Somebody is going to read what I wrote about the version of capitalism this generation never saw and call it nostalgia. Call it an old man’s memory dressed up as an argument. I understand why. Memory is soft. It bends toward the good years and away from the bad ones. So, I am not goingContinue reading “Reality Check: The Receipts on Forty Years”
Category Archives: labor
The Version They Never Saw
Why an entire generation is rejecting capitalism, and what Labor already built to answer them I actually did learn what capitalism was from a textbook. I also learned it living inside an America where the earmarks of prosperity, civil service, community, and social capital were not slogans. They were simply how life worked. I amContinue reading “The Version They Never Saw”
The Other Side Of The Coin
Remarks by Brian D. Griffin Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Cincinnati AFL-CIO Central Labor Council Brown County Democratic Party Fundraiser 06-27-2026 The following is taken directly from the printed transcript I had with me in the room yesterday afternoon. Thank you for taking the time to read it. Reach into your pocket right now and take out aContinue reading “The Other Side Of The Coin”
NO KINGS!
I had the honor and the privilege of speaking at today’s Cincinnati “No Kings” Rally. These are my comments: No kings rally – remarks (03-28-2026) Good afternoon, sisters and brothers, My name is Brian Griffin. I am the executive secretary of the Cincinnati AFL-CIO Central Labor Council. And I have the awesome and distinguished honorContinue reading “NO KINGS!”
Radical? Let’s Talk About Radical.
Yes, the Democratic Party is broad. It is diverse. It is sometimes unruly. But… Brian Griffin Mar 14, 2026 For years now, we have heard the same political refrain: the Democratic Party is “radical.” It is a convenient line, repeated so often that some people accept it without much reflection. But step back and lookContinue reading “Radical? Let’s Talk About Radical.”
Public Education Is Under Siege in Ohio
Public education works best when communities have a stake in it. When teachers are respected. When parents are engaged. When school boards can advocate for the children they serve without fear of retaliation.
Stockholm Syndrome and the Labor Movement
Stockholm Syndrome describes how hostages sometimes identify with their captors, believing cooperation or small concessions might spare them greater harm. In today’s labor movement, we see echoes of that same instinct. Too often we find ourselves nuzzling up to the very forces that are cutting us down, hoping to soften the blow. But it willContinue reading “Stockholm Syndrome and the Labor Movement”
A Call to the Constitutional Conservatives of My Time
There was a time when Republicans prided themselves on being the party of the Constitution. A time when words like accountability, limited government, and fidelity to the rule of law meant more than party loyalty. The Republican Party I grew up with would never have tolerated, let alone celebrated, the abuses we now see fromContinue reading “A Call to the Constitutional Conservatives of My Time”
Labor Day Is Not a Holiday. It’s a Battle Cry.
Last year, 5,283 American workers were killed on the job. They died in fields and factories, in construction zones and warehouses, on highways and hospital floors. When you add work-related illnesses—cancers, respiratory diseases, long-term exposures—the toll soars to over 140,000 lives lost. That’s more than the population of a mid-sized American city, wiped out inContinue reading “Labor Day Is Not a Holiday. It’s a Battle Cry.”
Wake Up! This Is Not Normal, or Acceptable!
Imagine if President Barack Obama had governed the way our current president governs today. Picture him dismantling the federal workforce by executive order, stripping away civil service protections without a vote of Congress. Imagine him directing the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute his political enemies, or attempting to fire members of the FederalContinue reading “Wake Up! This Is Not Normal, or Acceptable!”
Why Eye Write 