Labor Radio-Podcast Weekly

Million Dollar Organizer; Speaking of Work; UCOMM Live; FairWork; Council 4 Unplugged; Union Strong; Labour Radio; Art and Labor

We’ve got eight different excerpts to share with you this week, some from shows that are new to the network and others that will be familiar to regular listeners.

We begin with the Million Dollar Organizer podcast where host Bob Oedy offers some thoughts on the global employment crisis.

Next we introduce you to the Speaking of Work podcast from the Iowa Labor History Society.  In this episode we learn about Keokuk Senior High School, site of an illegal strike in 1970 that changed the trajectory of education in all of Iowa, through the voices of teachers themselves.

Randy Corrigan from the Teamsters Union joins Kris LaGrange on UCOMM Live to discuss organizing the world’s most evil corporation (That’s Amazon, by the way). From one colossal warehouse to another, we cross the Atlantic to the FairWork podcast and hear from delivery drivers who participated in a recent wildcat strike against Gorillas Corporation in Berlin.

On Council 4 Unplugged -- that’s the podcast of AFSCME Council 4 in Connecticut -- we learn about a new project that’s focused on addressing some of the mental health challenges faced by workers in correctional facilities. And Denise Berkley joins the latest episode of Union Strong to discuss the New York State AFL-CIO’s Social Justice Task Force.

We then journey a bit further north to Montreal where this month’s episode of Labour Radio focused on the history and legacy of the Greek Workers Association of Quebec. Finally, the Art and Labor crew raise concerns about the United Federation of Teachers’ position on the New York Health Act.

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 @WorkingPod @SpeakingWork @ucommblog @TowardsFairWork @AFSCMECT3 @nysaflcio

Edited by Patrick Dixon, Melanie Smith and Chris Bangert-Drowns; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru: Harold Phillips

BCTGM Voices; Working People; The Valley Labor Report; The Rick Smith Show; Solidarity Works; Union Dues; Heartland Labor Forum; 7th Street Chronicles

This week, three strike reports. The first two are on the 3-week-old FritoLay strike in Topeka, Kansas, where the strike issues include forced overtime that’s so bad the workers call them “suicide shifts.” On the BCTGM Voices Project, we’ll hear from the picket line at FritoLay with Local 218 Chief Steward Paul Klemme in Topeka, and then the Working People podcast talks with Cheri Renfro, who’s worked at the Frito-Lay plant in Topeka for 9 years.

Then on The Valley Labor Report: Why did the UAW go on strike at Volvo in Dublin, Virginia?

From The Rick Smith Show, Jamie Martin discusses a scheme to limit access to college in Pennsylvania, and on Solidarity Works, Steel Workers Vice President Leeann Foster discusses safety and sustainability in the paper and forestry industries.

The UK-based Union Dues podcast features an in-depth discussion with Zita Holbourne, co-founder of Black Activists Rising Against the Cuts and co-chair of the Artists Union of England.

On the Heartland Labor Forum, Thomas Frank talks about populism and science and we wrap up this week with an interview on the 7th Street Chronicles podcast that will really open your eyes and hearts as Charlotte firefighters go deep on trauma and mental health.
Bonus tracks: The 1913 Michigan Copper Miners Strike Begins, on Labor History in 2:00, and a teaser for the latest episode of the San Francisco Mime Troupe’s Tales of the Resistance: Persistence.

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 @WorkingPod @DCLabor @BCTGM @WorkingPod @LaborReporters @RickSmithShow @steelworkers @duesunion @Heartland_Labor @SFTroupers

Edited by Patrick Dixon, Melanie Smith and Chris Bangert-Drowns; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru: Harold Phillips

Your Rights At Work; Workers Beat Extra; Solidarity Center Podcast; Laborwave Radio; Tales from the Reuther Library; America's Workforce Radio; 141 Report; Blue Collar Gospel Hour

Is telework more productive? On Your Rights At Work, federal and DC workers say yes. Gene Lantz connects Independence Day and Bastille Day on the Workers Beat Extra, and on the Solidarity Center Podcast, host Shawna Bader-Blau talks with Phyo Sandar Soe, leader with the Confederation of Trade Unions, Myanmar, about the repression faced by trade unionists there and how workers are fighting back against the junta.
You say you want a general strike? Marianne Garneau discusses the challenges on Laborwave Radio. On Tales from the Reuther Library, Blaming Teachers: How America simultaneously professionalized and patronized education.
The Maritime Trades Dan Duncan talks about Buy American and the Jones Act on America's Workforce Radio and on The 141 Report, host Dave Lehigh talks shop with Darryl Currant, grievance committee chairperson at IAM Lodge 1725, about building a strong union in the South, and why it's important to organize as a team.
We wrap up this week’s show with poet Ed Werstein on the Blue Collar Gospel Hour.
Bonus track: Lumber Workers Put Down Their Axes on today’s Labor History in 2:00.

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 @WorkingPod @DCLabor @KNON893FM @SolidarityCntr @LaborwaveRadio @ReutherLibrary @AWFUnionPodcast @IAMDistrict141 @TheBlueCollarG1 @ILLaborHistory

Edited by Patrick Dixon, Melanie Smith and Chris Bangert-Drowns; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru: Harold Phillips

The Teamsters Podcast; Belabored; The Voice of Oregon's Workers; CTU Speaks; Solidarity Breakfast; Trailblazers, Inc.; 3rd and Fairfax: The WGAW Podcast; Tales of the Resistance; LRPN Profiles

Joe Biden talks about building for the future on the Teamsters podcast; what rising U.S.-China tensions mean for workers and the labor movement in both countries, from the Belabored podcast; On The Voice of Oregon's Workers, a look at Oregon's growing union movement; CTU Speaks talks with longtime educator and activist Tara Stamps; the Solidarity Breakfast podcast reports on the lockout at the Collingwood Community Gardens; on Trailblazers, Inc. Kayla Vander Moler shares her experiences as a boilermaker; writer, actor, producer, and stand-up comic Iliza Schlesinger talks about the hard work of comedy with 3rd and Fairfax, the podcast from the Writers Guild of America West; from the San Francisco Mime Troupe’s new radio drama, we get a taste of Episode 1 of Tales of the Resistance. This week’s Labor Radio Podcast Network profile from Empathy Media Lab is a visit with Maximillian Alvarez, host of the Working People podcast.
Bonus track: Organizing During Wartime on today’s Labor History in 2:00.

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 @WorkingPod @Teamsters @DissentMag @CtuSpeaks @3CRsolidarity @empathymedialab @WGAWest @ILLaborHistory

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

Talking SMART; Labor Radio on KBOO FM; My Labor Radio; Valley Labor Report; En Masse; The BCTGM Voices Project; On the Line: Stories of BC Workers; LRPN Profiles

Long trains, two-person crews and rail safety on Talking SMART…On Labor Radio on KBOO, Painters launch "Summer of Chaos"… My Labor Radio explores how money from the American Rescue Plan is being spent in Indiana… The Valley Labor Report exposes union busting at MSNBC…Liz Medina talks to Robert Ovetz, author of "Global Workers and Class Struggle" on En Masse…The BCTGM Voices Project features one of the Bakery Workers’ most enthusiastic young leaders…from On the Line: Stories of BC Workers, indigenous longshoremen and the IWW… Rick Smith on this week’s LRPN Profiles, from Empathy Media Lab.

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 @WorkingPod @smartunionworks @kboo @mgevaart @LaborReporters @EnMassePodcast @BCTGM @BC_LHC @empathymedialab

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

Working People; Monday Morning QB; Heartland Labor Forum; Your Rights At Work; Solidarity Breakfast; SAG-AFTRA podcast; America Works; LRPN Profiles

The Working People podcast returns to Asheville North Carolina,  where the union-busting No Evil Foods abruptly closed its plant, leaving employees out of work with no severance…On Monday Morning QB, researcher Brittany Scott of Partners for Dignity & Rights talks about their recent research uncovering discrimination in temp worker hiring in Chicago, and how to fight back…Next, the Heartland Labor Forum profiles two local women leaders, Alise Martiny at the Kansas City Building Trades and Toni Robinson, president of the Postal Workers KCMO local…Then a world premiere of “Scabby the Rat, and Fatty the Cat,” a brand-new song played on this week’s Your Rights At Work show…from Australia, we’ll hear about the Collingwood Community Gardeners being locked out of their garden on the Solidarity Breakfast podcast…And on the SAG-AFTRA podcast, Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett talks about his big break and his support for the labor movement.
We wrap up this week’s show with a pair of profiles: Mike Peabody talks about how he learned his trade as a Garbage Man on the America Works podcast; and you’ll get a look inside the Labor Radio Podcast Network in the first of a series of profiles put together by Network producer Evan Papp of Empathy Media Lab. Evan’s been conducting these interviews of Network members over the last year and we’ll be featuring them in upcoming editions of the Weekly.

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 @WorkingPod @WPFWMMQB @Heartland_Labor @dclabor @3CRsolidarity @sagaftra @librarycongress @empathymedialab

Edited/produced by Patrick Dixon & Chris Bangert-Drowns; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru: Harold Phillips

America's Workforce Radio; Union Dues; Solidarity Works; Labor Wave Radio; Labor History in Two

On America's Workforce Radio, David Van Deusen, president of the Vermont AFL-CIO, discusses the United Slate's approach to politics and the recent defeat of Right to Work legislation in New Hampshire.  In the latest episode of Union Dues, GMB National Organizer Martin Smith describes his union's historic deal with Uber.  On Solidarity Works, author and activist Anne Balay describes the research process behind her book Steel Closets: Voices of Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Steelworkers. On this week's Labor Wave Radio, Elizabeth Laycak imagines what it would be like to unionize Dunder Mifflin Paper Co., the fictional location of the popular television series The Office.  Finally, on Labor History in Two, Rick Smith revisits the wildcat strike at the Dodge Truck plant in Warren, Michigan on June 11, 1974.

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 @duesunion @steelworkers @ILLaborHistory

Edited/produced by Patrick Dixon; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru: Harold Phillips

Building Bridges Radio; Belabored; My Labor Radio; The Rick Smith Show; The Teamsters Podcast; Educating From the Heart; Breaking Ground; On Writing

On Building Bridges Radio, 107-year old Tulsa Race Massacre survivor Viola Fletcher makes the case for remembering, and for reparations. Then, on the Belabored podcast, Sara Jaffe calls out officials and the media after tennis star Naomi Osaka's job action at the French Open. And with the dust barely settled after the Amazon organizing drive in Alabama, My Labor Radio brings us an update on the now 10-week long strike between the United Mine Workers and Warrior Met Coal in Brookwood, Alabama.
West Virginia senator Joe Manchin has been catching a lot of flak lately for his stands on the filibuster, the PRO Act and voting rights; Hollywood producer and longtime friend of The Rick Smith Show Marshall Herskovitz says Manchin might not be quite as wrong as most believe him to be. On the latest edition of the Teamsters podcast, we hear how the union is flexing its muscles in D.C.’s corridors of power to make sure workers can join together and organize for better wages and safer workplaces. Then, a Florida teacher and school board member dissect the state's inability to properly fund schools over the last year on the Educating From the Heart podcast.
Operating Engineers Local 3 is the largest construction trades local in the U.S.; on the latest edition of Local 3’s podcast, Breaking Ground, Public Employee Director Tim Neep and Senior Business Agent Mike Eggener pull back the curtain on some of their day-to-day work for their members.
Our last report comes from On Writing, the podcast from the Writers Guild of America, East, as Zack Akers, writer and co-director of SHIPWORM, explains how the project is the first podcast to be covered on the Writers Guild Minimum Basic Agreement, and big shifts in the podcasting industry.

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 @mgevaart @Teamsters @FloridaEA @WGAEast

Edited by Patrick Dixon, Chris Bangert-Drowns & Chris Garlock; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru: Harold Phillips

Working to Live in SW Washington; AFT Connecticut; The State of Working America; Blue Collar Gospel Hour; Union Strong

Can your boss actually do that? What workplace legal protections do you have if you’re not covered by a union contract? On the Working to Live in SouthWest Washington podcast, hosts Shannon and Harold sat down with Diana Winter, attorney for IBEW Local 48…On the AFT In Action podcast we meet Connecticut State representative Josh Elliott who discusses the costs of higher education in the Nutmeg State…The Economic Policy Institute’s podcast, The State of Working America, is back, and none too soon, as EPI staffers fact-check the labor shortage hype…Then on The Blue Collar Gospel Hour, author and activist Sue Blaustein remembers her earliest days in the labor movement and the describes what it’s really like to be a food safety inspector. Finally, a touching story on the Union Strong podcast from the New York State AFL-CIO, as we meet fifth generation electrical worker Chris Erickson, who donated a kidney to his brother in 2017, and changed the way members of his local thought about live organ donation.

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 @SWWACLC @AFTCT @EconomicPolicy @nysaflcio

Edited by Patrick Dixon; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru: Harold Phillips

WorkWeek Radio; America’s Workforce Radio; Your Rights At Work; UnionDues; RadioLabour; America Works; CTU Speaks; Grit NorthWest; On the Line: Stories of BC Workers

Teamsters Local 808 President Chris Rivera discusses the one-year anniversary of the death of George Floyd, on Work Week Radio…AFL-CIO Director of Government Affairs Bill Samuel reports on the status of the PRO Act on America’s Workforce Radio…Then, from Your Rights At Work, Scabby the Rat and The Fat Cat team up to save jobs at the Strathmore Music Center just outside Washington, DC…We'll find out how community solidarity in Glasgow, Scotland stopped a forcible deportation, on the UnionDues podcast.
From RadioLabour, we’ll hear about the Bangladeshi garment workers fight for jobs and a living wage, and America Works returns for a second season with underwater marine diver Jim Mercer describing his year-round job checking, maintaining, and repairing commercial fishing boats in and around the port of New Bedford, Massachusetts.
On CTU Speaks, we find out about the special challenges deaf students face…and from Grit NorthWest, we get insight into the role of union delegates. Our last report comes from On the Line: Stories of BC Workers, with their story of uniting Asian workers in the lumber industry.

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 @duesunion @radiolabour @librarycongress @CtuSpeaks @GritNw @BC_LHC

Edited by Patrick Dixon, Chris Bangert-Drowns & Chris Garlock; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru: Harold Phillips