Working People

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Amazon Labor Union Apr 26, 2022

Show notes

On Sunday, April 24, the independent Amazon Labor Union held a rally outside the JFK8 fulfillment center on Staten Island, New York, where, just one month ago, workers shocked the world by becoming the first Amazon workforce in the US to successfully vote to unionize. With supporters from organized labor and the surrounding community showing up in full force, along with high-profile appearances from Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, worker-organizers with the ALU showed their support for their coworkers at the LDJ5 sorting center, another facility in the same complex that is voting in their own union election this week. If LDJ5 becomes the second Amazon facility to unionize, it will prove that what happened at JFK8 was not a fluke, but the beginning of a historic movement to unionize the second largest private employer in the US and one of the most powerful corporations in the world. In this special episode, we put together a compilation of speeches from the rally along with interviews Max conducted on the ground with Amazon workers and other special guests. Speakers/interviewees include: Christian Smalls, president of the Amazon Labor Union; Derrick Palmer, vice president of organizing for the Amazon Labor Union; Jordan Flowers, cofounder of the Congress of Essential Workers and the Amazon Labor Union; Senator Bernie Sanders; Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; Karen Ponce, interim secretary of the Amazon Labor Union; Julian Mitchell-Israel, LDJ5 Amazon worker, field organizer for the Amazon Labor Union; Maddie Wesley, LDJ5 Amazon worker, treasurer of the Amazon Labor Union; Kshama Sawant, (socialist) Seattle City Council Member; Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO; Charles Jenkins, elected officer of the Transport Worker Union Local 100 and president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) NY Chapter; Brittany Ramos DeBarros, candidate for Congress in New York's 11th District; Luis Feliz Leon, staff writer and organizer for Labor Notes; Michelle Valentin Nieves, worker-organizer with the Amazon Labor Union.

Additional links/info below...

Amazon Labor Union website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram
The Amazon Labor Union Solidarity Fund
Chris Smalls' Twitter page
Derrick Palmer's Twitter page
Jordan Flowers' Twitter page
The Congress of Essential Workers website and Twitter page
Julian Mitchell-Israel's Twitter page
Kshama Sawant's Twitter page
Sara Nelson's Twitter page
The Coalition of Black Trade Unionists' website and Twitter page
Brittany Ramos DeBarros's Twitter page
Luis Feliz Leon's Labor Notes author page and Twitter page
Michelle Valentin Nieves's Twitter page
Bernie Sanders's Twitter page
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Twitter page

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

Kenyon Student Workers & Indiana Graduate Workers on Strike (w/ Molly Orr, Nora Weber, & Anne Kavalerchik) Apr 21, 2022

Show notes

Right now, a majority of residential advisers at Kenyon College, organized with the Kenyon Student Worker Organizing Committee, are on an indefinite strike over unfair labor practices. At the same time, over 1,750 graduate student workers at Indiana University with the Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition are on strike, demanding that the university administration formally recognize their union, pay graduate workers a livable wage, and eliminate costly student fees. In this extended mini-cast, we talk about these important struggles with three worker-organizers across the two campuses: Molly Orr, a sophomore at Kenyon College who works at the Kenyon Farm and the Writing Center; Nora Weber, a fourth-year PhD candidate in Sociology at Indiana University; and Anne Kavalerchik, a third-year PhD candidate in Sociology and Informatics at Indiana University. Additional links/info below...

Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition—United Electrical Workers website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram
Kenyon Student Worker Organizing Committee—United Electrical Workers website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram
Nora's Twitter page
Kenyon Strike Fund: K-SWOC-UE Strike Fund - Spring 2022
Indiana Strike Fund: STRIKE UNTIL WE WIN FUND!
Maria Carrasco, Inside Higher Ed, "Kenyon College Residential Advisers Go On Indefinite Strike"
Hali Tauxe, Indiana Daily Student, "As Graduate Workers Contemplate Strike, Bloomington Campus Officials Announce Raises"
Jeremy Hogan, The Bloomingtonian, "Gallery: Grad Workers Strike Tuesday, April 19, 2022"

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

Maricela Aguilar Monroy Apr 14, 2022

Show notes

Just over ten years ago, the landscape for workers' rights and organized labor in the state of Wisconsin changed dramatically with the passage of Act 10 under Republican Governor Scott Walker in 2011. Act 10 was a hammer blow to the labor movement that essentially stripped collective bargaining rights from public sector workers, made it much more difficult for workers to organize, and forced unions to take massive concessions on healthcare, retirement benefits, and much more. Soon after, in 2015, Walker signed legislation that turned Wisconsin into a "right to work" state, issuing another blow to unions in a state once heralded as a bellwether of the labor movement. But all hope is not lost. In the wake of this coordinated assault on workers and unions, many are using the tools available to them to build up their communities and rebuild working-class power in Wisconsin. This is precisely what we have been investigating in our special series of conversations with teachers, organizers, scholars, and activists in Wisconsin that Max, Cameron Granadino (TRNN), and Hannah Faris (In These Times) recorded in the summer of 2021 as part of a special collaboration between The Real News Network and In These Times magazine. In the latest installment in this series, we talk with Maricela Aguilar Monroy, an undocumented educator and organizer who has spent most of her life in Milwaukee and is working to strengthen the community that has provided a home for her so it can continue to provide a home for others.

Additional links/info below...

Maricela's Twitter page YES! (Youth Empowered in the Struggle) Facebook page and Twitter page Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Ten Years after Act 10, Wisconsin Teachers Are Still Fighting to Rebuild from the Rubble" In These Times investigative series: The Wisconsin Idea The Jacobin Show, "The Democratic Coalition after Trump and the Fall of Wisconsin" Dan Kaufman, Norton Books, The Fall of Wisconsin: The Conservative Conquest of a Progressive Bastion and the Future of American Politics Michael D. Yates, Monthly Review Press, Wisconsin Uprising: Labor Fights Back John Nichols, Bold Type Books, Uprising: How Scott Walker Betrayed Wisconsin and Inspired a New Politics of Protest 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"

Susan Simensky Bietila Apr 07, 2022

Show notes

Holy cow, this is Working People's 200th episode! Thank you to everyone who has listened to and supported us over the past five seasons—and, of course, thank you to every guest who has ever come on the show to share their story. To commemorate our 200th regular-season episode, we have a special installment of our series of conversations with teachers, organizers, scholars, and activists in Wisconsin that Max, Cameron Granadino (TRNN), and Hannah Faris (In These Times) recorded in the summer of 2021 as part of a special collaboration between The Real News Network and In These Times magazine. In this episode, we talk with longtime artist, activist, and registered nurse Susan Simensky Bietila in Milwaukee. Hearkening back to the episodes we published in the first season of Working People, this is an extended conversation that traces the incredible, winding path that Sue has taken in life, from growing up in the projects in New York to drawing and collaging for The Guardian, the radical US newsweekly, during the height of the Vietnam War, to protesting at the Wisconsin State Capitol in 2011 during the Wisconsin Uprising.

Additional links/info below...

Susan Simensky Bietila's website and art archives Susan Simensky Bietila, "Wisconsin: Walk Like an Egyptian" Susan Simensky Bietila's Facebook page Paul Buhle & Nicole Schulman (eds.), Verso, Wobblies!: A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the World Maximillian Alvarez, Current Affairs, "Can the Working Class Speak?" In These Times investigative series: The Wisconsin Idea The Jacobin Show, "The Democratic Coalition after Trump and the Fall of Wisconsin" Dan Kaufman, Norton Books, The Fall of Wisconsin: The Conservative Conquest of a Progressive Bastion and the Future of American Politics Michael D. Yates, Monthly Review Press, Wisconsin Uprising: Labor Fights Back John Nichols, Bold Type Books, Uprising: How Scott Walker Betrayed Wisconsin and Inspired a New Politics of Protest Permanent links below...

Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song"

Practice What You Preach, SPLC (w/ Lisa D. Wright & Katie Glenn) Mar 29, 2022

Show notes

The Southern Poverty Law Center is a historic civil rights organization that, for 50 years, has been advancing social justice through legal, educational, and advocacy efforts primarily in the Deep South. However, after overwhelmingly voting to unionize in 2019, staff at SPLC say the organization has been stalling negotiations over their first union contract and unfairly treating its lowest-paid and most marginalized workers. On Monday, March 28, SPLC Union members held an informational picket outside the org's headquarters in Montgomery, Alabama, "to protest management's forcing mostly Black women employees to return to the office while allowing the option of remote work for white and higher-paid employees." In this mini-cast, we talk with Katie Glenn, who has worked for SPLC for nearly three years and is a member of the SPLC Union bargaining committee, and Lisa D. Wright, who has worked at SPLC for over 20 years, was a member of the original organizing committee, and is also a steward and a member of the SPLC Union bargaining committee.

Additional links/info below...

SPLC Union website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram
SPLC Union Press Release: SPLC Union Members Picket Over Management's Inequitable Office Reopening Plan
Kim Chandler, AP News, "Southern Poverty Law Center Employees Vote to Join Union"
Sarah Jaffe, The Progressive, "Nonprofit Workers Join the Movement to Unionize"

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"

Al Levie Mar 24, 2022

Show notes

We are diving right back into our special series of conversations with teachers, organizers, scholars, and activists in Wisconsin that Max, Cameron Granadino (TRNN), and Hannah Faris (In These Times) recorded in the summer of 2021 as part of a special collaboration between The Real News Network and In These Times magazine. In this episode, recorded at the Racine Labor Center in Racine, Wisconsin, we talk to retired teacher and longtime organizer Al Levie about the long and coordinated assault on workers and unions that turned Wisconsin into a "right to work" state and that stripped public sector workers of their collective bargaining rights with the passage of Act 10 under Republic governor Scott Walker. But we also talk about Al's life as an organizer, the work he and his students have done to build power in Racine, and about the very real possibility of organizing and mobilizing interracial and intergenerational coalitions of people to fight for justice, equality, and dignity.

Additional links/info below...

Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Organize Students, Organize Everyone, and Fight Like Hell"
Yahoo! News, "Wis. Teacher Refuses Award From Paul Ryan During MLK Ceremony: 'Lackey for the 1%'"
Voces de la Frontera website
Voces de la Frontera Action website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Working People, **John Fleissner (bonus episode)**
John Fleissner's Instagram
Order Defend Public Education Print from John Fleissner
In These Times investigative series: The Wisconsin Idea

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"

Do Better, Howard (w/ Dr. Aisha Bonner Cozad & Dr. Sean Pears) Mar 23, 2022

Show notes

Since full-time lecturers at Howard University originally voted to unionize, they have spent nearly four years bargaining with the university administration to get their first contract. Unless a deal is reached at the 11th hour, lecturers are set to go on strike on Wednesday, March 23, joining nearly 200 adjunct professors who are also fighting for their second contract with the university. Even if a deal is reached to avoid a strike, however, Howard has a long way to go to adequately address the long-running systemic problems that have brought non-tenure-track faculty to the point of hitting the picket line. In this mini-cast, we talk to Dr. Aisha Bonner Cozad, an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Howard School of Social Work, and Dr. Sean Pears, a Lecturer in Howard's College of Arts & Sciences, about the looming strike at one of the most storied HBCUs in the country.

Additional links/info below...

Dr. Bonner Cozad's LinkedIn page
Dr. Pears's Twitter page
Howard Teaching Faculty Union Twitter page and Instagram
Peter Lucas, Jacobin, "Howard University Faculty Are Ready to Strike"
Rashad Grove, Ebony, "Howard University Faculty Threaten to Strike Over Working Conditions"
Higher Ed Labor United statement: We Stand with Howard University Non-Tenure-Track Faculty and Adjuncts

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"

What the F*ck Happened to Wisconsin? (w/ Harvey J. Kaye & Jon Shelton) Mar 16, 2022

Show notes

We continue our series on the struggles of teachers and public sector unions in the state of Wisconsin today. As part of a special collaboration between The Real News Network and In These Times magazine for "The Wisconsin Idea," Max, Cameron Granadino (TRNN), and Hannah Faris (In These Times) traveled to Wisconsin in the summer of 2021. From Madison to Appleton, they spoke to a range of educators, organizers, scholars, and activists who are fighting to rebuild worker power after the devastating passage of Act 10 in 2011 under Republican Governor Scott Walker, and nearly 50 years after cops, townspeople, and a union-busting school board broke the infamous Hortonville teachers' strike in 1974. In this interview, recorded in the town of Hortonville, Max sits down with scholars Harvey J. Kaye and Jon Shelton to discuss the historical significance of Act 10, the Wisconsin Uprising, and the Hortonville strike that set the stage for them decades earlier, and to examine how these crucial events fit into the larger historical trajectory of the labor movement and progressive politics in Wisconsin. Harvey J. Kaye is Professor Emeritus of Democracy & Justice Studies and the Director of the Center for History and Social Change at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay; he is also the author of many books, including Thomas Paine and the Promise of America and Take Hold of Our History: Make America Radical Again. Jon Shelton is Associate Professor and Chair of Democracy and Justice studies at UW Green Bay, and he is the author of Teacher Strike! Public Education and the Making of a New American Political Order.

Additional links/info below...

Harvey's Twitter page
Jon's Twitter page
American Federation of Teachers—Wisconsin website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
In These Times investigative series: The Wisconsin Idea
Harvey J. Kaye, Macmillan, Thomas Paine and the Promise of America
Harvey J. Kaye, Zero Books, Take Hold of Our History: Make America Radical Again
Working People, **Harvey J. Kaye (bonus episode)**
Jon Shelton, University of Illinois Press, Teacher Strike! Public Education and the Making of a New American Political Order
Eleni Schirmer, Gender and Education, "When Solidarity Doesn't Quite Strike: The 1974 Hortonville, Wisconsin Teachers' Strike and the Rise of Neoliberalism"
The Jacobin Show, "The Democratic Coalition after Trump and the Fall of Wisconsin"
Dan Kaufman, Norton Books, The Fall of Wisconsin: The Conservative Conquest of a Progressive Bastion and the Future of American Politics
Michael D. Yates, Monthly Review Press, Wisconsin Uprising: Labor Fights Back
John Nichols, Bold Type Books, Uprising: How Scott Walker Betrayed Wisconsin and Inspired a New Politics of Protest

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"

Amanda & Jeff Frenkel Mar 09, 2022

Show notes

We're back, baby! We're kicking off Season 5 of Working People with a multi-part series on teachers and public sector unions in the state of Wisconsin. As part of a special collaboration between The Real News Network and In These Times magazine for "The Wisconsin Idea," Max, Cameron Granadino (TRNN), and Hannah Faris (In These Times) traveled to Wisconsin in the summer of 2021 to investigate two intertwining stories that have played a crucial role in the rightwing shift and the decades-long attack on workers and unions in a state that used to be a bellwether of the labor movement and progressive politics in America. One of those stories has to do with the passing of Act 10 in 2011 under Republican governor Scott Walker, which was a hammer blow to public sector unions around the state that stripped them of their collective bargaining rights and put a chokehold on unions' ability to function—a chokehold that was tightened in 2015 when Wisconsin became the 25th "right to work" state. The other story is the story of a historic teachers' strike that took place in 1974 in the small, rural town of Hortonville. With a population of just around 1,500 people at the time, Hortonville became the site of one of the most contentious and consequential teachers' strikes in Wisconsin's history. And, in many ways, the sort of cultural hostilities, clashing economic pressures, and vicious union-busting that played out in Hortonville set the stage for a statewide showdown over Act 10 nearly 40 years later. The Hortonville strike itself ripped the community in two—over 80 striking educational staff members in the district were fired by an intransigent school board, and the legacy of the broken strike left a deep scar on the town and the school district for many years. Over the course of this series, we'll be talking to teachers and organizers in Wisconsin to see how, nearly 50 years after the Hortonville strike and a decade after Act 10 and the historic protests against it at the state capitol, they are still fighting to recover and build worker power. In this interview, Max talks with Amanda and Jeff Frenkel, two K-12 teachers in Hortonville and union organizers with the American Federation of Teachers, about the challenges they and their coworkers are facing today, and about the ways they are working to rebuild the union and serve their community.

Additional links/info below...

American Federation of Teachers—Wisconsin website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "The Fight to Organize Teachers in Small-Town Wisconsin"
Eleni Schirmer, Gender and Education, "When Solidarity Doesn't Quite Strike: The 1974 Hortonville, Wisconsin Teachers' Strike and the Rise of Neoliberalism"
In These Times investigative series: The Wisconsin Idea

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"

Justice for Evan (w/ Jana Murphy) Mar 08, 2022

Show notes

With permission from The Real News Network, we're publishing the audio of Max's most recent TRNN interview with Jana Murphy of the Justice for Evan coalition.

In September 2021, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez spoke with the family of Evan Seyfried about a lawsuit they filed against grocery giant Kroger, which alleges that Evan was bullied, harassed, and sabotaged by store managers Shannon Frazee and Joseph Pigg to the point that he suffered a "transient episodic break" and took his own life. It's been one year since Evan committed suicide, and while the Seyfrieds struggle to pick up the pieces, family friends, community members, and volunteers have come together to honor Evan's life, demand accountability for his death, and address the scourge of workplace bullying. In this interview, Alvarez speaks with Jana Murphy, an organizer of the Justice for Evan coalition and a close friend of the Seyfried family, about the fight to hold Kroger accountable and the national day of action planned for Wednesday, March 9.

Pre-Production/Studio/Post-Production: Cameron Granadino

Additional links/info below...

Watch the video version of this interview on The Real News Network YouTube channel
Justice for Evan protest (March 9) information
Justice for Evan Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram
National Workplace Bullying Coalition website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
#NotMe App
Working People, "Evan Seyfried (w/ Ken, Linda, & Eric Seyfried)"
"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"
Jessica Schmidt, Fox News 19, "Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed against Kroger, Company Employees after Former Manager Took His Own Life"
Alex N. Press, Jacobin, "At Kroger and Amazon, Capital Is Going on the Offensive"
Anonymous, VICE, "They Call Me a Hero Because I Work at Kroger, So Why Do I Feel Disposable?"

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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