EPISODE · Sep 1, 2026 · 41 MIN
NABTU's Dr. Tom Kriger on Apprenticeship, AI and The Wizard of Oz
from America’s Work Force Union Podcast · host BMA Media Group
The tornado is the high interest rates. The Scarecrow is the caricature of the uneducated farmer. The Tin Woodsman is the industrial worker who lost his humanity as wages fell. The Yellow Brick Road is the gold standard. The Emerald City is Washington. And behind the curtain at the end, a few powerful people are pulling strings. L. Frank Baum wrote The Wizard of Oz as a populist labor parable. NABTU's Dr. Tom Kriger says it is the most important thing you can watch this Labor Day weekend. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, NABTU Director of Education and Research Dr. Tom Kriger discusses the Fitzgerald Act of 1937 and how registered apprenticeship was created, why the union model of training workers in the full range of an occupation is the gold standard, how NABTU's 300,000 apprentices represent roughly half of all registered apprentices in the United States, why the tech industry has badly failed to explain why data centers are necessary and what happens if the US stops building them and why L. Frank Baum's populist parable from the 1890s is more relevant today than most people realize. Visit nabtu.org for more.
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What this episode covers
NABTU Director of Education and Research Dr. Tom Kriger discusses the Fitzgerald Act of 1937 and how registered apprenticeship was formalized, NABTU’s 300,000-apprentice roster and the school counselors who are the gatekeepers to recruiting the next generation, the middle ground on responsible AI data center development that the public debate is missing and a detailed Labor Day reading of The Wizard of Oz as L. Frank Baum’s 1890s populist critique of industrial capitalism, including why the person behind the curtain at the end looks familiar today.
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NABTU's Dr. Tom Kriger on Apprenticeship, AI and The Wizard of Oz
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