Across the country, America has watched as labor unions have exercised their power in ways not seen in decades. As the labor movement organizes for better working conditions, there's a lot that the Democracy and Voting Rights movement can learn in their successes. And there's no better teacher than former political director of the AFL-CIO, Michael Pothouser. And he is here today to share his insights and advice. This is Defending Democracy, a weekly podcast from Democracy Doctrine. We're your hosts. I'm Mark Elias. And I'm Paige Moskowitz. Let's get started. Welcome to Defending Democracy, Mike.

Thank you. It's great to be here. Do great work.

So, Mike, let me ask you a question. How did you get into this work? How did you get into working for labor unions caring about democracy? What's the backstory?

So, the backstory actually starts just when I was very young. I was in 1968, which was obviously one of the big years in American history where basically the country was exploding from beginning of the year to the end of the year. And although I was only 12, it completely pulled me in and became pretty much set the course of what I was going to do. And obviously not in the same way I do now, but was already volunteering for Bobby Kennedy and then participating in civil rights marches that were going on. And really never stopped that commitment. That's just what I wanted to do.