Graduate student-workers at the University of Michigan are on strike for the second time in three years, officially hitting the picket line this week. Speaking to The Michigan Daily, Amir Fleischmann, chair of the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) Contracts Committee, said, "Grad workers are very frustrated. They’re struggling to pay rent. They’re struggling to afford childcare. They lack access to gender-affirming care. And I think we’re saying enough is enough. The University needs to give us a fair contract now.” On top of that, the University of Michigan administration is once again seeking to weaponize the courts to end the strike, filing an Unfair Labor Practice Charge against the union, claiming that the strike violates the university's existing contract with the union. In this urgent mini-cast, we talk with Alejo Stark, a grad worker and rank-and-file member of GEO, to get an update on the strike, the response from the administration, and what listeners can do to show support for GEO and its members.  Disclaimer: Max is a former GEO member and earned his PhDs from the University of Michigan.  Additional links/info below... GEO website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram  GEO Strike Fund  Miles Anderson & Matthew Shanbom, The Michigan Daily, "GEO Commences Strike Against UMich at 10:24 a.m." Meredith Bruckner, Click On Detroit, "University of Michigan Files Unfair Labor Practice Charge Against Striking Student Workers" Leah Graham, Barbara Collins, Emma Stein, & Liat Weinstein, The Michigan Daily, "University of Michigan Asks Court to Issue Injunction to Halt Graduate Student Strike" 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

Things are getting very dark in Florida, and educators at all levels have found themselves on the frontlines of a reactionary political crusade led by Republican governor Ron DeSantis. "As the new semester began," Florida-based journalist Michael Sainato recently reported, "teachers throughout Florida were faced with new state laws strictly limiting curricula—prompting schools to remove droves of books from their classrooms and libraries for fear of being in violation of the draconian but opaque new laws. An already-chilling reality gripping the third most populous state is getting even chillier in the wake of controversial legislation such as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill and the Stop Woke Act, which both went into effect in July 2022." What is it like teaching in DeSantis's Florida today? For those who haven't already fled the state or left the profession altogether, what do these sweeping, draconian policy changes translate to on the day-to-day level for educators, and how can we stand in solidarity with them? In this episode, we talk with Philip Belcastro and Brennen Pickett, two public high school English teachers and union members in St. Petersburg, Florida, and the hosts of the PCTA FYRE podcast.   Additional links/info below... PCTA FYRE podcast (listen and subscribe) Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram  Kerry Sheridan, WUSF, "Tallahassee Isn't Asking What Teachers Think. So They Started a Podcast" Michael Sainato, The Real News Network, "‘It’s Disrupted All of My Lesson Plans’: Florida Ramps Up Book Bans, Censorship" Michael Sainato, The Real News Network, "Florida’s Racist and Anti-LGBTQ Bills Are Already Having a Chilling Effect" McKenna Schueler, Orlando Weekly, "All the Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws Being Proposed in Florida — And How You Can Fight Back" McKenna Schueler, Orlando Weekly, "‘This Is Our Future’: UCF Students Join Statewide Student Protest of DeSantis’ ‘Dystopian’ Education Policies" Ariel Schiller, WTXL Tallahassee, "Senate Bill 256 Would Change Florida's Unions" Fabiola Cineas, Vox, "Ron DeSantis’s War on “Woke” in Florida Schools, Explained" 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

At colleges and universities across the country, a heated battle is playing out right now over workers' right to organize and have a say over how the institutions they keep afloat with their labor are run. From graduate student-worker unionization efforts and strikes at Temple University, the University of California, Columbia University, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern University, Northeastern University, the University of Chicago, and Indiana University, to faculty strikes (and near-strikes) at the University of Illinois at Chicago, The New School, Howard University, etc., to workers across the higher ed sector striking in the UK, the academic labor movement is one of the most explosive sites of labor struggle right now. Meanwhile, the administrative class is working overtime to not only slow down this movement, but to squash it altogether. As we speak, full-time and adjunct faculty at Rutgers University are prepared to strike for the first time in school history after months and months of bad-faith bargaining and union-busting from the university administration; at the same time, the Duke University administration has not only refused to acknowledge its graduate student-workers' right to unionize, but it has vowed to go to the National Labor Relations Board in the hopes of stripping that right from graduates at all private universities.  In this panel episode, we talk with worker-organizers from Duke and Rutgers about the struggles taking place at their institutions and across higher ed. Panelists include: Matt Thomas, a PhD student in the English Department at Duke University and co-chair of the Duke Graduate Student Union; Kristina Mensik, a PhD student in the Political Science Department at Duke University and a member of the Duke Graduate Student Union; Bryan Sacks, an adjunct professor of Religion and Philosophy at Rutgers and vice president of the Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union (PTLFC-AAUP-AFT); Todd Wolfson, associate professor of Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers and general vice president of Rutgers AAUP-AFT Additional links/info below... Duke Graduate Student Union website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union website and Twitter page Rutgers AAUP-AFT website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram Higher Ed Labor United (HELU) website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram Matt's Twitter page Kristina's website and Twitter page Todd's faculty page and Twitter page Alex Press, Jacobin, "Duke University Is Trying to Turn Back Time on Graduate Worker Unions" Deepa Kumar, Truthout, "One of US’s Largest Public Universities Could See First Strike in Its 257 Years" Nancy Solomon, Gothamist, "With 94% Vote, Rutgers Faculty Tells Union Leaders They Can Call a Strike" Indigo Olivier, Teen Vogue, "Graduate Unions: Why Student Workers at University of California, Temple, More Are Striking" Dave Kamper, Labor Notes, "What’s Fueling the Graduate Worker Union Upsurge?" 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

In October of last year, over 100 workers represented by five labor unions—including production, distribution, advertising, and accounts receivable staff—walked off the job on an unfair labor practice strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The strike began after the newspaper's management, Block Communications, which is owned by the Block family, cut off health insurance for employees on Oct. 1. As Michael Sainato reports at The Guardian, "The strike is unfolding in a US media industry that has seen widespread layoffs over the past decade with newspapers hit especially hard. Workers at the Post-Gazette have been working without a union contract since March 2017, claiming they haven’t received any pay raises in 16 years."  Workers are approaching their sixth month on strike, and it has been a long, ugly fight. This past weekend, according to a press release from The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, "A Pittsburgh Post-Gazette scab truck driver assaulted two striking workers at a South Side picket line late Saturday night. The unprovoked assault sent one striker to the hospital with a broken jaw, which required surgery. Both workers were stripped of their health insurance by actions of the PG." In this episode, we talk with Steve Mellon, a veteran multimedia journalist and staff photographer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, whose work has been featured in The New York Times, Fortune, Forbes, Time, and USA Today. We talk with Steve about his career in journalism, how the industry has changed over the past 30 years, what it's been like to be on strike for the past five months, and what we can all do to help.  Additional links/info below... Steve's Twitter and Website Donate to Support Striking Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Workers The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram The Pittsburgh Union Progress website, Twitter page, and Instagram Steve Mellon, University of Pittsburgh Press, After the Smoke Clears: Struggling to Get By in Rustbelt America Michael Sainato, The Guardian, "Pittsburgh Newspaper Workers Go on Strike Over Unfair Labor Practice" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Striking Workers Need Our Help to Keep Fighting in 2023" Jamie Wiggan, Pittsburgh City Paper, "Striking Worker Struck in the Face as Post-Gazette Labor Angst Spills Over" Jordana Rosenfeld, Pittsburgh City Paper, "Judge Finds Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Management Violated Workers' Rights" 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

While there are some stronger and broader laws in particular states, there is currently no federal standard defining, let alone outlawing, workplace bullying if the case does not involve harassment or discrimination of a member of a “protected status group” based on their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability. And yet, according to a 2021 survey commissioned by the Workplace Bullying Institute, 30% of adult Americans say they are currently being bullied or have experienced bullying at work, and that number jumps up to 39% for the currently employed Americans who were surveyed. That’s not a small, insignificant problem. That’s a lot of the working population. And the results also show that instances of bullying have actually increased in recent years with the expansion of remote work. But advocates are pushing legislators in different states to strengthen laws to protect workers from bullying in the workplace, and there are signs of hope concerning a bill in Oregon that would do just that. In this mini-cast, we speak with Misty Orlando, who has been the primary grassroots lobbyist for the bill, as well as Dr. Jennifer Fraser, author of The Bullied Brain, and Jerry Carbo, president of the National Workplace Bullying Coalition and professor of management at the Grove College of Business at Shippensburg University. Additional links/info below... Misty's Twitter page Jennifer's website and Twitter page National Workplace Bullying Coalition website, Twitter page, and Facebook page Dr. Jennifer Fraser, Rowman & Littlefield, The Bullied Brain: Heal Your Scars and Restore Your Health  KMUZ, Willamette Wake Up, "Workplace Psychological Safety Act: Combating Bullying in the WorkPlace" Jefferson Public Radio, "Oregon Legislators Urged to Support Workplace Psychological Safety Act" Maximillian Alvarez, Breaking Points, "Max Alvarez: A DEADLY, Silent Epidemic of Workplace Abuse is Growing" Working People, "Happy Birthday, Evan (w/ Amy Chamberlin & Jana Murphy)" 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

We hosted another Working People live show on Feb. 22 in New York City, in collaboration with the Action Builder / Action Network team and The People's Forum. In this panel discussion, introduced by Amazon Labor Union president Chris Smalls, Max speaks with worker-organizers from around the country about why they and their coworkers decided not to quit their jobs but to commit to improving their workplaces, what the day-to-day work of organizing looks like, and how you—yes, you—can get involved and help grow the labor movement. Panelists include: Vince Quiles of Home Depot Workers United in Philadelphia; Tafadar Sourov of Laborers Local 79 in NYC; Sarah Beth Ryther of Trader Joe's United in Minneapolis; and Riley Fell of Starbucks Workers United in Baltimore.  Additional links/info below... Vince's Twitter page and TikTok  Home Depot Workers United Twitter page Laborers Local 79 website, Twitter page, and Facebook page Trader Joe's United website, Twitter page, and Instagram  Trader Joe’s United Solidarity Fund  Riley's Instagram  Starbucks Workers United website, Twitter page, and Instagram Action Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Action Builder website The People's Forum website, Twitter page, and Facebook page Amazon Labor Union website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram Working People, "Vince Quiles" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "He Tried to Organize Home Depot's First Union. Now He's Unemployed" Jeff Schuhrke & Sarah Beth Ryther, Jacobin, "Trader Joe’s Workers Have Won Their First Unions in America" Working People, "Alex P." Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "This NYC Construction Union Is Reaching Out to Undocumented and Non-Union Workers. The Bosses Don’t Like It" Working People, "New York Is a Union Town (w/ Chaz Rynkiewicz)" Ashley Bishop, The Nation, "Immigrant Construction Workers Fight Back Against Exploitation" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "The Historic, Youthful, Rank-and-File Movement to Unionize Starbucks" Maximillian Alvarez, Breaking Points, "Starbucks Leads Corporate CRIME WAVE To Crush Union Workers" 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

The historic union election victory at the JFK8 Amazon warehouse on Staten Island sent shockwaves throughout the US and beyond, but New York is not the only place Amazon workers are organizing. In Moreno Valley, California, workers at the ONT8 warehouse have been doing the painstaking work of organizing for years, and now they are attempting to unionize with the independent Amazon Labor Union, facing the same union-busting playbook from Amazon management that workers in Staten Island, Bessemer, Chicago, etc. have faced. We talk with Nannette Plascencia, who has worked at Amazon since 2015 and has led the unionization effort at ONT8, and Ivan Baez, a member of the union organizing committee and a former ONT8 employee who was recently fired in a suspected act of retaliation for his organizing activity.   Additional links/info below... Amazon Workers United4Change (ONT8) Instagram  GoFundMe: Amazon Workers United4Change (ONT8)  Amazon Labor Union website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram Christopher Salazar, The Frontline Observer, "Anti-Union Campaign at Amazon ONT 8 Aims to Silence and Interrogate Amazon Workers, Says United 4 Change Leader" Noam Scheiber & Karen Weise, The New York Times, "Amazon Labor Union, With Renewed Momentum, Faces Next Test" Suhauna Hussain, The Los Angeles Times, "Amazon Union Push at Moreno Valley Warehouse Stalls" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "The NLRB Ruled in Favor of Amazon Union Organizers. What's Next?"  Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Fired Amazon Union Organizer: 'We're Not Able to Feed Ourselves" Working People, "Amazon Labor Union" Working People, "Alicia Johnson" Working People, "Amazon Keeps Firing Union Organizers (w/ Matt Littrell)" 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

From unions in the United States fighting to save our supply chain from the destruction wrought by corporate tycoons, Wall Street vampires, and bought-off politicians, to the National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers (RMT) leading the fight against austerity politics and ruling-class union busting in the United Kingdom, to rail workers with the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) in France joining their compatriots in the streets in a general strike against President Emmanuel Macron's neoliberal attack on the country's beloved pension system, rail workers around the world are fighting different battles in the same war: the class war. In this special international episode, we bring together a panel of rail workers from the US, UK, and France to talk about what they are up against, what the struggle looks like in their corners of the world, and what we can all do to connect those struggles and build international worker solidarity. Panelists include: Ross Grooters of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and Railroad Workers United in the US; Cat Cray and Clayton Clive of the RMT in the UK; Matthieu Bolle-Reddat of the CGT Cheminots Versailles in France.  Additional links/info below... Railroad Workers United website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Ross's Twitter page Maximillian Alvarez, Breaking Points, "Rail Worker EXPOSES Ohio Disaster COVERUP" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "“This Was Preventable”: Railroad Workers Explain How Wall St Caused the East Palestine Derailment" Working People, "East Palestine, Ohio: A Hell of Wall Street's Making (w/ Matt Weaver)" Mel Buer, The Nation, "The Ohio Derailment Catastrophe Is a Case Study in Disaster Capitalism" Kari Lydersen, In These Times, "The Case for Nationalizing the Railroads" RMT Union National Dispute Fund Mel Buer, The Real News Network, "Corporate Billionaires Are Wrecking the Supply Chain. Just Look at the Railroads" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "The Supreme Court Is About to Drag Workers’ Rights Back by Centuries" RMT Union website, Facebook page, and Twitter page, Clayton's Twitter page Manchester South RMT Twitter page Cat's Twitter page Working People, "RMT Strike (w/ Mel Mullings, Clayton Clive, Cat Cray, & Gaz Jackson)" Rupert Pickering, Tribune, "Defend the RMT" Karl Hansen, Jacobin, "Britain’s Rail Workers Are Poised to Strike Against Austerity" Venda Premkumar, Maia Khan, & Rita Mahli, Tribune, "Why We're On Strike" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "New Anti-Union Law in UK Takes Aim at Strike Wave" General Confederation of Labour website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Maximillian Alvarez, Breaking Points, "French Workers STRIKE Against Neoliberal Pension Reforms" Tomek Skomski & Marion Beauvalet, Tribune, "Workers Against Macron" Working People, "The French General Strike (2019-2020)" 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

It’s been nearly two weeks since the catastrophic derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in northeast Ohio thrust the residents of East Palestine and the surrounding area into a non-stop waking nightmare. It will take weeks, months, if not years to appraise the damage of this train derailment on the population, on the rail workers and first responders, and on the environment, but while corporate spokespeople and many in the media try to paint this tragedy as some freak accident, we know better... We know better because we have been listening to railroad workers. In this urgent mini-cast, we discuss the nightmare in East Palestine with Matt Weaver, who has worked on the railroad since 1994, is a member of BMWED-IBT 2624, and was recently chosen to serve as legislative director for his state.  Additional links/info below... Matt's Twitter page Railroad Workers United website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Mel Buer, The Nation, "The Ohio Derailment Catastrophe Is a Case Study in Disaster Capitalism" Watch Matt on The Problem with Jon Stewart: "The Ohio Train Disaster: Corporate Greed & Regulatory Failure" Michael Kaplan, CBS News, "Excess Size Caused Train to Break Down in Days Before It Derailed in Ohio, Employees Say" Mass for Shut Ins podcast, "037 - Workin' on the Railroad with Matt Weaver and Maximillian Alvarez" Working People, "Jay"  Working People, "Countdown to Midnight (w/ Jay & Joe)" Working People, "Where Do Railroad Workers Go from Here? (w/ Jay, Marilee Taylor, John Tormey, & Matt Parker)" 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

We kick off Season Six of the show with a very special episode that is dedicated to Evan Seyfried, his family, and his loved ones. As listeners know from our previous conversations with Evan’s family members and their supporters in the Justice for Evan coalition, Evan was a loving son, brother, boyfriend, 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, according to a lawsuit filed by the Seyfried family, Evan suffered a torturous litany of bullying, harassment, and sabotage at the hands of numerous actors, including management-level supervisors Shannon Frazee and Joseph Pigg, which caused Evan to eventually suffer a “transient episodic break” and take his own life.  We have done our best over the past year and a half to help the Seyfrieds get the justice they deserve, to hold Kroger accountable, and to keep Evan's story from fading from public view. But we also want to make sure that people remember Evan for the whole, beautiful person he was, for the joy and light he brought into the world, and for the love he showed to those who knew him. February 11 is Evan's birthday, and we want to take this opportunity to give some of that love back. With Evan’s beloved girlfriend Amy Chamberlin and dear friend of the Seyfried family and cofounder of the Justice for Evan coalition Jana Murphy, we pay tribute to Evan by celebrating his life and the beautiful mark he left on this world.  Additional links/info below... Justice for Evan Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram Justice for Evan Billboard Campaign  Justice for Evan: Kroger Associates Stories (Facebook group) Kroger Employees (Facebook group) Working People, "Evan Seyfried (w/ Ken, Linda, & Eric Seyfried)" Working People, "For Evan (w/ Ken Seyfried, Eric Seyfried, Amy Chamberlin, Erica Erskine, Jana Murphy, & Austin LiPuma)" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "'Justice for Evan': Supporters Demand Accountability from Kroger after 19-Year Employee Allegedly Bullied by Management to Suicide" Maximillian Alvarez, Breaking Points, "Max Alvarez: A DEADLY, Silent Epidemic of Workplace Abuse is Growing" Maximillian Alvarez, Breaking Points, "Lawsuit Says Kroger Management Bullied Worker Into Taking His Own Life" 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

PLEASE SIGN THIS LETTER TO URGE THE TEXAS CAMPAIGN FOR THE ENVIRONMENT TO RECOGNIZE OUR UNION In this urgent and special episode, Jules sits down with Brandon Marks and Chloe Torres for an in-person interview about the struggle Texas Environmental Workers Union members are facing in their workplace. After 5 months of the Texas Campaign for the Environment (TCE) not recognizing their union, members of the Texas Environmental Workers Union unanimously agreed to a one-day strike, happening February 6th, 2023. Union members are requesting that listeners sign on their letter urging the TCE to recognize their union, and consider donating to their strike fund. The Texas Environmental Workers Union is proudly represented by the Communications Workers of America.   Additional links/info below… · Brandon Marks – Twitter, Facebook · Chloe Torres - Facebook · Updog – South Texas Emo/Ska Bandcamp, Twitter · Texas Environmental Workers Union – Twitter, Website · Communications Workers of America - Website · Texas Campaign for the Environment · DONATE TO THE TEXAS ENVIRONMENTAL WORKERS UNION STRIKE FUND · Video for this episode   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” Updog – “Burned Out”

Earlier this month Working People hit a new milestone: We recorded our first live episode in front of an audience! Organized by the Action Builder / Action Network team and hosted by Busboys & Poets in Washington, DC, we got to speak with Michelle Valentin Nieves of the Amazon Labor Union and Harry Marino of the Major League Baseball Players Association about the incredible worker organizing victories for Amazon workers and minor league baseball players, and about lessons we have learned from an intense year of grassroots struggle that we will be carrying into 2023.  Michelle Valentin Nieves is the Executive Secretary and a founding member of the Amazon Labor Union. Harry Marino is an assistant general counsel at the Major League Baseball Players Association. He is formerly the Executive Director of Advocates for Minor Leaguers, the nonprofit organization that joined with the MLBPA to unionize Minor League players. Harry pitched in the Minor League systems of the Baltimore Orioles and Arizona Diamondbacks.  Since launching in 2012, Action Network tools have helped the Women’s March mobilize huge rallies across the globe, helped the DNC raise millions for candidates and organizations, and more. The Action Builder toolset, launched in 2019, helps dozens of unions and progressive organizations empower leaders and build strong organizing campaigns. Additional links/info below... Michelle's Twitter page Harry's Twitter page Amazon Labor Union website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Major League Baseball Players Association website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Action Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Action Builder website  Advocates for Minor Leaguers website Working People, "Amazon Labor Union" Eric Blanc, Jacobin, "The Workers Behind Amazon’s Historic First Union Explain How They Did It (An Interview with Christian Smalls, Angelika Maldonado, & Michelle Valentin Nieves)" Evan Drellich, The Athletic, "‘Hit the Go Button’: The Six Years that Made Baseball’s Minor League Union" Tipping Pitches, "The Gang Forms a Union (feat. Trevor Hildenberger)" 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

The planet we share, the only home we’ve ever known, has its limits. Its resources, its ability to sustain all life, are not infinite—and every day we are bearing witness to the disastrous consequences of mortgaging our collective future on the false belief that they are. The path we are on now is untenable, something’s going to give. Whether it comes from us or for us, change is coming nonetheless. As an ecologically and civilizationally sustainable alternative to an unsustainable global system driven by the economic necessity of infinite growth, "degrowth" can mean many things and could take many practical forms. But “degrowth” is perhaps less useful as a prescribed solution, a blueprint for the future, than as a frame for thinking and acting differently in the present. “What does degrowth look like in practice? How are different people, in different parts of the world, already embodying and enacting degrowth in their daily lives?” These questions have no single answer, but posing the questions in the first place, and searching for the numerous potential answers, is an essential process that can help us better diagnose what is off balance in our world and what it would take to heal. For the past year, Max has had the honor of participating in a fellowship program for The Maintainers, "a global research network interested in the concepts of maintenance, infrastructure, repair, and the myriad forms of labor and expertise that sustain our human-built world." In Part II of our special two-part episode produced in collaboration with The Maintainers, we meet some of the other members of The Maintainers team as well as the 2022 Maintainers Movement Fellows, and we take a deep dive into their cornerstone group project, "Embodying Degrowth."  Featuring: Andy Russell, Co-Founder and Co-Director of The Maintainers; Lauren Dapena Fraiz, Project Manager for The Maintainers; Liliana Coelho, Community Outreach and Events Coordinator at The Maintainers; Rheanna Chen, 2022 Maintainers Movement Fellow; Tona Rodriguez-Nikl, 2022 Maintainers Movement Fellow; Sam Bennett, 2022 Maintainers Movement Fellow; Leila D. Behjat, 2022 Maintainers Movement Fellow; Maximillian Alvarez, 2022 Maintainers Movement Fellow.   Additional links/info below... The Maintainers website and Twitter page Dec. 15: Embodying Degrowth: An Event with The Maintainers Movement Fellows Working People, "What Could a Worker-Focused Just Transition Look Like? (w/ Megan Milliken Biven, James Hiatt, & Clarke)" The Maintainers: Andy Russell  The Maintainers: Lauren Dapena Fraiz  The Maintainers: Liliana Coehlo   The Maintainers: Rheanna Chen  The Maintainers: Tona Rodriguez-Nikl  The Maintainers: Sam Bennett  The Maintainers: Leila D. Behjat  The Maintainers: Maximillian Alvarez  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

As humanity barrels towards climate catastrophe, the need to envision and build more ecologically sustainable societies and economies becomes more pressing with each passing day. However, our collective imagination is often so limited that it becomes impossible to envision societies and economies that aren't organized around the quest for profit and infinite growth. So, what could a "degrowth" economy look like? To some, "degrowth" is a dirty word signaling a future of austerity that would translate to tremendous losses in jobs and economic stability for working people as societies race to cut back economic production to ward off the worst effects of climate change. To others, “degrowth” might mean the reduction of operations in the most environmentally destructive industries like oil and gas while targeting job growth in other areas like building green infrastructure, environmental cleanup efforts, sustainable farming, and so on. But, as is so often the case, you rarely get to hear what working people on the ground have to say about these issues.  For the past year, Max has had the honor of participating in a fellowship program for The Maintainers, "a global research network interested in the concepts of maintenance, infrastructure, repair, and the myriad forms of labor and expertise that sustain our human-built world." Over the next two episodes, we're going to introduce you all to some of the work that Max and The Maintainers team have been doing for the fellowship. In today’s episode, you’re going to hear one of the interviews Max conducted as part of the cornerstone group project for the 2022 cohort of Maintainers Movement Fellows.  In a special panel discussion about what a worker-centered transition to a more ecologically sustainable economy could look like, Max speaks with: Megan Milliken Biven, a former federal government employee and founder of True Transition, an organization that focuses on speaking directly to oil and gas workers throughout the United States about their working conditions, their training and compensation needs, their hopes for tomorrow's industries, and is working to help create the kind of good-paying jobs and get workers the kind of training they need to transition to a sustainable energy future; James Hiatt, who was an oil refinery worker, lab analyst, and operator for a number of years and now works with the Louisiana Bucket Brigade to promote alternative forms of economic development in Louisiana beyond the grip of the fossil fuel industry; and Clarke, a longtime commercial diver who’s done contract work primarily for oil and gas companies in the Gulf of Mexico for over 15 years, but is now transitioning to other forms of commercial diving work. Additional links/info below... The Maintainers website and Twitter page Dec. 15: Embodying Degrowth: An Event with The Maintainers Movement Fellows  Megan's Twitter page James's Twitter page True Transition website  Louisiana Bucket Brigade website and Twitter page Defend Southwest Louisiana website  Maximillian Alvarez & Leo Lindner, The Real News Network, "I Survived the Rig Explosion that Caused the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. This Is What I Saw" Working People, "Clarke" Megan Milliken Biven, Current Affairs, "Dredging Up the Past" Matthew T. Huber, University of Minnesota Press, Lifeblood: Oil, Freedom, and the Forces of Capital  Darren Dochuk, Basic Books, Anointed with Oil: How Christianity and Crude Made Modern America  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  

After a 3-year saga of stalled contract negotiations between the country’s freight rail carriers and the 12 unions representing over 100,000 railroad workers, "pro-union" President Biden and Congress last week "averted" a national rail shutdown by overriding the democratic will of rail workers and forcing a contract down their throats. So, what happens now? We convene a special all-railroader panel to break down the events of the last week and to discuss where railroad workers and the labor movement go from here.  Panelists include: Jay, a qualified conductor who was licensed to operate locomotives at 19 years old, and who became a qualified train dispatcher before he was 23; Marilee Taylor, who worked on the railroads for over 30 years and retired earlier this year from her post as an engineer for BNSF Railway, but is still an active member of Railroad Workers United; John Tormey, a writer and BWMED-IBT member who works as a track laborer for the commuter rail in Massachusetts; and Matt Parker, a full-time locomotive engineer who’s worked on the railroads for 19 years and also serves part-time as Chairman on the Nevada State Legislative Board of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.  Additional links/info below... Railroad Workers United website, Facebook page, and Twitter page John's Twitter page Matt's Twitter page Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Emily Cochrane, The New York Times, "Biden Signs Legislation to Avert Nationwide Rail Strike" Maximillian Alvarez, Breaking Points, "EXCLUSIVE: Rail Worker SLAMS Biden's "Tyrannical" Move Blocking Strike" Citations Needed, "News Brief: Biden, Congressional Dems Partner with GOP, Media to Discipline Rail Labor" Bad Faith, "Joe Biden ABANDONS Rail Workers" Useful Idiots, "‘Union Joe’ Biden Sells Out Rail Workers" John Tormey, The Baffler, "Known Assailants"  Working People, "Jay"  Working People, "Countdown to Midnight (w/ Jay & Joe)" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Wall Street is Holding the Supply Chain Hostage to Stop a Railroad Workers' Strike"  Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Solidarity with Railroad Workers" Mel Buer, The Real News Network, "Corporate Billionaires Are Wrecking the Supply Chain. Just Look at the Railroads" 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

This time last year, 10,000 workers and UAW members at John Deere waged a massive strike that became a national news story. This year, workers at another industrial manufacturer are spending Thanksgiving carrying on a strike that has lasted for seven months, but has received significantly less national attention. As Mel Buer reports, "CNH Industrial, a multinational corporation, is an agricultural machinery and construction equipment manufacturer with 13 locations across the United States producing its Case and New Holland brands of equipment. Workers at the Burlington and Racine locations are unionized with the United Auto Workers (UAW)—UAW Local 807 and Local 180, respectively—and have been embroiled in contentious contract negotiations with the company since earlier this year. Their previous six-year contract with Case New Holland officially expired on April 30. After weeks of stalled negotiations failed to produce an acceptable contract, over 1,000 workers in Burlington and Racine walked off the job on May 2." As the holidays approach and the weather gets colder, we need to remember the brave workers holding the line and fighting for a better life for themselves and their families. In this mini-cast, we speak with Marcques Derby of UAW Local 807, who has worked at CNH Industrial for 11 years.  Additional links/info below... Marcques's Twitter page GoFundMe: Help The Striking UAW Local 807 CNH Workers  UAW Local 807 Christmas Gift Drive's Community Registry  Flyer for Solidarity Day for UAW 180 (Racine, WI) Mel Buer, The Real News Network, "Case New Holland Workers’ Strike Enters Fifth Month as Negotiations Stall" The Rick Smith Show, "The Working-Class Heroes Tour: CNH Industrial Strike - Racine, WI - 10/31/22" 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

Last month, the world watched with bated breath as Brazilians voted in two rounds of high-stakes elections that pitted far-right president Jair Bolsonaro against former president, leftist hero, and leader of the Workers Party Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. After being elected president in 2018, Bolsonaro and his far-right movement have unleashed a darkness upon Brazil that has had wide-ranging implications for the country, the hemisphere, and the world. From burning the Amazon and overseeing a disastrous response to the COVID pandemic to stoking fascistic violence, conspiracy theories, and a fervor for religious war among his supporters, Bolsonaro and Bolsonarism have been a political wrecking ball slamming against a world already teetering on the edge of disaster. And that is why so many around Brazil and around the world celebrated when Lula defeated Bolsonaro at the end of October.  What role did workers and working-class voters play in this critical election? What does Lula’s victory mean for working people and for the labor movement in Brazil? How have the lives of working-class people, and the shape of working-class politics, changed in Brazil in recent years and decades? And what can we all do to build international solidarity with our fellow workers in Brazil and beyond? We talk about all of this and more with Fabio Bosco, a retired subway operator in São Paulo, a trade unionist, and an organizer with the labor federation CSP-CONLUTAS.  Additional links/info below... CSP-Conlutas website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Michael Fox, The Real News Network/NACLA, Brazil on Fire podcast series  Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Indigenous-Led Alliance Moves to Stop Bolsonaro's 'Ecocidal' Destruction of the Amazon" Michael Fox, In These Times, "Brazil’s Labor Unions Prepare for War with Far-Right President Jair Bolsanaro" Robert Maisey, Trades Union Congress, "Bolsonaro Is Waging War on Labour Rights in Brazil" 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

Call center workers employed by Maximus went on strike at four locations—in Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Virginia—this Tuesday, November 1. Maximus is a federal contractor, and during the open enrollment period workers there handle a non-stop stream of high-stakes calls from people trying to navigate the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, and Medicaid systems, but they have been pushed to their limit. As stated in a Twitter thread posted by Call Center Workers United, "We’ve been saying for years: during ACA open enrollment, we’re dealing with constant back-to-back calls. Some frustrated callers become abusive and subject us to racist and sexist slurs. We’re paid wages so low it’s nearly impossible to support a family. We’ve had enough. We’re striking for THREE SIMPLE DEMANDS: 1) $25/hr starting wage, 2) Time to breathe between calls, 3) Meaningful protection from abusive callers." In this urgent mini-cast, we talk to Tiffany Murray, a worker at the Maximus call center in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, about the conditions that have pushed her and her coworkers to hit the picket line, and about what others around the country can do to help.  Additional links/info below... Call Center Workers United Twitter page Support the Call Center Workers Solidarity Fund  Mary Yang, NPR, "Call Center Workers Strike over Pay and Working Conditions" 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

The soul of the labor movement is the fight for democracy in and outside of the workplace—and, from the shop floor to the ballot box, organizers, volunteers, and rank-and-file workers with UNITE HERE are putting everything they have into that fight. Even in the midst of a deadly pandemic that hit the service and hospitality industries especially hard, union members with UNITE HERE hit the pavement in record numbers ahead of the 2020 general elections. As Harold Meyerson notes in The American Prospect, UNITE HERE members canvassed "more precincts than any other organization on the Democratic side of the ledger that year. Talking to well over a million voters in Vegas, Reno, Phoenix, Philadelphia, and Atlanta, they played a key role in Joe Biden’s victory and in the Democrats winning control of the Senate. This year," ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, "they have even more members knocking on doors than they did two years ago." As working people face an increasingly unbearable cost-of-living crisis, as the right continues to attack abortion rights (and voting rights, and workers' rights, and LGBTQ people, and teachers, etc.), as basic human needs like healthcare, housing, and clean water are put farther out of reach for the poor and working classes, as more people give up on a political system they feel gave up on them a long time ago, the  fight for a better society must come from the grassroots. In this special panel, recorded a week before the 2022 midterm elections, we talk with three UNITE HERE members—Maggie Acosta (Arizona), Bryan Villarreal-Vasquez (Nevada), and Sheila Silver (Pennsylvania)—about their tireless canvassing efforts in battleground states, what they're hearing from voters, and what the struggle for democracy means to them and their union.  Additional links/info below... UNITE HERE website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Harold Meyerson, The American Prospect, "Can the Hotel Workers’ Union Save the Democrats?" Harold Meyerson, The American Prospect, "The Only Precinct Walkers" Support the Call Center Workers Solidarity Fund  Brett Anderson, The New York Times, "These Cooks, Waiters and Casino Workers Could Swing the Senate" UNITE HERE Press Release: "Largest Canvass Operation in NV, AZ, and PA Sees Path to Victory vs. MAGA Republicans" 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

The wave of grassroots worker organizing is spreading to different industries and businesses around the country, including those that have notoriously resisted any and all unionization efforts in the past. The Home Depot, the single largest home improvement retail company in the US, is one of those businesses, and there is a union drive underway as we speak at a store in Philadelphia. As Johan Furman writes at More Perfect Union, "On Monday, September 19, workers filed a petition to organize a union among 276 workers at a Home Depot in northeast Philadelphia. If successful, the independent union would be the first at the home repair chain, the fifth-largest private employer in the U.S." We talk to Vince Quiles, who's worked at the northeast Philly store for five years and is one of the worker-organizers leading the drive to become the first unionized Home Depot location in the country.  Additional links/info below... THDworkersUnite Twitter page Vince's Twitter page Johan Furman, More Perfect Union, "Workers Plan to Renovate Home Depot with a Union" Max Marin, The Philadelphia Inquirer, "Home Depot Workers in Northeast Philly Allege ‘Surveillance,’ Other Union-Busting Tactics Ahead of Election" Breaking Points, "Home Depot Workers REVOLT After Massive Stock Buyback" 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