text:
Top Networks
Top Podfluencers
Top Business Podcasts
Top True Crime Podcasts
Top Finance Podcasts
Top Comedy Podcasts
Top Music Podcasts
Top Womens Podcasts
Top Kids Podcasts
Top Sports Podcasts
Top News Podcasts
Top Tech Podcasts
Top Crypto Podcasts
Top Entrepreneurial Podcasts
Top Fantasy Sports Podcasts
Top Political Podcasts
Top Science Podcasts
Top Self Help Podcasts
Top Sports Betting Podcasts
Top Stocks Podcasts
Our TOPPODCAST Picks
---Podcast ListenersBusiness/Brand - Interested in AdvertisingPodcasters & Independent Creators
Back to Rankings Page
Working People
Working People: A podcast by, for, and about the working class today (now in partnership with In These Times magazine and The Real News Network).
Working People is a podcast about working-class lives in 21st-century America. In every episode, you'll hear interviews with workers from around the country, from all walks of life. We'll talk about their life stories, their jobs, politics, and families, their joys and hopes and frustrations. Overall, Working People aims to share and celebrate the diverse stories of working-class people, to remind ourselves that our stories matter, and to build a sense of shared struggle and solidarity between workers around the country.
Teachers Are not the Enemy (w/ Ana & Quetzalli Castro) Jan 07, 2022
Here we are again... With the Omicron variant spreading like wildfire, COVID-19 cases around the country have shattered previous highs. The federal government has essentially given up on trying to fight the virus and a familiar ghoulish chorus of media pundits and wealthy business executives are berating working people to suck it up and put themselves in harm's way for the sake of the economy. What's worse, workers who are standing up for themselves are being viciously vilified and scapegoated for the systemic failures that have put us in this mess.
Perhaps no group is facing more backlash right now than educators. Earlier this week, nearly 3/4 of the membership of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) voted to return to virtual work until a deal to implement necessary safety measures is reached with Chicago Public Schools (CPS) or until the city's positivity rate falls below 10 percent. In response, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the CPS administration have locked educators out of their virtual classrooms, replaying their actions from last year when COVID cases were surging and teachers were locked out of their employee accounts and had their pay docked if they refused to return from teaching remotely. In this urgent, unscheduled mini-cast, we talk about the lockout with Ana, a CPS teacher and CTU member, and Quetzalli Castro, a CPS teacher and a delegate and organizer within the CTU.
Additional links/info below...
Chicago Teachers Union website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Petition: "We need safe working and learning conditions in CPS!"
CTU informational posters: "Our Students, Parents & Communities Deserve Safety"
Working People, "Mini-cast: #SafeReturnOrNoReturn (w/ Paula Ladin & Mariana Ruiz)"
Quinn Meyer, Block Club Chicago, "Chicago Teachers Say They Want To Return To Classrooms, But They Need Better COVID-19 Safety Measures"
Monica Eng, Axios Chicago, "Chicago Public Schools Cancel Thursday Classes"
Permanent links below...
Working People Patreon page
Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)
Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song"
(Unlocked) BONUS EPISODE - Kickin' Ass for the Working Class (w/ Puja Datta, Margaret McLaughlin, & Diana Hussein) Jan 01, 2022
Due to COVID awfulness, we're counting our 6-hour livestream fundraiser for striking Kellogg's workers as the official finale of Season Four of Working People (woo!). Thank you all for listening to and supporting our work over the past year. We're getting some much-needed rest and gearing up for Season Five. In the meantime, we're ringing in the new year by unlocking this special bonus episode—enjoy! And happy 2022! All power to the workers! 2021 was an energizing year for a labor movement that has had its back against the wall for a long time. From record numbers of American workers voluntarily quitting their jobs to publicly supported strikes and unionization drives in different sectors of the economy, more and more working people are taking action and standing up for themselves. But this is just the beginning—there's still a lot of work to do, and 2022 will provide a crucial test for the labor movement and its supporters. In this special panel episode of Working People, originally published in November as a bonus episode for patrons, we talk to three full-time union organizers—Puja Datta (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees), Margaret McLaughlin (United University Professions), and Diana Hussein (UNITE HERE)—about what Striketober and 2021 in general have meant for the labor movement. We also talk about the day-to-day work of being a union organizer, where the labor movement goes from here, and what you can do to build working-class power.
Puja's Twitter page
Margaret's Twitter page
Diana's Twitter page
Luis Feliz Leon & Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Beneath Striketober Fanfare, the Lower Frequencies of Class Struggle Need to Be Heard"
Marc Steiner, The Real News Network, "Can Today's Labor Militancy Become a Transformative Political Force?"
Labor Notes, Secrets of a Successful Organizer
AFL-CIO, "Know Your Workplace Rights"
"Keep the Fire Burning" Livestream Dec 24, 2021
After nearly 3 months, the strike at cereal giant Kellogg's, which involved 1,400 workers at four different plants, has come to an end. On Tuesday, December 21, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers' International Union (BCTGM) announced that its members at Kellogg's had voted to ratify the latest contract offer. We want to send all our love and solidarity to everyone who held strong on the picket line and congratulate them on their new contract. We also want to thank everyone who watched and participated in the 6-hour livestream fundraiser for striking workers that we cohosted last week with Mel Buer and the Morning Riot podcast (produced by the great David Story of The Valley Labor Report). All in all, we ended up raising just shy of $16,000 for Kellogg's workers and their families! That money is being divided equally and sent to the members of the BCTGM locals in Omaha, Nebraska, Battle Creek, Michigan, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Memphis, Tennessee. Even though the strike has ended, workers have racked up many costs since walking off the job in October, and every dollar we raised will go to helping them get through the holidays and get back on their feet.
In case you were unable to watch the livestream, we are uploading all six hours of audio here for listeners. The strike may be over, but this was an incredibly special, entertaining, and solidarity-filled event that brought together powerful voices from the Kellogg's picket lines as well as special guests including: Marianne Williamson, Alex Winter, Randy Bryce, Breht O'Shea of Revolutionary Left Radio and Guerrilla History, Kim Kohlhaas of AFT-Wisconsin, Haeden Wright of the UMWA Auxiliary in Alabama, Caroline Smith of Student Workers of Columbia, Tevita Uhatafe of the Transport Workers Union, Steven Monacelli of Protean Magazine, Bryan Conlan of Strikewave, Dwight Rhinosoros of Eat the Rich, David Griscom of Left Reckoning, Jacob Morrison of The Valley Labor Report, and Professor Jon Shelton. Thank you again to all who participated and donated, and congratulations to Kellogg's workers on their new contract. Solidarity forever!
Morning Riot Twitter page
Marianne Williamson's Twitter page
Alex Winter's Twitter page
Randy Bryce's Twitter page
Revolutionary Left Radio Twitter page
Guerrilla History Twitter page
Tevita Uhatafe's Twitter page
Kim Kohlhaas's Twitter page
AFT-Wisconsin's Twitter page
Caroline Smith's Twitter page
Student Workers of Columbia Twitter page and hardship fund for striking workers
Haeden Wright's Twitter page
PayPal for UMWA Auxiliary strike pantry for Warrior Met Coal workers
Steven Monacelli's Twitter page
Protean Magazine Twitter page
Bryan Conlan's Twitter page
Strikewave Twitter page
Dwight Rhinosoros's Twitter page
Eat the Rich Twitter page
David Griscom's Twitter page
Left Reckoning Twitter page
Jacob Morrison's Twitter page
The Valley Labor Report Twitter page
Jon Shelton's Twitter page
Hospitality Workers at Colonial Williamsburg Need Help (w/ Agatha Hilt, Willie Brown, & John Boardman) Dec 22, 2021
Hospitality workers around the country have faced some of the worst layoffs in any industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. UNITE HERE, a labor union representing over 300,000 workers, most of whom are in the hospitality, food service, and restaurant industries, reported that 98% of its members were out of work last year. At the five hotel properties in Virginia's historic Colonial Williamsburg, however, workers who did get their jobs back are being chronically overworked and underpaid, resulting in injuries on the job and little to no ability to have a life outside of work.
What's worse, according to a press release from UNITE HERE LOCAL 25, the union representing hospitality workers at Colonial Williamsburg, management with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation "has skipped seven bargaining sessions since August" and "has refused to meaningfully engage with workers' demands to end forced overtime. Currently, Local 25 members in Colonial Williamsburg routinely work six- and seven-day weeks in the hotels and 10- and 12-hour days in the taverns, a practice workers are demanding an end to in the next contract." In this mini-cast, we speak with Agatha Hilt, Willie Brown, and John Boardman of UNITE HERE Local 25 about what workers are going through and the status of the current contract fight. Agatha Hilt is a housekeeper at the Williamsburg Lodge and has worked there for the last 11 years, Willie Brown is a houseman at the Williamsburg Lodge and has worked at Colonial Williamsburg for seven years, and John Boardman is the executive secretary-treasurer of UNITE HERE Local 25.
Watch the video version of this interview at The Real News Network
UNITE HERE Local 25 website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Molly Feser & Dominic Catacora, Williamsburg Yorktown Daily, ""Enough is Enough": Colonial Williamsburg Hospitality Workers to Rally for Fair Wages, Better Working Conditions During Grand Illumination"
Working-Class Politics: Paul Prescod Dec 17, 2021
Election season is coming up, so you know what that means... we're re-launching our series "Working-Class Politics"! In this ongoing series, we talk to working-class people running for elected office at all levels—in their unions, in local, state, and national government, etc.—as well as candidates fighting with and for the working class. In the latest installment, we talk to Paul Prescod (aka "Labor Paul"), a socialist, high school teacher, and member of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. Listeners may know Prescod as the cohost of The Jacobin Show, but he is now running for Pennsylvania State Senate in its 8th district, pledging to make organizing around working-class issues and legislating universal programs his top priorities. We talk to Prescod about the importance of building working-class coalitions, earning the trust of organized labor, and what it will take to serve the needs of working people in his district.
Kellogg's livestream fundraiser links/info below...
Working People YouTube channel
Kellogg's Strike Fund Livestream Fundraiser
Paul's campaign website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Paul's Jacobin author page
Peter Lucas, Jacobin, "Teacher and Pennsylvania State Senate Candidate Paul Prescod: "The Rich Need to Start Paying""
Foul Ball (w/ Alex Bazeley & Bobby Wagner) Dec 14, 2021
Ending 26 years of "labor peace," Major League Baseball is in the midst of a lockout. With league owners failing to address the core contract issues raised by the Major League Baseball Players Association, the previous collective bargaining agreement expired at the beginning of this month. In an open letter to baseball fans, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred stated, "Despite the league's best efforts to make a deal with the Players Association, we were unable to extend our 26 year-long history of labor peace and come to an agreement with the MLBPA before the current CBA expired. Therefore, we have been forced to commence a lockout of Major League players, effective at 12:01am ET on December 2." Has the league made its "best efforts" to bargain in good faith? Were wealthy team owners really "forced to commence a lockout"? We smell BS... In this episode, we're joined by Alex Bazeley and Bobby Wagner, hosts of the podcast Tipping Pitches, to break down the labor politics in today's MLB and what the lockout means for players and fans alike.
Tipping Pitches website, Twitter page, and fan shop
Alex's Twitter page
Bobby's Twitter page
Dayn Perry, CBS Sports, "MLB lockout: Fact-Checking Commissioner Rob Manfred's Open Letter to Baseball Fans"
James Wagner, The New York Times, "M.L.B.'s Lockout: What Is It? How Does It Work? What's Next?"
Nathan Kalman-Lamb & Dirk Hayhurst, Jacobin, "'Inside the Game, You Are Still a Commodity'"
Working People, "Mini-cast: Suicide Squeeze (w/ Nathan Kalman-Lamb)"
Kellogg's strike links/info below...
Look for updates on the Dec. 17 livestream/fundraiser on the Working People Twitter page and Morning Riot Twitter page
Maximilian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Breakfast of champions: Kellogg's cereal workers strike for employees who have been left behind"
Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "How companies like Kellogg's are weaponizing the courts to break strikes"
Mel Buer, The Real News Network, "Kellogg's strike: Cereal plant workers fight to raise the floor for all employees as sales soar"
Mel Buer, The Real News Network, "Kellogg's strikers hold the line and prepare for winter"
Sahid Fawaz, Labor 411, "Five Ways To Support The Kellogg Strike"
Starbucks Workers United (w/ Brian Murray & Jordan Chariton) Dec 09, 2021
Starbucks is the world's largest coffeehouse chain and one of the most recognizable consumer brands in existence. In the US alone, Starbucks has nearly 9,000 corporate-owned stores, and not a single one of them is unionized ... but that may be about to change. After leading an organizing campaign during the COVID-19 pandemic and facing tireless efforts by the company to delay, deflate, and defeat union elections with the National Labor Relations Board, workers at three Starbucks locations in Buffalo, New York, have submitted their ballots, which are being counted as we speak. In this mini-cast, we talk with Brian Murray, one of the Buffalo workers and organizers with SBWorkers United, and journalist Jordan Chariton, who recently traveled to Buffalo to speak with Starbucks workers and report on their fight for Status Coup.
SBWorkers United website, Twitter page, and Instagram
GoFundMe: Starbucks Retaliates Against Whistleblower
Jordan's Twitter page
Status Coup website, Twitter page, and YouTube channel
Sean Collins, Strikewave, ""It's about having a democratic voice in Starbucks." Interview with Brian Murray of SBWorkersUnited"
Noam Scheiber, The New York Times, "As Starbucks Workers Seek a Union, Company Officials Converge on Stores"
Ahiza García-Hodges, NBC News, "Former Starbucks CEO Uses Holocaust Analogy to Describe Coffee Company's Mission"
Columbia Is Still a Bully (w/ Joanna Lee, Tamara Hache, & Caroline Smith) Nov 30, 2021
Back in the spring, we spoke with three graduate student workers at Columbia University who were on strike with other members of the Student Workers of Columbia union, UAW Local 2110. After rank-and-file members rejected the tentative agreement between the university and the bargaining committee, negotiations continued, but Columbia has still failed to meet key demands, including better wages, dental and vision healthcare coverage, and third-party arbitration for cases involving harassment and discrimination. Now, Student Workers of Columbia are back on strike and have been on the picket line since November 3. In this mini-cast, we talk with three graduate student workers, Joanna Lee, Tamara Hache, and Caroline Smith, about the strike and how academic workers are an essential part of the labor movement.
Student Workers of Columbia, UAW Local 2110 website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Hardship Fund for Columbia Student Workers #CUonStrike
Working People, "Mini-cast: Columbia Is a Bully (w/ Joanna Lee, Harlan Chambers, & Cameron Foltz)"
Joanna's Twitter page
Tamara's Twitter page
Caroline's Twitter page
Ashley Wong, The New York Times, "Why Columbia Student Workers Are Back On Strike"
Rachel Himes, Jacobin, "Why Columbia Graduate Workers Like Me Are on Strike"
Fiction is a beautiful weapon in the class war - we should use it (w/ Sarah Lazare) Nov 23, 2021
What role does fiction have to play in the class struggle? Should the left be making a stronger case for the political importance of reading literature? In this special Working People episode, which has been months in the making, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez talks with writer and editor Sarah Lazare about her novel Testimony, which she co-authored with her late father, Peter Lazare. Testimony is a leftist crime thriller that takes place in Springfield, Illinois, at the height of the "war on terror" panic in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. It is also a deeply moving story about trust, commitment to everyday people, and fighting the corrupt, self-serving, and nefarious forces that weaponize fear for their own gain.
As the back cover of the book describes, "Testimony isn't about One Great Man taking on the system, but about one okay, flawed person working with a rag-tag team of other okay, flawed people to combat a system of cynicism and greed much bigger than them." In this deep and wide-ranging conversation, Alvarez talks with Lazare about the book itself, about her father and the long process of getting the book ready for publication, and about the important role genre fiction has to play in our collective fight for a better world. This episode also features segments of dramatic readings from Testimony performed by Alvarez, Lazare, and friends of the show Adam Johnson (Citations Needed) and Mel Buer (Morning Riot). And a special thanks to Working People producer Jules Taylor for all his hard work editing the episode!
Additional links/info below…
Sarah's In These Times author page and Twitter page
Sarah Lazare & Peter Lazare, Strong Arm Press, Testimony
Strong Arm Press, Book Launch Event: "Why the Left Should Engage Fiction: A Conversation With Radical Thriller and Mystery Writers"
Mel Buer Twitter page and Patreon
Morning Riot podcast Twitter page
Adam Johnson Twitter page and Substack
Citations Needed Twitter page and Patreon
Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive at freemusicarchive.org): Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song"
(Unlocked) BONUS EPISODE - A Pivotal Moment for the Teamsters (w/ Indigo Olivier) Nov 18, 2021
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is having a pivotal leadership election right now, and the results will set the future course for one of the most storied unions in existence. This election officially marks the end of the Hoffa era as James P. Hoffa, son of Jimmy Hoffa, is retiring as Teamsters General President. Members have cast their votes for who they want to head the union in the new era, and the ballots are being counted as we speak. We will be bringing you a rank-and-file breakdown of the election in the coming weeks, but for now we are releasing one of our recent bonus episodes on the public feed so listeners can have some context and understand the importance of this election. In this episode, we talk with journalist Indigo Olivier about the Teamsters leadership election and the 46th annual Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) convention, which was held in Chicago on October 1-3. Olivier is a 2020–2021 fellow with In These Times' Leonard C. Goodman Institute for Investigative Reporting and her writing has been featured at outlets like Jacobin, In These Times, and The Nation. She is also a member of NYC-DSA.
Indigo's Twitter page
Indigo's author page at In These Times
Indigo Olivier, Jacobin, "Teamster Rank-and-File Reformers Are Making a Bid for Union Leadership"
Working People, "The Teamsters Have Entered the Chat (w/ Joe Allen)"
Ryan Haney, Labor Notes, "Teamster Insurgents Plan for a Win—And What Comes After"
Andy Sernatinger, In These Times, "Hoffa's House Divided: The 2021 Teamster Election, Explained"
International Brotherhood of Teamsters Election Results
35,000 Kaiser Permanente Workers Are Set to Strike (w/ Hannah Winchester & Nick Eng) Nov 10, 2021
35,000 members of the Alliance of Health Care Unions, a coalition of 21 local unions representing over 52,000 workers at the healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente in states around the country, have set a strike date. Unless the company addresses the serious issues that workers have raised at the bargaining table, Kaiser workers will walk off the job on Nov. 15, and thousands more may join in what could become one of the largest strikes ever in the healthcare sector. The core issues that led to the potential strike not only involve adequate compensation for union workers, but also the dire concerns about healthcare workers being grossly overworked and under-resourced, as well as two-tier employment and the struggle to draw in and retain trained staff. On top of the essential concerns that directly impact the jobs and livelihoods of healthcare workers, the outcome of this high-stakes labor struggle will have huge implications for the future of healthcare in the US as we know it.
In this special edition of Working People, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with two Kaiser workers, Hannah Winchester, DPT, and Nicholas Eng, RNFA, about the work that they do, the changes they've experienced in the healthcare system, and the dire conditions that have led to a potential strike. Hannah Winchester is a home health physical therapist by trade; she is also her department's Labor Partner, a shop steward, and a member of the bargaining team for the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (OFNHP) Professional Bargaining Unit. Nicholas Eng has been a nurse for nearly 10 years; he is also an OFNHP shop steward and is currently on release for OFNHP to be present for contract bargaining and to help with organizing union members and actions, including strike planning.
The Alliance of Health Care Unions website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram
OFNHP Cares – Member Hardship Relief Fund
Noah Lanard, Mother Jones, ""You Are Worth More": Kaiser Permanente Workers Are on the Verge of a Historic Strike"
Dave Muoio, Fierce Healthcare, "Nearly 32,000 Kaiser Permanente Workers Set to Strike Nov. 15. Tens of Thousands More Mulling Their Own Demonstrations"
Working People, The Real News Network, "A Small-Town Hospital Goes After Its Union Nurses"
Michael Francis McCarthy Nov 09, 2021
In this special episode, Working People producer Jules Taylor (@realjulestaylor) speaks with working musician and farm laborer Michael Francis McCarthy. Jules and Michael have known each other for a few years, having met during an event in Woodstock, NY where Michael was performing. Michael paints a sobering picture of what earning a living by working as a singer/songwriter looks like.
Unlock the video for this episode here: Patreon
About Michael Francis McCarthy - Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Bandcamp
Blake Morgan, The Hill, "American middle-class musicians are worth fighting for"
John W. Barry, The Poughkeepsie Journal, "Coronavirus: With arts and entertainment shuttered, can derailed industry recover?"
Michael Francis McCarthy, "Goodnight, Toll Collector"
We're All We've Got (w/ Adam Johnson, Luis Feliz Leon, Brian "BZ" Douglas, & Jules Taylor) Oct 29, 2021
We hosted our first ever Working People livestream this week! We got to chat with some special friends about Spooky Season and #Striketober, and we had a sprawling, heartfelt discussion about solidarity and togetherness. This was a special event we put on for an important cause: to raise money for our amazing producer Jules and his family so they can cover the costs of his mom's dialysis treatments. If you missed the livestream, we hope you enjoy this edited audio version of our conversation (check out our YouTube page to watch the video version). The fundraiser is still going, so please donate what you can and help us spread the word. Thank you for all your love and support!
GoFundMe: Help My Mom Through Dialysis
Watch the full video version of our livestream on YouTube
Jules's Twitter page
Brian "BZ" Douglas's Twitter page
Adam Johnson's Twitter page
Luis Feliz Leon's Twitter page
Justin Mayhugh Oct 20, 2021
A lot of important history is being made right now, and something potentially game-changing is unfolding among the American workforce. At this very moment, 10,000 UAW members at John Deere are on strike in Iowa, Illinois, and Kansas; 35,000 healthcare workers at Kaiser Permanente have authorized a strike; 1,400 workers at cereal giant Kellogg's are on strike in Nebraska, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee; 1,100 coal miners in Alabama have been on strike since April; 800 nurses in Massachusetts have been on strike since March; and many other strikes and strike authorizations are also unfolding. On top of that, record numbers of US workers are voluntarily quitting their jobs, in what is being called the "Great Resignation." Something is happening here... At the same time, there are crucial struggles happening within the labor movement that we all need to be paying attention to. One of these struggles is taking place within the United Auto Workers itself, where members are currently voting on an unprecedented referendum that will decide whether or not the 400,000 working members and nearly 600,000 retirees can directly elect their top union officers. Ballots went out on October 19 and are due back at the end of November; if the referendum passes, it could be the beginning of a massive shakeup for the union, which many members say needs more democratic governance and more militant energy coming from the rank-and-file. Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD), a grassroots caucus of UAW members advocating for direct elections, has been leading the charge for this historic referendum. In this episode, we talk with Justin Mayhugh, who has worked at General Motors in Kansas City for over a decade and is an organizer with the UAWD caucus.
Join us for a special livestream Sunday, Oct. 24, at 7pm EST!
Passcode for joining the live Zoom meeting: 047512
GoFundMe fundraiser for Jules and his family (please donate!)
Working People will be hosting another Listener Hang on Monday, November 15th, 2021 @ 8 PM EST! Here's a link to join the meeting
Justin Mayhugh Twitter page
Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD) Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram
Jonah Furman, The Real News Network, "A Once-in-a-Generation Chance to Revive the UAW Is Coming"
Breakfast of Champions (w/ Dan Osborn) Oct 18, 2021
Like Frito-Lay, Nabisco, John Deere, and Heaven Hill Distillery, cereal giant Kellogg's has seen consumer demand skyrocket during the pandemic, reporting profits of $1.25 billion in 2020. To meet this demand, many workers in Kellogg's plants around the US report pulling 12-16-hour shifts seven days a week, leaving little time for anything outside of work beyond sleep. But the creation of a two-tier employment system in 2015 has meant that newer employees in the lower "transitional tier" are earning significantly less than their coworkers for doing the same work. Demanding that the company raise the floor for all of its employees, Kellogg's plant workers in Nebraska, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee have been on strike since Oct. 5. We talk about the ongoing strike with Dan Osborn, who has worked at the Omaha, Nebraska, plant for 18 years and currently serves as president of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM), Local 50G.
5 Ways to Support the #KelloggStrike (includes links to strike funds)
BCTGM Local 50G website
Mel Buer, The Real News Network, "Kellogg's Strike: Cereal Plant Workers Fight to Raise the Floor for All Employees as Sales Soar"
Lisa Doerr Oct 11, 2021
We conclude our series of interviews from rural Wisconsin with farmers and community members fighting to defend life as they know it from the onslaught of Big Agriculture and the factory farming industry. As part of a special collaboration between The Real News Network and In These Times magazine for "The Wisconsin Idea," Max, Cameron Granadino (TRNN), and Hannah Faris (In These Times) travelled to Polk County in Western Wisconsin over the summer to speak with residents about their fight to halt or, at least, adequately regulate a proposed concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) that would house 26,000 hogs and produce millions of gallons of liquid manure every year. In this interview, Max sits down with Lisa Doerr, who has been on the front lines of this struggle and lives right down the road from where the proposed CAFO would be built. Lisa and her husband own and operate a hay farm in Polk County that supplies food for small-scale livestock farmers in the area.
Working People, "Kristy Lynn Allen"
Working People, "Hog Wild (w/ Lisa Doerr, Forest Jahnke, Hannah Faris, & Maeve Conran)"
Maximillian Alvarez, Cameron Granadino, & Hannah Faris, The Real News Network, "Factory Farms Pose an 'Existential Threat' for Rural Wisconsin Communities"
Grace Connatser, Wisconsin State Farmer, "Documentary Captures Rural Wisconsin's Struggle with Hog CAFOs"
Maeve Conran, Just Solutions, "Rural Wisconsin Communities Battle Industrial Scale Hog Farms"
Simon Davis-Cohen, In These Times, "'In for a Fight': Rural Wisconsinites Resist Influx of Industrial Hog Facilities"
Lights, Camera, STRIKE! (w/ Marisa Shipley, David McMahon, & Fae Weichsel) Oct 02, 2021
Tens of thousands of members of the International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) are currently voting on whether or not to authorize a strike. If passed, the vote could lead 60,000 workers to walk off the job and bring the entertainment industry to a halt. As consumers, we tend to associate the entertainment industry with acting stars, elite directors and producers, and big studio executives, but hundreds and and even thousands of workers make every production possible, and many of them are grossly underpaid, overworked, and denied basic necessities like breaks and time to sleep between shifts. Combined with the explosion of streaming services and ever-increasing demands for studio-quality productions, workers in the entertainment industry are being run into the ground, and they have reached a breaking point.
IATSE represents over 150,000 technicians, artisans, and craftspersons in the entertainment industry, including live theatre, motion picture and television production, broadcast, and trade shows in the United States and Canada. The union is composed of many different locals, not all of which are currently voting to authorize a strike. According to Deadline, "there are actually two separate strike authorization votes going on—one among the union's 13 Hollywood production locals covered by the Basic Agreement, and the other covering 23 different locals outside Los Angeles who work under the Area Standards Agreement." In this urgent Working People episode, we talk to a panel of IATSE members about the work they do and the significance of the strike vote currently underway. Panelists include Marisa Shipley (Local 871), David McMahon (Local 52), and Fae Weichsel (Local 600).
Petition: Tell AMPTP to Give Film and Television Workers a Fair Deal
IATSE website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
IATSE Stories on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter
IATSE Film & TV Negotiations Toolkit
IATSE Press Release: "AMPTP Film and Television Negotiations Stalled, Union to Hold Nationwide Strike Authorization Vote"
Marissa's Twitter page and Instagram
David's Twitter page
Fae's Twitter page
Alex N. Press, Jacobin, "Film Industry Workers Are Fed Up With Long Hours"
Brendan Gallagher, Jacobin, "If Hollywood Workers Strike, the Entertainment Industry Will Grind to a Halt"
Gene Maddaus, Variety, "Everything You Need to Know About Hollywood's IATSE Strike Vote"
Dominic Patten & David Robb, Deadline, "IATSE Members 'Deserve Respect' Says Union As Strike Authorization Ballots Hit Inboxes This AM"
Kristy Lynn Allen Sep 30, 2021
A proposed concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) in Burnett County, Wisconsin, is slated to house 26,000 hogs and produce millions of gallons of liquid manure every year. Residents fear the irreparable damage a facility of that size could do to their air, land, and waterways, as well as to their property values and the local economy, and many fear there's nothing they can do to stop it. But a diverse coalition of farmers, community members, and environmental advocates are fighting back to protect their homes, their ways of life, and what remains of the independent farming economy. As part of a special collaboration between The Real News Network and In These Times magazine for "The Wisconsin Idea," Max, Cameron Granadino (TRNN), and Hannah Faris (In These Times) travelled to Burnett County over the summer to speak with residents about their concerns and about their struggles against Big Agriculture and the factory farming industry. In this interview, Max talks with local farmer and beekeeper Kristy Lynn Allen about the damage the industrialization of farming has done to agriculture in general, and about the damage the new CAFO would do specifically to farmers like her. Allen is the founder of The Beez Kneez, LLC, and serves as president of the local chapter of the Wisconsin Farmers Union.
The Beez Kneez website and Twitter page
Hog Wild (w/ Lisa Doerr, Forest Jahnke, Hannah Faris, & Maeve Conran) Sep 21, 2021
Over the summer, Max traveled to Wisconsin to report on a crucial struggle that has been largely ignored by corporate media. Residents of rural Polk, Burnett, and Crawford counties in Western Wisconsin have been embroiled in battles over the proposed construction of industrial "hog factories" in their communities, which would collectively house roughly 34,000 hogs. These concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) would also produce millions and millions of gallons of liquid manure a year, and residents fear they could cause irreversible damage to their land, air, water, property values, and ways of life.
What's happening in Wisconsin is part of a larger historical shift that has seen Big Agriculture and factory farming take over an industry that used to be dominated by small and mid-sized farms. The government-aided rise of industrial agriculture and meat production has pushed the independent farmers who still remain in operation today to the brink of extinction. As part of a special collaboration between The Real News Network and In These Times magazine for "The Wisconsin Idea," Max, Cameron Granadino (TRNN), and Hannah Faris (In These Times) went to Crawford, Polk, and Burnett counties to speak with residents about their concerns and about their struggles to defend themselves against Big Agriculture and the factory farming industry. You can watch their full documentary report here.
In this special Working People episode, we follow up on the reporting Max, Granadino, and Faris did over the summer and speak with a panel of folks who were involved with producing and publishing those reports. We also update listeners on the ongoing struggles in Polk, Burnett, and Crawford counties to halt—or, at least, adequately regulate—the proposed CAFOs. Guests on this panel include: Forest Jahnke, Program Coordinator for the Crawford Stewardship Project; Lisa Doerr, an independent hay farmer & resident of Polk County; Hannah Faris, associate editor of "The Wisconsin Idea" at In These Times; and Maeve Conran, Program Director for Free Speech TV and host of Just Solutions.
Crawford Stewardship Project website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Free Speech TV website, YouTube channel, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Hannah Faris, In These Times, "A Wisconsin Hog Farm Would Produce 9.4 Million Gallons of Manure a Year. Nearby Residents Live in Fear"
Work to Live (w/ Matt Aubrey) Sep 14, 2021
Around 400 union distillery workers in Bardstown, Kentucky, hit the picket line yesterday after rejecting a contract offer from Heaven Hill Distilleries, which included healthcare price hikes that reduce take-home pay, cuts to overtime, and drastic scheduling changes. Heaven Hill produces some of the most popular bourbon brands in the world, including Evan Williams, Elijah Craig, and Old Fitzgerald. According to Inc. Fact, the company averages annual profits of over $500 million. In this mini-cast, we talk with Matt Aubrey, president of UFCW Local 23D to get an update on the strike and what listeners can do to show support.
Bruce Schreiner, AP News, "Big Bourbon Producer Heaven Hill Faces Strike in Kentucky"
WLKY, "Employees on Strike at Heaven Hill in Bardstown Demanding Better Working Conditions"
Inc. Fact, "Heaven Hill Distilleries: Revenue, Growth & Competitor Profile"
Evan Seyfried (w/ Ken, Linda, & Eric Seyfried) Sep 09, 2021
(C/W: bullying, harassment, suicide) Evan Seyfried was a loving son, brother, friend, and a dedicated worker. For 19 years, with a virtually spotless record, Evan worked at a local Kroger grocery store in Milford, Ohio, where he eventually became the dairy department manager. From October 2020 to March 2021, however, Evan suffered a torturous litany of bullying, harassment, and sabotage, according to a lawsuit filed by the Seyfried family. As the lawsuit alleges, it was this treatment, which was the result of a "conspiracy" involving numerous actors, including management-level supervisors at the Milford store, that caused Evan to eventually suffer a "transient episodic break" and take his own life. In this episode, we talk with Evan's mother Linda, his father Ken, and his brother Eric about the beautiful person he was, the horrific treatment he endured, and the need to hold those who wronged him accountable
Justice for Evan Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram
National Workplace Bullying Coalition website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
#NotMe App
"Lawsuit: Kroger Manager Drove Employee To Suicide" (PDF)
Julian Mark, The Washington Post, "Former Kroger Grocery Store Employee's Suicide Was a Result of 'Torturous Conditions,' Lawsuit Says"
Jessica Schmidt, Fox News 19, "Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed against Kroger, Company Employees after Former Manager Took His Own Life"
Alex N. Press, Jacobin, "At Kroger and Amazon, Capital Is Going on the Offensive"
Anonymous, VICE, "They Call Me a Hero Because I Work at Kroger, So Why Do I Feel Disposable?"
Outro Music by Squire Tuck, "A Journey into the Great Unknown"
Casey Scully Sep 01, 2021
For many around the country, the new school year has already begun. And many districts are pushing through with in-person schooling, even though we are in the midst of another COVID-19 spike, with new cases around the country rising to their highest point since January. With large swathes of the population still unvaccinated, including 50 million children nationwide under the age of 12, with vaccine and mask mandates having become another contentious subject of culture war hysteria, and with the more contagious Delta variant spreading like wildfire, school districts around the country appear to be on yet another collision course with COVID spikes that will lead to panicked returns to remote learning after a large amount of students, teachers, staff, and parents get infected. This week, we talk with Casey Scully, a former elementary-school teacher and current high-school math interventionist in Charleston, South Carolina. We discuss the path that led Casey to become an educator, how she has navigated the past year and a half, and what she and her coworkers are currently experiencing with schools reopening.
Casey's Twitter page
Dan Levin, The New York Times, "The U.S. Reaches a Daily Average of 100,000 Covid Hospitalizations for the First Time Since the Winter Peak"
Tina Hesman Saey, ScienceNews, "Schools Are Reopening. COVID-19 Is Still Here. What Does That Mean for Kids?"
Jeff Amy, AP News, "Schools Reopen with Masks Optional in Many US Classrooms"
AP News, "COVID: S. Carolina School District Back to Virtual Classes"
The New York Times, "Tracking Coronavirus in South Carolina: Latest Map and Case Count"
Jules Taylor, "Carolina King"
Listener Hang Session #1 Aug 23, 2021
We're taking a much-needed break this week, but we'll be back with more worker interviews really soon! To hold y'all over, we're releasing a portion of the amazing group conversation we had on our first ever Working People Listener Hang Session last week. Thank you to everyone who joined us—and if you weren't able to join this time, be sure to call in for our second one next month. If you want to watch the full video version of the Listener Hang Session, go subscribe on Patreon!
Working People, "Listener Hang Session #1 (full video version)"
Scott Stump, USA Today, "Nabisco Bakers Across the US Are on Strike, Potentially Disrupting Oreo Supply"
Stephen H. Norwood, The Journal of Southern History, "Bogalusa Burning: The War Against Biracial Unionism in the Deep South, 1919"
Food Finder website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Strikewave website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
The Valley Labor Report YouTube channel, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Patreon
The Michigan Robin website and Twitter page
Joe Allen, Haymarket Books, The Package King: A Rank and File History of UPS
End Unfair Practices against Window Cleaners (w/ Eric Crone) Aug 20, 2021
Repelling down skyscrapers to clean windows is already a very dangerous job. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, high-rise window cleaners with SEIU Local 26 in Minneapolis were also sent into office buildings to disinfect "hot spots" where outbreaks had occurred, resulting in many workers contracting the virus. Now, after their previous contract expired, 40 window cleaners have walked off the job, demanding pay increases, reduced health care costs, as well as a state-recognized apprenticeship program that would guarantee better training and safety measures for workers in their trade. In this mini-cast, we talk with Eric Crone, a window cleaner who works for Columbia Building Services and union steward. Additional links/info below...
SEIU Local 26 website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Luis Feliz Leon, LaborNotes, "Striking Window Cleaners Want Their Dangerous Job Recognized as a Skilled Trade"
Pafoua Yang, CBS Minnesota, "'All We Want Is A Fair Wage, Some Respect & Proper Training': High Rise Window Washers Go On Strike"
Striking Coal Miners Won't Back Down, Part II (w/ Kim Kelly & Jacob Morrison) Aug 12, 2021
Over 1,100 union coal miners in Brookwood, Alabama, have been on an unfair labor practices strike against Warrior Met Coal for over five months. And for five months, the mainstream media has barely made a peep about the strike. Instead, a small collection of independent journalists and local and progressive media outlets have been working overtime to cover this important story. Jacob Morrison, David Story, and Adam Keller at The Valley Labor Report (Alabama's only weekly labor radio talk show), have been doing more than almost anyone to cover the strike and support striking miners and their families. There is one person, however, who has done more than anyone to lift the strike at Warrior Met into public consciousness for five months straight, and that is independent journalist and all-around badass Kim Kelly. In Part II of our special, two-part update on the miners' strike, Jacob from TVLR and Kim have a wide-ranging conversation about Kim's labor and writing background, the experience of covering the Amazon union drive and the Warrior Met strike in Alabama, and what it means to truly care about and be invested in the people and struggles we cover in labor media.
Join our Working People listener hang session on Monday, August 16, from 8-9:30pm ET! Here's the zoom link
UMWA 2021 Strike Fund
Donate to the UMWA Auxiliary Strike Pantry
United Mine Workers of America website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Jacob's Twitter page
Working People, "On Strike at Warrior Met Coal (w/ Jacob Morrison & Lee Bains III)"
The Valley Labor Report, "Bad News and Good News for Striking Miners & HOW YOU CAN HELP"
The Valley Labor Report, "Violence from Bosses and Scabs at the UMWA Picket Line in Alabama"
The Valley Labor Report, "Breaking Down the Alabama Coal Miner Strike"
Luis Feliz Leon, LaborNotes, "Striking Alabama Coal Miners Want Their $1.1 Billion Back"
Kim's Twitter page and Patreon
Kim Kelly, The Real News Network, "The True Price of Coal"
Kim Kelly, The Real News Network, "Don't Mess with a Coal Miner's Wife"
Kim Kelly, The Nation, "Alabama's Coal Miners Are Striking for Their Lives"
Pre-order Kim's book: Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor
Democracy Now!, "From Black Lung to BlackRock: Striking Alabama Coal Miners Protest Wall St. Financiers of Warrior Met"
Elwyn Lopez, Ashley Schwartz-Lavares, & Lulit Tadesse, ABC News, "Alabama Coal Miners on Strike Since April Say They're Fighting for Working Americans Everywhere"
Jaisal Noor, The Real News Network, "Striking Alabama Coal Miners Hit Streets of NYC to Protest Corporate Greed"
Hamilton Nolan, In These Times, "At a Massive Union Rally, the Promise of a Better South"
Your Call Radio, "Worker Uprisings Continue Making Waves Across The Country"
Striking Coal Miners Won't Back Down, Part I (w/ Jacob Morrison) Aug 12, 2021
Over 1,100 union coal miners in Brookwood, Alabama, have been on an unfair labor practices strike against Warrior Met Coal for over five months. For five months, workers and their families have been holding the line, demanding to get back what was stolen from them with their last contract, demanding to actually have time to spend with their families, demanding to be treated with the respect they deserve for making this mine more productive than ever. The UMWA's strike motto is "One day longer, one day stronger," and workers are showing no signs that they plan to back down. In Part I of this special two-part update on the miners' strike, our brother-in-arms Jacob Morrison from The Valley Labor Report interviews striking workers and supporters who attended a solidarity rally that the union held in Brookwood last week.
When the Plant Closed (w/ Carla Shultz & Laura Flanders) Aug 08, 2021
The Mylan pharmaceutical plant in Morgantown, West Virginia, has been in operation since 1965, producing low-cost generic drugs and providing good-paying jobs for generations of workers. On July 31, the plant (now owned by Viatris, Inc.) closed, upending the lives of over 1,400 workers, the economy of Morgantown, and the future of generic drug manufacturing in the U.S. In this mini-cast, we talk to Carla Shultz, who has worked at the plant for 13 years, and legendary journalist Laura Flanders, who recently reported on the plant closure on The Laura Flanders Show, about the last-ditch efforts to keep the plant open and what it will mean for working people in Morgantown and beyond if those efforts are unsuccessful.
Join our Working People listener hang session on Monday, August 16, from 8-9:30pm ET. Here's the zoom link
Laura's Twitter
The Laura Flanders Show website, Twitter, YouTube channel, and Patreon
Laura Flanders, The Laura Flanders Show, "Big Pharma vs The People: The Fight To Save America's Largest Generic Drug Manufacturer"
Fraiser Kansteiner, Fierce Pharma, "Feds Throw Lifeline to Shuttered Viatris Plant in West Virginia, But Its Fate Remains Uncertain"
Democracy Now!, "Workers Beg Joe Manchin to Save West Virginia Pharma Plant as His Daughter Walks Away with $31M"
Order-Takers No More (w/ Richard D. Wolff) Aug 05, 2021
In this special episode of Working People, we chat with world-renowned economist Richard D. Wolff about how the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated changes to the terrain of work, how we define "working class," and what we need to do to build a broad, diverse, and strong working-class politics in the 21st century
Professor Wolff's website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Democracy @ Work's website, YouTube channel, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Richard D. Wolff, Democracy at Work, The Sickness is the System: When Capitalism Fails to Save Us from Pandemics or Itself
Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Richard Wolff: Capitalism is holding 'all of us hostage'"
Elder Flower, "Capital Letters"
Your Job Doesn't Have to Suck (w/ Jaisal Noor) Jul 28, 2021
From workers dying from lack of adequate safety measures and PPE to states viciously cutting off extended unemployment benefits to force people back to unsafe, poverty-wage work, the COVID-19 pandemic has made it horrifyingly clear just how little value the lives and wellbeing of working people have in an economic system where all that matters is the bottom line. But it doesn't have to be this way. We can organize our economy and our workplaces in a more humane way—and we have proof that it works. In this extended mini-cast, we talk with senior reporter Jaisal Noor about his multi-part investigative documentary series for The Real News Network, which examines how 8 worker co-operatives across 4 states have been able to stay in business during the pandemic while prioritizing worker safety and democratic decision making.
Jaisal's Twitter page and TRNN author page
Jaisal Noor, The Real News Network, "Worker Cooperatives Prove Your Job Doesn't Have to Be Hell" (Feature documentary in Jaisal's co-op series)
Jaisal Noor, The Real News Network, "Worker Co-ops vs. COVID" (Full series of Jaisal's co-op coverage)
The Hill's Rising, "Jaisal Noor: How Worker Co-ops Successfully Weathered The Pandemic"
CounterSpin, "Jaisal Noor on Worker Co-Ops, Duncan Meisel on Fossil Fuel Greenwashing"
CA Rideshare Driver Strike (w/ Ahmad Moss) Jul 21, 2021
On Wednesday, July 21, across California, rideshare drivers with Rideshare Drivers United are going on a one-day strike against the exploitative practices of tech giants Uber and Lyft (which have only gotten worse since the passage of Prop 22 in November), and to demand Congress pass the PRO Act. We talk with Ahmad Ibrahim Moss, a rideshare driver in San Francisco, about how drivers' pay, conditions, and work experience has changed since the passage of Prop 22 (and before), and we talk about the dark truth at the center of the "gig economy."
Rideshare Drivers United website, Facebook, page, and Twitter, page
Working People, "This Could Change Everything (w/ Veena Dubal"
The Gravel Institute, "How Uber is Scamming You (w/ Edward Ongweso Jr.)"
Edward Ongweso Jr., Vice, "Uber, Lyft Give California GOP Millions While Fighting Driver Reclassification"
Veena Dubal, Dissent, "Digital Piecework"
Veena Dubal, Berkley Journal of Employment and Labor Law, "The Drive to Precarity: A Political History of Work, Regulation, & Labor Advocacy in San Francisco's Taxi & Uber Economies"
Cheri Renfro Jul 15, 2021
Hundreds of workers at the Frito Lay manufacturing and distribution plant in Topeka, Kansas, have been on strike since July 5th. Workers at Frito Lay have endured years of disrespect and many at the plant have seen their wages stagnate and fall behind other employers in the area. On top of that, workers have been caught in a horrible cycle that was greatly exacerbated by COVID 19: While more people were staying home during the pandemic and eating a lot more chips, the incredibly high turnover at Frito-Lay has meant that folks who have stayed on have been forced to work longer hours, with some pulling 12-hour shifts seven days a week for weeks on end. In this urgent episode, we talk with Cheri Renfro, who has worked at the Frito-Lay plant in Topeka for 9 years and is currently on strike.
Topeka Frito-Lay Union Members Appreciation Page
785 Utility Relief Fund - Support for BCTGM Local 218 Members
Call Frito-Lay tell them to negotiate with workers in Topeka and find real workable solutions to problems in the workplace
Dan DiMaggio, Labor Notes, "'We Want to See Our Families': Frito-Lay Workers Strike Over 84-Hour Weeks, Meager Raises"
More Perfect Union, "Frito-Lay workers in Kansas are being forced to work 12-hour days, 7 days a week, in a dangerous factory. Their stories are shocking"
Utah Phillips, "Solidarity Forever"
Kate Jul 08, 2021
In this episode, we sit down with Kate from New Jersey. At the moment, Kate is working primarily as a caretaker for her parents, and we talk a bit about that work and what it means to care for our elders. Up until the pandemic, though, Kate was a massage therapist who loved her job. We discuss how Kate got into working as a massage therapist, all that the job entails, and we talk about the gross and unfair treatment Kate and her coworkers had to deal with when their employer wanted to push folks back to work before they felt safe doing so.
Allison Steinberg, Allure, "These Massage Therapists Worry About the Effects of COVID-19 on the Future of Their Industry"
Rachel Urbanski, WCHS ABC 8, "Refusing to Work Because of COVID-19 Concerns Can Risk Unemployment Benefits"
Ketsa, "Alive"
Alex P. Jul 06, 2021
When faced with unlawful intimidation and interrogation from management at Trader Joe's, Alex P and his coworkers stood together and stood up for their rights in the workplace, eventually securing a crucial victory with the National Labor Relations Board. In this deep and wide-ranging conversation, we talk with Alex about his life and work—and so much more. We talk about growing up with strict immigrant parents, graduating from college into a global recession, and the imprints our past jobs leave on us. We talk about the winding road that led Alex to his current job at Trader Joe's, and we discuss the events at Alex's store that pushed him to file a complaint with the NLRB and secure a settlement from the company.
National Labor Relations Board, "Your Rights"
A message from Trader Joe's crew members: "Trader Joe's crew members are organizing to make changes to the way the company does things from the local to national level right now. If you want to connect with us reach out here and you'll be contacted by other workers fighting to make change and can get paired with experienced organizers to train and support you: Join other Trader Joe's Workers Taking Action!"
Alex Press, Jacobin, "Trader Joe's Is Once Again Accused of Violating Workers' Rights"
Brittany Shammas & Hannah Knowles, The Washington Post, "A Trader Joe's Employee Called for Stronger Coronavirus Measures. The Company Fired Him"
Mary Pilon, Bloomberg Law, "Trader Joe's Employees Say Virus Response Was Haphazard, Chaotic"
Michael Sainato, The Guardian, "Trader Joe's and Other US Firms Suppress Unionization Efforts During Pandemic"
Kim Kelly, The Baffler, "Food Fight"
Erica Mildner, Jacobin, "Trader Joe's Put Workers Like Me at Serious Risk During the Pandemic"
Poly Action, "Black Smoke Cloud"
Smithfield Workers in Sioux Falls Stand Strong, Win Big (w/ Kooper Caraway) Jun 28, 2021
We cover a lot of important worker struggles on this show, but it's important to cover worker victories as well—and workers in South Dakota just landed a huge victory! After suffering one of the worst COVID workplace outbreaks in the country last year, leading to four deaths and over 1,000 infections, workers at the Smithfield pork processing plant in Sioux Falls refused to back down on demands for better pay and for a 15-minute break during the second half of their shifts. When negotiations with Smithfield stalled, UFCW Local 304A members voted overwhelmingly (98%) to authorize a strike, and the company backed down. On this extended mini-cast, we welcome back beloved friend of the show and president of the South Dakota Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, Kooper Caraway, to discuss this important victory and what lessons the labor movement should take away from it.
Kooper's Twitter page
UFCW Local 304A Facebook page
Sioux Falls AFL-CIO's website and Twitter page
Working People, "Labor is Antifascist (w/ Kooper Caraway)"
Kim Kelly, The New Republic, "The Future of Labor Is Growing in South Dakota"
Makenzie Huber, Sioux Falls Argus Leader, "How COVID-19 Tore Through Smithfield's Meatpacking Plant in 17 Days"
Chacour Koop, The Kansas City Star, "After COVID-19 Outbreak Kills 4, Smithfield Meat Plant in South Dakota Fined $13,494"
Stephen Groves, Associated Press, "Union Vote Authorizes Strike at South Dakota Pork Plant"
Associated Press, "South Dakota Pork Plant, Labor Union Reach 4-Year Agreement"
Meydan, "Away"
Mo' Evil Foods, Part II Jun 23, 2021
Earlier this month, No Evil Foods, a vegan meat company founded in North Carolina, notified its staff that they were closing their Asheville production plant and moving to a co-manufacturing facility in Illinois. After sticking it out and working through the COVID-19 pandemic, employees were suddenly notified that they would now be unemployed and would be receiving no severance. In this urgent episode, Jon Reynolds and Meagan Sullivan, two former NEF employees who shared their testimonies in our previous episode on NEF's union-busting campaign, join us again to discuss the plant closure and how listeners can support laid-off workers.
FUNDRAISER: Help Laid-Off No Evil Workers
Working People, "Mo' Evil Foods (Part 1)"
Meagan's Twitter page
Mo Evil Foods website and Twitter page
Birdie Gregson Twitter page
No Evil Foods website, Facebook page, and Instagram
National Labor Relations Board: No Evil Foods, Inc.
PitchBook, No Evil Foods Overview
Kelsey Vlamis & Charles Davis, Business Insider, "No Evil Foods, a Vegan Food Company, Laid Off All Its Production Employees After Giving Them an Ultimatum Last Year About Working Through the Pandemic"
Paul Blest, Discourse Blog, "Leaked Memo Shows No Evil Foods Justifying Laying Off Workers With No Severance"
Jon Reynolds, Facing South, "VOICES: Lessons from the Union Busting at No Evil Foods"
Ben Burgis, Jacobin, "Not All Labor Actions Aid the Working Class"
Lauren Kaori Gurley, Vice Motherboard, "Vegan Meat Company's Anti-Union Speeches Are Being Scrubbed from the Internet"
Lauren Kaori Gurley, Vice Motherboard, "NLRB Files Complaint Against Socialist-Themed Vegan Meat Company That Fired Union Organizers"
Anna Starostinetskaya, VegNews, "VegNews Exclusive: The Story Behind No Evil Foods and Its Major Labor Controversy"
Alex Press, Jacobin, "Workers at No Evil Foods Say the Vegan, Progressive Company Busted Their Union Drive"
Andrew Miller, The Industrial Worker, "Mo' Evil Foods"
(Unlocked) BONUS EPISODE - Nate Holdren Jun 16, 2021
We will be back to our regular Working People schedule next week. Until then, to tide y'all over, and to celebrate his book recently receiving Honorable Mention for the Merle Curti Intellectual History Award, we're unlocking our bonus episode conversation with historian Nate Holdren. We talk with Nate about his latest book, Injury Impoverished: Workplace Accidents, Capitalism, and Law in the Progressive Era, and about what exactly people lose when they are injured at work. (C/W: some descriptions of workplace injuries.)
Don't forget: We have lots more great bonus episodes like this one over on our Patreon feed! Get instant access to all of them (and help keep the show going) by subscribing for just five bucks a month.
Nate's faculty page and Twitter page
Nate Holdren, Cambridge University Press, Injury Impoverished: Workplace Accidents, Capitalism, and Law in the Progressive Era
Nate Holdren, LAWCHA, "Nate Holdren Responds: Roundtable on Injury Impoverished"
Nate Holdren, Legal History Blog, The process of writing Injury Impoverished
Mr. & Mrs. Smith, "Dirty Laundry"
Ric Ortiz Jun 03, 2021
Max is traveling for The Real News Network, so Working People producer Jules Taylor hosts this episode as he interviews his stepfather about his career as a death investigator and paramedic. In a way, Ric feels like he was meant to work around death as he grew up across the street from a cemetery, and his first job was helping the grave digger before he was 10 years old. He would go on to work as the Chief Medical Investigator for Nueces County, Texas for 20 years. In this special episode, we speak with Ric Ortiz about the events in his life that lead to his career, and the way working around death influences the way one sees the world.
Ric Ortiz on Twitter and Facebook
Fares Sabawi, Corpus Christi Caller Times, "Chief Forensic Investigator Retires After 20 Years"
National Transportation Safety Board Aviation Accident Final Report
talons', "Toms"
From Colombia to Palestine, We Will Be Free (w/ Irene Vélez Torres & Toufic Haddad) May 21, 2021
Right now, working people in other parts of the world are being crushed by a relentless onslaught of murderous violence and dispossession, economic degradation, and inhumane exploitation—they are fighting for their lives, and they are asking for our help. In Palestine, against the ceaseless violence of occupation, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing, Palestinians are rising up to resist their own erasure; in Colombia, millions have taken to the streets to fight against a corrupt system by which the government, the police, and the forces of international oligarchy have waged class war on working people. In this special episode of Working People, spanning three continents, we interview Irene Vélez Torres and Toufic Haddad, two people who are living through world-changing struggles in Colombia and Palestine that working people around the world need to know about, need to care about, and need to take up as our own.
Interview with Irene Vélez Torres begins at 20:25
Interview with Toufic Haddad begins at 46:51
Rally/Livestream fundraiser for striking coal miners in Brookwood, AL
Irene's faculty page
Toufic's Al-Shabaka author page
Toufic Haddad, Bloomsbury, Palestine Ltd.: Neoliberalism and Nationalism in the Occupied Territory
Al-Shabaka website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Alliance for Global Justice website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Christina Noriega, NACLA, "Colombian Uprising Takes Aim at Inequality"
Estefanía Martinéz, Jacobin, "Colombians Are in the Streets Against a Violent Neoliberal Order"
Aaron Tauss, Jacobin, "Colombia Is in Revolt Against Neoliberalism"
Amanda Taub, The New York Times, "From Colombia to U.S., Police Violence Pushes Protests Into Mass Movements"
Seraj Assi, Jacobin & The Real News Network, "It's Apartheid. Naked, Unabashed Apartheid"
Abby Martin, Gaza Fights for Freedom
Abby Martin, The Empire Files, "How Palestine Became Colonized"
Mustafa Abu Sneineh, Middle East Eye, "Palestinian Citizens of Israel Fired for Participating in General Strike"
Lee Yaron, Haaretz, "General Strike Highlights Israel's Dependency on Palestinian Workers"
Citations Needed, "News Brief: Debunking the 5 Most Common Anti-Palestinian Talking Points"
Citations Needed, "News Brief: On Palestine, It's Time for Progressives to Stop Reading From the Same Outrage Script & Support BDS"
"Michael Brooks Takes a Question on Israel"
Yumna Patel's coverage from Palestine for Mondoweiss
Dominique Mosbergen, HuffPost, "Thousands Stand In Solidarity With Palestine In Rallies Held Across U.S., Cities Worldwide"
Adam Forrest, The Independent, "Italian Port Workers Refuse to Load Shipment of Arms Headed for Israel"
Ending Satellites, "While You Are Here"
Jules Taylor, "Working People Interlude Music"
Why Is Trumka Going After Vermont AFL-CIO? (w/ David Van Deusen) May 20, 2021
Over the past couple years, the Vermont State AFL-CIO and its membership have embraced a more democratic, rank-and-file strategy, building up bonds of solidarity with community organizations, and bringing much-needed energy into a labor council that was on the verge of dying. Instead of commending and encouraging these efforts, however, the AFL-CIO national and AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka are monitoring, investigating, and threatening "further action" against the Vermont labor council. Why? We talk with David Van Deusen, President of the Vermont State Labor Council, AFL-CIO.
Vermont State Labor Council, AFL-CIO website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Vermont AFL-CIO Ten Point Program
"Historic Vermont General Strike Authorization Vote"
Steve Early, CounterPunch, "Why is AFL-CIO So Worried About Its Vermont Affiliate?"
Pacifica Radio, "MAY DAY 2021- A COVID, RACE, & DEMOCRACY SPECIAL"
On War & the Battle to Belong (w/ Triste Ordex, Amber Mathwig, & Clarke) May 05, 2021
In this special episode, we talk with three veterans about how the military and the class system (in the U.S. and around the world) go hand in hand. How does the military market itself to the poor and marginalized (and why is that marketing so effective)? How does our broken economy ensure a constant stream of recruits who will be sent to fight endless imperialist wars just so they can pay for college or finally be accepted as a worthy citizen? What happens to these recruits when they're serving and when they leave (if they leave)? Why is it that so many features of military life and America's self-perpetuating war machine translate to an accepted status quo in which women, LGBTQ folks, and non-white recruits are subjected to vicious harassment, violent assault, or worse? In this important conversation, we're joined by Triste Ordex, Marine Corps vet and national organizer for Vets for the People; Amber Mathwig, a former 10-year Navy Master-at-Arms and organizer with About Face: Veterans Against the War; and Clarke, a Navy veteran, organizer with the Democratic Socialists of America, and commercial diver.
Triste's Twitter page, Instagram, and Linktree
Amber's Twitter page
Fundraiser: Amber's Legal Fund for Justice
Clarke's Twitter page and past Working People appearance
Vets for the People website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Vets for the People: #ShutDownFortHood
Vets for the People: It's Our Time
About Face: Veterans Against the War website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Gina Harkins, Military.com, "New Recruiting Ad Tells Gen Z to Ditch the Digital World and Join the Marines"
Brittany Ramos DeBarros website and Twitter page
Johnny Diaz, Maria Cramer, Christina Morales, The New York Times, "What to Know about the Death of Vanessa Guillen"
Rose L. Thayer, Stars & Stripes, "Why is Fort Hood the Army's Most Crime-Ridden Post?"
Subcommittee on Military Personnel Hearing: "Military Criminal Investigative Organization Reform Recommendations from the Fort Hood Independent Review Committee"
Thomas J. Brennan, The War Horse, "Senior Marine Corps Counsel Ridicules Sexual Assault Survivor at Court-Martial Hearing"
Carl Andrew Castro, Sara Kintzle, Ashley C. Schuyler, Carrie L. Lucas, & Christopher H. Warner, Current Psychiatry Reports, "Sexual Assault in the Military"
National Veterans Foundation, "The Ugly Face of Veteran Poverty in the United States"
Nick Martin, The New Republic, "The Military Views Poor Kids as Fodder for Its Forever Wars"
Jules Taylor and Jon Light, "Halfway Home"
The Srsly Wrong MAY DAY Crossover Special (w/ Working People, Rebel Steps, & Doomer v. Bloomer) May 01, 2021
Happy May Day, everyone! All power to the international working class! Celebrate this most glorious of holidays by refusing to work and listening to this special crossover episode on the history and spirit of May Day from our friends at the Srsly Wrong podcast, which our host Max participated in.
Spring is here – a time to feast, dance around the maypole, and organize the working class to achieve a more just society for everyone
This episode explores May Day, it's history, and meaning with a panel of guests made up of friends of the show Liz, Amy, Max, and Franz. It also marks our seven year anniversary of doing Srsly Wrong!
Check out the work of our guests! Amy/Liz – Rebel Steps Podcast Franz – Doomer v Bloomer Podcast Max – Working People Podcast
Further reading: The Incomplete, True, Authentic, and Wonderful History of May Day (pmpress.org) Death in the Haymarket by James Green (chron.com) Further listening: Working People – Mini-cast: May Day, Our Day (w/ Raechel Anne Jolie) (google.com) Eight Hour Day- Pete Seeger – YouTube
Donate to the show! https://www.patreon.com/srslywrong
Solidarity with the Working People of Myanmar Apr 28, 2021
In this important episode, we interview worker-organizers with the Federation of General Workers Myanmar about the brutal military coup that has been unfolding in their country since February 1 of this year, and we talk about working people's brave and dangerous efforts to stand up and fight back. Please help us spread the word, and stand in solidarity with the working people of Myanmar.
STRIKE FUND: Support Workers In Myanmar Under Attack
Vox Staff, Vox, "What is happening in Myanmar?"
AP News, "Myanmar Still Mired in Violence 2 Months after Military Coup"
The Socialist, "Myanmar coup - For a Workers-Led Struggle for Democracy and Socialism!"
Marlise Simons and Hannah Beech, New York Times, "Aung San Suu Kyi Defends Myanmar Against Rohingya Genocide Accusations"
Rachel Treisman, NPR, "Coup Caught On Camera: Myanmar Woman Goes Viral For Dance Video With Surreal Backdrop"
Breath Before the Plunge, "End of All things"
Mother (w/ Dominique Rémy) Apr 22, 2021
In this pre-pandemic Working People recording that we thought was lost to history, we talk to filmmaker Dominique Rémy about her important full-length documentary on maternal morbidity and mortality rates in Black and Indigenous communities in the U.S.
Dominique's Twitter page
Maternal Mortality Documentary Film Fund (please donate!)
Linda Villarosa, New York Times, "Why America's Black Mothers and Babies Are in a Life-or-Death Crisis"
Amy Roeder, Harvard Public Health, "America Is Failing Its Black Mothers"
Elizabeth Chuck, NBC News, "The U.S. Finally Has Better Maternal Mortality Data. Black Mothers Still Fare the Worst"
Katy B. Kozhimannil, JAMA Health Forum, "Indigenous Maternal Health—A Crisis Demanding Attention"
Elizabeth Chuck & Haimy Assefa, NBC News, "She Hoped to Shine a Light on Maternal Mortality Among Native Americans. Instead, She Became a Statistic of It"
Evie Sands, "Shine for Me"
Schuylkill Hospital Nurses United Apr 14, 2021
On top of the typical stresses, intense work, and long hours common to the profession, nurses working at smaller hospitals in more remote parts of the country face many unique challenges. With fewer staff and 24-7 services, facilities like the two Lehigh Valley Health Network hospitals in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, rely on nurses, nursing assistants, and other staff to perform many jobs simultaneously with little rest. But when nurses begin to leave for better working conditions and the hospital does not replace them, those who remain are put under even more strain, which endangers them and their patients. For workers with Schuylkill Hospital Nurses United, that's just the tip of the iceberg. In this episode, we talk with two Schuylkill County nurses, Brandee Brown and Chrissy Newton, and Seth Goldstein from the Office and Professional Employees International Union, about the day-to-day grind of working at small-town hospitals while also combatting union-busting and bad-faith bargaining from management at Lehigh Valley Health Network.
Schuylkill Hospital Nurses United Twitter page
Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Seth Goldstein Twitter page
Lehigh Valley Health Network website and Twitter page
"Lehigh Valley Health Network violated federal labor law by directing Schuylkill nurses to remove safe staffing stickers"
Christine Lee, Yahoo! News, "Schuylkill County Nurses Criticize Health Network over Contract Negotiations"
On Strike at Warrior Met Coal (w/ Jacob Morrison & Lee Bains III) Apr 07, 2021
Last Thursday, around 1,100 coal miners at Warrior Met Coal in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, went on strike. According to the union, the United Mine Workers of America, a tentative bargaining agreement has now been reached with the company, but workers must still vote on whether or not to ratify it. In order to cover this important strike and spread these workers' stories, we've teamed up with our brothers-in-arms Jacob Morrison, a union organizer and cohost of the outstanding Valley Labor Report, Alabama's only weekly labor radio talk show, and the incredible musician Lee Bains III of The Glory Fires. Jacob and Lee went down to the Warrior Met Coal picket line this weekend to talk with striking miners, play some music, and show solidarity. In this special episode, we've compiled clips from Lee's live performance as well as Jacob's interviews on the picket line and at the local UMWA union hall.
Lee's Twitter page
The Glory Fires' website, Facebook page, Instagram, and Twitter page
William Thornton, com, "1,100 West Alabama Mine Workers Announce Plan to Go on Strike"
Jason Morton, The Tuscaloosa News, "Union Announces Strike for Brookwood Miners at Warrior Met Coal"
Jason Morton, The Tuscaloosa News, "Union Announces Tentative Deal to End Brookwood Coal Mine Strike"
UMWA Press Release: "Tentative Agreement Reached at Warrior Met"
Lee Bains III, live performance at Warrior Met Coal strike (April 2021)
Jules Taylor, "Cradle to the Grave"
Aaron Major Mar 31, 2021
COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the world of higher education: forced campus re-openings have pushed many directly into harm's way; colleges and universities have suffered massive budget shortfalls; some institutions have closed permanently; the academic job market has been blown up; etc. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, "the U.S. Labor Department has estimated that American academic institutions have shed a net total of at least 650,000 workers." This week, we talk to Aaron Major, Associate Professor of Sociology at the State University of New York (SUNY), Albany, and president of the Albany chapter of United University Professions, the nation's largest higher education union. We talk about Aaron's path to higher ed and the academic labor movement, and we discuss how COVID-19 has revealed the brokenness of our higher education system, as well as the need to reinvest in higher ed as a public good and to raise the floor for all campus workers.
Aaron's faculty page
United University Professions (national) website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
United University Professions - Albany Chapter website and Twitter page
Aaron Major, Times Union, "Commentary: State Must Restore Meaningful Funding to SUNY System"
Aaron Major, Stanford University Press, Architects of Austerity: International Finance and the Politics of Growth
Dan Bauman, The Chronicle of Higher Education, "A Brutal Tally: Higher Ed Lost 650,000 Jobs Last Year"
Ed Burmila, The Chronicle Review, "First They Came for Adjuncts, Now They'll Come for Tenure (And Who Will Be Left to Stop Them?)"
Rebecca Kolins Givan, The Chronicle Review, "Will the University That Survives Have Been Worth Saving?"
Maximillian Alvarez, The Chronicle Review, "On a Knife's Edge: Four Professors Debate the Erosion of Faculty Power and the Fight for the Future of Higher Education"
Laurie Johnson - "Happy Go Lively " - Voicemail Song
Man Bites Dog, "College Rock"
Mini-cast: Columbia Is a Bully (w/ Joanna Lee, Harlan Chambers, & Cameron Foltz) Mar 30, 2021
In the middle of a deadly pandemic that has shaken the world of higher education to its core, graduate workers at Columbia University are heading into their third week on strike, braving both physical and digital picket lines. We talk with three grad workers and members of GWC-UAW Local 2110 and the Columbia Academic Workers for a Democratic Union (C-AWDU) caucus about the strike, the workers' demands, and what listeners can do to show support. Guests: Joanna Lee, Harlan Chambers, and Cameron Foltz.
GWC-UAW Local 2110 website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
C-AWDU website and Twitter page
GoFundMe: Solidarity with Columbia Academic Student Workers
Harlan's Twitter page
Cameron's Twitter page
Sophia Chang, Gothamist, "Columbia Grad Students On Strike Over Wages And Harassment Policies, NYU Counterparts Voting On Similar Actions"
Terrill Haigler ("Ya Fav Trashman") Mar 24, 2021
We sit down and chat with (former) Philly sanitation worker and Instagram sensation Terrill Haigler—or, as listeners may know him, "Ya Fav Trashman." Terrill's incredible and inspiring story took an interesting turn during the COVID-19 pandemic when he was working for the Philly sanitation department and started an Instagram account where he would post updates from the job and answer residents' questions about trash pickup. With his platform, Terrill has helped spread awareness of the hard work sanitation workers do, the conditions they face, and what residents can do to clean up their neighborhoods.
Ya Fav Trashman website, Instagram, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Ya Fav Trashman, Essential Talks (podcast)
Stephanie Farr, The Philadelphia Inquirer, "'Ya Fav Trashman' Gives an Inside Look at Philly Trash Pickup on Instagram, and the City Is Listening"
Stephanie Farr, The Philadelphia Inquirer, "'Ya Fav Trashman' raised $32,000 for PPE for his Philly sanitation colleagues, and his work is gaining national attention"
The Relatives, "Your Love Is Real"
Confessions of a Child of the Bourgeoisie (w/ Rick Perlstein) Mar 18, 2021
In this special episode, we chat with the one and only Rick Perlstein. Rick is an internationally acclaimed and bestselling author and historian who has published perhaps the most singularly definitive series of books on late twentieth-century American politics, culture, and the rise of the modern conservative movement. In past interviews, Rick has discussed the origins of his books and the influences that shaped his writing career. We wanted to sit down with Rick and retell that story in a way that people haven't heard before ... We wanted to retell that story through the lens of class.
Rick's website and Twitter page
Jason Saltoun-Ebin, HuffPost, "'The Invisible Bridge': 10 or So Questions with Rick Perlstein"
Carroll, "Billionaire"
Goliath Can Be Defeated (w/ Danny Glover) Mar 05, 2021
HAVE WE GOT A TREAT FOR YOU... Working People will be taking a much-needed break next week, but never fear—we've got something special to hold you over. Last week, Max drove 14 hours from Baltimore to Bessemer, Alabama, to report on the historic Amazon union drive for The Real News Network. While he was down there, Max was fortunate enough to snag an interview with world-renowned actor, activist, and TRNN Board member Danny Glover, who came to Bessemer to show solidarity with Amazon workers. Max and Danny talk about why this union drive is so significant, and about the long history of labor struggle in the South.
We are excited to announce that we got permission from TRNN to publish this special interview on the Working People feed and share it with our listeners! Follow TRNN and subscribe to their YouTube and podcast channels for more of their upcoming coverage on the workers' struggle in Bessemer.
Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Hammer and Hope: Danny Glover on the Amazon Union Drive in Bessemer, Alabama"
William Thornton, AL.com, "Actor Danny Glover Comes to Bessemer to Show Support for Amazon Union Push"
Vanessa Williams, "Work to do"
Jennifer Bates Mar 03, 2021
At this very moment, one of the most historic union drives of our era is taking place at the Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama. Around 5,800 workers at the facility, the majority of whom are Black, are currently voting on whether or not to unionize with the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU). If they are successful, the workers in Bessemer would become the first unionized Amazon workforce in the United States, and Amazon is pulling out all the stops to keep that from happening. We got to sit down with Jennifer Bates, one of the fulfillment center workers in Bessemer, to talk about her working conditions and about why this union vote is so important.
Jennifer's Twitter page
BAmazonUnion website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram
RWDSU website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Democracy Now!, ""David vs. Goliath": Warehouse Workers in Alabama Fight Amazon for the Right to Unionize"
Alex Press, Jacobin, "The Alabama Amazon Union Drive Could Be the Most Important Labor Fight in the South in Decades (An Interview with Michael Goldfield)"
The Valley Labor Report, "February 6th 2021, Full Episode RWDSU Amazon Campaign Live"
Steven Greenhouse, The Guardian, "'We Deserve More': An Amazon Warehouse's High-Stakes Union Drive"
Luis Feliz Leon, The American Prospect, "Union Solidarity on Eve of Historic Amazon Warehouse Election"
Kris LaGrange, UCOMM Blog, "Meet Amazon's Union Busters"
Jay Greene, The Washington Post, "Amazon's Anti-Union Blitz Stalks Alabama Warehouse Workers Everywhere, Even the Bathroom"
Lauren Kaori Gurley, Vice, "Amazon Sends 'Vote NO' Instructions to Unionizing Employees, Tells Them to Use New Mailbox"
Benjamin Banger, "June"
Rev. Lindsey Joyce Feb 25, 2021
In this episode, we talk to Rev. Lindsey Joyce of the United Church of Rogers Park in Chicago and the Institute for Christian Socialism. We talk about Pastor Joyce's life and path to being a full-time pastor and about the community she serves. We also discuss the work of ministry: What is it like to be a worker who works in the church? What is the relationship between the higher calling—the vocation of being a pastor—and the daily labor that goes into fulfilling that role in the church and the community?
Lindsey's Twitter page
United Church of Rogers Park website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
The Institute for Christian Socialism website and Twitter page
The Trumpeteers, "Little Wooden Church"
**Luis Feliz Leon** Patreon Exclusive Feb 23, 2021
***This is a Patreon Exclusive episode***
Subscribe to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/workingpeople
Thank you to all the Patreon subscribers for their love, support, and generosity. <3 Max, Jules & the Working People Team.
If you don't know Luis Feliz Leon's work, you really should! In this bonus episode, we chat with Luis about his winding path to labor journalism and organizing, the intersections of immigration politics and labor organizing, and we dive into the historic Amazon union drive in Bessemer, Alabama.
Luis's Twitter page and author page
Luis Feliz Leon, The Nation, "Life and Death in the Poultry Capital of the World"
Luis Feliz Leon, The New Republic, "Unemployment Nation"
Cletus Got Shot, "Union Town"
Maya Morena, Part II (w/ Jessie Sage) Feb 17, 2021
We're back with Part II of our special mini-series on work and politics in the sex industry, guest-hosted by friend of the show Jessie Sage. Jessie is a writer, podcaster, phone sex operator, clip artist, and co-owner of Peepshow Media. In this rich and expansive two-part series, Jessie interviews sex worker, activist, writer, undocumented migrant, and DACA recipient from Honduras, Maya Morena. In Part II of their conversation, Maya and Jessie pick up where they left off last week and discuss the day-to-day labor that goes into being a sex worker, the images that sex workers have to maintain, and much more.
Maya's Twitter page and OnlyFans page
Jessie's website and Twitter page
Peepshow Media website, Twitter page, and Facebook page
Maya Morena, City Limits, "Opinion: A Sex Worker Says Decriminalization Means a Safer Workplace"
What Women* Want podcast, "Sex Work the Write Way with Jessie Sage"
Emily McCombs, HuffPost, "'This Bill Is Killing Us': 9 Sex Workers On Their Lives In The Wake Of FOSTA"
Fancy Feast, Buzzfeed, "5 Sex Workers Talk About Doing Their Jobs During COVID-19"
The Good Lawdz, "Preachin' Dem Blues"
Maya Morena, Part I (w/ Jessie Sage) Feb 10, 2021
We're excited to share Part I of a special mini-series guest-hosted by friend of the show Jessie Sage! Jessie is a writer, podcaster, phone sex operator, clip artist, and co-owner of Peepshow Media (which everyone should check out). In this rich and expansive two-part series, Jessie interviews sex worker, activist, writer, undocumented migrant, and DACA recipient from Honduras, Maya Morena, about the politics of the sex industry, the history of vice, and much more.
Samanta Helou Hernandez, Mel Magazine, "Maya Morena and the Secret Lives of Undocumented Sex Workers"
Jessie Sage, Peepshow Media, "When Sex Workers Break the Fourth Wall"
Valery & the Greedies, "Bloody Vomit"
ACLU Staff United Feb 03, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has posed many serious and dangerous challenges for workers everywhere—not just for workers on the job, but for workers trying to exercise their right to organize. But there have also been unexpected bright spots on this front over the past year, including a boom in union drives at nonprofits around the United States. One of those nonprofits is the American Civil Liberties Union, where staff workers recently voted to unionize with the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union (NPEU). In this episode, we talk with two representatives from ACLU Staff United, Gillian Ganesan and Alex Ortiz, and NPEU President Kayla Blado about the unionization effort at the ACLU and the growing nonprofit labor movement.
Gillian's Twitter page
Kayla's Twitter page
ACLU Staff United website and Twitter page
NPEU website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
NPEU, "PRESS RELEASE: ACLU Staff Ask Leadership to Voluntarily Recognize Staff Union"
Eli Rosenberg, The Washington Post, "ACLU Workers Are Forming a Union, The Latest in a Wave of Nonprofit Staffs to Organize"
Hamilton Nolan, In These Times, "A Quiet Frenzy of Union Organizing Has Gripped the Nonprofit World"
Eli Rosenberg, The Washington Post, "Workers Are Forming Unions at Nonprofits and Think Tanks. Their Bosses Aren't Always Happy"
Kayla Blado, In These Times, "The Answer To Burnout At Work Isn't "Self-Care"—It's Unionizing"
Hamilton Nolan, In These Times, "The Animal Legal Defense Fund Is Busting Its Union With a Smile"
Astrometrics, "I Have Heard of a Place"
Justin Whittaker Jan 27, 2021
Working People is excited to announce that, along with our ongoing partnership with the amazing In These Times magazine, we are now partnered with The Real News Network in Baltimore!
In this episode, we sit down with Justin Whittaker for the first part of an ongoing series of interviews where we'll be talking to workers on all sides of the marijuana industry—in states where that work is legal and in states where it's not. Justin is originally from the Midwest, but now he lives all the way up near Fairbanks, Alaska, where he works at an organic weed-growing operation. Alaska was the second state in the U.S. to decriminalize cannabis decades ago; in 2014, it became the third state to legalize recreational use. Justin has seen different sides of the industry, in different states, both before and after legalization. We talk about his life and work, and we talk about the ways legalization has changed things in the marijuana industry for buyers, business owners, and workers.
The Tight Rope podcast, "Max Alvarez - The Tight Rope on The Real News"
The Real News Network website
In These Times magazine website
Javier Hasse, Forbes, "Even as Overall Deals Declined, VC Investments in Cannabis Nearly Doubled Over 2019"
Aubrey Wieber, Anchorage Daily News, "Alaska Marijuana Industry Works to Influence Local Politicians"
Katie O'Reilly, Sierra, "A Higher Cause: Is It Possible to Consume Organic Cannabis?"
Austa Somvichian-Clausen, National Geographic, "Organic Weed? Marijuana Growers Go Green"
Josh Marcus, Rolling Stone, "Meet America's Most Powerful Cannabis Union"
Robert Farmer, "This Is Our World, This Is Our Home"
1001 days (w/ Suat Karlikaya & Burcu Ayan) Jan 20, 2021
Production workers at Cargill Turkey were unfairly dismissed on April 17, 2018, while trying to unionize. Listeners will probably recognize the name Cargill: based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, Cargill is the largest privately held corporation in the United States. And Cargill's reach is truly global, with operations around the world focusing on the trading, purchasing, distributing, and producing of agricultural commodities, energy, livestock, and ingredients for processed food. When workers at a Cargill starch plant in Bursa-Orhangazi tried to unionize under Tekgıda-İş (the Tobacco, Drink, Food and Allied Workers Trade Union of Turkey), they were dismissed for their union activity. Under Turkish law, companies like Cargill can simply pay fines for such human rights violations and factor it into the "cost of doing business"; however, these same companies are not required to reinstate unjustly dismissed workers, even if Turkish courts have definitively ruled that the dismissals were illegal.
For over 1000 days, these workers and Tekgıda-İş have been fighting an ongoing battle with Cargill to have their jobs reinstated. In this special episode (our first interview that is accessible to both English and Turkish speakers), we talk with Suat Karlikaya, a lead organizer with Tekgıda-İş, about Cargill Turkey's retaliatory dismissal of workers who tried to unionize—and what listeners in and beyond Turkey can do to show solidarity. English and Turkish translations are provided by Burcu Ayan of the IUF (the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations).
IUF Information Page: Fighting for Trade Union rights at Cargill Turkey (CARGİLL TÜRKİYE'DE SENDİKA HAKLARI MÜCADELESİ!)
IUF website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Tekgıda-İş website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
IUF, "January 11, 2021: 1000 days of fighting for rights at Cargill Turkey"
IUF, "Cargill unions around the world call for an end to rights abuses at Cargill Turkey"
Wikipedia, "Criticisms of Cargill"
Ending Satellites, "A Place We Call Home"
Mini-cast: #SafeReturnOrNoReturn (w/ Paula Ladin & Mariana Ruiz) Jan 15, 2021
This week, the first wave of children, teachers, and clinicians in the Chicago Public Schools system were required to appear at their schools for the first time in nearly a year. While COVID-19 cases and deaths have only increased (and increased dramatically) across the country since last spring, CPS officials and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot insist on reopening schools. What's worse, teachers who fear for their safety and the safety of their students and coworkers are being locked out of their employee accounts and having their pay docked if they refuse to return from teaching remotely. In this urgent mini-cast, we talk to Paula Ladin and Mariana Ruiz, two CPS special-ed educators, about the city's dangerous, reckless, and unnecessary reopening plan and the impact it is already having on students, teachers, their families, and their communities.
Chicago Teachers Union website and Twitter page
Dawn Reiss, The Washington Post, "Chicago School System Locks Out Some Teachers, Withholds Pay for Not Returning to In-Person Instruction"
Jermaine Nolen & Nader Issa, Chicago Sun Times, "CPS Teacher Tests Positive for COVID-19, Forcing Principal into Quarantine During 1st Week Back"
Hannah Leone, Chicago Tribune, "As New COVID-19 Cases Emerge in Chicago Public Schools, Families Plea for Reinstatement of Locked-Out Teachers"
2020: A Year to Remember & Forget Jan 13, 2021
Well, that was ... quite a year. From the COVID-19 pandemic and the presidential election to mass protests against police violence and worker actions around the country, it's hard to even remember all that we went through in 2020. Luckily, right before New Year's Eve, we got together with four of the best young labor journalists around—Edward Ongweso Jr., Juliana Feliciano Reyes, Lauren Kaori Gurley, and Michael Sainato—to talk about the lessons we took away from the past year, and about what lies ahead.
Edward's Vice author page and Twitter page
Edward's top stories from 2020: (1) "The Lockout: Why Uber Drivers in NYC Are Sleeping in Their Cars"; (2) "Proposition 22 Passes, But Uber and Lyft Are Only Delaying the Inevitable"; (3) "Uber Sells Off Sci-Fi Pipe Dreams. Exploiting Labor Is Its Only Plan"
Juliana's Philadelphia Inquirer author page and Twitter page
Juliana's top stories from 2020: (1) "How This Black UPS Worker Challenged Powerful Union Leaders in Philly, and Won"; (2) "Philadelphia's Labor Movement Faces a Reckoning Over the City's Powerful Police Union"; (3) "Trash Is Piling Up, But People Aren't Blaming Philly Sanitation Workers"
Lauren's Vice author page and Twitter page
Lauren's top stories from 2020: (1) "Target's Delivery App Workers Describe a Culture of Retaliation and Fear"; (2) "'I Could Show You Stuff You Wouldn't Believe:' Gravediggers Speak Out About Horrifying Conditions"; (3) "Secret Amazon Reports Expose the Company's Surveillance of Labor and Environmental Groups"
Michael's Guardian author page and Twitter page
Michael's top stories from 2020: (1) "Tesla Workers' Unemployment May Be Suspended If They Don't Return, Emails Show"; (2) "'I Cry Before Work': US Essential Workers Burned Out Amid Pandemic"; (3) "Walmart Cuts Workers' Hours but Increases Workload as Sales Rise Amid Pandemic"
Hearse Pileup, "We're All Going to Hell"
It's Time for Workers to Take Back Power Jan 02, 2021
In this special episode, we talk with three representatives of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades—Jim Williams (General Vice President), Kellie Morgan (Political Director & Community Organizer, District Council 77), and Salvador Herrera (Director of Organizing, District Council 88)—about labor's fight to pass the PRO Act. We break down what the PRO Act is, why passing it would institute a monumental shift in worker power, and how it would impact the daily realities of workers and organizers.
Pass the PRO Act website
The International Union of Painters & Allied Trades website, Facebookpage and Twitter page
IUPAT District Council 88's website
Jeremy Gantz, In These Times, "House Passes Bill to Dramatically Strengthen the Power of Unions"
Jim Williams, In These Times, "It's Time for the Democrats to Deliver for Workers. Fighting for the PRO Act Is the First Step"
Jules Taylor, "Working People transition song"
IUPAT, "Pass the PRO Act" (link to video)
Doctor Turtle, "One Person Listening Now"
Zack Pattin & Brian Skiffington, Part II Dec 23, 2020
This is Part II of our special two-part episode with Tacoma longshore workers Zack Pattin and Brian "Skiff" Skiffington. Zack and Skiff are both members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 23 and organizing leaders with the ILWU Young Workers Committee. In Part I of our conversation with Zack and Skiff, we talked about their winding paths to working on the waterfront and about the beauty and madness of longshore work. In Part II, we take a deeper dive into the politics and history of the ILWU. We talk about what being part of the union has meant to Zack and Skiff, their families, and their coworkers—and we talk about why fixtures like union hiring halls are so important that workers fought and died for them.
Zack's Facebook page and Twitter page
Brian's Facebook page
ILWU Local 23's website and Facebook page
The Ten Guiding Principles of the ILWU
ILWU No. 23 Young Workers Committee Facebook page and Twitter page
Zack Pattin & Brian Skiffington, LaborNotes, "Longshore Young Workers Come to the Aid of Tenants Facing Eviction"
Stephen McFarland, "'With the Class-Conscious Workers Under One Roof': Union Halls and Labor Temples in American Working-Class Formation, 1880-1970 (dissertation)"
Union Halls of the World Twitter page
Docks, "Get Well"
Zack Pattin & Brian Skiffington, Part I Dec 16, 2020
We've got a Working People first! In this special two-part episode, we sit down to chat with not one but two longshore workers: Zack Pattin and Brian Skiffington from Tacoma, WA. Zack and Brian are both members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 23, and organizing leaders with the ILWU Young Workers Committee. In Part I of our expansive, multi-hour conversation with Zack and Brian, we talk about their backstories and the winding paths that brought them to where they are now, working together on the waterfront. We also talk about growing up in union families, their mutual love of punk music, and we talk about the fast pace, precision, adrenaline, danger, and skill of longshore work.
The Docker Podcast, "EP# 38: Paul Finch (BCGEU) and Brian Skiffington (ILWU 23)"
The Docker Podcast, "ILWU 37th Convention Portland Part 10: Zack Pattin (ILWU 23)"
Tendinite, "More Whiskey"
Erek Slater Dec 09, 2020
We chat with Erek Slater, a bus operator for the Chicago Transit Authority, where he's been working for the past 15 years. Erek is a family man, a father, and a three-term elected shop steward and executive board member of the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 241. We talk about his working life and all that goes into being a bus operator, all the things that passengers never see—even though we depend on workers like Erek every day to live our lives. We also talk about Erek's experience as a shop steward and about his unshakeable commitment to honor, justice, and to empowering the working class. In fact, it was because he stood up for these things that he was unjustly dismissed from his job in May.
International Campaign to Reinstate Chicago Bus Driver Erek Slater
PETITION: Drop All Charges and Reinstate Chicago Bus Driver Erek Slater
Update on Campaign to Reinstate Chicago Bus Driver Erek Slater
Erek's Facebook page and Twitter page
ATU Local 241 website page
Connecticut Workers Crisis Response Facebook page
Sarah Lazare, Jacobin, "A Chicago Bus Driver Says He Was Retaliated Against for His Opposition to Transporting Police to Protests"
WorkWeek Radio, ""We May Have To Shut It Down" Fight To Protect Health & Safety For Chicago ATU 241 Members & Public"
Labor Beat, "São Paulo Is A Union Town: Travel Notes of a Chicago Trade Unionist"
Labor Beat, "Joint Action in Tokyo and Seoul"
Cletus Got Shot, "Justice Is My Name"
Michele Manco Dec 02, 2020
We chat with Michele Manco, a clinical social worker in the Bronx with years of experience working in psychiatric emergency and crisis settings. We talk about Michele's life and the road that led her to being a social worker—we also discuss the history of social work itself, and we dive into the very real struggles and often harsh circumstances that are a daily reality for social workers and the people they serve. (C/W: This conversation does broach topics involving psychiatric distress and suicide.)
Michele's Twitter page
Laura Abrams & Alan Dettlaff, Social Work, "Voices from the Frontlines: Social Workers Confront the COVID-19 Pandemic"
J. Scott Janssen, Social Work Today, "Moral Distress in Social Work Practice – When Workplace and Conscience Collide"
Mark Fisher, The Guardian, "Why Mental Health Is a Political Issue"
The Shivers, "Only Mine"
Amir Atabeygi, M.D. Nov 23, 2020
We're back with Season Four of Working People! In this urgent episode, we talk with Dr. Amir Atabeygi, a physician at MultiCare Indigo Urgent Care in Thurston County, Washington. On Monday, November 23, amid a terrifying surge in COVID-19 cases around the country, Dr. Atabeygi will join his fellow physicians, physician assistants, and advanced registered nurse practitioners on the picket line as they strike for the basic safety measures their employer refuses to provide. We talk to Dr. Atabeygi about what he and his coworkers face on the job, the rise of "retail health" companies like MultiCare Health Systems, and the growing labor consciousness of traditionally non-unionized healthcare workers.
PETITION: Doctors and Patients United for Safer Working Conditions
Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD) national website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
UAPD Pacific Northwest Twitter page
Zack Pattin, LaborNotes, "Will Urgent Care Doctors Be Forced to Strike in a Pandemic for the Right to Go Home?"
Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD), Chinook Observer, "Labor Negotiations Stall Between MultiCare and Indigo Urgent Care Doctors"
Eric Topol, The New Yorker, "Why Doctors Should Organize"
Jason Hanna & Daniel Wolfe, CNN, "These Charts Show How Serious This Fall's Covid-19 Surge Is in the US""
Fotos del Otoño, "Doctor McCoy"
LRPN Member Spotlight: Maximillian Alvarez (Empathy Media Lab podcast) Nov 20, 2020
The next time you see us, it will be the premier of Season Four of Working People! Until then, we wanted to share this interview Max did with Evan Matthew Papp of Empathy Media Lab about why Max started the show and how it's developed over the years. They also talk about why Working People is a proud member of the Labor Radio / Podcast Network, and about the importance of making labor- and human-centered media. Check it out (and check out all the great shows in LRPN)!
Evan's Twitter page
Empathy Media Lab's website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and YouTube channel
Labor Radio / Podcast Network's website and Twitter page
"We Are More Than Just Nametags" w/ Max Alvarez (Our Calgary podcast) Nov 03, 2020
We'll be back with Season Four of Working People very soon, but in the meantime, here's an interview Max did with Our Calgary, a great new Canadian podcast. Max talks with Lucas about the 2020 election and his hopes and fears for the country, the left, and for alternative media. Check it out (and give Our Calgary a follow!).
Our Calgary's Twitter page, link tree, and Patreon
Lucas' Twitter page
Soul Rot (w/ Hamilton Nolan) Oct 28, 2020
We talk to Hamilton Nolan, labor reporter for In These Times, about reporting on the Trump re-election campaign during a pandemic and seeing up close the rotting core of America.
Hamilton's author page and Twitter page
Hamilton Nolan, In These Times, "Risking Your Life For a Trump Rally Means There's Nothing Left to Lose"
Edith Frost, "Temporary Loan"
Working-Class Politics: Labor Slate Oct 22, 2020
We're back with another installment of our ongoing series Working-Class Politics, where we talk to working-class folks and advocates who are running for office. We sit down with two members of California's Labor Slate, Eduardo Torres (running for Ambrose Recreation and Parks Board) and Gaelan Ash (communications director for Labor Slate).
Labor Slate's website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Eduardo's candidate page
Hamilton Nolan, In These Times, "In California, a "Labor Slate" Aims to Redefine the Relationship Between Unions and Politics"
Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
This Could Change Everything (w/ Veena Dubal) Oct 09, 2020
Everyone who is a worker or who cares about workers should pay attention to Prop 22 in California and understand the potentially devastating impact it could have. Professor Veena Dubal joins us on the show to talk about why.
Veena's faculty page and Twitter page
Sarah Ashley O'Brien, CNN Business, "The $185 Million Campaign to Keep Uber and Lyft Drivers as Contractors in California"
Alexander Sammon, The American Prospect, "How Uber and Lyft Are Buying Labor Laws"
Mini-cast: #DropTheChargesCO (w/ Amanda Yee) Sep 27, 2020
We talk with Amanda Yee for this urgent mini-cast on the deliberate and terrifying persecution of leftist organizers and activists by the state, including members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) in Denver.
Amanda's Twitter page
PSL website, Twitter page, and Facebook page
PSL Legal Fund: Donate to the legal and political support campaign for arrested Denver organizers
PSL Petition: Drop All the Charges on Anti-Racist Organizers in the Denver Area!
PSL Solidarity Statement: Sign-On Statement: Drop the Charges on Denver Anti-Racist Organizers
Elise Schmelzer, The Denver Post, "Protesters, Demonstration Leaders Arrested in Connection to Rallies in Aurora"
Maximillian Alvarez, The Baffler, "The Whimper of Democracy"
Maximillian Alvarez, The Baffler, "A Show Trial That No One Watched"
LaDonna Brave Bull Allard (Remastered) Sep 07, 2020
We've remastered our Labor Day special from Season One and are re-releasing it for all our new listeners. In this episode, we talk to LaDonna Brave Bull Allard of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. We talk about LaDonna's life, the #NoDAPL movement and the erasure of Native peoples, and about learning ways of living with the land.
Sacred Stone Village Facebook page
Sacred Stone Camp Facebook page
Wisdom of the Elders, "Turtle Island Storyteller, LaDonna Brave Bull Allard"
Democracy Now!, "Standing Rock Sioux Historian: Dakota Access Co. Attack Comes on Anniversary of Whitestone Massacre"
Democracy Now!, "'Is This America?' Co-Founder of Sacred Stone Camp Recalls Dog Attack on Native Americans"
Water Protector Legal Collective
#NoDAPL Archive
Standing Rock Syllabus
King Kong Ding Dong, "Distant Drums"
Cops — Labor: Which Side Are You On? (w/ Kim Kelly, Halimat Alawode, & Julia Wallace) Aug 29, 2020
We close out Season Three of Working People with a critical discussion about why cops have no place in the labor movement and about the rank-and-file push from groups like No Cop Unions (AFL-CIO) and Drop the Cops (SEIU) to get them out. Featuring Kim Kelly, Halimat Alawode, & Julia Wallace.
No Cop Unions (AFL-CIO) website and Twitter page
SEIU Drop the Cops Linktree and Twitter page
SEIU Drop the Cops "Labor Stands Against the Cops" event page
Kim Kelly Twitter page
Halimat Alawode Twitter page
Julia Wallace Twitter page
Kim Kelly, The New Republic, "No More Cop Unions"
Kim Kelly, Teen Vogue, "Police Unions: What to Know and Why They Don't Belong in the Labor Movement"
Kim Kelly, The Baffler, "Rank-and-File Revolt"
Hamilton Nolan, The Guardian, "It's Time to Kick Police Unions Out of the Labor Movement. They Aren't Allies"
Paul Clark, The Conversation, "Why Police Unions Are not Part of the American Labor Movement"
Louis Casiano, The Orange County Register, "Union Law Firm's Private Detective Gets 1 Year in Jail in Scheme to Set up Costa Mesa Councilmen"
Greg Coy, Fox Memphis, "Activists Find Camera Inside Mysterious Box on Power Pole Near Union Organizer's Home"
Pete Seeger, "Which Side Are You On?"
No Evil Foods Got Our Last Episode Removed Aug 26, 2020
UPDATE: We were notified by Libsyn (the service where we host our podcast) that No Evil Foods demanded to have our last episode removed due to our use of an "unauthorized recording" from the union-busting captive audience meetings they subjected their workers to. We are re-uploading the episode with an intro/update from Max. You can still listen to the recordings in question here: http://andrew-miller.com/blog/2020/why-doesnt-no-evil-foods-want-you-to-hear-this/
We talk to Jon, Meagan, Josh, and Cortne, four former employees at No Evil Foods, a vegan plant-based meat producer in North Carolina that made headlines over the past year with its union-busting tactics. We talk about the failed unionization drive, the captive-audience meetings management held, and about companies like NEF using "progressive" branding to mask their anti-union practices.
Petition: Union for No Evil Foods
Paul Blest, The Appeal, "A Vegan Meat Company Purged Its Pro-Labor Employees. Workers Say an Anti-Union Drive Prompted the Firings"
Lauren Kaori Gurley, Vice, "Audio: No Evil Foods, a Faux Leftist Vegan-Meat Company, Busts Union Drive"
Kim Kelly, The Baffler, "The New Face of Union Busting"
Audio Clips provided by Andrew Miller: http://andrew-miller.com/blog/2020/why-doesnt-no-evil-foods-want-you-to-hear-this/
Gumbel, "Killing Bosses"
Mo' Evil Foods Aug 24, 2020
The People's Movement, the People's Media (w/ Mel Buer, Gabby, & Garrison Davis) Aug 18, 2020
We talk to Mel Buer (Protean Magazine), Gabby (DefendPDX), and Garrison Davis, three independent journalists who have been on the front lines this summer covering the anti-police protests in Minneapolis, Portland, and Omaha. We talk about how events have unfolded from their vantage point, the hazards of doing this vital work, and about the importance of anticapitalist media.
Mel's Twitter page and Patreon; Protean Magazine's website and Twitter page
Gabby's Twitter page; DefendPDX's website and Twitter page
Garrison's Twitter page and YouTube channel
Cletus Got Shot, "Take Out the Fascists"
Maggie Levantovskaya Aug 09, 2020
We talk to writer, organizer, and adjunct lecturer Maggie Levantovskaya about immigrating from the Soviet Union, navigating class differences in the U.S., and about how so many higher education professionals have become gig workers.
Maggie's website and Twitter page
Maggie Levantovskaya, LitHub, "On Flannery O'Connor's Chronic Illness ... and Chronic Racism"
Maggie Levantovskaya, Chronicle Review, "Faculty Are Not Cannon Fodder"
Maggie Levantovskaya, The Startup, "This Is Your Fight"
Maximillian Alvarez, The Baffler, "Contingent No More"
Left Anchor, "Episode 76 UNLOCKED - Maximillian Alvarez on the Politics of Higher Ed"
Adrianna Kezar, Tom DePaola, and Daniel T. Scott, Johns Hopkins University Press, The Gig Academy: Mapping Labor in the Neoliberal University
Nicolas Falcon, "Big, Big Boss"
Mini-cast: In the Lion's Den (w/ The Valley Labor Report) Jul 30, 2020
We chat with David Story and Jacob Morrison, the hosts of The Valley Labor Report, a new radio show out of Huntsville, Alabama, about the importance of making pro-worker media in the South.
The Valley Labor Report Facebook page, Twitter page, Youtube channel, and Patreon
Jami Bellefleur Jul 25, 2020
We're back from hiatus with a new full-length episode! We talk to Jami Bellefleur, a Maine native and shipbuilder, about her life and work, and about the ongoing strike at Bath Iron Works.
IUMSWA IAMAW Local S6 website, Twitter page, and Facebook page
Local S6 strike fund
Andy O'Brien, Labor Notes, "Maine Shipbuilders Bring the Hammer Down to Reject Concessions"
Dan Neumann, Maine Beacon, "Younger Generation Takes Lead in Uniting Workers at BIW"
Todd Chretien, Jacobin, "Over 4,000 Shipbuilding Workers Are on Strike in Maine"
Derek Clegg, "If Only We Had More Time"
Big Luisiana, Willy Rafus, & Arthur Davis, "Let Your Hammer Ring"
Teaser: Mailbag Episode #1 Jun 24, 2020
Oh shiiiit, it's mailbag time!! Max, Zak, and MacKenna (3/4 of the Alvarez siblings) sit down to answer listener questions.
Listen to the full bonus episode on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/mailbag-episode-38475818
Labor Is Antifascist (w/ Kooper Caraway) May 31, 2020
UNLOCKED BONUS EPISODE: We talk to Kooper Caraway, President of the Sioux Falls AFL-CIO and Labor Rep for AFSCME Council 65 about the labor movement in South Dakota and about doing labor organizing that is bold, inclusive, anti-racist, and antifascist. (If you want to hear more bonus episodes like this, subscribe to our Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/WorkingPeople)
Rebecca Zweig, The Nation, "'Organize or Die': Kooper Caraway Ushers in a New Labor Movement"
Brendan O'Connor, Strikewave, "Want to Celebrate May Day? Fight for Antifascist Unions"
Roger McGuinn, "When I First Came to This Land"
Struggle Session (w/ Michael Brooks) May 28, 2020
We talk to Michael Brooks about his new book, Against the Web, and we try to move the ball forward on debates about the "woke left," working-class politics, and left internationalism.
Michael's Twitter page
Michael Brooks, Zero Books, Against the Web: A Cosmopolitan Answer to the New Right (buy through Red Emma's)
The Michael Brooks Show Facebook page, Twitter page, YouTube page, and Patreon
Weekends with Ana Kasparian & Michael Brooks YouTube page
The Majority Report with Sam Seder Twitter page and YouTube page
Benjamin Fong, The Bellows, "Unpacking the Left's Cultural Baggage"
Emily Jashinsky, The Federalist, "Could Surging Pandemic-Era Populism Help Forge A Left-Right Labor Coalition? (An Interview with Matthew Stoller & Saagar Enjeti)"
Maximillian Alvarez, The Nation, "Against the Pundits' Class"
The Break Room: Daniel Stone May 21, 2020
In this installment of The Break Room, Daniel Stone, a now-former employee of Dollar General in Nashville, tells us about issues with how the national chain has handled the #COVID19 crisis—and how he was fired after raising concerns with corporate about lack of protection for frontline employees.
If you'd like to send something in to The Break Room, hit us up at workingpeoplepod@gmail.com!
Daniel's Twitter page
Kenya Slaughter, The New York Times, "I Never Planned to Be a Front-Line Worker at Dollar General"
On Meritocracy (w/ Zak Alvarez) May 18, 2020
(We are making this Bonus Episode public to provide a follow-up to Max's latest In These Times article on whether or not the working class and progressive professionals can form a political alliance.) Max and his brother Zak talk about meritocracy, work in the corporate world, and that feeling in your gut that most of what you do is pointless. Subscribe to our Patreon if you want more bonus episodes like this one!
Zak's Twitter page
Daniel Markovits, Penguin Random House, The Meritocracy Trap: How America's Foundational Myth Feeds Inequality, Dismantles the Middle Class, and Devours the Elite
Maximillian Alvarez, In These Times, "Class Traitors, Welcome to the Revolution"
Misty Mammas, "It's Gonna Rain"
The Break Room: Aminah Sheikh (Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario) May 15, 2020
Welcome to The Break Room, our new, ongoing series where workers and organizers send in 15-20-minute clips to talk about issues they're facing, actions they're taking, and more! (Think of it as a community message board of sorts). In this installment, Aminah Sheikh, a labor organizer with Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO), tells us about how she worked with educators in Ontario to launch a successful unionization campaign during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Aminah's Twitter page
Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) website
Ryan Hayes, Labor Notes, "Ontario Early Childhood Educators Unionize during Pandemic"
cOrE vAlUeS (w/ MacKenna Alvarez) May 05, 2020
Happy #TeachersDay! To celebrate National Teacher Appreciation Week, we are putting this special bonus episode on the main feed: Another Alvarez joins the Working People universe! Max and his sister, MacKenna, a middle-school teacher in NYC, talk about the politics of charter schools and the disconnect between their touted CORE VALUES and how they treat their workers and students.
Frank Adamson, Björn Åstrand, and Linda Darling-Hammond (eds), Stanford University Press, Global Education Reform: How Privatization and Public Investment Influence Education Outcomes
Bandana Splits, "Back to School"
Adam Ryan (Target Workers Unite) May 01, 2020
Our Season Three finale: we talk with Adam Ryan, a Target worker in Virginia and liaison for Target Workers Unite, one of the groups that has been organizing the coordinated strike actions planned for May 1st, 2020. We talk about Adam's life, his path to becoming a leftist and getting involved in labor organizing, and we talk about the conditions that Target employees have been working under even before the Covid-19 crisis began.
Target Workers Unite Facebook page and Twitter page
Target Workers Unite Strike Fund (please donate!)
Amazonians United New York City Twitter page
Whole Worker United Twitter page
Gig Workers Rising Twitter page
Lauren Kaori Gurley, VICE, "Amazon, Whole Foods, Instacart Workers Organize a Historic Mass Strike"
Daniel A. Medina, The Intercept, "As Amazon, Walmart, and Others Profit Amid Coronavirus Crisis, Their Essential Workers Plan Unprecedented Strike"
Mini-cast: ICE Is the CIA Now, Apparently (w/ Ken Klippenstein) Apr 25, 2020
This is a clip from our bonus episode with Ken Klippenstein, DC correspondent for The Nation, about the Covid crisis and the scary powers our government has granted itself to deal with it. Subscribe on Patreon.com/WorkingPeople to listen to the full episode!
Ken's author page and Twitter page
Ken Klippenstein, The Nation, "An Internal Pandemic Document Shows the Coronavirus Gives Trump Extraordinary Powers"
"We Are Essential," Pt II (Voices from the Covid-19 Crisis) Apr 20, 2020
Part II: The Covid-19 crisis and the current economic crash have broken our world apart. These are the voices of the people living, working, and fighting through it.
Change.org petition: Stand with Sprouts Farmers Market Workers: COVID-19 PPE for Workers & Customers Now!
Farmworker clip from UFW member Maria - video
No Rent Michigan Facebook page
BeauJon McNally, Black Rose, "Labor Organizing During Covid-19: A University Janitor's Account"
Debt Collective website and Twitter page
Gig Workers Rising website and Twitter page
Saatvik Ahluwalia Twitter page
Jules Taylor Twitter page
Kenzo Shibata Twitter page
Vanderbilt Graduate Workers United website and Twitter page
Half-Price Books Layoffs Twitter page
Lia Nadja, "Soy Como El Espacio"
Scott Holmes, "We Used to Paint Stars in the Sky"
"We Are Essential," Pt I (Voices from the Covid-19 Crisis) Apr 11, 2020
The Covid-19 crisis and the current economic crash have broken our world apart. These are the voices of the people living, working, and fighting through it.
Clip from We the Unhoused by Theo Henderson: "All in the Same Boat"
Clip from Rustbelt Abolition Radio: "Bruce X Parker"
Southern Solidarity — Solidarity for the Unhoused in New Orleans
Alex (Instacart worker) PayPal address: alex.covidfund@gmail.com
Life of an Owl in Alaska, "Sheffield"
Return to Normal, "The Observer"
Workers' Book Club: A Serf's Journal (w/ Terry Tapp and John Tormey)) Apr 06, 2020
The second installment of the Workers' Book Club is finally here, and it's a doozy! Our friend John Tormey, a track laborer and writer from just outside Boston, interviews working-class Kentucky artist, writer, and radio host Terry Tapp about his latest book from Zero Books, A Serf's Journal: The Story of the United States' Longest Wildcat Strike.
Terry's website and Facebook page
Terry Tapp, Zero Books, A Serf's Journal: The Story of the United States' Longest Wildcat Strike
John's Twitter page
John Tormey, The Baffler, "Known Assailants"
Working People, "Mini-Cast: Known Assailants (w/ John Tormey)"
Maya Angelou reading 'Workers' Song'
Birds of Paradise, "Dying"
Flection Big Sky, "She's Out of Sight"
Mini-cast: #InstacartStrike (w/ Vanessa Bain) Mar 29, 2020
This Monday (March 30) Instacart shoppers around the country will walk off the job to demand hazard pay and basic protections for working during the Covid-19 crisis. In this urgent mini-cast, we bring our friend, gig worker, and organizer Vanessa Bain back on the show to talk about the strike.
Working People, Season 3, Episode 6: Vanessa Bain
Gig Workers' Collective website
Gig Workers' Collective, Medium, "Instacart Emergency Walk Off"
Gig Workers' Collective, Medium, "Instacart's "Response" is a Sick Joke — The Strike is Still On"
Lauren Kaori Gurley, Vice, "Instacart's Gig Workers Are Planning a Massive, Nationwide Strike"
Make Love, Not Stonks (w/ Tom Sexton) Mar 27, 2020
We're briefly coming back from hiatus to check in with an old friend and offer some thoughts on our breaking world.
Tom's Twitter page
Gary Rivlin, The Intercept, "A Giant Pile of Money: How Wall Street Drove Public Pensions Into Crisis and Pocketed Billions in Fees"
Eric Levitz, NY Mag, "American Capitalism Can No Longer Afford to Let Workers Retire in Dignity"
Kathleen Elkins, CNBC, "A Brief History of the 401(k), Which Changed How Americans Retire"
Peter F. Drucker, Harvard Business Review, "Reckoning with the Pension Fund Revolution"
The Economic Policy Institute, "The Productivity Pay Gap"
Kim Kelly, The Nation, "This Is a Horror Story: How Private Equity Vampires Are Killing Everything"
Cletus Got Shot, "Don't Ya Blame Me, Son"
(Unlocked) BONUS EPISODE - Candace Wolf Mar 20, 2020
We talk to activist and oral historian Candace Wolf about her self-published book of interviews with workers all over the world, Shifting the Universe, and about working people's birthright to tell their stories.
Candace Wolf, Shifting the Universe: Spoken Histories of Work & Resistance
Lea Thomas, "Talk Like the Trees"
Working-Class Politics: Phara Souffrant Forrest Mar 13, 2020
In the newest installment in our ongoing series Working-Class Politics, we talk with Phara Souffrant Forrest, a union nurse, tenant activist, and democratic socialist running for Assembly in New York's 57th District.
Phara's website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Theodore Hamm, The Indypendent, "NYC's Next Socialist Wave: DSA Takes Aim at the State Assembly's Old Guard"
SotB + Current Affairs Super Tuesday Crossover Mar 04, 2020
Our election-themed crossover panel collective continues to grow! We're excited to share on the Working People feed the newest installment of these ongoing panel conversations, in which our friends at the Season of the Bitch coven and Lyta Gold and Vanessa A. Bee of Current Affairs share their Super Tuesday thoughts. GET YOUR HOT TAKES WHILE THEY'RE ... UMM ... HOT!
Previous election-themed crossover panels...
"The 2020 Election & Building Working-Class Power"
"The Billionaires' Caucus"
Theme music by Brandon Payton-Carrillo
Lances for Hire Mar 01, 2020
In this special compilation episode, we hear testimonies from 10 different freelancers—journalists, artists, musicians, designers, and more—about the pains, joys, needs, and struggles of freelance work today. (This episode is supported by The Economic Hardship Reporting Project)
Economic Hardship Reporting Project website and Twitter page
IWW Freelance Journalists Union website and Twitter page
Freelance Solidarity Project website and Twitter page
Colleen Tighe's website and Twitter page
Lia Russell's Twitter page
Michael Sainato's Twitter page
Colin Poulton's website and Twitter page
Cal's Twitter page
Hether Fortune's Twitter page
Frida Garza's website and Twitter page
Scott Heins's website and Twitter page
Jon Worthy & the Bends, "Please Tell Me"
Wildlight, "Grace, Fully"
Les Hayden, "A Barefaced Lie"
Workers' Toolkit: ANTITRUST (w/ Marshall Steinbaum) Feb 28, 2020
In The Workers' Toolkit we take deep dives into the legal and institutional barriers that prevent workers from building collective power in the United Stated today. In this first installment, we talk with economist Marshall Steinbaum about the history of antitrust law in this country, how it shapes workers' lives, and what we can do about it.
Marshall's Twitter page and faculty page
Marshall Steinbaum, Law and Contemporary Problems, "Antitrust, the Gig Economy, and Labor Market Power"
Marshall Steinbaum, The American Prospect, "Uber's Antitrust Problem"
David Weil, Institute for New Economic Thinking, "Why We Should Worry About Monopsony"
Maurice E. Stucke and Ariel Ezrahi, Havard Business Review, "The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of the U.S. Antitrust Movement"
"Tyree Scott Speaking on Workers Rights"
Alex Mason, "The Inspiration"
Lobo Loco, "Driving to the Delta"
The Billionaires' Caucus Feb 21, 2020
Our second election-themed crossover panel of the season: We team up with Mel from Protean Magazine and Dwight and Shane from Eat the Rich to break down the two billionaires running in the 2020 Democratic primary: Tom Steyer and Mike Bloomberg. Who are these men? What do we know about their records? What could we expect if they somehow became President? And what does it say about our political system that they've been able to buy their way into viability?
Mel's Twitter page; Protean Twitter page and Patreon
Shane's Twitter page; Dwight's Twitter page; Eat the Rich Twitter page and Patreon
Reading List ...
John Surico, Brooklyn Rail, "Mike's Labor Legacy"
Libby Watson, Splinter News, "Former Staffers at Tom Steyer's Political Action Group Say It's Hell to Work For"
Nathan Robinson, Current Affairs, "A Republican Plutocrat Tries To Buy The Democratic Nomination"
Alan Singer, Huffington Post, "Union-Busting, Bloomberg-Style"
Al Baker, The New York Times, "School Bus Drivers End Strike, in Win for New York Mayor"
Melissa Petro, Business Insider, "10 years ago, Michael Bloomberg called for my removal as a teacher because of my past in sex work"
Craig Frazer, Amsterdam News, "Union Official Protests Cuts in Child Care"
Joe Maniscalco, Labor Press, "Child Care Workers Press Bloomberg for Back Pay"
Michael Howard Saul, The Wall Street Journal, "Mayor Pledges Tough Stance on Unions"
Al Baker, The New York Times, "Teachers Irate as Bloomberg Likens Union to the N.R.A."
Dana Rubinstein, Politico, "'Living Sage' Reminds Bloomberg of Soviet Communism; He Says He'll Stop It in Court If He Has To"
Color Lines, "How Does It Feel to Be Stopped and Frisked?"
Steven Malanga, City Journal, "Hudson Yards and New York's Union (or Non-Union) Future"
Janaki Chadha, Joe Anuta, & Sally Goldenberg, Politico, "Related and Construction Unions Call Truce in Bitter Hudson Yards Fight"
Everybody In, Nobody Out (w/ Sara Nelson) Feb 13, 2020
We talk to the one and only Sara Nelson, flight attendant, union activist, and President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, about the labor movement and the AFA-CWA's current campaign to unionize Delta flight attendants.
DeltaAFA.org
Sara's Twitter page
AFA-CWA website and Twitter page
Sara Nelson & Randi Weingarten, The American Prospect, "Why America Needs a Better Labor Law"
Sarah Jones, NY Mag, "Delta's Flight Attendants Are Organizing"
Eli Rosenberg, The Washington Post, "Delta Agrees to Change Uniforms Workers Said Were Toxic, After Months of Pressure"
Kim Kelly, The New Republic, "Sara Nelson's Art of War"
Meagan Day, Jacobin, "Once Again, Flight Attendants Are Leading the Way"
Chris Matyszczyk, Inc, "Congress Voted To Give Flight Attendants a Better, Safer Life. It Hasn't Happened. United Airlines Staff Blame Delta"
Deidra Demens Feb 09, 2020
We talk to professional yoga teacher Deidra Demens about the path that led her to yoga and about working in the yoga industry in New York City. We also talk about the historic campaign Deidra was involved in to form the nation's first union of yoga teachers at YogaWorks NYC, which is affiliated with the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers
Deidra Demens Yoga Facebook page
Unionize Yoga website, Twitter page, and Facebook page
Press Release: "New York City YogaWorks Teachers Join the IAM"
Sarah Jones, The Cut, "Yoga Teachers Are Unionizing to Heal the Wellness Industry"
Lauren Krauze, Tricycle, "Unionizing Yoga"
Dee Yan Key, "Rather Slow"
The 2020 Election & Building Working-Class Power Feb 03, 2020
By popular demand, we teamed up with Protean Magazine and brought a panel of amazing people together—Ash (Horror Vanguard), Mel (Protean), Bryan (Strikewave), Lyta (Current Affairs), and Max (Working People)—to break down the top presidential candidates from a working-class perspective and share their thoughts on how working people should approach elections.
Ash's Twitter page; The Horror Vanguard Twitter page and Patreon
Bryan's Twitter page; Strikewave Twitter page and website
Lyta's Twitter page; Current Affairs Twitter page and website
Working-Class 2020 Reading List...
Alexia Fernández Campbell, Vox, "The Boldest and Weakest Labor Platforms of the 2020 Democratic Primary"
Sarah Jones, NY Mag, "Klobuchar's Alleged Staff Mistreatment Is a Valid Concern for American Workers"
Carly Regina and Joanna Wuest, Jacobin, "Labor Has Only One Candidate: Bernie Sanders"
Dan Solomon, Texas Monthly, "What You Should Know About Bernie Sanders And A Controversial Proposal To Bring Toxic Waste To Sierra Blanca"
Molly Redden, HuffPost, "Pete Buttigieg's McKinsey Client List And A Canadian Grocery Scandal"
Ryan Grim and Lee Fang, The Intercept, "Joe Biden Lied about His Record on Social Security"
Astead W. Herndon, The New York Times, "Elizabeth Warren Isn't Talking Much About 'Medicare for All' Anymore"
C.M. Lewis and Kevin Reuning, Strikewave, "Union Membership for 2019 Is Out. Here's How Labor Did"
Celine McNicholas, Margaret Poydock, and Lynn Rhinehart, Economic Policy Institute, "Unprecedented: The Trump NLRB's Attack on Workers' Rights"
Steven Greenhouse, NY Mag, "A to F+: Grading the Presidential Candidates on Their Labor Plans"
Eric Levitz, NY Mag, "Two More Signs Trump's 'Great' Economy Is Failing Workers"
Jane McAlevey, In These Times, "How to Elect Democrats Who Actually Answer to Workers"
Beethoven, "Moonlight Sonata"
Working-Class Politics: Nabilah Islam Jan 27, 2020
We're excited to launch our new, ongoing series, Working-Class Politics. In this series, we'll talk with working-class candidates who are running for elected office as well as candidates who are fighting for working-class people. In our first installment, we talk with Nabilah Islam, a millennial Democrat running for Congress in Georgia's 7th District.
Nabilah's website and Twitter page
Jonathan Allen, NBC News, "Atlanta May Have Its Own AOC"
Helainie Olen, The Washington Post, "Can 'Atlanta's own AOC' Make It Easier for Working-Class Americans to Run for Office?"
Mini-cast: Break the Chains, Pt III (w/ Shirley Lung) Jan 24, 2020
Part III of our mini-cast series on undocumented workers and the fight to repeal the employers' sanctions provision of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (1986) (in collaboration with the Break the Chains Alliance). We talk to Shirley Lung, Professor of Law at the CUNY Law School, about the passing of IRCA, its immediate and longterm effects, and the American tradition of criminalizing marginalized workers.
Shirley's Faculty page
Shirley Lung, U. Mass Law Review, "Criminalizing Work and Non-Work: The Disciplining of Immigrant and African American Workers"
Break the Chains website: https://equalrightsforallworkers.org/
Break the Chains Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/equalrightsforallworkers/
Maximillian Alvarez & William Lopez, In These Times, "It's Not Just About Deportations: Trump Wants to Create a Permanent Underclass"
Left Anchor/Working People: The Problem with Economics Jan 19, 2020
We needed to take a break this week after all the work we did to put together our special episode on the French general strike, but here is a crossover episode we did with the Left Anchor podcast. Max and his brother Zak joined Alexi and Ryan to talk about our podcast, the 2008 crash, and all the ways finance capital is screwing you over.
Left Anchor Twitter page and Patreon
Cover image by Lalo Alcatraz
Left Anchor Intro
The French General Strike (2019-2020) Jan 12, 2020
In this very special episode, we talk with eight workers from France about the ongoing general strike that began on December 5th.
Please donate to the CGT Solidarity Fund
Le Stream Reconductible Twitch Feed and Twitter page
Izquierda Diario/Left Voice, "France Paralyzed by Largest General Strike in Decades"
Maxime Quijoux and Guillaume Gourgues, Tribune, "France's Strike Against Macron"
Axel Persson, Jacobin, ""This Strike Is Uniting the Resistance Against Macron""
The Detroit News, "Protesters March against Nancy Pelosi's Leadership"
Angelique Chrisafis, The Guardian, "France strikes: nurses, teachers and lawyers join pension protests"
The United Sons of Toil, "Operation Cast Lead"
Coral Reivindicativa Revolucionaria, "L´internnationale"
Mini-cast: #HealthDignityJustice Jan 02, 2020
We talk with former nail salon worker and organizer Glenda Sefla about the NY Nail Salon Workers Association and their fight to secure #HealthDignityJustice for workers in and beyond the nail salon industry (translation by Leanne Tory-Murphy)
NY Nail Salon Workers Association website, Twitter page, and Facebook page
Glenda's Twitter page
Kim Kelly, Teen Vogue, "The Human Cost of a Cheap Manicure"
NY State, "Governor Cuomo Announces End of Subminimum Wage Across Miscellaneous Industries Statewide"
Bridget Huff Dec 27, 2019
In this first installment of our new series on unpaid labor, we chat with Bridget Huff, a stay-at-home mom and political organizer. We talk about Bridget's life and about the pains, joys, and social pressures of being a stay-at-home parent. We also talk about how political organizations can and should make themselves accessible to folks like Bridget.
Bridget's Facebook page and Twitter page
Movement School website and Twitter page
Sarah Jaffe, The Nation, "The Factory in the Family"
Jason Beaubien, NPR, "Stay-At-Home Dads Still Struggle With Diapers, Drool, Stigma And Isolation"
Tithi Bhattacharya (ed.), Pluto Press, Social Reproduction Theory: Remapping Class, Recentering Oppression
Loree A. Primeau, The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, "A Woman's Place: Unpaid Work in the Home"
Mini-cast: UCSC Strike Dec 20, 2019
In this week's mini-cast, we talk with Veronica, Marcelo, and Justin, three grad student workers involved in the ongoing wildcat strike at the University of California – Santa Cruz.
UCSC Strike website, Twitter page, Facebook page, and Instagram
Colin Dwyer, NPR, "'There's Really No Refuge': Santa Cruz Grad Students Strike Amid Housing Crunch"
Coleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, "UC Santa Cruz Grad Assistants Strike for COLA"
The Winnipeg General Strike (w/ Srsly Wrong) Dec 14, 2019
We've got a super special crossover with the Wrong Boys themselves, Aaron and Shawn from the Srsly Wrong podcast! We teamed up to take a deep dive into the history and meaning of the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919, the largest labor strike in Canada's history. Additional links/info below...
Srsly Wrong website, Twitter page, and Patreon
Alberta Advantage, "General Strike! Winnipeg 1919-2019"
The Magnificast, "The Winnipeg General Strike"
Dennis Lewycky, Fernwood Books, "Magnificent Fight The 1919 Winnipeg General Strike"
Reinhold Kramer & Tom Mitchell, University of Toronto Press, "When the State Trembled: How A.J. Andrews and the Citizens' Committee Broke the Winnipeg General Strike"
Graphic History Collective & David Lester, Between the Lines, "1919: A Graphic History of the Winnipeg General Strike"
Darren Bernhardt, CBC News, "The Wild Woman of the Winnipeg Strike"
Mary Horodyski, Manitoba Historical Society, "Women and the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919"
Tom Jokinen, The Walrus, "What the Winnipeg General Strike Can Teach Us About Class, Capitalism, and Greed"
Meagan Day, Jacobin, "The Winnipeg General Strike Is Immortal"
Ian Angus, Marxists.org, "What Socialists Learned from the Winnipeg General Strike"
Isaac Wurmann, Luma, "Navigating History, Memory, and Mythology: The Challenges of Depicting the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike"
Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall" - from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org
Srsly Wrong theme by dope creature - https://soundcloud.com/dopecreature
Fast Talkin by Kevin MacLeod - from Incompetech: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100590
Clarke Dec 13, 2019
Working People is back and we are excited to announce our official partnership with In These Times magazine! In this episode, we chat with new father Clarke, a contract commercial diver who works on different jobs for different companies throughout the year, completing tasks from underwater welding to removing shoreline debris. Clarke is a navy veteran and a member of the IWW and DSA-LSC. We talk about how he got into this line of work, and we also discuss labor issues in the commercial diving industry and how doing this work has given Clarke a front-row seat to the devastation we are causing to our oceans and our coastlines.
Clarke's Twitter page
In These Times, "Press Release: Announcing Our New Partnership with Working People Podcast"
Marco Trovatello, "Violin Spider"
Mini-cast: Break the Chains, Pt II (w/ David Tieu) Nov 11, 2019
Part II of our mini-cast series on undocumented workers and the fight to repeal the employers' sanctions provision of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (1986) (in collaboration with the Break the Chains Alliance). We talk to David Tieu, a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 3, about working on the Hudson Yards project in New York City and seeing firsthand how employers exploit undocumented workers and undercut unions.
Michael Kimmelman, The New York Times, "Hudson Yards Is Manhattan's Biggest, Newest, Slickest Gated Community"
Eleanor Gibson, DeZeen, "New York Construction Workers Stage Protest against Hudson Yards Developer"
Vanessa Bain Nov 04, 2019
Instacart shoppers walked off the job this Sunday in protest of the company's rampant wage/tip theft and dishonest, exploitative practices. We chat with Vanessa Bain, a full-time gig worker and one of the organizers of the protest.
Vanessa's Twitter page
Vanessa Bain, Medium, "Dear Instacart Customers"
Instacart Workers, Medium, "Dear Apoorva Mehta (Founder and CEO of Instacart)"
Benjamin Banger, "Bobby Drake"
Dana Gardner Nov 03, 2019
In Part II of our two-part episode on workers in the Maine logging industry, we chat with Dana Garner, a veteran trucker and wood hauler from St. Francis, and an organizer with the Machinists Union. We talk about Dana's days driving his rig all over the United States and about coming back home to Maine to work full-time hauling logs out of the woods. We talk about the strains of working 20-hour shifts and being in the cab all day, and about the obvious dangers of driving heavy loads on mountain roads, and we also talk about the ways landowners in the region exploit workers and pit them against one another to meet deadlines and quotas.
Staff, Mainebiz, "Maine Loggers and Wood Haulers Gain Right to Bargain Collectively"
Andy O'Brien, Maine AFL-CIO, "Weekly Update: Labor Lobby Day, Dinner with Jared Golden & The First Strike of Irish Mainers"
Dan Morgan, The Washington Post, "Company 'Slavery' Ignites Maine Woodsmen's Union (1977)"
Beth Brogan, News Center Maine, "Maine Loggers Poised to Unionize"
Cletus Got Shot, "Congressman"
SpoOoOoky Special (w/ The Horror Vanguard) Oct 27, 2019
Our Working People Halloween special! We talk with Jon and Ash from The Horror Vanguard podcast about horror, the working class, and how there's nothing scarier than capitalism...
The Horror Vanguard Twitter page and Patreon page
Jon's Twitter page
Ash's Twitter page
Joro Gaming, "Free Scary Music"
Loyalty Freak Music, "Monster Parade"
Mini-cast: Break the Chains, Pt I (w/ Josephine Lee & Tosh Anderson) Oct 24, 2019
Part I of our mini-cast series on undocumented workers and the fight to repeal the employers' sanctions provision of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (1986) and secure equal rights for all workers (in collaboration with the Break the Chains Alliance).
Mark Hardison Oct 22, 2019
In Part I of our two-part episode on workers in the Maine logging industry, we chat with Mark Hardison, a longtime woodcutter from Eastern Maine, near the town of Ellsworth. We talk about Mark's life, getting involved in the woods industry, and about the ways that the industry has changed over the years. We also talk about efforts to organize workers in the woods industry and the long and complicated history between American workers, Canadian workers, and the companies that pit them against each other. We also talk about the serious dangers that workers in this industry face on a daily basis, including Mark himself, who was nearly crushed to death by a hanging tree.
We also check in with our friend Lauren Schandevel for the first installment on her recurring segment, The Bellwether Bitch, where she breaks down media representations of Macomb County, MI, where Lauren grew up.
Working People call-in line #: 734-272-4402
Steve Fuller, The Ellsworth American, "Bucksport First Responders Help Save Injured Logger's Life"
The Bellwether Bitch...
Lauren's Twitter page
The Lead, CNN, "Voters in Critical Swing State on Impeachment"
November Polaroid, "Silent Ships"
Mini-cast: Update from the UAW Picket Line (w/ John Jayne) Oct 17, 2019
We talk with John Jayne, a GM worker in Philadelphia and member of UAW Local 2177, about the month-long UAW strike and the new tentative contract agreement.
Jamie L. LaReau, Detroit Free Press, "GM-UAW Deal Calls for 9,000 Jobs, $9,000 Ratification Bonus, E-truck at Detroit-Hamtramck"
Jamie McCallum, Jacobin, ""They Made That Money off Our Blood, Sweat, and Tears""
Sean Crawford and Maximillian Alvarez, In These Times, "The Strike Against General Motors Is One Front in a Much Larger Class War"
Pete Seger, "Solidarity Forever"
Darrow Omar Oct 13, 2019
We talk with Darrow, office coordinator for Portland State University's Women, Sexuality, & Gender Studies Department and member organizer for SEIU Local 503. We talk about Darrow's involvement in the union and about the planned statewide strike that was narrowly averted soon after we recorded this episode. But we also got a chance to talk about Darrow's life as a queer millennial from the Northern Mariana Islands who made their way to being a university staff worker in Oregon and getting involved in union organizing.
CSEIU 503 website and Twitter page
Kelly Hayes, Truthout, "Oregon State University Employees Vote to Authorize a Strike Amid Heated Moment"
Kim Kelly, The New Republic, "The Next Big Labor Strike Hits Oregon"
Henry Houston, Eugene Weekly, "SEIU, Universities Avoid Strike"
Scott Holmes, "Hotshot"
Homecoming (w/ Sarah Smarsh) Sep 27, 2019
SPECIAL EPISODE: We chat with the one and only Sarah Smarsh, author of Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard & Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth.
Sarah's Twitter page and website
Sarah Smarsh, Scribner Books, Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard & Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth
The Homecomers (podcast) Twitter page
Going to the Mat Sep 23, 2019
In Part II of our season-opening special on indie professional wrestlers, we talk with Noah (The Sorceress), Chris Hutton (Rob Matter), and Joella (Incogneato/Chronic Pain) about their experiences at different levels of the indie wrestling scene.
Chris's Twitter Page
Incogneato's Instagram page
Noah's Twitter page
Wrestle Yr Friends Twitter page
Small Tall Order, "Trying"
Angel Blue Sep 08, 2019
We kick off Season 3 with news from Andy O'Brien (AFL-CIO) about a unionization push in the Maine logging industry and we talk with indie professional wrestler Angel Blue. We talk about how Angel first got into wrestling when she was still in high school, all the work and the physical and mental stress that goes into being a professional wrestler, and what it's like when you walk through the curtain before a match... And we talk about how Angel has seen and been a part of the explosion of kick-ass women wrestlers in the past two decades. We also talk about the neck injury Angel suffered in the ring earlier this year and the incredibly tough road she has traveled since it happened, including struggling with doctors who treat her like shit because she needs a surgery she can't afford (please consider donating to Angel's GoFundMe fundraiser to help her pay her medical bills).
Angel's Twitter page
GoFundMe fundraiser for Angel's medical bills
News from Maine ...
Andy O'Brien's Twitter page
O'Chang Comics
Return to Normal, Celestial"
Mini-cast: (ACTION NOW) Say No to IRAPs Aug 24, 2019
Directed by the Trump administration, the US Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed changes to apprenticeship programs that could spell disaster for union workers in the building trades, giving businesses the ability to create their own apprenticeship programs (IRAPs), underpay workers, and undercut unions. We recorded this PSA to let listeners know what is going on, why it's bad, and what you can do about it. The period to file a public comment in opposition to these proposed changes ends this Monday, August 26: follow the links below to tell the DOL to keep IRAPs out of construction.
Links for filing public comments...
Federal Register - Apprenticeship Programs, Labor Standards for Registration, Amendment of Regulations
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers - Public Comment Form (Friends/Family)
Michael Prebil & Lul Tesfai, New America, "In Proposed Apprenticeship Amendment, Congress Might Join DOL in Putting the Cart before the Horse"
Michigan Building & Construction Trades Council - Tell the DOL: Hands off building trades apprenticeships
NW Labor Press, "Building Trades Sounds Alarm on DOL Apprenticeship Proposal"
Ian Kullgren, Politico, "Construction Workers Prepare to Battle Former Ally Trump"
Mini-cast: Pay KY Coal Miners Now! (w/ Josh Holbrook) Aug 04, 2019
We talk with Josh Holbrook, one of the Kentucky coal miners currently protesting coal companies Black Jewel, Black Hawk, and Revelation for stiffing him and his coworkers on backpay after going bankrupt.
GoFundMe - Letcher County BlackJewel Coal Miners
Action Network - Fund for Former Revelation, Black Hawk, and Black Jewel Miners Demonstrating in Harlan County
Brittany Patterson & Sydney Boles, Ohio Valley Resource, " Laid-Off Employees Of Bankrupt Blackjewel Mining Seek Pay, Answers"
Oakley Fugate & Shaylan Clark, "Black Jewel Protest in Cumberland"
Curren Sheldon, 100 Days in Appalachia, "The Protesting Kentucky Coal Miners Who Stood Up and Stopped a Train"
Mini-cast: Show Me What Democracy Looks Like (w/ Astra Taylor) Jul 26, 2019
A section from our chat with Astra Taylor, writer, filmmaker, organizer, and co-founder of the Debt Collective. We talk about Astra's new documentary, What Is Democracy?, and her companion book, Democracy May Not Exist, But We'll Miss It When It's Gone.
Astra's Twitter page
Astra Taylor, Zeitgeist Films, What Is Democracy?
Astra Taylor, Metropolitan Books, Democracy May Not Exist, but We'll Miss It When It's Gone
Maximillian Alvarez, The Baffler, "Wrestling with the Demo(n)s"
Mini-cast: On the Clock (w/ Emily Guendelsberger) Jul 12, 2019
We chat with journalist Emily Guendelsberger about her new book, On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane.
Emily's Twitter page
Emily Guendelsberger, Little, Brown, On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane
"You Are Not A Loan" (w/ Ami Schneider & Sanders Fabares) Jun 30, 2019
Last Monday, Representatives Ilhan Omar, Pramila Jayapal, and Senator Bernie Sanders unveiled the Student Debt Cancellation Act of 2019, which includes a plan to wipe out the $1.6 trillion in student debt held by 45 million Americans. In this this special episode, we talk to Ami Schneider and Sanders Fabares, two debt holders and graduates from the for-profit Art Institute college chain who decided to fight back and get involved in anti-debt organizing through the Debt Collective.
The Debt Collective website, Facebook page, and Twitterpage
Lucy Diavolo, Teen Vogue, "Bernie Sanders Teamed Up With Ilhan Omar and Pramila Jayapal on a Plan to Cancel All Student Loan Debt"
Astra Taylor, The Guardian, "Free College and Debt Forgiveness Are Within Our Grasp. Don't Settle for Less"
Sarah Jaffe, The Washington Post, "The People Power Behind Sanders's Debt Cancellation Plan"
Marshall Steinbaum, Current Affairs, "Is Student Debt Cancellation Regressive? NO"
Sparky Abraham, Current Affairs, "How Student Debt Is Worsening Gender and Racial Injustice"
Casey Quinlan, ThinkProgress, "Why Graduates Of For-Profit Colleges Are Struggling To Pay Back Student Loans"
Tressie McMillan Cottom, The New Press, Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy
Alex Shebanow, Fail State (documentary)
What to Do if ICE Raids Your Workplace (w/ Diana Marin & Bill Lopez) Jun 22, 2019
In this urgent special episode, we talk with Diana Marin, Supervising Attorney at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, and Professor Bill Lopez about what to do if ICE raids your workplace. We discuss what precautions individuals, families, and communities must take in anticipation of a possible raid, what you should do if a raid occurs at your work, and what the impacts of these raids are.
NOTE: We are working to get this episode transcribed and translated into multiple languages. If you can assist us with this, please reach out (we will pay for your work, of course)
Diana's staff page at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center
Michigan Immigrant Rights Center website, Resources page, and Twitter page
Bill's faculty page and Twitter page
Bill Lopez, Johns Hopkins University Press, Separated: Family and Community in the Aftermath of an Immigration Raid
Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights
Immigration Advocates Network
ICE Raid Resources
Sarah Mervosh, The New York Times, "Immigration Authorities Arrest More Than 280 in Texas in Largest Workplace Raid in a Decade"
Nick Miroff, Washington Post, "ICE Raids Targeting Migrant Families Slated to Start Sunday in Major U.S. Cities"
Mini-cast: Mad about Class (w/ Lyta Gold) Jun 12, 2019
We chat with Current Affairs Amusements and Managing Editor, Lyta Gold, about her latest viral tweet and about why upper-middle-class liberals get so mad when you talk about class.
Lyta's Twitter page
THE tweet
Current Affairs website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Erin Fristad Jun 07, 2019
We wrap up Season Two by chatting with Erin Fristad. Erin is currently an adjunct professor at a community college and she works with combat veterans as an equine therapy specialist. She is also a writer and she worked in the commercial fishing industry around Alaska for many years. We talk about her time as a commercial fisherwoman, how she ended up there, what sort of jobs she did, and what sort of people she worked with. We also talk about the FisherPoets Gathering, where members of the commercial fishing community come together once a year to share their stories. And we talk about what it's meant for Erin to find and express her own voice as a writer and a worker, and about what it's meant for her to be able to teach others to do the same.
Erin's website
The FisherPoets Gathering website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Chris Collision, Pacific Standard, "When Commercial Fishermen Get Together to Recite Poetry"
Ayla Nereo, "Waves"
Mini-cast: A People's History (w/ David Parsons) Jun 03, 2019
Our friend David Parsons from The Nostalgia Trap podcast comes back on the show to talk about their exciting new video project, left media, and about the importance of telling history a different way.
The Nostalgia Trap website, Twitter page, and Patreon page
ORGANIZE! - Democratic Socialists of America, Part I - Jen Jun 01, 2019
We are excited to launch our new ORGANIZE! series. In this ongoing series, we'll be talking to working people who have had enough of this rigged system and who have taken it upon themselves to band together and fight back. In a world where so many avenues for political change have just been swallowed up, colonized, and defanged by the ruling class, we want to see where working-class folks are turning. From the Poor People's Campaign to the Catholic Worker Movement, from labor unions to the Carolina Workers Collective, from radical indigenous collectives to the Sunrise Movement … we want to see what organizations workers are joining, or building from the ground up. We want to talk about the campaigns they're launching and the battles they are waging to claim a better future for working people everywhere.
To kick off our ORGANIZE! series, we're going to talk to folks who have found a home and a cause worth fighting for in the Democratic Socialists of America. In Part I we talk to Jen from the DSA-Eugene chapter in Oregon. We talk about growing up poor and the life-saving power of communal solidarity. We also talk about what brought Jen to DSA and about the organizing work that she and the other members of DSA-Eugene are doing.
The Democratic Socialists of America website, Facebook page, and Twitterpage
DSA-Eugene Facebook page and Twitter page
Jen's Twitter page
Mini-cast: This Is Not a Rescue (w/ Kaytlin Bailey) May 27, 2019
Friend of the show Kaytlin Bailey is back to tell us about the work she's doing at Decriminalize Sex Work and about the hysterical, disastrous push by legislators in Florida to further criminalize sex workers.
Kaytlin's website and Twitter page
Decriminalize Sex Work website and Twitter page
SWOP USA website and Twitter page
SWOP Behind Bars website and Twitter page
EJ Dickson, Rolling Stone, "Prosecutors Say There's No Evidence of Sex Trafficking In Robert Kraft Case"
Natasha Lennard, The Intercept, "Florida Is Poised to Create an Anti-"Trafficking" Registry That Will Inevitably Hurt Sex Workers"
Care for One Another & Fight Like Hell (w/ Arielle Cohen) May 25, 2019
Activist Arielle Cohen shares her abortion story and some words of wisdom to guide us through these dark times.
Arielle's Twitter page
National Network of Abortion Funds website and Twitter page
Planned Parenthood Action website and Twitter page
The Yellowhammer Fund website and Twitter page
Center for Reproductive Rights website and Twitter page
The National Women's Health Network website and Twitter page
We Testify: Our Abortion Stories website and Twitter page
In Closing, "Days Past"
Movie Theater, "To Smoke a Cigarette"
Chad Crouch, "Arctic"
Walter Vicente May 19, 2019
We chat with Walter Vicente, a Guatemalan immigrant and textile worker in North Carolina. But Walter isn't just a worker … he is also a proud co-owner at a worker co-op called Opportunity Threads, a cut-and-sew factory in Morganton, North Carolina. As it says on the Opportunity Threads website: "Everyone in our plant is hired with the expectation of becoming a worker-owner. Worker-ownership means that if a worker stays on at Opportunity Threads they are given the opportunity to be an owner in the company... Ultimately the workers themselves and their families are the beneficiaries of the success and growth of this business."
Opportunity Threads also distinguishes itself by the fact that most of the workers there are Mayan immigrants who are part of a vibrant community known as the Maya of Morganton. Together, they are showing that another, more just, more humane, and more communal and equitable mode of production and commerce is possible … one that puts workers and communities first.
Opportunity Threads FAQ
Leon Fink, UNC Press, The Maya of Morganton: Work and Community in the Nuevo New South
Cecilia Garza, Yes!, "A North Carolina Textile Co-Op Gives Immigrant Workers a Stake in the Business"
Astra Taylor, What Is Democracy?
The Cedro Willie Band, "Moving On"
Workers' Book Club: Reconsidering Southern Labor History (w/ Keri Leigh Merritt) May 14, 2019
We are kicking off our new series: Workers' Book Club! In this ongoing series, we will record workers chatting with authors about books that relate to the lives, jobs, dreams, and struggles of the working class. To get things started, our host, Maximillian Alvarez, sat down to chat with author, historian, and independent scholar Keri Leigh Merritt about the recent volume she co-edited with Matthew Hild, Reconsidering Southern Labor History: Race, Class, & Power(University Press of Florida).
Keri's website and Twitter page
Keri Leigh Merritt & Matthew Hild (eds), University Press of Florida, Reconsidering Southern Labor History: Race, Class, & Power
Keri Leigh Merritt, Cambridge University Press, Masterless Men: Poor Whites and Slavery in the Antebellum South
Mini-cast: Known Assailants (w/ John Tormey) May 13, 2019
We chat with John Tormey, writer and track laborer for the commuter rail in Massachusetts, about his essay for The Baffler, "Known Assailants," Boston accents, and the white working class.
John Tormey, Covered with Fur, "Dead Things"
John Tormey, Rabble Lit, "Train Approach Warning"
#StrikeUberLyft, Part II (w/ Alexandra Carbone) May 07, 2019
We chat with Alexandra Carbone, gig worker and organizer with Rideshare Drivers United, about the #StrikeUberLyft strike tomorrow and how you can show solidarity with workers. (Don't cross the picket line!)
Alexandra's Twitter page
Rideshare Drivers United website, Twitter page, and strike map
Salvo, "Striking the Gig"
Andrew J. Hawkins, The Verge, "Uber and Lyft Drivers Are Planning a Strike on Wednesday ahead of Uber's IPO"
Michael Sainato, The Guardian, "'They Treat Us Like Crap': Uber Drivers Feel Poor and Powerless on Eve of IPO"
#StrikeUberLyft, Part I (w/ Stefanie Mezigian) May 07, 2019
We talk to disability and health activist Stefanie Mezigian about ride-sharing company Lyft's violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and how this is connected to the #StrikeUberLyft strike scheduled for May 8th. (Don't cross the picket line on May 8th! Turn your ride-sharing apps off and show solidarity with workers.)
Stefanie's Twitter page
For Our Future Michigan, "Stefanie Mezigian Shares a Powerful Message about Healthcare for All"
Samantha Maldonado, Politico, "Lyft Fights to Avoid Americans with Disabilities Act in Federal Court"
Disability Rights Advocates (DRA), "Lyft Sued for Illegally Excluding Bay Area Wheelchair-Users"
Mini-cast: Whitewashing the Working Class (w/ Luke Savage) May 06, 2019
We chat with writer and podcaster Luke Savage about his recent Jacobin piece on how the media and politicians alike either reduce the working class to a few simplistic stereotypes or erase us entirely.
Luke's Twitter page and Jacobin author page
Michael and Us podcast
Luke Savage, Jacobin, "The Real Working Class Is Invisible to the Media"
Drew Edmonds May 03, 2019
We talk to Drew Edmonds, a Burgerville worker in Portland, Oregon, and an organizer with the Burgerville Workers Union. We talk about the fight Drew and his coworkers led to form the nation's first federally recognized fast food union (followed by workers at Little Big Burger, another Portland chain). We talk about what it was like to unionize from the ground up across Burgerville stores, about how they have used the power of their union in the push to secure better wages and fairer treatment, and about the union-busting backlash and firings that they've faced from the company in response. We also talk about how their story speaks to the effectiveness and necessity of the organizing model of the IWW (the Industrial Workers of the World), which both the Burgerville Workers Union and the Little Big Union are affiliated with.
Boycott Burgerville
Burgerville Workers Union Facebook page and Twitter page
Little Big Union website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) Wikipedia page and Twitter page
Shane Burley, ThinkProgress, "These Burgerville Employees Organized the First Official Fast Food Labor Union in the Country"
Eater Portland, Behind Portland's Fight for Unionized Fast Food Restaurants
Don McIntosh, NW Labor Press, "Burgerville Continues to Fire Pro-Union Workers"
Elise Herron, Willamette Week, "Workers at Little Big Burger Form Union, Joining Portland Fast-Food Labor Drive"
Kim Kelly, Teen Vogue, "Fast-Food Industry Workers Continue to Fight for Their Right to Unionize"
Annelise Orleck, Beacon Press, "We Are All Fast-Food Workers Now": The Global Uprising Against Poverty Wages
Cletus Got Shot, "Gravedigger"
Mini-cast: May Day, Our Day (w/ Raechel Anne Jolie) May 01, 2019
We chat with writer, organizer, witch, and educator Raechel Anne Jolie about the spirit of May Day--a day of international worker solidarity.
Raechel's website and Twitter page
Working Class History, "A Short History of May Day"
Kim Kelly, The Guardian, "We Need May Day MoreThan Ever. Unite to Dream and Fight for a Better Tomorrow"
Richard Seymour, The Guardian, "May Day Is Not about Maypoles: The History of International Workers' Day"
Tim Goulet, Jacobin, "Today Belongs to Workers"
Jennifer Gates Apr 26, 2019
We chat with Jennifer Gates, a Grocery Steward at Ralphs in Southern California and a member of UFCW 770. Jennifer is a singer, a single mom, and she's incredibly devoted to her job, her customers, and her coworkers. We talk about how she came to work at Ralphs, the relationships she's built over the years, and about the role that grocery stores play in the community. We also talk about how Jennifer and her brothers and sisters in UFCW 770 are currently fighting for a fairer contract from Ralphs-Kroger Co. at a time when the company is recording record profits but is still cutting hours/wages and raising food prices.
UFCW 770 website and Twitter page
Food Fight website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Food Fight, Medium, "What the Heck is Food Fight?"
Food Fight, Medium, "'Higher pay does not squeeze profits': Week 1 Contract Update"
John Logan, Truthout, "Stop & Shop Strikers are Standing up For All Grocery Workers"
Chad Crouch, "Ink"
Darkstorm Diabolik, "Hidden"
Reese Piper Apr 24, 2019
We talk with Reese Piper, a professional stripper, writer, and journalist reporting on sex work, labor rights, and autistic culture. We talk about Reese's life, her childhood and schooldays, her love of books and getting lost in her imagination. We talk about being different, about going off to college, and we talk about Reese's long path to realizing that she was autistic, and about how she came to terms with that while working as a dancer. We also talk about the labor politics of strip clubs and what we can do to show support for our fellow workers in the sex industry.
Reese's Twitter page and author page on Medium
Reese Piper, Narratively, "Secret Life of an Autistic Stripper"
Reese Piper, The Establishment, "Strip Club Raids and Closures Are Weapons of Gentrification"
Antonia Crane, Lenny Letter, "Stripped Bare"
Antonia Crane, Mel Magazine, "The Most Realistic Sex-Worker Portrayals in Pop Culture, According to Sex Workers"
Samuel Braslow, LA Magazine, "L.A.'s Exotic Dancers Are Launching a Labor Movement"
Susan Elizabeth Shepard, Vox, "It's International Whores' Day. Let's Talk About Why Strippers Need Better Labor Laws"
We Are Dancers (WAD) USA
Desiree Alliance
SWOP - USA
Traveling in Stereo, "What I Know"
The Impossebulls, "HaveNots Mascot Revolution (SureShot Remix)"
Mini-cast: Mexican Labor Reawakens (w/ Martha Pskowski) Apr 22, 2019
We chat with Mexico-City-based journalist Martha Pskowski about her reporting on the maquila worker strikes just south of the U.S.-Mexico border, and about why we should all be paying attention to the recent developments in Mexican labor politics.
Martha's website and Twitter page
Martha Pskowski, Dissent, "Mexican Labor Reawakens"
Lauren Kaori Gurley, The New Republic, "Is Mexico on the Brink of a Labor Revolution?"
Paolo Marinaro and Dan DiMaggio, Labor Notes, "Strike Wave Wins Raises for Mexican Factory Workers"
David Agren, The Guardian, "'We Won't Be Trampled On': Striking Mexican Workers Vow to Fight the Fight"
Mini-cast: Who Cares for Care Workers? (w/ Dave G.) Apr 17, 2019
We chat with Dave G, cohost of the Mandatory OT podcast, member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and longtime State Tested Nursing Assistant (STNA) in the Ohio Valley. We talk about what it's like to work as an STNA, the low pay, the rampant injuries workers sustain, and about the difficulty of unionizing when your coworkers are reactionaries.
Mandatory OT podcast Soundcloud and Twitter page
IWW Twitter page
West Virginia IWW Twitter page
Sample CNA Job Description
ZipRecruiter, "What Is the Average CNA Salary by State"
John Caniglia & Jo Ellen Corrigan, The Plain Dealer, "Ohio Nursing Homes' Low Staffing Called a 'Crisis,' Puts Residents at Risk: A Critical Choice"
Zack Budryk, Fierce Healthcare, "Workplace Danger: Nursing Assistants Suffer More Physical Injuries than Construction Workers"
Alexandra Bradbury, Labor Notes, "Don't 'Lean' On Me, Hospital Workers Say"
Jeff Spross, The Week, "America Is on the Verge of a Nursing Crisis"
Don't Shop, Don't Stop! Apr 13, 2019
At 1:00pm on Thursday, April 11, over 31,000 Stop & Shop workers across New England walked off the job. The strike is going on at this very moment and gaining public support, even as Stop & Shop bosses try to ice out and undercut workers. We talk to Mike LaFrance, a deli worker who's been at Stop & Shop for over 20 years, about what's going on and how folks around the country can show support.
PETITION: Support Stop & Shop Workers
SUPPORT LINE: Sign up for updates. Text "support" to 698329 to get latest updates on the strike and how you can help
Call Stop & Shop Customer Service and express support for striking workers at 1-800-767-7772
Support Stop & Shop Workers Facebook and Twitter page
Alexia Fernández Campbell, Vox, "The Largest Private Sector Strike in Years Is Playing Out at Supermarkets Across the Northeast"
Meaghan Ottolini & Marie Szaniszlo, The Boston Herald, "Teamsters Back Up Striking Stop & Shop Workers"
Tal Axelrod, The Hill, "Biden, Warren and Sanders Express Support for Striking Stop & Shop Workers"
Kim Kelly, Teen Vogue, "Strikes and Picket Lines, Explained"
Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free MusicArchive: freemusicarchive.org)
Mini-cast: In the Dish Pit (w/ Christina Clark & Jon Deitcher) Apr 10, 2019
We chat with Christina Clark and John Deitcher from Endorphin Films about their viral short documentary, Dish Pigs, which tracks the lives and jobs of three professional dishwashers in Montreal.
Dish Pigs
Endorphin Films' website and Twitter page
Tim Forster, Montreal Eater, "Refreshing New Documentary Spotlights Dishwashers in Montreal Restaurants"
Mini-cast: Smooth Operator (w/ Miriam Posner) Apr 08, 2019
We chat with Professor Miriam Posner about her recent articles in The New Yorker and LOGIC magazine on the global supply chain software that shapes workers' lives.
Miriam's website and Twitter page
Miriam Posner, The New Yorker, "The Software that Shapes Workers' Lives"
Miriam Posner, LOGIC, "See No Evil"
Lucy Lloyd Apr 06, 2019
We talk with Lucy Lloyd, a self-taught Apple product repair and support technician living in Sedan, Minnesota, a town with a population of less than fifty people. We talk about everything from growing up in a small town to setting up her independent repair business in the corner of her mom's flower shop. We also talk a lot about the right to repair, a really important political issue that directly impacts repair workers like Lucy and all of us who use, consume, and depend on technologies from cars to smart phones.
U.S. PIRG - Right to Repair
Emily Matchar, Smithsonian Magazine, "The Fight for the 'Right to Repair'"
Nathan Proctor, WIRED, "Corporations are Co-Opting Right-to-Repair"
Nathan Proctor, WIRED, "Right to Repair Is Now a National Issue"
Maximillian Alvarez, The Baffler, "The Death of Media"
Rosie Spinks, The Guardian, "We're All Losers to a Gadget Industry Built on Planned Obsolescence"
Jason Koebler, Motherboard, "Tractor-Hacking Farmers Are Leading a Revolt Against Big Tech's Repair Monopolies"
Matthew Gault, Motherboard, "The World Economic Forum Tells Davos: Electronics are 'the Fastest-Growing Waste Stream in the World'"
Creo, "Place on Fire"
Mini-cast: Kingdom Came (w/ Tarence Ray) Apr 03, 2019
We chat with Tarence Ray, writer and 1/3 of the Trillbilly Workers Party, about his recent article in The Baffler about what liberal pundits like Paul Krugman get wrong about rural America.
Tarence's Twitter page
Tarence Ray, The Baffler, "Get Real"
Trillbilly Workers Party Patreon, Twitter, and Facebook page
Tarence's author page on Popula and The Baffler
Mini-cast: Suicide Squeeze (w/ Nate Kalman-Lamb) Apr 01, 2019
We chat with with author and scholar Nate Kalman-Lamb about his extensive work on the labor politics of professional sports, and about his and Dirk Hayhurst's recent Jacobin piece on the exploitation of professional baseball players.
Nate's website and Twitter page
Nate Kalman-Lamb & Dirk Hayhurst, Jacobin, ""Inside the Game, You Are Still a Commodity""
Nate Kalman-Lamb, Fernwood Books, Out of Left Field: Social Inequality & Sport
Nate Kalman-Lamb, Fernwood Books, Game Misconduct: Injury, Fandom, & the Business of Sport
Michael Baumann, The Ringer, "The Disgrace of Minor League Baseball"
After the Academy Mar 28, 2019
In this special compilation episode, we talk to eight working-class scholars about loving, leaving, and being left behind by academia.
Working People, Season 1, Bonus Episode #2, Trevor Griffey
Working People, Season 1, Episode 10, John Buckley
Erin Bartram, "The Sublimated Grief of the Left Behind"
The Nostalgia Trap, "Episode 89: Erin Bartram"
Patricia A. Matthew (ed), UNC Press, Written/Unwritten: Diversity and the Hidden Truths of Tenure
Kevin Birmingham, The Chronicle of Higher Education, "'The Great Shame of Our Profession'"
James M. Van Wyck & Lynn Arner, Inside Higher Ed, "Blue-Collar Ph.D."
Trevor Griffey, LAWCHA, "The Decline of Faculty Tenure"
Marc Bousquet, NYU Press, How the University Works: Higher Education and the Low-Wage Nation
Hamilton Nolan, Gawker, "The Horrifying Reality of the Academic Job Market"
Anonymous, Inside Higher Ed, "Treadmill to Oblivion"
Herb Childress, The Chronicle of Higher Education, "This Is How You Kill a Profession"
Jonathan Kramnick, The Chronicle of Higher Education, "How the Jobs Crisis Has Transformed Faculty Hiring"
Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive:freemusicarchive.org)
Marisa Anderson, "Pulse"
Mi familia Mar 24, 2019
A special Alvarez family sequel to the very first episode of Working People.
Working People, Season 1, Episode 1, Jesus Alvarez
Maximillian Alvarez, Current Affairs, "Can the Working Class Speak?"
Small Tall Order, "Easily"
Anamoli, "En la casa"
Mini-cast: You Don't Know the Half of It, Part 2 (w/ Torrey Wilson) Mar 19, 2019
While all eyes have been on a high-profile #CollegeAdmissionScam involving super-rich people buying and bribing their kids' way into elite universities, hardly anyone noticed that an entire network of private and for-profit universities was shut down this month. Faculty and staff have been abruptly fired and tens of thousands of students have been completely abandoned with no more financial support--the government cut off their student loans, which many used to pay for basic living costs--and no certainty that they will be able to graduate, transfer their course credits, or get their money back. In Part II of this mini-cast series, we talk with Torrey Wilson, (former) Associate Professor at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology at Argosy University.
Stacy Cowly & Erica L. Green, The New York Times, "A College Chain Crumbles, and Millions in Student Loan Cash Disappears"
Michael Vasquez, The Chronicle of Higher Education, "'Ruined' and Evicted: How Dream Center Closures Are Affecting Students"
Michael Vasquez, The Chronicle of Higher Education, "The Nightmarish End of the Dream Center's Higher-Ed Empire"
Ben Unglesbee, Education Dive, "Timeline: How Dream Center's Higher Ed Bid Went off the Rails"
Zachary Small, Hyperallergic, "The Rapid Closure of Art Institutes Across America"
Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, The Washington Post, "'The Department Must Do More': Trump Administration's Handling of Argosy University Faces Criticism"
Dawn Rhodes, Chicago Tribune, "As Argosy University in Chicago Shuts Down Amid Student Loan Scandal, Confusion and Emotion Reign"
Savannah Eadens, Chicago Sun Times, "Argosy University Closing Leaves Students in Limbo: 'We're Sinking'"
Rachel Leingang, AZ Central, "Latest Victims of Argosy University Meltdown: Staff and Faculty Don't Get Final Paycheck"
Mini-cast: You Don't Know the Half of It, Part 1 (w/ Lauren Schandevel) Mar 18, 2019
We brought friend of the show Lauren Schandevel back on to vent about and break down last week's college admissions scandal. Lauren (whom we interviewed back in Season 1) is a brilliant, working-class student at the University of Michigan and she has some thoughts about rich people buying and bribing their kids' way into elite colleges and universities.
Working People, Season 1, Episode 4, Lauren Schandevel
Martin Slagter, MLive, "2 University of Michigan Students Help Create Nation's First Social Class & Inequality Minor"
Scott Jaschick, Inside Higher Ed, "Massive Admissions Scandal"
Nathan J. Robinson, The Guardian, "Meritocracy Is a Myth Invented by the Rich"
The Chronicle of Higher Education continuing coverage of the admissions scandal, "Admission through the 'Side Door'"
Malcolm Harris, NY Mag, "The College Admissions Ring Tells Us How Much Schoolwork Is Worth"
Being Not-Rich at UM guide
Jennifer Meer, The Michigan Daily, "University ranks last in economic mobility and diversity among elite public colleges"
Gregor Aisch, Larry Buchanan, Amanda Cox, & Kevin Quealy, The New York Times, "Some Colleges Have More Students From the Top 1 Percent Than the Bottom 60. Find Yours"
Katelyn O'Brien Mar 15, 2019
We chat with Katelyn O'Brien, a pipefitter working for a shipbuilding company in Virginia. Katelyn is a trans woman with a degree in History and an adorable cat named Merlyn—she's also, by her own admission, a comic book nerd. We talk all about how she came to work as a pipefitter out of college and what exactly goes into a day's work doing this difficult and quite dangerous job. We also have a frank and really important conversation about the struggles LGBT workers face in the workplace—from everyday harassment on the job site to systemic and legislative discrimination. And we talk about the work Katelyn and others have been doing to fight against these barriers to equality and acceptance.
Katelyn's Facebook group, Positive Transgender Media Representation
Laura Vozzella, Washington Post, "Va. House Panel Kills Bills to Ban Anti-LGBT Discrimination in Housing and Jobs"
Graham Moomaw, Richmond Times-Dispatch, "Va. House Republicans Let LGBT Non-Discrimination Bills Die without a Hearing"
Kai Isaiah-Jamal, Broadly, "100 Easy Ways to Make the World Better for Trans People"
National Center for Transgender Equality, "Employment" & "Non-Discrimination Laws"
JUSTIA, "Transgender Discrimination in the Workplace"
Derek Clegg, "I Have You"
Mini-cast: Worked to Death at FedEx (w/ Joe Allen) Mar 11, 2019
We talk with labor writer and activist Joe Allen about his recent Jacobin article on the death of FedEx freight driver William L. Murphy.
Joe's Facebook and Wikipedia page
Joe Allen, Jacobin, "Worked to Death at FedEx"
Joe Allen, The Package King: A Rank and File History of United Parcel Service
Amanda Woods, New York Post, "FedEx Worker Froze to Death Outside an Illinois Delivery Hub"
Mini-cast: TV for the Working Class (w/ Naomi & Nick from Means TV) Mar 04, 2019
We talk with Naomi Burton and Nick Hayes, the young socialist brains behind Means Media, the Detroit-based leftist media cooperative that produced the viral campaign video for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and is about to launch a "Netflix for the left."
Means Media website, Twitter, and Facebook page
SIGN UP FOR MEANS TV!
Meagan Day, Jacobin, ""Trust the Rich Less, Trust Each Other More": An Interview with Nick Hayes and Naomi Burton"
Rick Sturgill Feb 28, 2019
We chat with Rick Sturgill, a retired coal miner and electrician from Letcher County in South East Kentucky. Rick is a straight shooter, he calls things like he sees them. And, having spent most of his life around coal, he has a lot of sobering things to say about working in coal and about the far-reaching effects the coal industry has had on cities and towns in Appalachia, on politics and the environment, and especially on the lives of coal miners and their families.
Trillbilly Workers Party Twitter page and Patreon
Tom Sexton, The Baffler, "Going in for the Shill"
Tarence Ray, Popula, "A Way Out"
Elizabeth Catte, The Guardian, "Passive, Poor, and White? What People Keep Getting Wrong about Appalacia"
Elizabeth Catte, The Guardian, "Why 'Trump Country' Isn't as Republican as You Think"
Lou Martin, The Conversation, "Invoking Noble Coal Miners Is a Mainstay of American Politics"
James Green, LitHub, "A Day in the Life of a West Virginia Coal Miner"
Livia Gershon, JSTOR, "The Rise and Fall of Coal Miners' Unions"
Elyssa East, The Guardian, "Black Lung Disease Is Still Killing Miners. The Coal Industry Won't Hear It"
Blue Dot Sessions, "Low Coal Camper"
Mini-cast: Alienated Labor (w/ Katy Slininger) Feb 25, 2019
We talk with Katy Slininger about her latest piece for Popula magazine, "Alienated Labor," in which she explains--in heartbreaking detail--why it became impossible for her to continue working for the postal service once she got pregnant.
Katy's Twitter page
Mini-cast: Graduate Workers & Open Bargaining (w/ Jared Sacks & Buka Okoye) Feb 20, 2019
We talk with Jared Sacks and Buka Okoye, two members of the Columbia grad union (GWC-UAW Local 2110 Graduate Workers of Columbia) about graduate student-workers' fight for more transparent, democratic representation.
Jared Sacks, Columbia Spectator, "What Is "Open Bargaining" and How Will it Transform Columbia?"
Graduate Workers of Columbia website, Twitter, and Facebook page
Columbia Academic Workers for a Democratic Union website, Twitter, and Facebook page
Evan Montgomery Feb 20, 2019
We chat with Evan Montgomery, a third-generation grain farmer on the North Dakota side of the Red River Valley. Evan is also a trained musician--he has a degree in music, he sings classical music--and we talk all about his life growing up on the farm, getting into music, and finding a way to strike a balance and pursue both of those passions at once. We also talk about this year's "harvest from hell" and about the serious challenges facing family farmers today—from changing climate, to giant agribusiness conglomerates, to the dire struggle to find and train the next generation of farmers. And we talk about why Evan does what he does and why he wouldn't have it any other way.
Evan's Twitter and Instagram pages
Jones Boat Facebook page (the Fargo-based choir Evan sings in)
Stetson Payne, Tulsa World, "State of Farming": Number of Family Farms Decreasing, While Average Farmer Is Aging"
Andrea Stone, National Geographic, "Family Farmers Hold Keys to Agriculture in a Warming World"
Elizabeth Kucinich, Huffington Post, "Monsanto: The Enemy of Family Farmers"
NDSU Concert Choir, "There Is Sweet Music"
NDSU Concert Choir, "Avinu Malkeinu"
Mini-cast: Every Little Bit Counts (w/ Carl Slone) Feb 13, 2019
Carl Slone is a coal miner who lives in Whitesburg, Kentucky, a town of about 1,200 people. He's never protested before. But when he saw a local establishment publicly shaming poor people in his community, he decided to do something about it.
Tweet about Carl's protest
Mini-cast: The "Skills Gap" Is Bullshit (w/ Meagan Day) Feb 12, 2019
We talk with DSA member and Jacobin staff writer Meagan Day about her recent article "The 'Skills Gap' Was a Lie"
Meagan Day's Jacobin author page
Wright State Strike Feb 08, 2019
Faculty have been on strike at Wright State University for over two weeks now, and things are coming to a head. In this special episode, we check in with Doctor Noeleen McIlvenna, a professor of early American history at Wright State and Executive Committee member of the AAUP-WSU. We talk about the strike and how the university's underhanded attempts to undercut the union fit into the larger history of the corporatization of higher education. We also talk about the incredible show of support faculty have received from students, the community, and others from around the state.
AAUP-WSU website, Facebook, and Twitter
Working People Bonus Episode w/ Trevor Griffey
Max Filby, Dayton Daily News, "WSU Fails to Reach Faculty Union Contract Deal, Board Implements Last Best Offer"
Max Filby, Dayton Daily News, "Wright State Students Protest in Support of Faculty on Strike"
Emma Pettit, The Chronicle of Higher Education, "'Talking Is Over': Hundreds of Professors Strike at Wright State U."
Emma Pettit, The Chronicle of Higher Education, "As Faculty Strike Wears On, Wright State Seeks 'Long Term' Adjuncts in More than 80 Fields"
John Warner, Inside Higher Ed, "WTF Is Going On at Wright State?"
Guinea Worms, "Hello from Ohio"
Mini-cast: Amazon, Trump, & the NY Prison Boom (w/ Ross Barkan) Feb 06, 2019
We talk to journalist Ross Barkan about his recent article in Gothamist, "Amazon's NYC Campus, Donald Trump's Rise, & NY's Prison Boom All Share A Common Ancestor"
Ross Barkan's Twitter
OC Sheraton/Hilton Workers Jan 31, 2019
Represented by UNITE HERE Local 11, workers at hotels in Southern California have been taking bold and necessary actions to secure a contract that addresses workers' serious concerns: from receiving fairer wages that can actually allow workers to keep up with high costs of living, to mitigating the constant threat of sexual harassment and abuse workers in these hotels face every day, especially considering that the vast majority of hotel and hospitality workers are women, many of whom have to work on their own, isolated. Thanks to our friend Glynndana Shevlin (Season 1, Episode 2), we were able to talk about all of this with Maria Isabel, a hotel maid, and Ada Tamayo, an organizer for UNITE HERE Local 11. The four of us sat down and had an important chat about the struggles hotel workers face in Anaheim and elsewhere.
UNITE HERE Local 11 website, Twitter, and Facebook
Gabriel San Román, OC Weekly, "Hotel Wars: Lawsuits, Protests, and Raises Turn Up Heat in OC, LBC"
Michael Sainato, The Guardian, "California Hotel Workers 'On the Brink' of Joining Wave of Strikes"
Michael Sainato, The Guardian, "'It Was Like Hell': California Hotel Workers Break Their Silence on Abuse"
Beige Lucianao-Adams, LA Weekly, "California's Labor Resistance"
Jeong Park, The Orange County Register, "Anaheim Councilman Arrested in Civil Disobedience with Protesting Hotel Workers"
Margot Roosevelt, The Orange County Register, "Orange County Portrait: Low Wages, Child Poverty, Costly Housing"
Alex N. Press, Jacobin, "Sexual Harassment is Everybody's Problem"
Shalayne Pulia, InStyle, "6 Women Making Sure Workplace Equality Isn't Just for the C-Suite"
Cordero, "Heart in Me"
#RedForEd - UTLA Strike Jan 22, 2019
Working People is back for Season Two! In this #RedForEd special, we talk to Trevor, Jesenia, and Danielle, three teachers and members of United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) who are currently joining their brothers and sisters in a historic strike across the LA Unified School District.
UTLA Twitter and Facebook
UTLA website
WeArePublicSchools.Org
Sarah Jaffe, The Nation, "The Radical Organizing That Paved the Way for LA's Teachers' Strike"
Jared Sacks, ROAR, "The Radical Worker Politics of the Los Angeles Teacher Strike"
Meagan Day & Micah Uetricht, Jacobin, "A Mighty Wind"
Lois Weiner, Jacobin, "What LA Teachers Have Already Won"
Lisa Ryan, The Cut, "Why 32,000 Teachers Are on Strike in Los Angeles"
David Dayen, In These Times, "'Welcome to the Revolution': LA Teachers Strike Pits Working-Class Power Against Privatization"
Max Rivlin-Nadler & Scott Heins, Splinter, "On the Picket Line With the LA Substitute Teachers Who Refused to Scab"
Cesar Hernandez, LA Taco, " 'Tacos for Teachers' Seeks to Feed Teachers if They Hit the Picket Lines"
Mindseye, "Up and Go"
Benjamin Banger, "New Horizons"
GM Layoffs - Solidarity Dec 15, 2018
2018: On the Monday after Thanksgiving, General Motors workers in the U.S. and Canada learned of the company's announcement that it would be idling five plants and cutting around 14,000 jobs. In this urgent, multi-episode series, we will be talking to workers at plants in Ohio, Michigan, and Canada. In the fourth and final part of this series, we speak with activists, workers, scholars, and writers to get a range of perspectives on the GM layoffs, the plight of workers in the U.S. and beyond, and what we need to do--all of us--to collectively fight back against exploitation and to build a better world.
Guests: Will Bunch, Sherry Linkon, Dnitra Landon, Abdul El-Sayed, Herman Rosenfeld, Cynthia Thornton
We are sending a huge, heartfelt thanks to all the workers, organizers, and activists who helped us put this series together. Special thanks to: Steve Maher, Cheryl J, and Kyle Minton.
Neal E. Boudette, New York Times, "G.M. to Idle Plants and Cut Thousands of Jobs as Sales Slow"
CBS News, "GM Layoff Announcement Sparks Outrage - and Stock Increase"
Leyland Cecco & Mike Elk, The Guardian, "'No Jobs on the Horizon': Workers Respond to General Motors' Decision to Close Plant"
Ron Jacobs, CounterPunch, "The Legacy of Lordstown"
Will Bunch, The Inquirer, "In 1970s, Workers at this GM Plant Tried to Reinvent the American Dream. Instead, They Watched It Fade Away"
Sherry Linkon & John Russo, CityLab, "With GM Job Cuts, Youngstown Faces a New 'Black Monday'"
Sam Gindin, The Bullet, "The Auto Crisis: Placing Our Own Alternative on the Table"
Kim Scipes (ed), Building Global Labor Solidarity in a Time of Accelerating Globalization
Leslie Barrett, WFMJ, "'Drive It Home' Campaign Continuing to Help Save GM Lordstown Plant"
Good Jobs Nation website
#Shame Campaign website
Southpaw Michigan website
Menhirs of Er Grah, "Some Days"
Marissa Anderson, "Cloud Corner"
Cletus Got Shot, "Work These Hands"
Tan Low, "Road Song"
Rachel Mason, "Rebel Angels"
Scott Holmes, "Together We Stand"
GM Layoffs - Oshawa Dec 12, 2018
2018: On the Monday after Thanksgiving, General Motors workers in the U.S. and Canada learned of the company's announcement that it would be idling five plants and cutting around 14,000 jobs. In this urgent, multi-episode series, we will be talking to workers at plants in Ohio, Michigan, and Canada. In Part IIII, we talk to Cory Weir and Rebecca Keetch, two workers at the award-winning GM plant in Oshawa, Ontario. We talk about the pivotal role Oshawa has played in Canadian labor history and about what workers there (and everywhere) need to do to fight back against this system of corporate-assured destruction.
Amara McLaughlin, CBC News, "'They Are Not Closing Our Damn Plant': Union Vows Fight as GM Plans Oshawa Closing"
The Globe & Mail, "History of General Motors in Oshawa"
Robert Collison & Sturla Gunnarsson (directors), Final Offer
Sam Gindin, The Canadian Auto Workers: The Birth and Transformation of a Union
Sam Gindin, The Bullet, "Big Three Bargaining: Different Ways of Making History"
Wasaru, "Blurred Foam"
Marwood Williams, "All Hail the Corporation"
GM Layoffs - Hamtramck/Pontiac Dec 06, 2018
2018: On the Monday after Thanksgiving, General Motors workers in the U.S. and Canada learned of the company's announcement that it would be idling five plants and cutting around 14,000 jobs. In this urgent, multi-episode series, we will be talking to workers at plants in Ohio, Michigan, and Canada. In Part II, we talk to Lilly and Sean, Tier 2 and Tier 3 workers at the GM plant in Hamtramck, and we talk to Beau, a salaried worker at the GM Metal Center in Pontiac, about the announced closure of the historic Hamtramck plant and the ripple effects this announcement is having for workers across Michigan.
Norb Franz, Macomb Daily, "GM to Shutter Warren Transmission and Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plants, Cut 14,700 Jobs"
John Gallagher, Detroit Free Press, "GM Hamtramck Plant Closing Reopens Old Controversy in Detroit"
Detroit News, "The GM Strike that Changed the U.S. Workplace"
Heather Ann Thompson, Whose Detroit?: Politics, Labor, and Race in a Modern American City
Thomas J. Sugrue, The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit
Daniel J. Clark, Disruption in Detroit: Autoworkers and the Elusive Postwar Boom
Great White Buffalo, "Detroit"
The Tall Pines, "Fire in my Bones"
GM Layoffs - Lordstown Dec 05, 2018
2018: On the Monday after Thanksgiving, General Motors workers in the U.S. and Canada learned of the company's announcement that it would be idling five plants and cutting around 14,000 jobs. In this urgent, multi-episode series, we will be talking to workers at plants in Ohio, Michigan, and Canada. In Part I, we talk to Rochelle Carlisle, Tommy Wolikow, and Nanette Senters, three GM workers from the iconic GM plant in Lordstown, OH.
Jamie L. LaReau, Detroit Free Press, "UAW Fights to Save Detroit, Ohio Plants, Braces for Tough Contract Talks"
Tim Rudell, WOSU Radio, "Workers, Neighbors and Friends Gather for GM Lordstown Vigil"
Breath Before the Plunge, "Black & Blue"
Derek Clegg, "The Mountains Will Collide"
Cletus Got Shot, "Charlie Jones"
Em Nov 22, 2018
In this episode, we talk to Em, an Alaskan native who is now living and working in Jackson, Wyoming. Em is a fellow Millennial, and we talk about some of the funny and awful things that so many people in our generation have in common, like student debt, working multiple crappy jobs at once, and being stressed out from the time we're in elementary school because we're told we have to pile on more classes and extracurriculars and whatever to make ourselves stand out. But Em has also had so many unique experiences, and her life has taken so many twists and turns. We talk about growing up in Alaska, and we talk about dealing with the kids and teachers at school who always singled her out for being Native. We talk about her home in the city, and about the village where her Inupiaq relatives live. We talk about cheerleading and boyfriends. And we talk about all the jobs Em has had, from serving customers and cleaning and singing at a Cold Stone creamery to working all-day shifts in the Alaskan mines. We talk about the sexist crap she and other women had to put up with at the mine. And we talk about her move to Wyoming and her path to getting more involved in leftist politics and organizing, which ultimately led to her joining the Wyoming Red Star Coalition. The Red Star Coalition is a Marxist organization with chapters in four cities around the sparsely populated state of Wyoming, and they are doing really interesting and important work, pushing for workplace and tenant unions, talking with and addressing the needs of working-class folks in Wyoming who, like so many of us, have been left behind.
Wyoming Red Star Coalition Facebook page and Twitter page
Handmade Moments, "Junkie"
Cletus Got Shot, "Singin' Just the Same"
Cletus Got Shot, "Mountain Top"
Kai Nov 13, 2018
In this episode, we round off our special two-week series on sex work by talking to Kai, a sex worker and DJ in Atlanta, Georgia. Kai is a wonderful, funny person and, in our chat, he shares some really important insights about different kinds of sex work, how sex workers take care of themselves and each other, and about the disastrous real-life implications the SESTA-FOSTA bills have for sex workers. We also talk to Kai about his life story. We talk about having to move from coast to coast as a kid and make new friends in completely different kinds of cities. We talk about finding friends in different groups, and about being a total band kid. We talk about his time at college, we talk about his job delivering weed on his bike all over the city, and we talk about the time Kai met his first client as a sex worker. And we talk about the crucial need for non-sex-worker ("civilian") allies to speak up in support of sex workers, and to be as loud as possible.
Aja Romano, Vox, "A New Law Intended to Curb Sex Trafficking Threatens the Future of the Internet as We Know It"
Emily McCombs, HuffPost, "'This Bill Is Killing Us': 9 Sex Workers on Their Lives in the wake of FOSTA"
Kitty Stryker, Teen Vogue, "What the FOSTA/SESTA Anti-Sex-Trafficking Bill Means"
Fabian Luis Fernandez, Yale University EliScholar, "Hands Up: A Systematized Review of Policing Sex Workers in the U.S."
Sirin Kale, Broadly-VICE, "Police Are Allegedly Sleeping with Sex Workers Before Arresting Them"
STOP SESTA-FOSTA: stopsesta.org
FRANKIE WAH, "Friday Is Not a Day to Have Fun"
Krackatoa, "Running with Wise Fools"
Visager, "Overgrown Labyrinth"
BONUS EPISODE #3B - Alex Andrews Nov 09, 2018
In Part II of our bonus episode in this special Working People series on sex work, we chat to the amazing Alex Andrews, an organizer, former sex worker, and co-founder of SWOP Behind Bars, part of the Sex Workers Outreach Project. SWOP Behind Bars "is a national social justice network dedicated to the fundamental human rights of people who face discrimination from the criminal justice system due to the stigma associated with the sex trade." We talk to Alex about what led her to get involved with SWOP Behind Bars and about the vital work they and other sex worker rights groups are doing to protect and advocate for sex workers around the country. And we talk about what allies can do to support sex workers in the era of SESTA-FOSTA.
SWOP Behind Bars website and Twitter account
Caty Simon & Alex Andrews, Tits and Ass, "Activist Spotlight: Alex Andrews on SWOP Behind Bars and Service Work"
More Sex Worker Groups/Organizations…
GLITS (Gays & Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society)
SWOP USA (Sex Workers Outreach Project)
Sex Workers Project
SOAR Institute (Sharmus Outlaw Advocacy & Rights)
DECRIMNOW (A Campaign to Decriminalize Sex Work in DC)
Students 4 Decrim
Respect Sex Workers
Red Light Legal
Coolzey, "Terrorist"
The Womb, "You'll Never Work in this Town Again"
The Gays, "The Community"
Brakhag, "The Strike"
BONUS EPISODE #3A - Kaytlin Bailey Nov 04, 2018
In Part I of our two-part bonus episode on sex work, we chat to the wonderful Kaytlin Bailey, comedian, writer, activist, sex worker, and host of The Oldest Profession, a fantastic, funny, and unapologetic podcast about the lives of sex workers throughout history. Ever since she was in elementary school, Kaytlin has spoken her mind and questioned the validity of social norms, and we talk about how that has shaped her politics, her career in comedy, and her entry into sex work. We talk about Kaytlin's life, her work, the misconceptions people have about sex work, and about fighting back against misogyny.
Kaytlin's Twitter page
The Oldest Profession podcast website and Twitter page
Information about Sound Education conference (Harvard, Nov 1-3)…
Ludwigs Steirische Gaudi, "Flower Polka"
Thorn & Shout, "Name & Noise"
Whore Paint, "This Body"
Ceyenne Doroshow Oct 30, 2018
In this episode, we begin our special two-week series on sex work by talking to the fabulous Ceyenne Doroshow. No description can really do Ceyenne justice, but she is, among other things, a performer, an activist and organizer, a community-based researcher, and a powerful public figure in the trans and sex workers rights' movements. She is the author of the book Cooking in Heels, and the Founder and Executive Director of G.L.I.T.S. (Gays & Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society). We talk about Ceyenne's life, about growing up as a trans woman in a world that was so often unwilling to accept or nurture her. We talk about finding mentors and community in New York City, and about eventually becoming a mentor for others. We talk about the first job where Ceyenne could finally be herself. We talk about being arrested for sex work, and we talk about the countless obstacles that black trans women and trans sex workers face today. And we talk about fighting back against systems of oppression and about the need to build communities out of love and humanity.
G.L.I.T.S. (Gays & Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society) website
Ceyenne's book, Cooking in Heels: A Memoir Cookbook
Amy Zimmerman, The Daily Beast, "The New Law that Puts Transgender Sex Workers in Danger"
StopTransMurders.org
Serena Sonoma, Bustle, "5 Black Trans Women in History Who Paved the Way for Me"
Handmade Moments, "Fighting a Mountain"
The Relatives, "What's Wrong with America?"
Mindseye & Dr. Rinkel, "Ignorance Is Bliss"
Miami Slice, "Solid Gold"
BONUS EPISODE #2A - Trevor Griffey Oct 18, 2018
In Part I of our special two-part BONUS EPISODE on labor, class, and higher education, we chat to Trevor Griffey, writer, historian, and Labor Studies lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles and California State University, Dominguez Hills. Trevor breaks down the insidious, decades-long effort to devalue academic labor at the administrative, legislative, and cultural level, and we talk about the resulting crisis academic workers are facing today and what to do about it.
Link to Trevor's author page at the Labor and Working-Class History Association
Maximillian Alvarez, The Baffler, "Contingent No More"
Maximillian Alvarez, The Baffler, "Laboring Academia"
Eric Anthony Grollman, Conditionally Accepted, "Invisible Labor: Exploitation of Scholars of Color in Academia"
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, "Dancing Backwards in High Heels"
Marc Bousquet, How the University Works
Louise Morley, Times Higher Education, "Working-Class Academics Still Face Discrimination"
Kevin Birmingham, The Chronicle of Higher Education, "The Great Shame of Our Profession"
Alison Mountz, Anne Bonds, Becky Mansfield, Jenna Loyd, Jennifer Hyndman, Margaret Walton-Roberts, Ranu Basu, Risa Whitson, Roberta Hawkins, Trina Hamilton, Winifred Curran, ACME, "For Slow Scholarship: A Feminist Politics of Resistance through Collective Action in the Neoliberal University"
Christopher Newfield, American Association of University Professors, "Avoiding the Coming Higher Ed Wars"
Phillip Gross, "Cámping"
The Gays, "Funk Friend"
John Buckley Oct 18, 2018
In this episode, we talk to John Buckley, a lecturer in the English Department at the University of Michigan. John is a member of the lecturer's union at U of M, the Lecturers' Employee Organization (LEO), and was on the bargaining team throughout the effort to negotiate a better contract with the University in 2017/18. We talk about the precarious situation of so many academic workers and what it tells us about the state of higher education today. We also talk about John's family history and about growing up in Michigan always feeling, as he puts it, "on the bubble." We talk about our religious upbringings and we talk about being a theater geek and almost joining the military. We also talk about the winding road that took him to the West coast, teaching in different kinds of schools and programs, and that eventually led him back to his alma mater in Michigan.
University of Michigan Lecturers' Union website
Phil Christman, Inside Higher Ed, "A Season of Strikes"
Heather Ann Thompson, Detroit Free Press, "A Sad State of Affairs for Lecturers at the University of Michigan"
Grace Kay, Michigan Daily, "LEO Members Ratify New Contract after Months of Bargaining"
Working People goes to Harvard…
Sound Education conference website (https://www.soundeducation.fm/)
Ministry of Ideas podcast (https://www.ministryofideas.org/)
Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall" The Prefab Messiahs, "College Radio"
Snake Oil Salesmen, "Sierra Nevada Torpedo"
The Mint Chicks, "Life Will Get Better Someday"
Vickie Shannon Allen Oct 09, 2018
In this episode, which is a little longer than our typical episodes, we talk to Vickie Shannon Allen, a native Texan and a warehouse worker at an Amazon fulfillment center, where she sustained an injury on the job. Vickie's struggle with Amazon to get the medical treatment she deserves is ongoing. As we discuss in the interview, it has been hell for her, and we are asking listeners to help us share her story and hold Amazon accountable. We talk with Vickie about her experience working for Amazon, but we talk about a lot more, too. We talk about growing up working class in Texas, about going to school hungry, and about the horrific, dehumanizing treatment she and her siblings got from their stepmother. We talk about falling in love for the first time, and we talk about heartbreak. We talk about working as a single mother and raising two boys. We talk about what it really means to fight for your future.
Link to Vickie's GoFundMe fundraiser
Link to Vickie's YouTube channel
International Amazon Workers Voice Facebook page
Michael Sainato, The Guardian, "Accidents at Amazon: Workers Left to Suffer after Warehouse Injuries"
Alex Press, Medium, "$15 Isn't Enough to Empower Amazon's Workers"
Louise Matsakis, WIRED, "Why Amazon Really Raised Its Minimum Wage to $15"
Bryan Menegus, Gizmodo, "Amazon's Aggressive Anti-Union Tactics Revealed in Leaked 45-Minute Video"
Russell Brandom, The Verge, "Amazon Is Selling Police Departments a Real-Time Facial Recognition System"
Les Hayden, "Need"
Brother Timothy Clark, "Are You Ready?"
Silicon Transmitter, "Downfall"
Thorn & Shout, "Farewell"
BONUS EPISODE - Rob Larson Sep 21, 2018
In our first BONUS EPISODE of the season, we chat to Rob Larson, writer and professor of economics at Tacoma Community College, and take a deep dive into his new book, Capitalism vs. Freedom: The Toll Road to Serfdom. We also talk about Eugene Debs and the "Real America," Jeff Bezos's twitchy eye, pick-up basketball, and how workers can pull together to fight off and fight back against the depressing, daily realities of our un-free lives in this rigged system.
Link to Rob's new book, Capitalism vs. Freedom: The Toll Road to Serfdom
AFT Washington homepage
Along Came Polly basketball scene
Coolzey, "Fed Up"
Jimmie Oder, "My Soul Is Sold"
Six Time Users, "Divide"
Sara Sep 10, 2018
In this episode, we chat with Sara, a DACA recipient and telemarketer in Las Vegas. Sara is not the kind of person you can put labels on—you definitely can't put her in any one box. And that seems to have been written into her life story from the beginning. We talk about what it was like growing up in Southern California, moving between cities with different demographics, different cultures—cities where she had different types of friend groups and where she explored different parts of herself. We talk about how Sara and her brother had to stick together, especially since their mom had to be out working most of the day. We talk about working in fast food and running a cleaning service, and we talk about the leap of faith Sara and her girlfriend made moving to Las Vegas.
We also talk about what it's been like for Sara to grow up undocumented in the United States. We talk about all the little things Sara and other undocumented folks just can't do in their daily lives, from boarding an airplane to driving too close to the border. And, of course, we talk about what it's been like to be a DACA recipient in our uncertain political moment, when anti-immigrant sentiments and policies tear lives and families apart. Like other working folks, Sara's been through a lot in her life, but it is truly amazing how she doesn't let anything keep her down, and you can hear in her voice how much she loves and appreciates the people and places close to her.
Additional links/info below (more links coming soon)...
Paul Fleming & William Lopez, Huffington Post, "Ending DACA Has Created a Looming Public Health Crisis"
Ariel Ron & Dael Norwood, The Atlantic, "America's Long History of Exploiting Migrant Workers"
Sebastián González De León, In These Times, "For Many Undocumented Workers, There's No Such Thing As a Minimum Wage"
Joe McCarthy & Phineas Rueckert, Global Citizen, "7 Ways You Can Help Undocumented Immigrants Right Now"
For more info about hotel worker actions…
Follow hashtags: #OneJobShouldBeEnough & #ChicagoHotelStrike
Katie Johnston, Boston Globe, "Union Workers to Picket at Seven Marriott-Run Hotels"
Dave Jamieson, Huffington Post, "Thousands of Marriott Workers to Vote on Multi-City Strike"
Mitchell Armentrout & David Struett, Chicago Sun Times, "Thousands of Hotel Workers Go on Strike in Downtown Chicago"
For more info on Disney Resort workers…
See our show notes to Episode #2 (Glynndana Shevlin)
Rebekah Pederson & Glynndana Shevlin, The New York Times, "I Work at the Happiest Place on Earth. Why Can't I Pay My Rent?"
Gabriel San Roman, OC Weekly, "Principal Author of Anaheim's Living Wage Law Says Disney's Not Exempt"
Gabriel San Roman, OC Weekly, "Anaheim Dissolves Disney Subsidies, Declares Peace on Backs of Resort Workers"
Andrew Gumbel, The Guardian, "'Pay a Living Wage': Bernie Sanders Accuses Disney of Dodging Fair Pay"
- Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall" - Chad Crouch, "Wide Eyes"
- Cambriana, "Vegas"
- David Hilowitz, "Scattered Light"
LaDonna Brave Bull Allard Sep 03, 2018
In this special Labor Day episode, we talk to LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota, and one of the founders of the resistance camps where the protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline (#NoDAPL) took place from the spring of 2016 to the winter of 2017. LaDonna is a Native historian who was thrust by history into the role of an activist—her work and bravery have brought hope and courage to people all around the globe. She's an incredible human being and a masterful storyteller. We talk about LaDonna's life, about the struggles of Native tribes, and about the ongoing, violent erasure of the lives and history of Native people in this country, on this continent, and around the world. We talk about the care and wisdom and protection LaDonna always got from her grandmother, and we talk about LaDonna's memories of being torn away from her family and put in foster care as a child. We talk about how she was always made to feel different, an outsider on land that was stolen from her and her ancestors. And we talk about returning home to the Reservation, about learning how to live with the land, and about being a survivor.
**Sacred Stone Village Facebook page
**Sacred Stone Camp Facebook page
For more info about the nationwide Prison Strike...
incarceratedworkers.org
Natasha Lennard, The Intercept, "Prison Strike Organizer Warns: Brutal Prison Conditions Risk 'Another Attica'"
Ed Pilkington, The Guardian, "US Inmates Stage Nationwide Prison Labor Strike Over 'Modern Slavery'"
Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive)
- Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall" - King Kong Ding Dong, "Distant Drums"
Tom Madden Aug 27, 2018
In this episode, we talk to Tom Madden, a native Missourian, a professional plumber, and member of the Plumbers and Pipefitters Union Local 562. We talk about what it was like for Tom and his brothers to grow up in a strict household, and we also talk about some of his wilder days at high school parties. We talk about Tom's father, a professional journalist and labor reporter in St. Louis, and about the huge impression it left on Tom to hear his dad talk about unions and take him and his brothers to worker demonstrations around the city. And we talk about the complex and absolutely vital work plumbers like him do to keep our homes, buildings, and cities functioning.
We also talk about the historic "Vote No on Proposition A" campaign to defeat so-called "right-to-work" legislation in Missouri this month, and about all the work it took from union and non-union workers across the state. We discuss what the threat of right-to-work has meant for workers around Missouri and elsewhere, and what it took for campaigners to reach voters around the state to work around decades of built-up misconceptions about what right-to-work actually is.
Local 562's website
Alexia Fernández Campbell, Vox, "Missouri voters Just Blocked the Right-to-Work Law Republicans Passed to Weaken Labor Unions"
Judy Ancel, Labor Notes, "Why Missouri 'Right to Work' Went Down in Flames"
Lonnie K. Stevans, Review of Law & Economics, "The Effect of Endogenous Right-to-Work Laws on Business & Economic Conditions in the United States: A Multivariate Approach"
Joe Burns, Jacobin, "Don't Take the Boss's Bait"
- Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall" - Dirty Fences, "High School Rip" - Sam Moss, "Working on a Building" - Cletus Got Shot, "Saw Mill"
Angela Prigge Aug 20, 2018
In this episode, we talk to Angela Prigge, who has been a hospitality worker in Hawaii, on the island of Kauai, for 18 years. Angela has lived in Hawaii her whole life, and we talk about her love for her home and her deep family roots there. We talk about how Angela's grandparents moved to Hawaii from the Philippines, how her father and grandfather worked and lived on sugar plantations. We talk about Angela's memories of the bakery her mom worked at in Kauai, and we talk about how her parents instilled in her, from a young age, an appreciation for the necessity and power of unions. We also discuss what it was like to witness firsthand the major changes that have happened to Hawaii's economy, as farming and small businesses gave way to a tourism and hospitality industry that has come to dominate life on the islands. We talk about the ongoing struggles for workers who can hardly afford to live in Hawaii, which has the highest cost of living out of any state in the U.S. And we talk about how Angela, who is on the executive board of her union, UNITE HERE Local 5, and her coworkers are banding together to fight not only for better wages and fair treatment, but for a more dignified and enjoyable life—one that doesn't completely revolve around work and bills.
UNITE HERE Local 5's website
Hawaii News Now ongoing series, "Priced Out of Paradise"
Jed Smith, Stab Magazine, "Priced Out of Paradise: The Reality of Gentrification on the North Shore"
Cultural Survival Quarterly, Issue 24-1, "Problems in Paradise: Sovereignty in the Pacific"
- Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
- Ayla Nereo, "Waves"
- We Is Shore Dedicated, "Home"
- Monplaisir, "First"
Lauren Schandevel Aug 13, 2018
In this episode, we talk to Lauren Schandevel, a low-income student at the University of Michigan who grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Warren, Michigan. Lauren is a really remarkable person, and in our interview we chat about what it was like to grow up in her part of Macomb County, which always seems to crop up every election cycle whenever news outlets want to figure out what's happening in the Rust Belt. We talk about Lauren's experience moving back and forth between worlds, between her working-class home and the school she transferred to, where she took classes and hung out with people from wealthier backgrounds. We talk about school, family, friends, and the ecstatic and dismal pangs of adolescence.
We spend a fair amount of time talking about what it's like being a low-income student attending a public university where the median family income for students' families is over three times what it is for families in Lauren's hometown. And we also talk at length about what Lauren has been doing to bring a class-based analysis to higher education, including starting "Being Not Rich at UM," an open-source guide for low-income students like herself who are trying to navigate college life at UM. We discuss what it means to Lauren, and what it means for class politics in higher education, that this guide went viral, drew national attention, and has even inspired students at other universities to author similar guides.
#RealCollege
Christopher Newfield, Johns Hopkins University Press, The Great Mistake: How We Wrecked Public Universities & How We Can Fix Them
- Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall" - Cosmo, "No Gods, No Masters" - Steve Combs, "Motown Rehearsal" - Strong Suit, "Derby Day"
Adrienne Aug 06, 2018
In this episode, we talk to Adrienne, a teacher in Michigan, single mother of three, and a grievance officer in her local union. Adrienne is an incredible person whose devotion to caring for others, and whose ability to juggle multiple full-time jobs at once, is astounding. In our conversation, we talk about many facets of Adrienne's remarkable life, including her time growing up in cooperative housing in Lansing and her lifelong love of books and reading, which have always been a refuge for her. We also discuss her family and the the tragic death of her brother, Jamie, whose undiagnosed, lifelong pain shaped Adrienne's decision to become a teacher. We talk about her union work and about why it's so important for others to get involved, now more than ever, in the fight for social and economic justice in the workplace and beyond.
- Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall" - David Szesztay, "80s" - Audiobinger, "Summer Nights" - Love Hustler, "Sinderella (Instrumental)"
Glynndana Shevlin Aug 06, 2018
In this episode, I have the great pleasure of talking with Glynndana Shevlin, a Disney Resort worker and member of UNITE HERE Local 11. We talk about her life, her time working at Disney, and the struggles she and her co-workers face to make ends meet. Disney workers' wages, like the wages of workers around the country, have stagnated as inflation and the cost of living have exploded. While the Walt Disney Company continues to record yearly profits in the billions, the workers who "make the magic" for visitors from all over the world are struggling with homelessness, food insecurity, medical bills, etc. I talk to Glynndana about this and about the ballot initiative in Orange County to raise worker wages. Glynndana is an incredibly lovely person and I was really moved hearing her love for what she does as well as her commitment to ensuring that she and her fellow workers are treated fairly and get the dignity and respect they give to others on a daily basis.
Local 11's website
Union-coalition survey of Disney Resort workers
Daniel Miller, LA Times, "Is Disney Paying It's Share in Anaheim?"
Michelle Chen, The Nation, "Are Disney Workers Having a Hard Time Making Ends Meet?"
Thy Vo, Voice of OC, "Anaheim $18 Minimum Wage Initiative Advances to November Ballot"
- Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall" - Pat Broderick, "Bluebird" - Lobo Loco, "Good Thoughts" - Brock Tyler, "Meeting You There"
Jesus Alvarez Aug 06, 2018
In this inaugural episode of Working People, we talk to Jesus Alvarez: a Mexican immigrant who became a US citizen in 1980; a shy kid who met his wife, Regina, while working at a Sizzler; a life-long Republican voter; a family man; a realtor who, like so many of us, lost just about everything during the Great Recession; a sports-lover with a quirky sense of humor; a devoted father; and an amazing human being who has lived such an interesting, beautiful life.
- Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall" - Lia Nadja, "Soy Como el Espacio" - The Trumpeteers, "Little Wooden Church" - Alvaro Peña, "La Boca Seca"
BTC (Bitcoin) Immutability Society & Culture
Red Table Talk Society & Culture
Stories That Matter History
Document Documentary
Crime in Color Society & Culture
Femmefluence Radio Philosophy
Independents Podcasts
Privacy, Terms of Use & Our Code of Ethics Protecting Content Creators Copyrights