Haymarket Originals: Heat the Ground Up

Latest Episodes:

10. No, *You* Don’t Understand Jun 02, 2026

Show notes

Welcome to Heat the Ground Up, an oral history of Starbucks Workers United. In this episode, we’ll see a billionaire called before the Senate to answer for his company’s union busting. Over the course of the series, we’ll follow one of the most important labor fights in a generation through the voices and perspectives of the workers who organized it from the ground up.

This podcast is a Haymarket Originals production. Visit haymarketbooks.org to find indispensable radical books, podcasts, virtual events, and other political education resources, including Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can End the Housing Crisis by Tracy Rosenthal and Leonardo Vilchis, which is 20% off online. Please also consider joining the Haymarket book club. It’s one of the best ways to support Haymarket, and help fund projects like this one.

Our podcast host is Clarissa Redwine. You can find more of her work at strike.kitchen. This entire oral history is released under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International License. The music was composed by Michael T. Simonelli over at the podcast production company Charts and Leisure.

Bonus: Silvia Baldwin Tells a Story May 26, 2026

Show notes

We’re in the final stretch of the Starbucks Workers United oral history. This week we’ll hear a story from Silvia Baldwin, the first barista voice we heard in the opening episode and a member of the Contract Action Team. Next week we’ll be back with more episodes of Heat The Ground Up, when everything accelerates. Heater trials, viral strikes, regime change, massive management ragers in Vegas—this story is about to go off the rails.

9. The Rise of a Parkermentarian May 19, 2026

Show notes

Welcome to Heat the Ground Up, an oral history of Starbucks Workers United. In this episode, we’ll see Starbucks turn focused, store by store union-busting into a company-wide war against its own baristas, union and non union alike. Over the course of the series, we’ll follow one of the most important labor fights in a generation through the voices and perspectives of the workers who organized it from the ground up.

This podcast is a Haymarket Originals production. Visit haymarketbooks.org to find indispensable radical books, podcasts, virtual events, and other political education resources, including Trouble! At Coal Creek by Austin Sauerbrei, which is 20% off online. Please also consider joining the Haymarket book club. It’s one of the best ways to support Haymarket, and help fund projects like this one.

8. Blanco Joins A Fighting Union Apr 21, 2026

Show notes

Welcome to Heat the Ground Up, an oral history of Starbucks Workers United. In this episode, we’ll hear workers fight for material gains and develop a concrete understanding of how union organizing can counteract exploitation and change workers’ lives. Over the course of the series, we’ll follow one of the most important labor fights in a generation through the voices and perspectives of the workers who organized it from the ground up.

This podcast is a Haymarket Originals production. Visit haymarketbooks.org to find indispensable radical books, podcasts, virtual events, and other political education resources, including Song for a Hard-Hit People: A Memoir of Antiracist Solidarity from a Coal Miner’s Daughter by Beth Howard, which is 10% off online. Please also consider joining the Haymarket book club. It’s one of the best ways to support Haymarket, and help fund projects like this one.

7. Blanco Grows The Ground Apr 14, 2026

Show notes

Welcome to Heat the Ground Up, an oral history of Starbucks Workers United. In this episode, we get an inside look at how the baristas at Blanco, in San Antonio Texas, win a union with help from Starbucks Workers United. Over the course of the series, we’ll follow one of the most important labor fights in a generation through the voices and perspectives of the workers who organized it from the ground up.

This podcast is a Haymarket Originals production. Visit haymarketbooks.org to find indispensable radical books, podcasts, virtual events, and other political education resources, including No Neutrals There: US Labor, Zionism, and the Struggle for Palestine by Jeff Schuhrke, which is 20% Off online. Please also consider joining the Haymarket book club. It’s one of the best ways to support Haymarket, and help fund projects like this one.

6. San Antonio Under Fire Apr 07, 2026

Show notes

Welcome to Heat the Ground Up, an oral history of Starbucks Workers United. In this episode, Starbucks management takes the anti-union campaign to a new level and, after a series of bad management decisions, workers in San Antonio are driven to unionize. Over the course of the series, we’ll follow one of the most important labor fights in a generation through the voices and perspectives of the workers who organized it from the ground up.

This podcast is a Haymarket Originals production. Visit haymarketbooks.org to find indispensable radical books, podcasts, virtual events, and other political education resources, including Unions of Our Own: Eight Building Blocks to Change Work and the World by Daniel Gross, which is 20% Off online. Please also consider joining the Haymarket book club. It’s one of the best ways to support Haymarket, and help fund projects like this one.

Breather Mar 31, 2026

Show notes

We'll be back soon with more episodes of Heat the Ground Up!

5. Buffalo Starts a Movement Mar 24, 2026

Show notes

Welcome to Heat the Ground Up, an oral history of Starbucks Workers United. In this episode, we get an inside look at the first Starbucks Workers United vote count and see the union take off across the country. Over the course of the series, we’ll follow one of the most important labor fights in a generation through the voices and perspectives of the workers who organized it from the ground up.

This podcast is a Haymarket Originals production. Visit haymarketbooks.org to find indispensable radical books, podcasts, virtual events, and other political education resources, including Class War, USA, which is 20% Off online. Please also consider joining the Haymarket book club. It’s one of the best ways to support Haymarket, and help fund projects like this one.

4. Buffalo, I’ll Stand With You Mar 17, 2026

Show notes

Welcome to Heat the Ground Up, an oral history of Starbucks Workers United. In this episode, baristas in Buffalo, NY weather the final blows of management’s anti-union campaign and prepare for an election. Over the course of the series, we’ll follow one of the most important labor fights in a generation through the voices and perspectives of the workers who organized it from the ground up.

This podcast is a Haymarket Originals production. Visit haymarketbooks.org to find indispensable radical books, podcasts, virtual events, and other political education resources, including Detroit: I Do Mind Dying, which is 20% Off online. Please also consider joining the Haymarket book club. It’s one of the best ways to support Haymarket, and help fund projects like this one.

3. Union Busters Come to Buffalo Mar 10, 2026

Show notes

Welcome to Heat the Ground Up, an oral history of Starbucks Workers United. In this episode, baristas take the union public in Buffalo, NY and we get an inside look at management’s anti-union campaign. Over the course of the series, we’ll follow one of the most important labor fights in a generation through the voices and perspectives of the workers who organized it from the ground up.

This podcast is a Haymarket Originals production. Visit haymarketbooks.org to find indispensable radical books, podcasts, virtual events, and other political education resources, including Set the Earth on Fire, which is 20% Off online. Please also consider joining the Haymarket book club. It’s one of the best ways to support Haymarket, and help fund projects like this one.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Haymarket Originals: Heat the Ground Up

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected