Labor Day

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On today’s episode, we’re celebrating Labor Day – a holiday recognizing the American labor movement and achievements of American workers. To kick things off, we’re joined by Steve Kreisberg, Director of Collective Bargaining for the public sector union AFSCME. He discusses the important role unions play in protecting workers, and why attacks on unions are misplaced. We’re then joined by Terrence McCoy of The Washington Post, whose recent article exposed how companies make millions off lead-poisoned, poor black residents of Baltimore. We’re also joined by Saqib Bhatti, a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute and the Director of the ReFund America Project. He discusses the astronomical fees that cities pay for financial services and how cities should take a page out of the labor playbook by collectively bargaining with Wall Street to save money. We close things out with Clara Miller of the F.B. Heron Foundation, who discusses the role of philanthropy in the new economy.