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Worker voices take center stage!
We share the stories, strategies, and wins shaping today's labor movement - from the shop floor to the negotiating table.
Worker power meets real-world impact. If you care about fairness, dignity, and the power of collective action, this is your podcast!
Announcer 0:00
This is a KUNV Studios original program.
Wesley Knight 0:04
The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 90-1.5 Jazz and more, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.
Guy Dawson 0:45
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Union Influence Podcast. My name is Guy Dawson, and I am your host. I am a member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 720 or IATSE for short, here in fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada. I'm also the president of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, Las Vegas, a constituency group endorsed by the American Federation of Labor Congress of Industrial Organizations, or AFL-CIO for short. We developed this podcast to share the stories, strategies, and wins shaping today's labor movement from the shop floor to the negotiating table. This show is underwritten by Classy Communications PR and Advertising. Classy Communications is union strong and supports the American labor movement. Website classycommunications.net and I am super thrilled for the opportunity to be bringing you the Union Influence podcast, this show was a long time in the making. Having it on public radio is something that I have aspired to do for for several years. My affinity for unions comes from a lifetime of of being affiliated with unions in one form or another, when I was growing up, my father was a member of UAW. He actually worked for McDonnell Douglas, which is now called Boeing, out in Long Beach, California, and he got that job in the late 1960s. And so, when I was born in 1970 and being raised as a child, I was always grew up in a union household, so I just remember being young and him going down to the union hall and hanging out with all his friends, and how he always talked about how much he appreciated being a part of a labor union, having that firsthand experience growing up and reaping the benefits of unionism, collective bargaining-it has always given me a perspective on this that has rubbed off on me later in life. Just everything that came with being raised in a household where we always had health insurance. My father always made a good wage on his job, which allowed us to have a higher standard of living. I think than we would have had if he was doing the same job and not a part of a union. It just showed me how how impactful unions can be for the working class in particular. And my my dad didn't come from had far from a silver spoon in his mouth, and so him receiving the opportunity when he got out of the Air Force to join a labor union, I think was transformative for his life. And of course, now with me being a member of unions of a union, it's been transformative for a whole nother generation. When I turned 19 years old, I joined my first union. I was in college at the time, and I joined Teamsters. I used to work at a UPS plant out in Southern California, and to join to become a employee of UPS, you had to join a union, and the union was the Teamsters. And so there again, I was understood unions when I got into that one, how they worked and the benefits. Being a young guy in college at that time, not having a lot of money, working a part-time job while I was in school, it was extremely beneficial to be a member of the Teamsters. Now I had my own health insurance, even as a part-time worker. Well, I mean, who for me being a young man like that, 19 years old, and working maybe 20-five hours a week, and having full medical benefits, vacation time, and everything else that comes with being a member of the union. It just reinforced what I had always believed in: is that boy, for the working person, that being a member of of a trade union or any type of a union has benefits, so I was a member of that union for several years while I was in college. When I moved to Vegas in 1996, by the 1997, I had started an apprenticeship with the Laborers Union, Laborers 872 here in Las Vegas, because when I got here, I learned what. The big union town Las Vegas is. Everybody I met, it seemed, was a part of some type of a union. They were in the culinary union, or the Teamsters, or the laborers. And at that time, Vegas was just booming in terms of construction because all these casinos were being built.
Guy Dawson 5:16
So those of us that were around at that time, we remember what the strip looked like when it was literally there was a crane. It seemed like on every property there were so many casinos that were being built. All of those casinos, for the most part, were being built by union trades. And so I joined the laborers' union, went through an apprenticeship program, and I got to work on several of the casinos on the Strip. What used to be the Aladdin and is now Planet Hollywood. I worked on that one. I worked on Mandalay Bay. I worked on the Luxor. I worked on the Paris. And so again, just as an apprentice, I had all the benefits of unionism, which was the benefits, the contributions to my pension, a fair wage, and a great opportunity to be a part of something that was just historic in Vegas. When I mean there were multiple properties being built at one time, along with some of the other jobs I did throughout my apprenticeship. In 2004 I was introduced to Ayatse Local 720 the stagehand union that I talked about a couple of minutes ago. I had been a non-union stagehand for about six years at that time, maybe seven years, and I was allowed to become a part of I ought to say local 720 as a stagehand. And again, it's always the same experience for me. I'm just a union man at my my core, and I have been a part of I'd say local 720 ever since 2004, so I've got about 22 years in that union as well. So those are some of my that's my background in unions, and what we're going to be doing with this podcast is bringing on a lot of people who know a whole lot more about unions than I do to talk about different aspects of leadership, the contributions that unions make to communities and their own personal experiences with being a part of a labor union. And the first guest that I'm going to have is my good friend James Bryant. I met James back in 2019, and it was. We'll talk more about how we met, but he is the Western Region Director for an organization called the A. Philip Randolph Institute, and it is a fantastic organization. I had mentioned that I'm the president of the local chapter, and James has been so instrumental in my growth as a union member, and he's introduced me to the significance of the A. Philip Randolph Institute and the the great contributions that A. Philip Randolph made, and I'm just so appreciative to have you welcome James Bryant to the Union Influence Podcast.
James Bryant 7:53
Thank you, guys. Thank you very much.
Guy Dawson 7:55
So, tell me about your background in you. Oh, go ahead, James.
James Bryant 7:59
How's everything in Vegas?
Guy Dawson 8:00
Hot. hot. It's July in Vegas, so you know what that's. James, you were just out here. We ran you out of town, right? The heat.
James Bryant 8:09
You did. It was definitely no showers out there, or it was all showers. Very hot times. Yes, this is a very
Guy Dawson 8:22
hot city, and I know you you you like to drop in from time to time, and and I know for for you you have an extensive background in unions. Would you like to speak to our audience about how you became affiliated with labor unions?
James Bryant 8:38
Well, first of all, I'm from the Detroit area, and my oldest brother was a member of UAW, and he was he was one of the gentlemen who actually coded the numbers for suburban suburban vehicles. You you know the different different Chevy Suburban was the highlight, but GMC also had a vehicle that was also called Suburban until until at one point Chevrolet decided no you can't use our word Suburbans only only Chevy can be a suburban. So, but but my oldest brother was was a proud member of UAW, and he had like you say, we we were not a rich family. So when he came home with his check, it it really made you know the house seem you know much happier, and he was the first person to bring a color TV into our home in 1965. Imagine that!
Guy Dawson 9:47
Wow, yeah, that in 1965 there were not too many people who had color TVs. I would
James Bryant 9:52
imagine. And and also in 1965, A. Philip Randolph started the A. The Randolph Institute, but he had a history way back when he was. He started in 1925. He led the effort for the organizing the sleeping car porters against the Pullman Company out of Chicago, and after 12 years, he obtained the first contract for African American union, or in those days they call it a Negro union, and thus that began a proud history of African Americans participating in the the CIO. It was started, but as they joined joined together, it became the AFL-CIO, and A. Philip Randolph was was appointed or elected the first African American vice president in the history of the AFL-CIO.
Guy Dawson 10:56
Yeah, and there's a lot of people out there, James, who might not realize that the the unions were just as segregated as a lot of other aspects of American society. So you had mentioned that A. Philip Randolph was a he was a trailblazer in terms of providing opportunities for those people that those men that joined the sleeping car porters back in 1925, essentially desegregating the union.
James Bryant 11:20
Well, remember that America had began to discover America. Americans had began to discover America, and in in the early days there was no planes, so they had to discover it by train, and the African American population couldn't get in the engineering unions that that provided the locomotive operators. So, but they needed they needed to service the passengers that eventually would ride on those trains, and so they hired African Americans, they hired Filipinos, they hired Asians, and those were the folks who did the cooking, who did the cleaning, and who provided bedding on long trips on on the railway system throughout America. And and in fact, the the the home importers union. Union was really the the the biggest outreach team for information that was distributed from all of the the black papers that didn't have things like the internet and and and a way to distribute their information, but it was the home importers who would drop off those packages of information, local papers that were building, that were printed in Chicago, in New York, in Detroit, in L.A. All these different cities, St. Louis, all these different cities, and that's how we kept in touch with a lot of the things that went on throughout the country for African Americans.
Guy Dawson 13:10
And I know you have been involved in the A. Philip Randolph Institute for many years personally. How were you introduced
James Bryant 13:18
to it? Well, I didn't know much about the April Randolph Institute, and one I had just became an elected official in Service Employees International Union Local 400. I had got I had gotten elected as a trustee, and as a trustee, you you get to see all of the requests for money, and there was this request that came into to our union and said, "Hey, there's this A. Philip Randolph Institute, and I said, "Well, what's that? And it's an organization formed by African Americans to represent the good nature of what we do as as African Americans in labor, and I said, "Well, gee, I want to know more about that. So, so it turns out that I that I wanted to go to the convention that was in Los Angeles. I live in San Francisco, and I said, I said to to my board, I said, why, who's going to this? And they said, oh well, we already picked certain people because they're part of these chapters throughout California. And I go, oh okay, you know, I took that as a okay. But what happened is, all of a sudden, one of the guys canceled, and and there was a way, and they had a plane ticket, and this was obviously before you had to identify yourself. They had a plane ticket, and I ended up getting on that. In someone else's name, and and go into this convention in Los Angeles, and I said, I'll never, I I said I'll never ever, I've never seen anything like this, and this is just what I wanted to see and be a part of, and and so in 1979, I became a member of the San Francisco chapter of April Randolph Institute, and and that that the story has been told. I've been involved ever since, and I've been the regional director for at least a decade. This is this is one of the things I want to do is help build, rebuild the chapters. At one time, the A. Philip Randolph Institute had 138 chapters throughout the United States. So 138. Imagine that. 138 organizations that was flush and connected to unions throughout the United States, and and today they're not those kind of numbers. As you know, a lot of unions, because of funding, decided to not send as many folks to the conferences, but it it still continues to have five to 600 members every year to participate. And last year you were with us in Chicago, right?
Guy Dawson 16:32
Oh, I was. Yeah, I really enjoy the conferences, James. The the coming together as a group and just learning about unionism in in cities all across the country to different perspectives. You know, unionism on the West Coast has its own distinct perspective, and then you talk to people from the East Coast and you meet people from the Midwest where there's a really strong union presence, and you just but the unionism is is it's important? It's valuable. It doesn't matter where we are in the country. We have that common bond of understanding the the importance of unionism, and with a Philip Randolph Institute in particular supporting the growth of Black unionism and being able to encourage people to become union members to improve their standard of living, to leverage the power of collective bargaining, which I know is another area where you have a lot of skills in, is in in negotiating and and things like that. Maybe you'd like to speak to some of your your skills as a negotiator, which I'm sure you've you've built through your participation in unions.
James Bryant 17:43
Well, I was the reason I got into the union is because we wanted a better contract in San Francisco, which is a union town. We always had to negotiate every two to three years a new contract. I worked for the city, the municipal railway, and so we we had to determine, you know, what what was the most important to us when we negotiated with the city, and and San Francisco had been a city that had always been flushed with money, and so we, you know, we we we started out. My union represented clerks and custodians and nurses and just a variety of folks. But over the whole gambit of variety, it really meant the whole city. It represented people of all of of of all likes. But it wasn't your your general trade members. It was the other folks who did everything else. So you know, there's the electricians, there's the plumbers, there's the carpenters, there's the laborers. We we didn't represent them, but we set the standard for what the raises everybody in the city had because it was more in our union than any of the trade unions, and so we were the first we were the first union to to be considered by whatever whoever was the mayor because we were the largest and it was going to cost the most money. And I can remember in 1982 that was a very very important year because in 1982 we the city didn't give the the city workers a dental plan, and I and we we said wait a minute! The Teamsters and the and the Carpenters, all these trade guys had these great benefits, and so we started you. We started looking at their contracts and using their contracts in to to improve our standards of living and." And so I negotiated for at least 20 years with the city and county of San Francisco. Which then, at the end of that, I became a negotiator for. I became a construction mediator negotiator. So in San Francisco, they created a law that says if you want to do construction for public
Guy Dawson 20:30
buildings for public works, you have to have a you have to have a mediator that avoids having a lawyer in the long run. And so I took all my skills as a negotiator and and and added more qualities of negotiations to becoming a mediator for construction projects in San Francisco, and that's one of the one of the things that I do as a as a working owner of of of a a job that that services my family and my friends, yeah, just the skill sets that you develop. By the way, you're listening to the Union Influence podcast. A Philip Randolph Institute is advancing justice through empowerment and unity website a p r iwest.org I've been speaking with James Bryant. He's the regional director of the A Philip Randolph Institute West, and he's just been sharing his background with unions and being a part of the A Philip Randolph Institute for almost 50 years. That's a very, very long time to be a part of something, James. You must be having fun with A. Philip Randolph.
James Bryant 21:48
Well, I I know how important it is, as the the importance of not only keeping a standard of living for African Americans is keeping a standard of living for all Americans, whether they whether they're white, whether they're black, whether they're Asian, whether they're Latin. All all folks are now finding, especially in these days, how important it is to have a union back you because if you don't have a union backing you, you you tend to lose the standards of living. So so today, so many people are losing their jobs. I was just just watching the news this morning. The CNH Sugar Company, after 50 years, has decided they they wanted to take away the rights of workers who've been bagging bags of sugar for for 50 years, and their fathers and their mothers and their family members have been in this in this process, and they're they are represented by the IOW union warehouse workers in in the in Northern California, and they they went on strike. Now we know a strike can be devastating to the community, to people who who no longer getting their salary, and more more so to these companies that want to take advantage of our of our very hard workers that need to be respected in America.
Guy Dawson 23:35
Yeah, I had experiences like that growing up, James. Being again growing up in a union household, I remember my father going on strike several times as a young person, and like you mentioned, it's like it's a big change because you're used to having that income and that revenue, and then all of a sudden you're on strike, and your the resources are limited. It definitely is a challenge when you get in situations like that, as you mentioned, for both sides, but figuring out how to negotiate and ultimately was great when they were able to go back to the bargaining table and figure out a way to be able to work together. You know, my experience, James, is I I just see labor and and corporate America are in a partnership, and I think that what happens is, is when they stop seeing it as a partnership, which is some of the things I guess that we've experienced, and I'm sure you have because you've been a part of this labor movement a lot longer than I have. But it's when that partnership gets broken and people don't see the other person's point of view. It seems like then you're into strikes, and now you have a much more challenging situation.
James Bryant 24:44
Yeah, they-they one of the you know one of the things about a strike is I think the the word is there's there's never fun, but it's the principle and and folks. Fight for their rights, and sometimes the bosses want more, and you know they want, and and so membership has to stand together. Of course, we need community, and we need political power, and we need all the different things that come with making sure that we're in a we're in a position to to make sure that we can stand up to these employers who want to take more than than what what they want to give to hardworking union members.
Guy Dawson 25:34
Yes, empowering the working working person in this society is such a a valuable way. worthy-you know-everybody always talks. The people that I know that are organizers and are involved in different aspects of unionism, they talk about it's a passion that they have a passion for this, and just because they see the way that union participation and union membership can really change people's lives, and and James, I just really I'm grateful for you on a lot of different levels that we've had the opportunity to work together on projects and and I support you in wanting to build up the presence of the A. Philip Randolph Institute and to help people, as you mentioned, all people American America was in a better position, I believe, when unions were more prominent, and it seems that with the millennials and the Gen Zs, that a lot of them seem to want to return to that. There seems to be a a renewed interest, and so I'm I'm just looking forward to the things that we're going to be working on together, James. And if you want to get a shout out, give a shout out to your chapter, and and again, thanks so much for stopping by the Union Influence podcast. Yeah, and and as you know, I'm trying to make the Western region once again a region to to be respected, and so this year we're going to honor chapters
James Bryant 27:00
that are are in full compliance, that are operating with the basics of of the of the A. Philip Randolph theories, and who who financially are in able to run campaigns such as Get Out the vote campaigns, voter registration campaigns, and and also making sure that we get folks to the polls so that your voice is heard, your voice is respected, and your your your community is better off in the end.
Guy Dawson 27:45
Yeah, we greatly appreciate your leadership, James. And there's a lot of work to do. This is an election year, one of the most significant election years probably in the history of this country. And so, yes, we're going to be rolling up our sleeves and doing a lot of a lot of hard work over these next couple of months, and again, thank you so much for participating in the the launch of the Union Influence podcast.
James Bryant 28:09
Thank you for having us, and we think that that you set a standard by doing the podcast. And what we will hope is that other folks will will will pick up the leadership that you're providing. It's not. It's not only what I'm providing, or or the Western Region is providing. It's individuals like yourself who's picked up a chapter in Las Vegas in Nevada behind one of our great friends, mr. B.J. Thomas, and thank you, Guy, for being the leader you are, and God bless America.
Guy Dawson 28:49
Yeah, big shout out to B.J. Thomas, the founder of A.P.R.I. Las Vegas, and again, thank you for stopping by, James. Classy Communications, P.R. and Advertising supports labor empowerment and collective bargaining. Website classycommunications.net Thank you so much for tuning into the Union Influence podcast, and we look forward to seeing you soon. Have an amazing day.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai