Episodes
Friday Oct 29, 2021
Friday Oct 29, 2021
This week, Labor reporter Dave Jamieson discusses Striketober on The Rick Smith Show…On Labor Express Radio, Shailly Gupta Barnes of the Poor People’s Campaign discusses their new study, Waking the Sleeping Giant : Poor and Low-Income Voters in the 2020 Elections…Organizer Chris Smalls talks about unionizing Amazon on The Checkout…And, from new Network member The SUWA Show -- Squatters and Unwaged Workers Airwaves, a weekly program from Melbourne, Australia, we hear from the Australian Unemployed Workers Union…On Solidarity Works, a conversation with Pitt faculty activists and from Black Work Talk, a preview of Season Two. We wrap up this week’s show with A frighteningly brief history of Hallowe'en on the Grit NorthWest podcast, and, from Labor History Today, Tim Strangleman brings us Voices of Guinness workers in London.
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 @RickSmithShow @checkoutradio @steelworkers @BlackWorkTalk @GritNw @DCLabor
Edited by Patrick Dixon and Melanie Smith; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru: Harold Phillips with Mel Smith.
Friday Oct 22, 2021
Friday Oct 22, 2021
This week, From the BCTGM Voices Project, more voices from the ongoing strike by Kellogg's workers…on the Working People podcast, Max talks to striker Dan Osborn, who’s worked at Kellogg's Omaha plant for 18 years…and on Laborlines, labor researcher and organizer Eric Dirnbach says 'Millions are quitting their jobs but need to organize instead'…Then, from the For A Better World podcast, No blood for milk; Workers call on Chobani for justice. On Labor Radio on KBOO FM, Michael and Elliott discuss the federal eviction moratorium. And we wrap up with the On Writing podcast, where Lang Fisher describes her writing process and how it’s changed, as well as what success means in her industry.
Bonus track: Labor history in 2:00. The year was 1934; that was the day that the bank robber known as Pretty Boy Floyd was gunned down by federal agents in Ohio.
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 @BCTGM @BCTGM @WorkingPod @laborlinejohn @fairworldprj @WGAEast @ILLaborHistory
Edited by Patrick Dixon and Melanie Smith; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru: Harold Phillips with Mel Smith.
Friday Oct 15, 2021
Friday Oct 15, 2021
This week, we feature two reports on the strike by Kellogg’s workers, members of the BCTGM -- that’s the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union – the first comes to us from the BCTGM Voices Project, the second is from The Checkout, which takes us right to the Kellogg's picket lines.
Then, on the Union Talk podcast, a conversation with nurses on vaccine hesitancy within their patient communities and their own nursing community.
This week on the Working to Live in Southwest Washington podcast, Shannon and Harold talk with April Sims about redistricting and how it will affect working people.
Next up we have two reports from the classroom: on Educating From the Heart, a new rule by the State Board of Education restricts teachers' ability to teach critical thinking, and, from the Solidarity Breakfast podcast, safety in schools in Victoria.
And on the Million Dollar Organizer podcast, travel perks and the difference between a union organizer and a union representative.
How can actors avoid ending up on the cutting room floor? We’ll find out on The SAG-AFTRA podcast. We wrap up with the voice of the legendary Mother Jones at the recent Blair Mountain Battle Centennial, from Empathy Media Lab.
Bonus track: Labor history in 2:00. The year was 1979; that was the day that the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights took place in Washington D.C.
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 @BCTGM @checkoutradio @FloridaEA @empathymedialab @ILLaborHistory @sagaftra @3CRsolidarity @SWWACLC
Edited by Patrick Dixon and Melanie Smith; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru: Harold Phillips with Mel Smith.
Saturday Oct 09, 2021
Saturday Oct 09, 2021
This week we are starting with news fresh off the picket line. BCTGM’s Bakery Workers Local 3G president Trevor Bidelman called into Your Rights at Work from Battle Creek, Michigan. He reports on the strike against Kellogg’s, the demands of the workers, and also builds some solidarity with people calling into the show.
Then, we have Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers on The State of the Unions. Weingarten discusses what’s going on at Capitol Hill and what it means for the labor movement.
Next up, we hear from the New York AFL-CIO’s Union Strong, where the Commissioner of the NY Department of Labor, Roberta Reardon, discusses unemployment as well as how the DOL has been addressing workers safety concerns as more people are going back to work.
For the next two shows we’re going to have to zoom out a bit and look at two different countries and their own informal economies. On the Solidarity Center’s Podcast Brother Gbenga, one of the founders of the Federation of the Informal Workers Organizations of Nigeria speaks from the capital Lagos. Gbenga explains the Nigerian informal economy, its problems, and how his organization helps those who work within it.
A continent away, the Fairwork Podcast, contextualizes Ukraine’s informal economy with regards to its Soviet history and where its labor movement fits in with its political movements.
Lastly, we are following up with the second part of The Legacy of Occupy Wall Street from Dissent magazine’s Belabored podcast. Guests Ruth Milkman and Nastaran Mohit continue the conversation on the labor movement’s relationship with Occupy and its lasting impacts on social movements today.
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 @NYSAFLCIO @DCLabor @SolidarityCntr @TowardsFairWork @DissentMag
Edited by Patrick Dixon and Melanie Smith; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru: Harold Phillips with Mel Smith.
Saturday Oct 02, 2021
Saturday Oct 02, 2021
We start this week’s show with the threat of a looming strike in Hollywood where members of IATSE are protesting ridiculous hours and inadequate pay. Business agent C. David Cottrill joined Kris LaGrange on UCOMM Live to offer the lowdown.
The nationwide Nabisco strike may be over, but there are still lessons to be learned from the experience. On the BCTGM Voices Project Michelle Ellis met with Darlene Carpenter from Local 358 in Richmond who shared her experiences of the picket line.
Are manufacturing jobs returning to the US? Scott Paul from the Alliance for Manufacturing visited the Rick Smith Show to discuss the Ford Motor Company’s plans to invest in new facilities.
Radio Labour considers the fate of international seafarers during the pandemic. Rarely afforded the status of essential workers in spite of playing a central role in global supply chains, many simply been abandoned on vessels at sea or in ports, ineligible to leave because of quarantine restrictions. Steven Cotton from the International Transport Workers Federation offers details.
Cam Smith joined Solidarity Breakfast this week to discuss marauding right wing mobs on the streets of Melbourne and the ways in which anti-vax and extremist forces are coming together in Australia.
On the Blue Collar Gospel hour Jack Henry joined the show to read a couple of poems from his recently published collection Driving W/ Crazy, living with madness.
We return to the Art and Labor Podcast, where the crew is joined by Jessalyn Aaland, a bargaining committee member at the SFMOMA union. They discussed, among other things, the dubious privilege of working at MOMA, negotiating rent with your landlord, and, if the question of if you were to be a train, what type of train would you be?
Then lastly you will not have read in The New York Times about tech workers there walking off the job in protest of Times management’s aggressive efforts to resist unionization. Product manager Nora Keller spoke to Mimi Rosenberg on Building Bridges Radio.
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
Edited by Patrick Dixon and Melanie Smith; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru: Harold Phillips with Mel Smith.
Friday Sep 24, 2021
7 new Network shows!
Friday Sep 24, 2021
Friday Sep 24, 2021
On this week’s show…
Vermont-based Equal Time Radio bills itself as “a podcast for people who want to understand the world in order to change it.”
Work Stoppage is a podcast that only talks about what can be done for the working class. “We're here to demolish corporate ladders and chew bubblegum, they say. “And we don't even like bubblegum.”
ILCA Insider is the podcast of the International Labor Communicators Association, which works to amplify labor’s voice.
Laborlines comes to us from Moscow, Idaho, and features interviews, music, news and commentary related to the labor struggle.
Apple Box Talks is put together by IATSE local 891, the largest IATSE local in Canada, and features interviews with their member Artists and Technicians, from prep to post and everything in between. Apple boxes, by the way, are wooden boxes or crates of varying sizes with holes on each end used chiefly in film production.
Breaking Ground is the podcast from Operating Engineers Local 3, the largest construction trades local in the United States, representing over 38,000 members across a four-state jurisdiction, Northern California, Northern Nevada, Utah and Hawaii, including the mid-Pacific Islands.
Flying the Line recounts the beginnings of the Air Line Pilots Association, the world’s largest pilot union and nongovernmental air safety organization, through an abridged retelling of George Hopkins book “Flying the Line.”
We’re really excited to bring you these new voices at the Network, some are brand new shows and some have been around for a while, but they’re all committed to showcasing the lives of working people.
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 @duesunion @WorkingPod @alpapilots @WorkStoppagePod @equaltimeradio @laborlinejohn @iatse891
Edited by Melanie Smith and Chris Garlock; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru: Harold Phillips with Mel Smith.
Friday Sep 17, 2021
Friday Sep 17, 2021
On this week’s show…
From the Stick Together podcast, a report on the fracking in the Northern Territory boondoggle in which the government spent $50 milllion to create a handful of jobs…
On Red Dead Redemption, one of our new Network shows out of Aukland, host Justine Sachs answers people’s work woes about COVID now that they are in Level 3…
On Activate Live, Machinists’ Organizing Director Vinny Addeo discusses the PRO Act…
From The Solidarity Center Podcast, Francisco Maltés, president of the Unitary Workers Center, the largest union confederation in Colombia, discusses a major victory against state oppression with a diverse coalition…
The Belabored podcast marks the 10-year anniversary of the Occupy movement with Stephen Lerner and Jonathan Westin on what Occupy meant to labor then and now, and how it's changed organizing…
From Working Class History, the first part of their podcast miniseries about the May 18 1980 uprising in Gwangju, South Korea against the US-backed military dictatorship.
And we wrap up Grit NW host Joe Cadwell, offering his take on critics.
Bonus track: Labor History in 2:00: The Southern Differential
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 @duesunion @WorkingPod
@stick__together @95bFM @MachinistsUnion @SolidarityCntr @DissentMag @wrkclasshistory @GritNw @ILLaborHistory
Edited by Patrick Dixon and Melanie Smith; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru: Harold Phillips with Mel Smith.
Saturday Sep 11, 2021
Saturday Sep 11, 2021
On this week’s show, a special selection of Labor Day shows from Network members celebrating American workers!
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 @duesunion @WorkingPod
Edited by Patrick Dixon and Melanie Smith; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru: Harold Phillips with Mel Smith.
Friday Sep 03, 2021
Friday Sep 03, 2021
On this week’s show, school is back in session and, most importantly, in-person. Andrea and Jim from CTU Speaks interview the Chicago Teachers Union’s President Jesse Sharkey and Vice President Stacy Davis Gates on how they are feeling about the return of students to school as both CTU union members and CPS parents.
From The Florida Education Association’s Educating from the Heart podcast we hear from Elizabeth Rasmussen, a high-school history teacher of fourteen years. She touches on how the pandemic and political climate has changed the way she thinks about teaching and her own pedagogy.
In union news on America’s Workforce Radio, UAW Local 2110 President Maida Rosenstein talks about her work with unionizing museums and other cultural institutions within the context of the pandemic.
Another exemplary union leader from the latest AFT in Action, is Leah Ralls. Currently, she serves as president of the Windham NAACP, but in this interview, Leah recounts her efforts to organize her community against the closure of the Hartford Healthcare’s maternity ward last year.
Showcasing one of our newer shows is On the Job from Australia. On this episode hosts Francis and Sally, with journalist Kristine Ziwica examine the phenomenon of how when a job that has historically been worked by women shifts to be dominated by men, pay tends to go up and vice versa. Welcome guys from down under!
We then will take a quick break to hear a short promo on the Grit NW’s paintball battle line up. Next, Labor Express Radio where Jerry chats with another Labor Radio Podcast Network host, Avery Bernard from The Amazon. They touch briefly on Avery’s experience with Amazon and how to handle its influence on the labor movement in the future.
From the Archives of the Heartland Labor Forum, is an interview with the actor Ed Asner, most noted for his role as Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, died earlier this week. In this archived episode from 2013, he talks to Judy Ancel about the real reason Lou Grant got cancelled and his connection to the labor movement in the US and Latin America.
Finally, director Tom McCarthy is featured on the Director’s Cut. His new film, Stillwater, stars Matt Damon as an oil-rigger from Oklahoma who travels to Marseille, France to help exonerate his daughter who is accused of killing her roommate. On the podcast McCarhty discusses how he tried to authentically capture a working class experience in the movie.
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 @duesunion @WorkingPod @RickSmithShow @checkoutradio @DCLabor @fairworldprj @mgevaart @AWFUnionPodcast @BC_LHC
Edited by Patrick Dixon and Melanie Smith; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru: Harold Phillips with Mel Smith.
Saturday Aug 28, 2021
Saturday Aug 28, 2021
On this week’s show, we feature three reports on the strike by Nabisco workers, which spread this week to five states across the country. We’ll hear from The Rick Smith Show, The Checkout Radio, which is a brand-new member of the Network, and Your Rights At Work.
Then, from the For A Better World podcast, another new Network member, we’ll hear about the importance and benefits of having fair trade in Cote d'Ivoire cacao farms as they deal with Nestle.
On My Labor Radio, UAW member Damicko Stockard talks about partisanship between union members and the current state of organizing, and we’ll meet Fred Redmond, the new Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO, on America's Workforce Radio.
We wrap up the show with the story of how the musical Pins and Needles came to Vancouver BC in September, 1938, from On the Line: Stories of BC Workers.
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 @duesunion @WorkingPod @RickSmithShow @checkoutradio @DCLabor @fairworldprj @mgevaart @AWFUnionPodcast @BC_LHC
Edited by Patrick Dixon and Melanie Smith; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru: Harold Phillips with Mel Smith.