Labor Radio-Podcast Weekly

Blue Collar Gospel Hour; Building Bridges Radio; Working People; My Labor Radio; Union Strong; Black Work Talk

Your weekly guide to labor radio and podcasts: highlights from some of the more than eighty shows that make up the Labor Radio Podcast Network.

On today’s show, we start off with two takes on labor and politics that in some ways come from very different places and in other ways come from very much the same place. On the Blue Collar Gospel Hour host Dan Denton and his fellow autoworker Trey Garcia react to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last month with frustration over the failure of both parties to speak to or for working people. And on Building Bridges Radio, Fair Fight Action founder Stacey Abrams – who’s been nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize -- talks about how the American working class has consistently relied on people of color and women to push for improved status for workers but has been slow to include them in the movement’s victories.
Next up, Jessie Sage interviews sex worker, activist, writer, undocumented migrant, and DACA recipient Maya Morena on the Working People podcast, about the politics of the sex industry and the history of vice.
On My Labor Radio, Indiana teacher Tim Barr discusses life in school for both teachers and students during a pandemic.
As New York State faces a multibillion-dollar budget deficit, the Union Strong podcast explores how Adult-Use Cannabis offers an opportunity to building a new industry from the ground up in a way that will raise revenue, create good union jobs, and address social, racial, and economic equity.
And, from the Black Work Talk podcast, we’ll hear about the relationship between Black unionists, the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, and the labor movement from longtime labor organizer and leader Bill Lucy, co-founder of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists.

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.

Also, check out our weekly livestream show, available on Facebook and YouTube, where you’ll also find profiles of members of the Network.

#LaborRadioPod @bbridgesradio @WorkingPod @mgevaart @nysaflcio @BlackWorkTalk

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

LRPN Livestream (2/10): NAFTA 2.0; Better for workers?

The Labor Radio Podcast Network’s Weekly Wednesday Livestream features interviews with labor leaders, rank-and-filers and experts about current labor issues. Network members take turns co-hosting the show, which airs Wednesdays at 7p EST and is available on Facebook and YouTube.

Guests for February 10th, 2021 of LRPN Livestream included Lori Wallach (Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch), Eric Gottwald (AFL-CIO Trade Specialist), Alejandro Villamar (Mexican Action Network Against Free Trade), and Rick Arnold (Canada’s Common Frontiers).

LRPN Hosts: Jacob Morrison (The Valley Labor Report) and Judy Ancel (The Heartland Labor Forum).

This is an excerpt of the full show. 

The LRPN Livestream pod extra is produced and edited by Evan Matthew Papp and Chris Garlock.

#LaborRadioPod

LRPN Livestream (2/3): Labor’s response to the rise of fascism

The Labor Radio Podcast Network’s Weekly Wednesday Livestream features interviews with labor leaders, rank-and-filers and experts about current labor issues. Network members take turns co-hosting the show, which airs Wednesdays at 7p EST and is available on Facebook and YouTube.

Guests for the February 3rd, 2021 edition of the LRPN Livestream included David Van Deusen (President, Vermont State Labor Council, AFL-CIO), Trent Willis, (ILWU Local 10), Carol Lang (CUNY Professor), Mehmet Bayram (Pacifica Media Workers Guild in SF).

LRPN Hosts: Steve Zeltzer (Work Week Radio) and Chris Garlock (Union City Radio).

This is an excerpt of the full show, which is available here.

The LRPN Livestream pod extra is produced and edited by Evan Matthew Papp and Chris Garlock.

#LaborRadioPod

Remembering John Sweeney and Anne Feeney

We lost two giants of the labor movement this week, former AFL-CIO president John Sweeney and labor folksinger and activist Anne Feeney; on today’s pod extra we remember them both.
In our first segment, on this week’s Your Rights At Work radio show (WPFW 89.3 FM in Washington, DC), Stephen Lerner, Marilyn Sneiderman, Harold Meyerson and Joe McCartin talked with hosts Chris Garlock and Ed Smith about Sweeney’s legacy as a visionary labor leader.
Stephen and Marilyn both worked closely with Sweeney, Harold covered him as a journalist and Joe, as our resident labor historian, provides the historical context for Sweeney’s life and work in the movement. Click here for Sweeney tributes. 
On that same show, Coalition of Labor Union Women president Elise Bryant told us about the free online screening by the DC Labor FilmFest of the new documentary, 9to5: The Story of A Movement, coming up this Tuesday at 7pm Eastern Standard Time.
The brand-new film captures the real-life fight that inspired a hit by Dolly Parton and changed the American workplace. Get your free tickets here.
Elise also shared her memories of Anne Feeney, the labor folksinger and activist who died on Wednesday, and in our second segment, we’ve got an excerpt from the interview the We Do The Work radio show did with Anne recently.
We’ll conclude with a medley of a few of Anne Feeney’s songs. You can find and order Anne’s music here.

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.

Also, check out our weekly livestream show, available on Facebook and YouTube, where you’ll also find profiles of members of the Network.

#LaborRadioPod @aflcio @annefeeney

Weekly podcast extra edited/produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru: Harold Phillips

America's Workforce Radio; Working People; Solidarity Works; Educating From the Heart; BCTGM Voices Project; Grit NW; Unify

On today’s show, former Beverly Hills 90210 star Gabrielle Carteris talks with the America’s Work Force Union Podcast about how she got involved in her union, SAG-AFTRA, where she’s now president.
On the Working People podcast, we hear about how staff at the American Civil Liberties Union are the latest non-profit employees to organize.
Steelworkers in Boston know which side Labor Secretary nominee Marty Walsh is on; we’ll hear about it on their Solidarity Works podcast.
Our mini-theme this week is voices of workers…On the Educating from the Heart podcast, we hear from an anonymous teacher about the culture of fear and intimidation in Florida schools. The BCTGM Voices Project – the podcast from the Baker’s union – talks with International Rep Lisa Gregory about growing up union, holding office at Baker’s Local 58G and what she’s learned about organizing and negotiating along the way. On GRIT Northwest, we meet Penny Painter, the supportive services coordinator for construction industry apprentices in the state of Oregon. And the Unify podcast visits with Bradley Parker, a young IBEW Local 105 member from Hamilton, Ontario, in Canada.

Finally, we lost two giants of the labor movement this week, former AFL-CIO president John Sweeney and labor folksinger and activist Anne Feeney (check out the medley of her songs on today's podcast); we’ll have a special edition of the Weekly out tomorrow honoring their memories.

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.

Also, check out our weekly livestream show, available on Facebook and YouTube, where you’ll also find profiles of members of the Network.

#LaborRadioPod @WorkingPod @AWFUnionPodcast @steelworkers @FloridaEA @BCTGM @GritNw @Unifypodcast

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

Solidarity Breakfast; Your Rights At Work; OnWriting; Heartland Labor Forum; My Labor Radio; LRPN Livestream; We Do The Work

On today’s show, we welcome a new member of the Network from Down Under, as Solidarity Breakfast, based in Melbourne, Australia, reports on workers at an ice cream shop fighting for their rights.
On this week’s Your Rights At Work radio show, labor journalist Sarah Jaffe told us why Work Won’t Love You Back.
Then, the OnWriting podcast talks with award-winning screenwriter Lena Waithe, creator and writer on the BET comedy series TWENTIES.
We’ve got a mini-theme on plant closings as the Heartland Labor Forum features Mike Stout on his new book The Homestead Steel Mill: The Final 10 Years and on My Labor Radio we hear about an auto supply plant that’s closing down later this year in Auburn Indiana.
On this week’s Labor Radio Podcast Network Livestream, the topic was what a progressive, pro-labor migration policy might look like.
Our final segment today is a special presentation of the final edition of We Do The Work, which is ending an amazing 8-year run on KSVR-FM in Washington state’s Skagit Valley. They go out with a lovely interview with Anne Feeney, one of the finest labor singers in the country, and several of her favorite songs. We’re playing the entire program in tribute to a show that’s been such a great resource for that community’s workers. They really did the work, on We Do The Work!

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.

Also, check out our weekly livestream show, available on Facebook and YouTube, where you’ll also find profiles of members of the Network.

#LaborRadioPod

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

Labor Radio on KBOO; Building Bridges; Talking SMART; Your Rights At Work; Working to Live in Southwest Washington; 141 Report; Heartland Labor Forum; Empathy Media Lab

On today’s show, Labor Radio on KBOO and Building Bridges on WBAI explore and celebrate Martin Luther King Junior’s struggles for labor rights and economic justice…
Then, labor news headlines of the week, including Talking SMART’s report on insurrectionists on trains, Your Rights At Work on President Biden firing the anti-union general counsel at the National Labor Relations Board, and, from the other Washington, the upcoming legislative session in Olympia, on the Working to Live in Southwest Washington podcast.
We get ultra-local with The 141 Report, a brand-new member of the Network, which visits with Wendy Goodell, President of Machinists’ Local 1782, and then we zoom back out for historical overviews:
Thomas Frank, author of What’s the Matter with Kansas, talks with the Heartland Labor Forum about his new book about American populism and the long trail of elites who hate it,
And from the Empathy Media Lab, Harvey J. Kaye talks about another moment of great crisis in American history and the effect on working people.

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

Also, check out our weekly livestream show, available on Facebook and YouTube, where you’ll also find profiles of members of the Network.

#LaborRadioPod @bbridgesradio @smartunionworks @dclabor @SWWACLC @Heartland_Labor @empathymedialab

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

RadioLabour; America's Workforce Radio; UCOMM Live; LRPN Live; Union Strong; LRPN Spotlight; Labor History in 2:00

On today’s show, we’ve got reactions to Joe Biden’s nomination of longtime union leader Marty Walsh to be Secretary of Labor. From RadioLabour, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka weighs in, as does Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Rick Bloomingdale on America's Workforce Radio, and Laborers political director Josh Slaughter on UCOMM Live.
Then we’ve got some highlights from this week’s Labor Radio Podcast Network livestream show, including American Prospect Editor Harold Meyerson and Working-Class Perspectives Associate Editor John Russo on the Trump impeachment, Nonprofit Employees Union president Kayla Blado reports on a huge organizing victory, and Nicholas Juravich, Assistant Professor of History and Labor Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston College provides a local perspective on the Marty Walsh nomination.
If you like labor movies, you’ll not only want to check out Union Strong’s interview with the composer and producer behind Stand! -- the new labor musical that’s been described as Norma Rae meets Hamilton – but sign up for the DC Labor FilmFest’s free online screening this coming Tuesday night at 7pm Eastern Standard Time.
The focus of this week’s Labor Radio Podcast Network Member Spotlight is Steve Zeltzer, host of Work Week Radio on KPFA.
And, on Labor History in 2:00, Johnny Cash Plays Folsom Prison

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.

Also, check out our weekly livestream show, available at on Facebook and YouTube, where you’ll also find profiles of members of the Network.

#LaborRadioPod 

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

Labor Radio Podcast Network Livestream; America's Work Force; The BCTGM Voices Project; Labor Vision; LRPN Spotlight; Labor History in 2:00

Teen Vogue labor columnist Kim Kelly joins AFL-CIO Policy Director Damon Silvers on this week’s Labor Radio Podcast livestream show for a lively discussion – from a worker perspective -- about the Trump attack on the U.S. Capitol last Wednesday. Labor folksinger/songwriter George Mann was also our guest on the show this week; be sure to stick around at the end of the podcast for a bonus track from his latest CD, "The Coronavirus Sessions." UCOMM Live host Kris LaGrange talked about his super-PAC and the recent elections on the America’s Work Force show this week, and on The BCTGM Voices Project – the brand-new podcast from the Baker’s union, Director of Organization John Price discusses hopes for the National Labor Relations Board under Joe Biden, along with recent organizing campaigns.
Nationally, construction workers account for as much as 25% of overdose fatalities and in Rhode Island, one in five of those who have overdosed worked in the construction industry. Labor Vision takes a look at how the Rhode Island Building and Construction Trades Council is working to address this deadly issue.
And this week we start a new feature, the Labor Radio Podcast Network Member Spotlight. Network producer Evan Papp has been conducting a series of fascinating interviews with members of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and this week we meet RadioLabour's Marc Bélanger. On Labor History in 2:00, Courts Stand Against 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.

Also, check out our weekly livestream show, available at on Facebook and YouTube, where you’ll also find profiles of members of the Network.

#LaborRadioPod @BCTGM @AWFUnionPodcast @LaborVisionRI ‎@RickSmithShow

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

SAG-AFTRA podcast; America's Work Force Radio; Breaktime Breakdown; Black Work Talk; Union Strong; My Labor Radio; Blue Collar Gospel Hour

For this week’s show, we’ve got an interview with actor – and strong union member -- Alan Alda, from the SAG-AFTRA podcast.
Then, Georgetown University professor and Working-Class Perspectives contributor Sherry Linkon talks with America’s Work Force Radio about how the working class has been affected by the pandemic. 
No end-of-year show would be complete without, well, an end-of-year show, so, from the Breaktime Breakdown, Jeremy, Mark, Jason and Richard get together to chat about all things 2020 at Sheet Metal Workers Local 110.
From Black Work Talk, one of the newest members of the Network, host Steven Pitts welcomes Greg Kelley, President of SEIU Health Care Illinois, who discusses how COVID has affected union members, efforts to build racial solidarity within the union and linking the work of the union with the mission of Black freedom.
This is also traditionally a time when we look to the year ahead, and on Union Strong, the New York State AFL-CIO’s Legislative Director reviews labor’s 2021 legislative agenda in that state, including protections for essential workers and support for all workers who continue to suffer as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. 
One of our favorite things about the Labor Radio Podcast Network is the chance it gives us to learn about local struggles we probably wouldn’t otherwise know about. Thanks to the My Labor Radio podcast, we’ll literally go to the streets of Fort Wayne, Indiana to hear about the ongoing battle by the Fort Wayne Philharmonic musicians for respect and a contract. 
Throughout today’s show you’ll hear poems from novelist, poet and singer/songwriter A.S. Coomer, who’s brought to us by The Blue Collar Gospel Hour, a podcast hosted by union autoworker and activist Dan Denton, who’s also a poet. 

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. 
Also, check out our weekly livestream show, available on Facebook and YouTube, where you’ll also find profiles of members of the Network.

#LaborRadioPod @sagaftra @AWFUnionPodcast

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