have said, oh well there are other you know, you
can get another job in the federal government. You just
have to move to Alabama. And it's sort of like,
well wait a minute, but I've lived in Virginia for
(15:59):
thirty years. My children are here, my grandchildren are here,
you know, my my family, my extended families here, the
you know, the people I play golf with on you know, Saturday,
or I mean really I mean just uprooting. And you know,
it's really it. Look, you can sometimes teach in old
dark new tricks, but it really bothers me. I have
(16:21):
friends who work in the federal government who lost their
jobs and just get demonized. These people working, you know,
I mean, oh yeah, some of them work remotely. It
doesn't mean you're not working. You know, I worked. I
worked through you know, I worked through COVID behind me
at this, you know, television studio. I wasn't in New
York or DC on set. You know, come on, right,
you know, I mean it just it drives me crazy
(16:43):
how they demonize hard working people and just really pulled
the rug out from under them, because I mean, how
many people were looking at well, I'm going to retire
in five years, right, right, one year?
Speaker 3 (16:57):
You know.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I mean, it's so the you had talked about further unconscionable.
And I have to say, Doug Collins, who hands up
the Veterans Affairs Secretary of Veterans Affairs, I know him,
and I know him from Fox. He's actually a very
nice man, and he is a veteran. I say that
because it's nice when somebody knows this, And I would
(17:18):
say this if he were here, Doug, if you're watching
or listening, I don't think these are his decisions, a
lot of them because how can they be How can
you hurt veterans like this? I just don't understand. I mean,
the attacks on the veterans. These are the men and
women who really make us who we are, right, I mean,
(17:39):
it's because of them that we have the freedoms that
we do. But there's so much There are so many
veterans that work in government, you know, and that's kind
of what they're trained to do in the various branches
of service. And so many of the workers that were
laid off were veterans. And this is where tried out
my head round. They were providing essential services and those
(18:03):
so they're veterans who work in the federal government who
are working to provide benefits to service members. Not only
do they lose their job, but those benefit programs get
caught or eliminated. It's insane. Tens of thousands of jobs
over the past ten months were in the Department of
Veterans Affairs. It resulted in cuts to transportation programs for
disabled veterans, who reduced telephone support for caregivers, postponement or
(18:28):
cancelation of suicide prevention trainings. I mean, isn't there a
point at the end of the day It's like, Okay,
I'm not a Democratic Republican. I'm not male or female,
black or white, you know, rich or Poort, Northern or Southerner,
you know, Christian, Jewish, Muslim. I'm a human being. How
is a human being? Can you postpone or cancel suicide
prevention for any group of people? But even more so
(18:50):
when you look at the stats of how many veterans
take their lives and what many of them go through
and they come back to and there's no transition between
being over there and coming back over here. Officials also
canceled hundreds of contracts with outside providers, and they immediately
scaled back. These decisions were reckless. They know they needed
(19:13):
help perform essential work physician, recruitment, burial service. I mean,
the list just goes on. Am I at that time? Again? No,
are we all right? When we come back, I want
to talk about veterans, who are a vulnerable segment of
our population and who comprise many of these union federal
(19:36):
worker jobs. We'll talk about the veterans. We're also gonna
start to talk about workplace safety, because how safe can
it be when you have all these cuts? America? You'll
find out right after it. We are back, and when
I say we, I mean meet Leslie Marshall, Haymor and
(19:57):
Roxanne Brown. She's currently serving as usw's international Vice President
at Large. She will be the new president for the
United steel Workers Union, the USW, being the first female
and first African American female of an industrial union. I
want to point that out. I don't think I said
industrial prior. There are other black women who have led unions,
(20:17):
but she will be the first black woman African American
woman leading an industrial union, which the United steel Workers
is being sworn in March first of twenty twenty six.
Like I said, check out their website USW dot org
find out not just about her. You can find out
about her. Her handle on x is at Brown roxby
rownrox on us w's handles at steel Workers. Follow them
(20:40):
on x, Instagram, Facebook, plethora of information there and also
check them out on Blue Sky follow them at steel
Workers dot, bskuy dot social to learn more. Because we
don't get to everything that's going on with the workers
and with the unions and all the fights and all
the success stories. But let's talk about another fight, and
that's just fighting for p people that have literally fought
(21:01):
for our freedom and you know, are injured or you know,
gave a great deal of their lives, the years of
their lives, and now they are being attacked. Would you
say this was not an abstract attack, This is quite intentional.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
I you know it, but it's bizarre. You know, it
was a bizarre intentional attack. And you know, I don't
know if it's because this was you know, a doge splash,
Elon Musk led attack. And clearly Elon Musk neither as
president you know Trump but served the day in his
(21:39):
life in battle to even understand conceptually what it is
that the men and women who put their lives and
their bodies on the line, as you said before the
break ensure our freedom in this country had sacrificed.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
For themselves and for us.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
So the fact that he had no context allowed him
to take a pen and just arbitrarily cut and to
say it was egregious is not. It's not a strong
enough word when you think about the things that were
taken from veterans. You laid out a whole bunch of
(22:17):
really key programs, but suicide prevention.
Speaker 6 (22:20):
Research into cancers that a lot of our veterans, you know,
wind up developing over time after their service and prevention
and treatment for those cancers.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
Simple services that are big services.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
Like being able to get them to their appointment, accessibility
just to doctors or to medical professionals, access to a
VA that is close to their house and they don't
have to travel hours away, because how does an eighty
year old VET get to an appointment that's an hour
and a half away from their house. But there was
(22:57):
no I think, the one consistent thing across all of
these cuts. We could sit here literally forward day and
a half, two days and talk about the cuts just
to the Veterans Administration, just to the VA, right, But
if you think about all of the cuts across the
federal government, there was no thoughtfulness that was taken as
(23:22):
we thought about what these cuts were going to mean
to the people. You had bosses who were looking at
words on paper and numbers on paper and charts and
grass and not attributing people to those words, to those numbers,
to those graphs. And when the cuts were made, people's
(23:45):
lives were devastated and they remain devastated. And you have
veterans that got you know, I even hate to think
about it, but it's the reality right. You have veterans
who could potentially have cut their lifespan shorter because of
benefits or treatment or care or again the loss of
(24:10):
things like the suicide prevention line that are so necessary
for that population. So it's the complete lack of care
and thoughtfulness that towards the American people, but specifically towards
this treasured group of Americans that was not taken into
(24:31):
account by this administration and by you know, the boss
Elon Musk.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
It was just terrible.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Yeah, you know, I'm so glad I asked you this
question because your answer is founded into things common sense
and compassion. Yes, and you're absolutely right. You know, what
would it have taken and how long would it take
to have provided some kind of an exit ramp, an
off ramp instead of pushing them off the bridge, and
(25:03):
not just veterans like you know, the people we you know,
you gave the example of the person who's worked in
you know, that department for thirty years and that that's
what they know, you know what I mean, that is
what they know. That is their job, and it's an
important job. I mean, you know, yeah, Look, we always,
you know, we always have to look at things and
say we need to make some cuts here and there.
But to your point, like you said, it's almost like
(25:26):
they didn't look at what they cut. And obviously they
didn't because I mean, there are people out there that
I would see that would post I'm fired. I think
I'm not sure because see I was fired, I was
called back to work, I was fired again, So I
don't know what's going on. You know, you can't even
apply for, you know, unemployment. Let's talk about safety in
the workplace, and I just want to say one more
thing about suicide men, especially in the military. We've spoken
(25:51):
to many don't feel comfortable talking about going to a therapist,
talking about PTSD whatever it is, and that's why some
of their numbers are so much higher disproportionate to the
rest of our population, because they just hold it all
in until they implode, and then what happens. They need
(26:13):
to pick up that phone, that lifeline. That could be
the very last call, and that call could be the
difference between them living another day, are going six feet
under in a pine box. I mean, really, not to
be nasty, it's true, you know, it's reality. It is
Another reality is workplace safety. When you look at this
year and We've talked about you and I've talked about it.
(26:35):
I've talked about workplace safety a number of times over
the years, but this year, workers have suffered massive setbacks
on workplace health and safety. Obviously, that correlates to the
steep cuts at various organizations national Institutes for Occupational Health
and Safety, that's an IOSH and attempting to outright kill
(26:55):
the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, the CSB. Talk
to us about some of these cuts in these setbacks
this year that we've seen when it comes to workplace
health and workplace safety.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
You know, one of the things that I've been saying
at every opportunity that I have to speak to steel
workers or working people around this country, they use the
day right. So today is November twenty fifth, twenty twenty five.
Today steel workers and working people are less safe than
(27:32):
they were November twenty fifth of twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
No no excuse for that, no excuse to that.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
There's no excuse.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
And again there's no reason. And I go back to
what we were talking about with the veterans. There is
no thoughtfulness, there's no strategic thinking about what it is
that keeps workers safe on the job. What it is
that allows you know, Joe Smith to wake up in
(28:00):
the morning or wake up you know, seurdshift, go to work,
come back home safely. There's no there's no thoughtfulness to
how we make sure that that happened.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
It's just cut, cut, cut, cut, cut to cut.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
And so today workers are less safe on the job
than they were a year ago today. And what that
looks like is we'll take the Chemical Safety Board. Okay,
this is a couple of months ago, we had a
disaster here in the Pittsburgh area at US Deal in
the Moon Valley where there was an explosion at one
(28:35):
of our facilities, and unfortunately, you know, two of our
brothers lost their lives and others were injured. Okay, one
of those brothers is a single father. The CSB, their
job is not to regulate. They're not a regulator like
OSHA is. They're an investigator. So their job is to
(28:57):
go in and determine why did this bad thing happens
and how can we prevent this bad thing from happening again,
so that workers know and companies know.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
It's not just something that's the workers.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
Companies want to operate well, right, So it's making sure
that everyone is on the same page about how to
go back in safely and how to operate safely. Now,
the Trump administration, as you mentioned once, the zero that
out is a fiscal year twenty twenty six budget. Why
the CSP does not lend to any significant costs for
(29:36):
the federal government, the tiny little agency that does work
that is talk about punching above your weight. It punches
above its weight significantly, but the goal is to zero
it out.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Right. You go to things like.
Speaker 4 (29:52):
Heat standards, which, especially in the face of climate change
and raising temperatures on the planet. You know, he standards
for workers like mine who work in steel mills and
entire plants that are really really hot, a heat standard
keeps them safe, and a live at work rolled back.
(30:13):
I can go down the line, but today workers are
less safe than they were a year ago.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
We're going to take a break a week back. We're
going to talk more about some of those cuts. We're
also going to talk about strides that were made that
have been reversed in Biden administrating the Trump administration. And
we're going to talk about healthcare. By the way, number
two issue among voters doesn't matter if you're a Democrat
or Republican. Doesn't matter if you're a white collar worker,
blue collar worker, rich Port as some people care about.
(30:40):
Will be back with the International Vice President of the
United steel Workers who will be President of the United
steel Workers, rox Sam Brown. Right after this Don't Go Awact,
we are back with the USW International Vice President at
Large Roxam Brown, who, after a four year nomination and
(31:02):
election process that recently took place, was elected to be
the union the usw's new president, the first African American woman,
the first woman of an industrial union, being sworn in
March first of twenty twenty six. I've known her for years.
I'm proud of her. I'm very happy for her, and
I'm very happy for the steel Workers and all the
people that look to her leadership in the years ahead.
(31:26):
Follow USW Facebook, excuse me, follow you to W on Facebook, Instagram,
at x at steel Workers, visit the website USW dot org,
on Blight Blue Sky, follow them at steel Workers dot
b Sky, dot Social and follow Roxanne. You know you
can say, hey, I'm following the new student to be
you know, Madam President USW at Brown rocks, thank you
(31:47):
for holding and I you know, talking about worker safety.
You mentioned the heat standard of common sense there, right, OSHA,
but also the MSHA. They have a rule to protect
miners from silica right right. And there's also a rule
to protect healthcare workers from infectious diseases, which by the way,
(32:10):
can infect the people to go home to and then
there their kids go to school with your kids. You know,
the list goes on.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
So speak to us a little.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
More about this and and what about the strides that
were made in the Biden administration. I mean, our manufacturing
base was expanded, investments and key industries, you know, the
money that was ensured out there to support companies, companies
that respected and you know, you know, programs and finances
that would back and respect labor rights and honor commitments
(32:42):
to the community that they operate within. Have those all
been erased? Have those all been undone completely? At this point?
Speaker 3 (32:51):
You know, the word of the moment is uncertainty.
Speaker 4 (32:55):
Honestly on the on the safety and health front, it's
uncertain tea for working people across this country because of
the rollbacks that we talked about with NIOSH and the
CSB and what you just mentioned with the Mind Safety
and Health Administration or EMSHA, where the silica standard that
(33:16):
again another standard that is really important to keeping miners
safe and reducing the exposure that they have to pilica
which can lead to silicosis, which which is which you know,
you talk to any minor and they can tell you
a story about a family member who has suffered from
(33:37):
silicosis and unfortunately died from silicosis at some point, so
you know it.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
The goal is for us to constantly be.
Speaker 4 (33:47):
Pushing the ball forward when it comes to worker safety
and health, not rolling it back. And the harsh reality
of the moment that we're in right now around uncertainty
is that there is a very clear and deliberate effort
to follow out the gains that we have made, not
just in the preceding four years under the Biden administration,
(34:09):
but but you go all the way back to you know,
George H. W. Bush and the onset of the Clean
Air Act that happened under that administration. So this is
not a Republican versus nonfer.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Res founded during the next send administration.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
Exactly right, So you know, this is really about what's.
Speaker 4 (34:33):
Right and what's wrong, and unfortunately, what this administration has
done has really taken us back significantly significant steps back
in terms of what we the labor movement have fought
and scrabbled and gained for for workers all across this
country for for quite literally decades. And so I can't
(34:57):
even tell you, you know, in any real measure, what
we look like as working people in this country on
the other side of this administration at the close of
this administration.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
If we keep the pace.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
That we've kept for the last eleven months, if we
keep this pace, that word uncertainty that I use, it's
on the prefaces of devastation. But I think we get
there if we keep this pace, and we're going to
have to work so hard to not just get back
what we've lost, but try to develop something new and
(35:32):
better for working people across so many different fronts, including
worker safety and health. You talked about the rollback in
what we were able to gain under the Biden administration
with investments. You know, you talk to anyone any industrial union,
and we've been begging, screaming, imploring various administrations and Congresses
(35:57):
for almost five decades now for industrial policy. We've wanted
industrial policy, and we've all, you know, tried.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
To extract it in different ways.
Speaker 4 (36:08):
Our union is really needed to trade policy as a
way to try to, you know, have some industrial policy
over the years. But during the Biden Paris administration, we
had three once in a generation build with a bipartisan
infrastructure law build, the Inflation Reduction Act, which.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
Is the worst.
Speaker 4 (36:28):
Name ever in life for a build because it should
have been called Industrial Policy for America, right, because that's
really what it was, and the Chips.
Speaker 3 (36:37):
And Science Act.
Speaker 4 (36:38):
These were three just by themselves as standalone builds.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
These were once in generation builds.
Speaker 4 (36:44):
We had three in a four year period, and embedded
within each of those bills was resources, resources for American workers,
for training, resources, and funding for industrial facilities to innovate
and modernize. You know, you look at facilities like Heidelberg Cement,
(37:05):
which got five hundred million dollars in Inflation Reduction Act
funding to modernize their facilities a still worker represented facility
and they were going to install carbon capture to operate
more efficiently and make cleaner. Cement scrapped by this administration
that claims to care about making you know, manufacturing great again, right,
(37:31):
Strapped in the future Tilberg, you know, we'll see in
the global marketplace.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
Right.
Speaker 4 (37:36):
This was a huge investment of money that was going
to help them to be able to bring their facility
into the future. Oh I same thing Owens Illinois, a
glass manufacturer that's also still worker represented. You know, they
lost about fifty seven million dollars. They were going to
install a new furnace again to modernize and bring them
(37:57):
and their jobs into the future. So you can't you
can't say that you're for a greater America when at
every single turn you are weakening America, weakening our industrial
and manufacturing might, weakening the ability for manufacturing workers to
(38:18):
earn a living right and the future for other generations
for hopefully these facilities to go into.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
All of that has been weakened.
Speaker 4 (38:29):
And so uncertainty is the word of the day right now.
And again we're you know, we're teetering on the precipice
of devastation. If we keep at this pace for the
next three years.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
Absolutely, you know so well said, and you would you
would say, why would somebody do this? I mean, clearly,
this president, this administration have an economy in which the
rich get richer, including him and his family, and that
clearly what he wants to see happen. Let's switch gears.
In the last few minutes here too. Not switch gears,
(39:06):
but you know, move on to you know, another compartment
of this devastation to work, you know, working families to
workers in their families, and that's healthcare. Look, healthcare costs
have you know, just been through the moon. Affordable Care
Act did help with that. Some Republicans have been try
and get rid of the Affordable Care Act since it started.
(39:27):
You know, former President Obama member he said, if it
is a success, they'll call it the ACA, and if
it's a failure, they'll call it Obamacare. And so now
they're back to calling it Obamacare. And it's not that
it's a failure. The failure is Congress, right, The failure
is this administration. When it comes to healthcare. The failure
is honestly Republicans who've been trying to dismantle a healthcare
(39:50):
program and have nothing to replace it with, not even
like a page, you know, like here's an idea. We
have lots of ideas, really, could you share one or
two with us? And they don't, and you know, so
it's it's very expensive. But Congress and this administration have
teamed up to basically destroy whatever progress has been made
(40:13):
when it comes to making healthcare more affordable. That that
hurts employers big and small. It hurts the workers because
it trickles down, you know, to them. And you know
there's people out there that work at places because they're
not union shops and they should be, that don't have
health care provided by their employers, so they need something
like the ACA. So talk to us about this. We've
(40:37):
heard attacks on programs like Medicaid, but you know, talk
to us about this attack on healthcare, which is yet
another pillar of security for American workers.
Speaker 4 (40:46):
I think simply, but healthcare is another item that's on
the chopping rock for this administration.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
If you talk to you.
Speaker 4 (40:54):
Look at any pole, any pole that's taken Republican or Democrat,
health care remains either either it one or two in
terms of priority for Americans and American voters. And instead
of leaning in and trying to make sure that we
have systems that ford Americans, there's again an arbitrary, not
(41:15):
thoughtful approach to cutting the benefits for millions, quite literally
millions of Americans.
Speaker 3 (41:22):
Who would suffer economic devastation if they lost their healthful.
Speaker 4 (41:29):
So again, uncertainty for so many millions of Americans.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
I hate that we're out of time. That's one of
about so fast, but we will have you back. I
hope you're not to be too important and too busy.
Speaker 7 (41:41):
Far never for you, Leslie ever, ever, ever, Thank you,
Vice President Brown, soon to be Madam cousind and Brown
will be won in a March verst of twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
The first female and African American female of an industrial union,
the United steel Workers. Check them out go to USW
dot org their website, Please follow them on Facebook, Instagram
and X the handle at steel Workers. Please follow Vice
President soon to be President Brown on x at Brown
Rocks b r o W n r o X and
also check out on blue skydsteel Workers at steelworkers dot,
(42:13):
besguiy dot social. I'm Lesliemarshall. Thank you for watching, thank
you for listening. And you know, support workers. Think of
that when you're buying this holiday season. Support and support
the American workers work hard to make it possible. Thank
you so much, Vice President Brown, thank.
Speaker 3 (42:28):
You, Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (42:29):
Lovely
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