Labor Radio-Podcast Weekly

The Rick Smith Show; Building Bridges; Union Strong; AFT In Action; The Labor Link; For A Better World; Labor Wave Radio; On the Line: Stories of BC Workers

Striking Kellogg’s workers rejected a contract settlement earlier this week; one of those strikers, Todd Menousos from the Bakery Workers’ union in Battle Creek, Michigan, explains why on The Rick Smith Show…
Then, on Building Bridges Radio, Teamsters for a Democratic Union national organizer Ken Paff celebrates a new era of union democracy and militance…
Dennis Hughes has a plan to create fair working conditions for farmworkers; the former New York State AFL-CIO president explains how on the latest episode of the Union Strong podcast…
On AFT In Action: protecting teachers "freedom to teach" with Connecticut Education Association President Kate Dias and US Senator Chris Murphy…
Wage theft is a global problem: The Labor Link podcast tells us how an NGO is helping Cambodian workers fight back…
On the For A Better World podcast; what the push to “get big or get out” means for dairy farmers, workers, and consumers--and some ways to challenge that growing corporate power…
A fictional workplace campaign to unionize the hotel workers at the illustrious White Lotus is the subject of the latest Labor Wave Radio show…
And, from On the Line: Stories of BC Workers: The Battle of Blubber Bay; an epic confrontation just before World War Two between mine workers fighting for justice and an arrogant company with authorities in their hip pocket.

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
@RickSmithShow @bbridgesradio @nysaflcio @AFTCT @fairworldprj @LaborwaveRadio @BC_LHC

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

State of the Unions; Your Rights At Work; Labor Express Radio; My Labor Radio; 141 Report; Black Work Talk

This week’s show starts with the AFL-CIO's State of the Unions podcast where this week AFL-CIO President Liz Schuler is asking the questions in conversation with Laphonza Butler, the past president of SEIU Local 2015 in California and the new president of EMILY’s List.  Schuler and Butler discuss the importance of recruiting working class candidates and union members to run for political office.

On Your Rights at Work, hosts Chris Garlock and Ed Smith talked with David Story (one of the founders of the Valley Labor Report) about his provocative recent article in The Nation, “I’m a Defense Industry Worker. It’s Time to Cut the Pentagon Budget".

On Labor Express Radio Jerry Mead-Lucero met with Jorge Mujica from Arise Chicago and learned about a series of recent wins for workers at the El Milagro tortilla factory.

Then we catch up with the latest goings on at Machinists Local 141 in two segments, the first in My Labor Radio where President Mike Klemm spoke with Mark Gevaert about the importance of surveying members in advance of collective bargaining negotiations, and then in the 141 Report, where Dave Lehive spoke with Regional Representative Belinda Hawkins about some of the challenges members are facing over the holiday season and what she’s doing to help.

Finally, Black Work Talk is back for Season 2 with a four-part mini-series on Black Labor. In this segment Steven Pitts and guests put the challenges of 2022 in perspective.

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

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

The Labor Link; Union Dues; Solidarity Center Podcast; The Checkout; State of the Unions; El Desvio; A Better World

This week’s show starts in Thailand with Sawit Kaewwan, the secretary general of the State Enterprises Workers’ Relations Confederation (SERC) on the Labor Link Podcast. Sawit has worked tirelessly to build solidarity between migrant workers and union workers in Thailand to improve workers’ rights.

UnionDues is back with special guest Tom Grinyer, Chief Executive of the British Medical Association—the UK’s doctors’ union. Tom discusses their goal to balance the doctors’ needs with those of their patients and how that mission has helped them throughout the pandemic.

For our last international show, the Solidarity Center’s Podcast, features Rita Goyit from the Nigeria Labor Council. She talks about some of their creative and inspirational initiatives designed to fight against gender-based harassment in workplaces in Nigeria.

Back in the states, worker John Yougstun joins The Checkout and talks about the working conditions at his employer HelloFresh, as well as his and his colleagues’ attempt to form a union, and the company's latest response to their efforts.

The AFL-CIO’s State of the Unions podcast welcomes the new president of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, Jimmy Williams Jr. He highlights some of the pushback he has received for his advocacy of undocumented workers and the importance of a strong connected membership.

In honor of Latina Pay Gap Day, El Desvío features Irasema Garza, Attorney and Co-Author of a report on the pandemic's impact on Latina workers. She explains the invisibility of Latinas in the workplace, and the link between childcare and their wage gap.

And finally, with a Wisconsin dairy farmer who has lived through it all, A Better World Podcast traces the historical relationship between small dairy farms and government policies starting with Reaganomics and ending on Trump’s USMCA deal. 

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 @checkoutradio @LCLAA @fairworldprj

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

Union Strong; Working People; Your Rights At Work; The Rick Smith Show; Educating From the Heart

This week, Union Veterans Council Executive Director Will Attig talks with theUnion Strong podcast about Operation Union Veterans Day…On the Working People podcast, 35,000 workers at healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente are ready to walk off the job November 15; two nurses explain why…Then, on Your Rights At Work, New York Times media columnist Ben Smith on "Why the Media Loves Labor Now"…From The Rick Smith Show, David Pepper, author of "Laboratories of Autocracy" exposes the extreme levels of corruption that have somehow become normal in GOP politics, and how it gets even worse as we move from DC into the states. And we wrap up this week’s show with National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers presidents Becky Pringle and Randi Weingarten on the Educating From the Heart podcast, discussing the dynamic power that comes when there is alignment between the national, state, and local unions and rank-and-file members.

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 @WorkingPod @DCLabor @RickSmithShow @FloridaEA

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

RadioLabour; Reinventing Solidarity; State of the Unions; Labor Wave Radio; For A Better World; Powerline Podcast; Tales from the Reuther Library; SAG-AFTRA

This week, RadioLabour on what labor wants from the UN's climate change conference…the intersection of the decarbonizing industry and labor in Scotland on Reinventing Solidarity…two striking Kellogg’s workers tell the AFL-CIO’s State of the Unions podcast how the company has become a “shitshow”… Bill Fletcher Jr. on Janus v. AFSCME on Labor Wave Radio …from the For a Better World podcast, how the Milk with Dignity program empowers dairy workers in Vermont…D’Jon Greer tells the Powerline Podcast about his experience as a Black journeyman lineman…on Tales from the Reuther Library, how the Communist Party and labor activists worked together in post-WWII Detroit…SAG-AFTRA's podcast explores what it takes to narrate an audiobook.

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 @CunySLU @LaborwaveRadio @fairworldprj @powerlinepodcast @ReutherLibrary @sagaftra

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

Rick Smith Show; Labor Express Radio; The Checkout; The SUWA Show; Solidarity Works; Black Work Talk; Labor History Today; Grit NW

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.

BCTGM Voices Project; Working People; For A Better World; Laborlines; Labor Radio on KBOO; On Writing

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.

BCTGM Voices; The Checkout; Union Talk; Working to Live in SW Washington; Educating From the Heart; Solidarity Breakfast; Million Dollar Organizer; The SAG-AFTRA podcast; Empathy Media Lab

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.

Your Rights At Work; State of the Unions; Union Strong; Solidarity Center Podcast; Fairwork; Belabored

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.

UComm Live; BCTGM Voices; The Rick Smith Show; RadioLabour; Solidarity Breakfast; Blue Collar Gospel Hour; Art and Labor; Building Bridges

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.