Working People

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Phones Down, Fists Up (w/ Tiffany Murray) Nov 07, 2022

Show notes

Call center workers employed by Maximus went on strike at four locations—in Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Virginia—this Tuesday, November 1. Maximus is a federal contractor, and during the open enrollment period workers there handle a non-stop stream of high-stakes calls from people trying to navigate the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, and Medicaid systems, but they have been pushed to their limit. As stated in a Twitter thread posted by Call Center Workers United, "We've been saying for years: during ACA open enrollment, we're dealing with constant back-to-back calls. Some frustrated callers become abusive and subject us to racist and sexist slurs. We're paid wages so low it's nearly impossible to support a family. We've had enough. We're striking for THREE SIMPLE DEMANDS: 1) $25/hr starting wage, 2) Time to breathe between calls, 3) Meaningful protection from abusive callers." In this urgent mini-cast, we talk to Tiffany Murray, a worker at the Maximus call center in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, about the conditions that have pushed her and her coworkers to hit the picket line, and about what others around the country can do to help.

Additional links/info below...

Call Center Workers United Twitter page
Support the Call Center Workers Solidarity Fund
Mary Yang, NPR, "Call Center Workers Strike over Pay and Working Conditions"

Permanent links below...

Working People Patreon page
Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song

In Key Swing States, Union Members Are the Last Line of Defense (w/ Maggie Acosta, Bryan Villarreal-Vasquez, & Sheila Silver) Nov 07, 2022

Show notes

The soul of the labor movement is the fight for democracy in and outside of the workplace—and, from the shop floor to the ballot box, organizers, volunteers, and rank-and-file workers with UNITE HERE are putting everything they have into that fight. Even in the midst of a deadly pandemic that hit the service and hospitality industries especially hard, union members with UNITE HERE hit the pavement in record numbers ahead of the 2020 general elections. As Harold Meyerson notes in The American Prospect, UNITE HERE members canvassed "more precincts than any other organization on the Democratic side of the ledger that year. Talking to well over a million voters in Vegas, Reno, Phoenix, Philadelphia, and Atlanta, they played a key role in Joe Biden's victory and in the Democrats winning control of the Senate. This year," ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, "they have even more members knocking on doors than they did two years ago." As working people face an increasingly unbearable cost-of-living crisis, as the right continues to attack abortion rights (and voting rights, and workers' rights, and LGBTQ people, and teachers, etc.), as basic human needs like healthcare, housing, and clean water are put farther out of reach for the poor and working classes, as more people give up on a political system they feel gave up on them a long time ago, the fight for a better society must come from the grassroots. In this special panel, recorded a week before the 2022 midterm elections, we talk with three UNITE HERE members—Maggie Acosta (Arizona), Bryan Villarreal-Vasquez (Nevada), and Sheila Silver (Pennsylvania)—about their tireless canvassing efforts in battleground states, what they're hearing from voters, and what the struggle for democracy means to them and their union.

Additional links/info below...

UNITE HERE website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Harold Meyerson, The American Prospect, "Can the Hotel Workers' Union Save the Democrats?"
Harold Meyerson, The American Prospect, "The Only Precinct Walkers"
Support the Call Center Workers Solidarity Fund
Brett Anderson, The New York Times, "These Cooks, Waiters and Casino Workers Could Swing the Senate"
UNITE HERE Press Release: "Largest Canvass Operation in NV, AZ, and PA Sees Path to Victory vs. MAGA Republicans"

Permanent links below...

Working People Patreon page
Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song

Vince Quiles Oct 27, 2022

Show notes

The wave of grassroots worker organizing is spreading to different industries and businesses around the country, including those that have notoriously resisted any and all unionization efforts in the past. The Home Depot, the single largest home improvement retail company in the US, is one of those businesses, and there is a union drive underway as we speak at a store in Philadelphia. As Johan Furman writes at More Perfect Union, "On Monday, September 19, workers filed a petition to organize a union among 276 workers at a Home Depot in northeast Philadelphia. If successful, the independent union would be the first at the home repair chain, the fifth-largest private employer in the U.S." We talk to Vince Quiles, who's worked at the northeast Philly store for five years and is one of the worker-organizers leading the drive to become the first unionized Home Depot location in the country.

Additional links/info below...

THDworkersUnite Twitter page
Vince's Twitter page
Johan Furman, More Perfect Union, "Workers Plan to Renovate Home Depot with a Union"
Max Marin, The Philadelphia Inquirer, "Home Depot Workers in Northeast Philly Allege 'Surveillance,' Other Union-Busting Tactics Ahead of Election"
Breaking Points, "Home Depot Workers REVOLT After Massive Stock Buyback"

Permanent links below...

Working People Patreon page
Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song

Alabama Paper Mill Workers Want Their Lives Back (w/ Jacob Morrison) Oct 20, 2022

Show notes

"On the morning of Oct. 1... almost 500 union members from three United Steel Workers (USW) locals at WestRock's Mahrt Mill paper mill in Cottonton, Alabama, voted to reject a second contract offer from the company," Jacob Morrison recently reported for The Real News Network. "The refusal to ratify WestRock's 'last, best, and final' offer came as a result of the company insisting on removing contract language pertaining to what the workers there call 'penalties' for long hours. Members resoundingly rejected this contract, even though it included an unheard-of $28,000 ratification bonus—increased from an already staggering offer of $20,000, which workers already rejected on Sept. 21." Workers at WestRock's Mahrt Mill paper mill have been locked out by the company since early October and say they can't be bought off with bonuses for signing a contract that will ensure they have even less time for life outside of work. In this special guest-hosted episode, Morrison speaks with Mahrt Mill workers from the picket line about the lockout and their fight to get their lives back.

Additional links/info below...

Jacob's Twitter page
MAHRT USW LOCAL 0971 Facebook page
The Valley Labor Report Twitter page, YouTube channel, and Patreon
Jacob Morrison, The Real News Network, "Alabama Paper Mill Workers Want Their Lives Back—And They're Giving Up $30,000 to Get It"

Permanent links below...

Working People Patreon page
Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song
Jules Taylor - all other musical selections, available at soundcloud.com/lousy

**In the Name of the Father (w/ Aaron Moritz & Shawn Vulliez)** PATREON EXCLUSIVE Oct 12, 2022

Show notes

***This is a Patreon Exclusive episode***

Subscribe to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/workingpeople

Thank you to all the Patreon subscribers for their love, support, and generosity. <3 Max, Jules & the Working People Team.

A great man once said, "The history of all hitherto existing society is the struggle between papa and boy." We chat with our friends Aaron and Shawn from the Srsly Wrong podcast about their new animated series Papa & Boy on Means TV, and about why bosses love to treat workers like children.

Additional links/info below...

Watch Episode 1 of Papa & Boy, "Take a Bath," on YouTube
Watch Papa & Boy on Means TV
Srsly Wrong website, Facebook, page, Twitter page, & Patreon
Means TV website, Facebook page, & Twitter page
The Srsly Wrong MAY DAY Crossover Special (w/ Working People, Rebel Steps, & Doomer v. Bloomer)
Working People, "The Winnipeg General Strike (w/ Srsly Wrong)"

Permanent links below...

Working People Patreon page
Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song

Jonnie Lane Oct 07, 2022

Show notes

"Flight attendants at Delta are currently pushing to form a union at the only major airline in the US where flight attendants are not unionized," journalist and friend of the show Michael Sainato recently wrote in The Guardian. "The aim is to allow the airline's 23,000 flight attendants to vote on whether to unionize with the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) and will face fierce opposition from an airline that has fought previous efforts." Delta has fiercely fought off unionization efforts in the past, but workers and organizers are confident that this time they'll get a victory. We talk with Jonnie Lane, who works at Delta and has been a flight attendant for the past 15 years, about her path to working in the airline industry, what it's been like working as a flight attendant before and during COVID-19, and what a union would mean for Jonnie and her coworkers.

Additional links/info below...

Jonnie's Twitter page
Delta AFA website and Twitter page
AFA-CWA website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Michael Sainato, The Guardian, "Delta Flight Attendants Race to Unionize: 'We're the People Behind the Profits'"
Meagan Day, Jacobin, "Once Again, Flight Attendants Are Leading the Way"
Gabby Del Valle, Vox, "Delta Told Its Workers to Buy Video Games Instead of Unionizing"
The People's Forum, "BOOK TALK: The Work of Living with Maximillian Alvarez"

Permanent links below...

Working People Patreon page
Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song

Leo Lindner Sep 28, 2022

Show notes

It's been 12 years since the catastrophic explosion that sank the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, killing 11 workers and causing the largest marine oil spill in human history. A lot of forgetting can happen in that time. A lot of cultural amnesia and historical distortion has been able to set in over the past 12 years, whether that came in the form of a years-long PR campaign from British Petroleum (BP), the high-budget Hollywood-ification of the disaster in the 2016 movie starring Mark Wahlberg, or just the general lack of workers' voices and stories in the media. In this episode, we talk with Leo Lindner, who worked for 10 years at the mud company M-I, the last 5 of which were spent working on the Deepwater Horizon. Leo was on the rig on April 20, 2010, the day of the explosion. We talk to Leo about his life, about moving to and growing up in Louisiana as a kid, working on tugboats and in oil fields, and about the experience of being a worker in the midst of one of the most devastating industrial and environmental disasters of the modern era.

Additional links/info below...

Leo's Twitter page
Richard Pallardy, Encyclopedia Britannica, "Deepwater Horizon oil spill (2010)"
Lisa Friedman, The New York Times, "Ten Years After Deepwater Horizon, US Is Still Vulnerable to Catastrophic Spills"
James B. Meigs, Slate, "Blame BP for Deepwater Horizon. But Direct Your Outrage to the Actual Mistake"
Alison Rose Levy, TruthDig, "The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Was a Cover-Up, Not a Cleanup"
Associated Press, "Short Portraits of 11 Who Died on the Deepwater Horizon"
Megan Milliken Biven, Current Affairs, "Dredging Up the Past"
Oliver Milman, The Guardian, "'I Pray to God It Never Happens Again': US Gulf Coast Bears Scars of Historic Oil Spill 10 Years On"

Permanent links below...

Working People Patreon page
Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song

For Evan (w/ Ken Seyfried, Eric Seyfried, Amy Chamberlin, Erica Erskine, Jana Murphy, & Austin LiPuma) Sep 23, 2022

Show notes

(C/W: bullying, harassment, suicide) This time last year, we introduced listeners to the family of Evan Seyfried, a dedicated Kroger employee in Milford, Ohio, for nearly 20 years, whose beautiful life was tragically cut short after he was targeted and tortured by coworkers and driven to suicide, according to Evan's family. A lot has happened since we published that episode one year ago, and we wanted to provide Working People listeners with an update on how Evan's family and loved ones are doing, what the status of the lawsuit against Kroger is, and how the Justice for Evan coalition is growing around the country. In this panel episode, we check in with Evan's father Ken, his brother Eric, his girlfriend and best friend Amy Chamberlin, Jana Murphy and Erica Erskine of the Justice for Evan coalition, and Austin LiPuma, the attorney representing the Seyfrieds in their lawsuit against Kroger.

Additional links/info below...

Justice for Evan Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram
Working People, "Evan Seyfried (w/ Ken, Linda, & Eric Seyfried)"
Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "'Justice for Evan': Supporters Demand Accountability from Kroger after 19-Year Employee Allegedly Bullied by Management to Suicide"
Maximillian Alvarez, Breaking Points, "Max Alvarez: A DEADLY, Silent Epidemic of Workplace Abuse is Growing"
National Workplace Bullying Coalition website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
"Lawsuit: Kroger Manager Drove Employee To Suicide" (PDF)
Julian Mark, The Washington Post, "Former Kroger Grocery Store Employee's Suicide Was a Result of 'Torturous Conditions,' Lawsuit Says"

Permanent links below...

Working People Patreon page
Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song

Countdown to Midnight (w/ Jay & Joe) Sep 14, 2022

Show notes

On Friday, September 16, the United States could see its first major rail strike and/or rail lockout since the early '90s. Railroad workers have reached the end of their rope after years of enduring dramatic staff cuts that have piled more work onto fewer workers, along with exhausting schedules and draconian attendance policies that have made it impossible to live and reasonably plan their lives. These cost-cutting, profit-maximizing policies are part of a larger, decades-long trend that workers say have destroyed the freight rail industry. For years, quality of service for freight rail customers and shippers, and quality of life for railroad employees, has plummeted, all while prices, profits, and stock buybacks have skyrocketed. While many are understandably concerned about the seismic damage a national rail strike initiated by the unions, or a lockout initiated by the rail carriers, could do to the supply chain, railroad workers are the ones taking a stand to save the supply chain from the corporate greed that has already done irreparable damage to the freight rail industry. In this urgent episode, recorded on Sunday, September 11, we talk with Jay, a longtime train dispatcher and recent guest on the show, and Joe, a locomotive engineer, about the ongoing crisis on the nation's railroads and about the latest updates on the dispute between the rail unions and rail carriers as we countdown to the strike/lockout deadline on 12am EDT, September 16.

Additional links/info below...

Shiyin Chen & Keith Laing, Bloomberg, "US Freight Railroads to Cut Services as Union Talks Fail, Report Says"
SMART-TD, BLET Joint Statement on Rail Embargo
Jeff Stein, Lauren Kaori Gurley, & Tyler Pager, The Washington Post, "Freight Rail Strike Threatens Supply Chains, Prompting White House Planning"
Working People, "Jay"
Maximillian Alvarez & Mel Buer, The Real News Network, "Is the US Headed for a National Rail Strike"
Mel Buer, The Real News Network, "Fired Up Rail Workers Rally in Galesburg, Illinois, as Potential National Strike Looms"
Mel Buer, The Real News Network, "Corporate Billionaires Are Wrecking the Supply Chain. Just Look at the Railroads"
Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Railroad Workers Are Being Ground to Dust. Who Will Help Them?"
Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Court Blocks Railroad Workers from Striking Over Draconian Attendance Policy"
Joe DeManuelle-Hall, Labor Notes, "Rail Workers Reject Contract Recommendations, Say They're Ready to Strike"

Permanent links below...

Working People Patreon page
Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song

Is the US Headed for a National Rail Strike? (w/ Mel Buer, Jeff Kurtz, & Ron Kaminkow) Sep 08, 2022

Show notes

The rail industry is experiencing a self-induced crisis as a result of decades of cost-cutting, profit-maximizing executive decisions that have driven rail workers and the supply chain into the ground. In an attempt to mediate between the major freight rail companies and unions representing around 115,000 railroad workers, President Biden appointed a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) to offer recommendations for resolving the ongoing contract dispute. But an overwhelming number of surveyed workers seem prepared to reject the PEB's recommendations, and if the current contract dispute isn't resolved the US could be headed towards its largest rail strike in decades.

In this livestream produced by The Real News Network, Max and journalist Mel Buer co-host a panel with current/former railroad workers and members of Railroad Workers United Jeff Kurtz and Ron Kaminkow to discuss the looming possibility of a massive national rail strike. With permission from TRNN, we are sharing the audio from this livestream on the Working People feed for our listeners.

Additional links/info below...

Mel's Twitter page
Ron's Twitter page
Railroad Workers United website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Press Release: "RWU Announces Position on PEB #250"
Survey Results: Rail Workers and the PEB
Working People, "Jay"
Mel Buer, The Real News Network, "Fired Up Rail Workers Rally in Galesburg, Illinois, as Potential National Strike Looms"
Mel Buer, The Real News Network, "Corporate Billionaires Are Wrecking the Supply Chain. Just Look at the Railroads"
Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Railroad Workers Are Being Ground to Dust. Who Will Help Them?"
Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Court Blocks Railroad Workers from Striking Over Draconian Attendance Policy"
Joe DeManuelle-Hall, Labor Notes, "Rail Workers Reject Contract Recommendations, Say They're Ready to Strike"

Permanent links below...

Working People Patreon page
Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song

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