Labor Radio-Podcast Weekly

Starbucks workers unite!

Starbucks abruptly fired seven union supporters at a store in Memphis, Tennessee on Tuesday in what the union says is a retaliatory purge of the organizing committee. The firings mark a significant escalation in the battle between the world’s largest coffee chain and the fast-growing Starbucks Workers United campaign. Our show today features reports on that campaign from across the Labor Radio Podcast Network.
We begin with The Check Out, which back in October featured an interview with two of the Starbucks baristas who started this whole movement in Buffalo, New York. On yesterday’s Your Rights At Work, we talked with Virginia Starbucks organizer Kat Wiggers about why that state has suddenly become a hotbed of union organizing. Then, Work Stoppage, which covered the campaign back in January, when it had spread to two dozen locations, and then did an update in Thursday’s show after last week’s firings. And, on America’s Workforce Radio, labor lawyer Joyce Goldstein provides some insight into recent changes at the National Labor Relations Board that have facilitated the Starbucks organizing drive.

Highlights from labor radio and podcast shows around the country, part of the national Labor Radio Podcast Network of shows focusing on working people’s issues and concerns.

#LaborRadioPod @AFLCIO @checkoutradio @WorkStoppagePod @DCLabor @AWFUnionPodcast @sbworkersunited @SBuxUnionFrstHl #Starbucks campaign

Edited by Patrick Dixon, Mel Smith and Chris Garlock; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru Mr. Harold Phillips.

Who’s really to blame for inflation?

On this week’s show, economist Richard Wolff talks with The Heartland Labor Forum about who’s really to blame for inflation (hint, it's not the usual suspects)…What happens when teachers are out sick or on quarantine and there’s a dire shortage of subs? We find out from the CTU Speaks podcast…On the Belabored podcast, Steve Viscelli discusses his new book The Big Rig: Trucking and the Decline of the American Dream…RadioLabour reports on women’s use of WhatsApp to fight abuse…From the Union Dues podcast, author of “The Great Post Office Scandal” Nick Wallis explains the Horizon IT scandal and its’ ramifications for the future.

Highlights from labor radio and podcast shows around the country, part of the national Labor Radio Podcast Network of shows focusing on working people’s issues and concerns.

#LaborRadioPod @AFLCIO @Heartland_Labor @CtuSpeaks @DissentMag @radiolabour @DuesUnion

Edited by Patrick Dixon, Mel Smith and Chris Garlock; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru Mr. Harold Phillips.

What is the working class?

On this week’s show, on the first episode of the Class Matters podcast, Adolph Reed Jr., Gordon Lafer, and Samir Sonti define the working class and discuss the eroding trust in government among workers in the United States…Black Work Talk launches Season Two with Bert Bayou, DC Chapter Director of African Communities Together (ACT) and Vice President of UNITE HERE Local 23…In August 2019, 300 workers across 19 branches of the historic Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh voted enthusiastically to join the United Steelworkers union; earlier this month, they officially became members as they ratified their first agreement. On the latest episode of Solidarity Works, two library workers talk about their monumental organizing campaign and about their roles as pillars of the community….Mario Cervantes, a skilled factory worker who makes the tools that make the planes for Boeing aircraft in Wichita, Kansas, talks with the America Works podcast – which just launched their latest season -- about his pride in his trade and his pride in working for Boeing.         

Highlights from labor radio and podcast shows around the country, part of the national Labor Radio Podcast Network of shows focusing on working people’s issues and concerns.

#LaborRadioPod @AFLCIO @radiolabour @BlackWorkTalk @steelworkers @librarycongress

Edited by Patrick Dixon, Mel Smith and Chris Garlock; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru Mr. Harold Phillips.

Starbucks workers: “Why not us?”

BCTGM Local 37’s Cristina Lujan talks to The Check Out podcast about the working conditions that led to the strike at Rich Products frozen foods facility…
On America's Work Force Radio, labor lawyer Joyce Goldstein discussed the NLRB's role in efforts by Starbucks workers to organize…
From Work Week Radio, SEIU Local 1021 members reflect on the avoidable death of Ludwig Leota and what to do to prevent similar situations in the future…Workers Beat brings us a brief but illuminating overview of Emile Burn's history of capitalism…
On the Labor History Today podcast, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic, newly-digitized 1961 speech to the AFL-CIO convention at the Americana hotel in Miami Beach, Florida.

Highlights from labor radio and podcast shows around the country, part of the national Labor Radio Podcast Network of shows focusing on working people’s issues and concerns.

#LaborRadioPod @AFLCIO @radiolabour @checkoutradio @AWFUnionPodcast @labormedianow @KNON893FM @DCLabor

Edited by Patrick Dixon, Mel Smith and Chris Garlock; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru Mr. Harold Phillips.

“This was a coup attempt”

On this week’s show, longtime labor activist, author and commentator Bill Fletcher, Jr. talks about January 6 and the ongoing threat to democracy by right-wing terrorism on the Black Work Talk podcast…Sharon Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, takes a global view on the challenges ahead for unions on RadioLabour… Bill Samuel, director of government affairs at the AFL-CIO, on the racist roots of the Senate filibuster on the Your Rights At Work radio show…AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Fred Redmond has been out walking picket lines across the country and he reported on those strikes on the America’s WorkForce Radio podcast…on the Educating from the Heart podcast, Representative Geraldine Thompson discussed her new legislation that will enforce laws requiring Florida schools to include Black history in their curriculum instead of just once a year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day…
A former child worker and labor activist from Bangladesh, Kalpona Akter is the founder and Executive Director of the Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity. You’ll hear more from her on The Labor Link podcast…on the latest episode of The Gig Podcast, we learn what domestic and care work is, and its roots in exploitation and slavery…Judy Ancel is the host of the Heartland Labor Forum, one of the longest-running labor radio shows in the country. She talked with Empathy Media Labs about her origins as a rank-and-file union member, organizer, and troublemaker and her work as a labor educator and radio producer

Highlights from labor radio and podcast shows around the country, part of the national Labor Radio Podcast Network of shows focusing on working people’s issues and concerns.

#LaborRadioPod @AFLCIO @BlackWorkTalk @radiolabour @DCLabor @AWFUnionPodcast @FloridaEA @empathymedialab @Heartland_Labor @podcastgig

Edited by Patrick Dixon, Mel Smith and Chris Garlock; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru Mr. Harold Phillips.

“Amazon’s money machine can’t stop for one second”

On this week’s show, Building Bridges Radio reports from a late December rally for Amazon workers in New York City…On the Belabored podcast, a discussion on the so-called Great Resignation, Striketober, and other developments in the labor movement in the pandemic era…
Then we take you to the ground level of the American labor movement with four brief excerpts from podcasts that either feature a guest from a local union or podcasts produced by local unions: UFCW Local 152 Assistant Director of Organizing Hugh Giordano talks with host Ed “Flash” Ferrence on America’s Work Force Radio Podcast; we find out about challenges facing the leaders and members of UAW Local 2209 in Fort Wayne, Indiana on the local’s podcast, Trucked Up; on the 141 Report, Machinist union leaders try out different communication tools to build membership participation; the construction industry has one of the highest rates of suicide of any occupation, yet the stigma of admitting mental health issues keeps many from getting the help they need: Breaking Ground, the podcast from Operating Engineers Local 3, explores the issue.
The AFT’s Union Talk podcast explores how the right wing has used Critical Race Theory and the pandemic to drive a wedge between parents and teachers and how to rehabilitate that relationship; Heather McGhee, author of “The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone” on “Racism in our politics and in our policy making is why all of us can’t have nice things,” on the Heartland Labor Forum.
Heather Berg talks about sex, labor, and late capitalism on the Reinventing Solidarity podcast…The Art and Labor podcast tackles NFTs, DAOs, crypto currency and teleology, and, from the On The Job podcast, we find out about the historic Australian female labor activist who chained herself to a building in downtown Melbourne in 1969.

Highlights from labor radio and podcast shows around the country, part of the national Labor Radio Podcast Network of shows focusing on working people’s issues and concerns.

#LaborRadioPod @AFLCIO @bbridgesradio @DissentMag @AWFUnionPodcast @UAW_Local_2209 @IAMDistrict141 @aftunion @Heartland_Labor @CunySLU @ArtandLaborPod @SaintFrankly @sallyrugg

Edited by Patrick Dixon and Mel Smith; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru Mr. Harold Phillips.

Grit Nation; Heartland Labor Forum; Willamette WakeUp Labor Report; My Labor Radio; Working to Live in Southwest Washington; Labor History in 2:00

On this week’s show, Jamie McCallum, author of "Worked Over" tells Grit Nation about the only strike that has occurred off the Earth and how it represents a lot of issues workers on this planet face today.
Then, on the Heartland Labor Forum, we hear a lot about the working class, but who’s really in it, who isn’t and why does it matter? Special bonus on the show this week: a new labor song feature with a song by Billy Bragg.
After many years, Bob Rossi is transitioning out of producing The Willamette WakeUp Labor Report: we wish Bob well and bring you his final show, in which Reverend David Wheeler and Joe Rastatter discuss the faith-labor connection and the role of clergy in union activism.
My Labor Radio visits with Detroit labor activist Frank Hammer and on Working to Live in Southwest Washington, Shannon and Harold sit down with two veteran labor reporters to discuss the gains working people made in 2021, and look ahead to what's in store for 2022.
Finally, on Labor History in 2:00, on January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the emancipation proclamation, but did you know that the emancipation proclamation did not actually free enslaved people in the U.S.?

Highlights from labor radio and podcast shows around the country, part of the national Labor Radio Podcast Network of shows focusing on working people’s issues and concerns.

#LaborRadioPod @AFLCIO @GritNw @Heartland_Labor @kmuz885 @mgevaart @SWWACLC @ILLaborHistory

Edited by Patrick Dixon and Mel Smith; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru Mr. Harold Phillips.

Special Edition: Remembering Richard Trumka: State of the Unions; America’s Work Force Radio; Your Rights At Work; Working to Live in Southwest Washington; Labor Express Radio; Labor History Today

On this week’s show, excerpts from some of the Network shows that focused on AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, who died on August 5.
In a year when we lost so many, it’s still hard to believe that Rich – who walked so many picket lines, who thundered forth at so many rallies -- is really no longer with us. So it was a special honor to listen through the labor radio shows and podcasts that paid tribute to Rich Trumka, to hear the old stories and some new ones, and to hear his voice once again.
We begin with the AFL-CIO’s own podcast, State of the Unions, which talked with a characteristically optimistic Trumka in 2018, followed by a 2020 Labor Day interview on America's Work Force Radio.
Then labor historian Joe McCartin, who been invited onto the August 5 Your Rights At Work show to discuss the 40th anniversary of the PATCO strike, reacts to Trumka’s death that morning.
We go back to the State of the Unions podcast and America's Work Force Radio for thoughts on Trumka’s life and legacy from Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh and The Nation’s John Nichols.
Then it’s out to the Northwest for reactions on the ground on the Working to Live in Southwest Washington podcast, and on Labor Express Radio, labor educator Steven Ashby casts a critical eye on Trumka’s legacy.
Finally, we wrap up with the Labor History Today podcast, where Rich Trumka – who rose to national prominence when he led the 1988 Pittston strike – recounts how the mine workers won that historic strike.  

Highlights from labor radio and podcast shows around the country, part of the national Labor Radio Podcast Network of shows focusing on working people’s issues and concerns.

#LaborRadioPod @AFLCIO @AWFUnionPodcast @DCLabor @SWWACLC @WLUW @DCLabor

Edited and produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru Harold Phillips.

Labor Radio on KBOO; Work Week; America’s Workforce Radio; For a Better World; Union City Radio; Your Rights At Work; Labor History Today

On this week’s show, hosts Michael Cathcart and Elliott Gilliland discuss the tragic workplace disasters that took place when tornadoes destroyed an Amazon warehouse in Illinois and a non-union candle factory in Kentucky on Labor Radio on KBOO.
Work Week Radio interviews New Orleans ATU 1560 president Valerie Jefferson who was fired after standing up for her members during the hurricanes and dangerous conditions for their members.
On America's Workforce Radio, Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper discusses the difficulties faced by teachers attempting to unionize at Menlo Park in northeast Ohio and some of the successes of neighborhood programming in Cincinnati schools.
Then, on For a Better World, Shefali Sharma of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy discusses the role of Big Dairy in fueling the climate crisis and hollowing out rural communities.
Plus, How the bosses stole Christmas, on Union City Radio; the San Francisco Mime Troupe's “A Red Carol” on Your Rights At Work and, on Labor History Today, Striketober and The Great Resignation: Take this job and shove it!

Highlights from labor radio and podcast shows around the country, part of the national Labor Radio Podcast Network of shows focusing on working people’s issues and concerns.

#LaborRadioPod @empathymedialab @duesunion @SolidarityCntr @AFLCIO @labormedianow @AWFUnionPodcast @fairworldprj @DCLabor

Edited by Mel Smith and Chris Garlock; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru Harold Phillips.

Work Stoppage; Working People; The Rick Smith Show; Solidarity Works; Solidarity Center Podcast; Working Class History; Your Rights At Work

The year may be coming to an end but worker’s struggles continue and those fights are reflected in many of this week’s shows.
On the Work Stoppage podcast, the crew are joined by Charlie, a striking PhD student from Columbia University who talks about what their union's demands are and recounts a walkout involving the president of the university and his class on free speech.
Then, Alex Bazeley and Bobby Wagner discuss the Major League Baseball lockout on the Working People podcast.
On The Rick Smith Show, David Pepper reports on the slow death of democracy in the states, while we hear about the fight for healthcare heroes at Kaiser Permanente on the Solidarity Works podcast.
During the lockdown, millions of migrant workers were sent home unpaid, and many were forced to pay their own way back after already being in debt to get a job in their destination country. But wage theft started long before the pandemic. This week's episode of The Solidarity Center Podcast highlights the struggles of migrant workers for decent working conditions and comes a few days before International Migrants Day today, December 18.
Then, on Working Class History, we learn about the forces and events leading up to the Bread Intifada in Egypt in 1977.
We wrap up this week’s show with some of last Sunday’s Evening of Favorite and Sacred Songs concert by the DC Labor Chorus, which aired on the Your Rights At Work radio show.

Highlights from labor radio and podcast shows around the country, part of the national Labor Radio Podcast Network of shows focusing on working people’s issues and concerns.

#LaborRadioPod @empathymedialab @duesunion @SolidarityCntr @AFLCIO @WorkStoppagePod @WorkingPod @RickSmithShow @steelworkers @SolidarityCntr @wrkclasshistory @DCLabor

Edited by Patrick Dixon and Mel Smith; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru Harold Phillips.