Working People

Latest Episodes:

Want to save the world? Start by unionizing your workplace Sep 30, 2026

Show notes

"We are living in a pivotal moment in labor history," Cole Rockarts writes in their new book Fired Up About Unions. "At a time when corporations have more power, profit, and political influence than ever before, workers are leading inspiring union organizing campaigns and taking on bosses to win big… Their struggles reveal that everyday people can unite, change their conditions, and build better workplaces and a better world." In this episode of Working People, we speak with a panel of labor organizers across the USA and Canada about why labor unions are more important now than ever, and how workers organizing collectively can change their workplaces, their lives, and the world. Panelists include: Hassan Husseini of the Public Service Alliance of Canada and Labor for Palestine - Canada; Tina Oh of SEIU Local 2 in Hallifax, Canada; Alex Raymond of Teamsters 322 in Virginia, USA, and Cole Rockarts, veteran labor educator and organizer and author of the new book Fired Up About Unions. Additional links/info:

Cole Rockarts, Between the Lines Press, Fired Up About Unions

Featured Music:

Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

Credits:

Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor

Toledo residents' lives upended by deadly Brent Industries explosions Sep 23, 2026

Show notes

On the morning of August 18, residents living near the Brent Industries facility in Toledo, Ohio, awoke to a series of massive explosions and a towering chemical fire in their backyards. Two Brent Industry workers who were on shift at the time of the explosion were killed. Members of the surrounding community say they are experiencing symptoms of chemical exposure, and that they are not getting the answers they need from Brent Industries or the Environmental Protection Agency. In this episode of Working People, we speak with a panel of Toledo residents about the industrial disaster at Brent Industries and the harrowing aftermath. Panelists include: Toledo Councilwoman Dr Brittany Jones; Mike Balonek, Toledo-based filmmaker and sacrifice zone advocate; Sarah Locker and Kris Ramsdell, who both live right next to the Brent Industries facility where the deadly explosion occurred. Editor's note: According to WTVG Toledo, "The coroner's office identified those who died in the [Brent Industries] fire as Heladio G. Perez, 46, and Mary Allen, 64. An autopsy revealed they both died as a result of blunt force trauma." Additional links/info:

Dave Collins & John Seewer, Associated Press, "Explosions and fire tear through Ohio industrial building, killing 2 workers"
Kevon DuPree, WTVG Toledo, "Records show history of fires, violations at Brent Industries facility"
Lily Lowndes, Alexis Means, & Brianna Weaver, WTVG Toledo, "Two dead after explosions rock Toledo industrial facility"
Mike Balonek website, Facebook page, Instagram, and production company website

Featured Music:

Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

Credits:

Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor

"Purge Palantir!": Union nurses warn Big Tech and Big Brother are invading our healthcare system Sep 16, 2026

Show notes

On August 27, registered nurses, patients, and community allies rallied and stopped traffic in cities around the US to demand that hospitals and elected officials cut all ties with artificial intelligence giant Palantir. In this episode of Working People, we speak with a panel of registered nurses—Kelli Brennan (Portland, Maine), Lee Barker (Kansas City, Missouri), and Kiera Arbour (Chicago, Illinois)—about National Nurses United's "Purge Palantir!" campaign, and about the disturbing creep of Big Tech and Big Brother into a US healthcare system that is already in crisis. Additional links/info:

National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United website, Facebook page, Twitter/X page, and Instagram
National Nurses United: "Nurses hold nationwide civil disobedience actions to demand 'Palantir Out!'"
Sheera Frenkel & Aaron Krolik, The New York Times, "Trump Taps Palantir to Compile Data on Americans"
Aisha Down & Robert Booth, The Guardian, "Palantir manifesto described as 'ramblings of a supervillain' amid UK contract fears"

Featured Music:

Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

Credits:

Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor

Why the stories working people tell ourselves about ourselves matter (Wheeling, WV Labor Symposium Speech) Sep 09, 2026

Show notes

Over the 2026 Labor Day weekend, Working People host and TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez spoke at the Reuther-Pollack Labor History Symposium in Wheeling, West Virginia, organized by the Wheeling Academy of Law & Science (WALS) Foundation. The theme of this year's Symposium was "The Art of Labor," and other speakers included: Tabitha Arnold, textile artist and tapestry maker; Erik Ruin, printmaker and shadow puppeteer; and Shaun Slifer, a multidisciplinary artist and the Creative Director for the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum. In this episode of Working People, we share the audio recording of Alvarez's speech, "Why the Stories Working People Tell Ourselves About Ourselves Matter." You can read the full, edited transcript of this speech on the TRNN website. Featured Music:

Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

Credits:

Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor

Can anyone "make it" in today's music industry? Sep 02, 2026

Show notes

The 20th-century days of vinyl records, tape decks, CDs, Tower Records, and MTV have given way to our 21st-century age of MP3s and music streaming, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube, TikTok, and Ticketmaster. While certain people and certain companies in the music industry are making more money than ever, working musicians are finding it increasingly impossible to pay the bills and make a living from their art. In this episode of Working People, we speak with all four members of veteran Chicago rock band The Empty Pockets about the work that goes into being a professional musician, and the realities of working and trying to make a living in the music industry today. Additional links/info:

The Empty Pockets website, Facebook page, Instagram, YouTube channel, and Spotify channel
Josh Solomon, Hypebot, "We stopped waiting to be chosen and mailed 100,000 CDs instead"
Jules Taylor Music website, Facebook page, Instagram, YouTube channel, and Spotify channel

Featured Music:

Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

Credits:

Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor

"Katrina 2.0": Residents of Gary, Indiana fight to survive without power for 12 days (and counting) Aug 24, 2026

Show notes

After a deadly "derecho" storm and flash floods slammed the midwest in early August, downing trees and power lines, tens of thousands of residents in and around Gary, Indiana have been surviving without power for 12 days and counting. According to the Associated Press, "Northern Indiana Public Service Co. said 68,000 customers were still without power as of Thursday morning, the majority of them in Lake County beside the Illinois border. The utility said it has restored power to 306,500 others since Aug. 11. But power is not expected to be fully restored until Tuesday [Aug. 25] in some places, including Gary." In this urgent episode of Working People, we speak with a panel of residents and community leaders about the ongoing blackout in Gary and the conditions that led to this avoidable national tragedy. Panelists include: GlenEva Dunham, president of the Gary Teachers Union, AFT Local 4; Freida Graves, Project Director at the faith-based nonprofit Families Anchored in Total Harmony (FAITH) CDC; and Reverend John Jackson, Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ. Additional links/info:

FAITH CDC website and Facebook page
Gary Advocates for Responsible Development (GARD) Facebook page
Tilly Robinson, Indianapolis Star, "Braun tells NIPSCO to move faster in Gary, while clergy says state must do more"
Javonte Anderson, Capital B Gary, "I grew up in Gary. I've never seen a power outage like this"
Belly of the Beast, "US policy causes Cuba's blackouts. US citizens bring solar panels for pregnant women"

Featured Music:

Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

Credits:

Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor

No such thing as 'unskilled work': Barbara Ehrenreich's 'Nickel and Dimed' 25 years later Aug 19, 2026

Show notes

In her 2001 masterwork Nickel and Dimed, the late Barbara Ehrenreich went undercover to report on the daily realities working people in America face trying to get by on minimum-wage. After working as a housekeeper, a nursing aide, a home cleaner, a server, and more, Ehrenreich wrote that "The first thing I discovered is that no job, no matter how lowly, is truly 'unskilled.'" It is difficult to overstate the impact that Ehrenreich's book and body of work have had on US culture and working-class politics over the last 25 years, and the enduring relevance of her work today. In this special episode of Working People, we commemorate the anniversary of Nickel and Dimed and celebrate the life and legacy of Ehrenreich by speaking with a panel of guests who are carrying on that legacy today. Panelists include: Deirdre English, coauthor of three books with Barbara Ehrenreich, former editor in chief of Mother Jones, and a former director of the Magazine Center at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley; Alissa Quart, editorial director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and author of seven books, most recently Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream; and Ann Larson, author of Cleanup on Aisle Five: Essential Work, Poverty Wages, and the View from Behind the Supermarket Register and a fellow with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. Additional links/info:

Barbara Ehrenreich, Metropolitan Books, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
Alissa Quart, Deirdre English, Ai-jen Poo, Ann Larson, & Bill Fletcher, The Nation, "Saluting a Matriarch—25 Years After Nickel and Dimed"
Economic Hardship Reporting Project website, Facebook page, and Instagram

Featured Music:

Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

Credits:

Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor

Layoffs, long waits, obscene prices: Vermont healthcare workers and patients face historic crisis Aug 13, 2026

Show notes

Frontline healthcare workers and the patients they serve are facing a major crisis at the University of Vermont Health network—the state's leading healthcare provider. "In June, UVM Health eliminated over 140 positions across its network, a third of which were union positions," Matt More reports at The Rake Vermont. "The cuts, which the hospital estimated will save $9.5 million, comes as the network faces a $300 million budget shortfall… Later that month, UVM Health handed down a speed-up order to its Medical Group, which includes outpatient clinics and more than 1,000 physicians, which practitioners say will result in briefer appointments with patients." How did Vermont's flagship health network end up in this crisis? How is it affecting healthcare workers and their patients? And what can be done to fix it? In this episode of Working People, we speak with Melissa Lavallee, secretary of UVMMC Support Staff United and VP of healthcare for AFT-Vermont; and Teagan Cook, lead outpatient chemotherapy scheduler at her hospital and a chief steward in UVMMC Support Staff United. Additional links/info:

UVMMC Support Staff United website, Facebook page, and Instagram
AFT-Vermont website, Facebook page, and Instagram
Matt Moore, The Rake Vermont, "UVM Health's unions fight hospital cuts to protect their patients' healthcare and their working conditions"
Town Meeting TV, "Put workers and patients first! - Solidarity town hall meeting with UVM Medical Center unions"
Olivia Gieger, VT Digger, "UVM Health cuts 142 jobs — an estimated $9.5 million in staff positions"

Featured Music:

Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

Credits:

Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor

Oil giant BP locks out workers at its last unionized refinery in US Aug 10, 2026

Show notes

For the last five months, oil giant British Petroleum (BP) has locked 800 workers out of their jobs at a crude oil refinery in Whiting, Indiana. The facility, located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, is BP's last unionized oil refinery in the United States. BP says it is pursuing "modernized job structures, training, and upskilling," but workers and their union—United Steelworkers Local 7-1—say that the company has not bargained in good faith, that its contract proposals pose blatant existential threats to workers' jobs, pay, and collective bargaining rights, and that the company is illegally trying to crush the union out of existence with the lockout. In this episode of Working People, we speak with three locked out workers at the BP oil refinery in Whiting: Eric Schultz, president of USW Local 7-1; Leno Miller, assistant griever for USW Local 7-1; Tim Powell, a 19-year member of USW Local 7-1, and a volunteer for the lockout assistance committee. Additional links/info:

USW Local 7-1 Official Lockout Update/Support Page
USW Local 7-1 Facebook page and Instagram
Sarah Lazare, Workday Magazine / The American Prospect, "Locked out refinery workers say BP is trying to 'starve us,' crush union"
Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, "I survived the rig explosion that caused the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This is what I saw"

Featured Music:

Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

Credits:

Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor

Railroad jobs have "gotten worse" since Biden and Congress blocked workers from striking Aug 05, 2026

Show notes

In 2022, the United States nearly experienced its first national railroad strike in decades, until then-President Joe Biden, along with Democrats and Republicans in Congress, stepped in to block a strike before it could begin. Rail labor unions were forced to accept contracts that did not substantively address long-brewing crises in the freight rail industry that have had disastrous consequences for frontline workers, trackside communities like East Palestine, Ohio, the passenger rail system, and the US supply chain writ large. In this episode of Working People, we speak with returning guest "Jay," a veteran train dispatcher who's been in the industry for 22 years, about what has changed—and what hasn't—for rank-and-file railroad workers on the job over the last four years. Additional links/info:

Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, "Ask a railroad worker: How did railroad jobs get so bad?""
Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, "Freight workers explain why a national railroad strike is looming"
Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, "Railroad workers speak out after Congress and Biden block rail strike"
Mike L, TRNN, "A carman's perspective on the East Palestine derailment and the railroad industry as a whole"
Maximillian Alvarez, TRNN, "US freight workers say it's time to nationalize the railroads"

Featured Music:

Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

Credits:

Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor

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