In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Jody Calemine, director of advocacy at the AFL-CIO, and Karla Walter, director of the American Worker Project at the Center for American Progress, to discuss Project 2025's labor proposals. Watch now to hear about how the proposal would affect American workers, unions, and the labor movement if President Trump is re-elected in 2024.
For more information on Project 2025, visit the AFL-CIO's guide to Project 2025 and Unions and the Center for American Progress' article, written by Aurelia Glass, "Project 2025 Would Undo the NLRB's Progress on Protecting Workers Right to Organize."
Jody Calemine is the director of advocacy at the AFL-CIO. Prior to joining the AFL-CIO, Jody was a senior fellow and director of labor and employment policy at the Century Foundation. Jody has also served as general counsel and then chief of staff at the Communications Workers of America (CWA) from 2014 to 2023, managing the union’s legal strategies on collective action, employment discrimination and challenges to anti-worker state laws. He spent more than a decade on Capitol Hill working in the U.S. House of Representatives on labor and education policy, including as deputy director of labor policy, general counsel and Democratic staff director for the Committee on Education and the Workforce, where he helped enact legislation such as the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 and Affordable Care Act.
Karla Walter is the director of the American Worker Project at the Center for American Progress. Walter focuses primarily on improving the economic security of American workers by increasing workers’ wages and benefits, promoting workplace protections, and advancing workers’ rights at work. Prior to joining American Progress, Walter was a research analyst at Good Jobs First, providing support to officials, policy research organizations, and grassroots advocacy groups striving to make state and local economic development subsidies more accountable and effective. She has co-authored several studies that promote economic development policies that meet workers’ needs and advocate for greater corporate accountability. Previously, she worked as a legislative aide for Wisconsin State Rep. Jennifer Shilling. Her work has been referenced in The New York Times and other newspapers.
