Working People

Working People: A podcast by, for, and about the working class today (now in partnership with In These Times magazine and The Real News Network). Working People is a podcast about working-class lives in 21st-century America. In every episode, you'll hear interviews with workers from around the country, from all walks of life. We'll talk about their life stories, their jobs, politics, and families, their joys and hopes and frustrations. Overall, Working People aims to share and celebrate the diverse stories of working-class people, to remind ourselves that our stories matter, and to build a sense of shared struggle and solidarity between workers around the country.

Trump cuts leave VA hospital nurses and veteran patients in a crisis 06/04/2025

An update on the longest ongoing strike in the US: ‘Some things don’t change at the Post-Gazette’ 05/30/2025

An update on the longest ongoing strike in the US: ‘Some things don’t change at the Post-Gazette’ In the latest episode of Working People, we go back to the picket line to get a critical update on the longest ongoing strike in the United States. In October 2022, over 100 workers represented by five labor unions—including production, distribution, advertising, and accounts receivable staff—walked off the job on an unfair labor practice strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PPG). The strike began after the newspaper’s management, Block Communications, which is owned by the Block family, cut off health insurance for employees on Oct. 1 of that year. After more than 2.5 years on strike, with other unions reaching contracts or taking buyouts and dissolving their units, workers represented by the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh are the last remaining strikers holding the line. We speak with a panel of union officers for the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh about how they’ve managed to stay on strike so long and about recent legal updates that have given them hope that an acceptable end to the strike may be on the horizon. Panelists include: Ed Blazina, striking transportation writer at the PPG and one of the Vice Presidents of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh; Erin Hebert, also one of the Vice Presidents of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh and a striking copy-editor and page designer at PPG; Emily Matthews, photographer on strike and treasurer for the Post-Gazette Unit of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh. Additional links/info: Pittsburgh Union Progress , , , and Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “” Bob Batz Jr., Pittsburgh Union Progress, “” Ian Karbal, Pennsylvania Capital Star, “” Mel Buer, Working People / The Real News Network, “” Bob Batz Jr. & Steve Mellon, Pittsburgh Union Progress, “” Brett Wilkins, Common Dreams / The Real News Network, “” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “(Livestream) ” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “(Livestream) ” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “” Permanent links below… and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network , page, and page In These Times , page, and page The Real News Network , channel, feeds, page, and page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor /episode/index/show/workingpeople/id/36782945

“It is our moral imperative”: Oregon students hunger strike for Gaza 05/22/2025

“It is our moral imperative”: Oregon students hunger strike for Gaza At this very moment, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip who have managed to survive Israel’s scorched-earth siege and bombing are being deliberately starved to death as a result of Israel’s 11-week blockade preventing food and aid from entering Gaza. As Jem Bartholemew writes at The Guardian, “The UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, told the BBC [Tuesday] morning that 14,000 babies could die in Gaza in 48 hours if aid did not reach them in time. Five aid trucks entered Gaza on Monday but Fletcher described this as a “drop in the ocean” and totally inadequate for the population’s needs.” In response to this dire humanitarian crisis, students at multiple university campuses in the US have launched hunger strikes in solidarity with the starving people of Gaza. In this urgent episode, we speak with four hunger strikers at the University of Oregon (UO), including: Cole, Sadie, and Efron, three undergraduate students who are all members of Jewish Voice for Peace - UO and who just completed a 60-hour solidarity hunger strike; and Phia, a Palestinian-American undergraduate student who has organized with JVP-UO on the hunger strike and who currently remains on hunger strike herself.Additional links/info: UO Gaza Hunger Strike and Jewish Voice for Peace - UO Nathan Wilk, KLCC, “” Michael Arria, Mondoweiss, “” Syma Mohammed, Middle East Eye, “” Jem Bartholemew, The Guardian, “” Ronen Bergman & Natan Odenheimer, The New York Times, “” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “” Permanent links below… and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network , page, and page In These Times , page, and page The Real News Network , channel, feeds, page, and page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor /episode/index/show/workingpeople/id/36680505

‘Like being tortured’: Texas residents living next to bitcoin mine are getting sick and being ignored 05/07/2025

‘Like being tortured’: Texas residents living next to bitcoin mine are getting sick and being ignored While state officials and legislators have positioned Texas to be “the bitcoin mining capital of the world,” in small towns like Granbury, working-class residents living next to giant, loud, environmentally destructive data centers are the ones paying the price for Texas’s crypto boom. “None of us are sleeping,” Cheryl Shadden, a Granbury resident who lives across the street from a 300-megawatt bitcoin mining data center owned by Marathon Digital, tells TRNN. “We can't get rid of this alien invasion in our homes…This is like being a prisoner of war. It's like being tortured with loud sounds and bright lights and being sleep deprived.”In this episode of Working People, we dive deeper into the reality of living next to crypto mining data centers like the one in Granbury, the unseen threats they pose to human and nonhuman life, and what residents in Granbury are doing to fight back. TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with: Cheryl Shadden, a registered nurse anesthetist and resident of Granbury, who lives right next to the site of the Marathon bitcoin mining operation; Dr. Shannon Wolf, Precinct Chair in Hood County, who lives about 3 miles from the bitcoin mine; and Nannette Samuelson, County Commissioner for Precinct 2 in Hood County.Additional links/info: Protect Hood County Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “” Andrew R. Chow, TIME, “” Andrew R. Chow, TIME, “” (Video Report) Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “” Keaton Peters, Inside Climate News, “” NBC News, “” James Pollard, The Texas Tribune, “” Permanent links below… and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network , page, and page In These Times , page, and page The Real News Network , channel, feeds, page, and page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Maximillian Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor /episode/index/show/workingpeople/id/36477895

FBI agents raid homes of pro-Palestine students at University of Michigan 05/06/2025

FBI agents raid homes of pro-Palestine students at University of Michigan The Trump administration continues to escalate its authoritarian assault on higher education, free speech, and political dissent—and university administrators and state government officials are willingly aiding that assault. On the morning of April 23, at the direction of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, law enforcement officers, including FBI agents, raided the homes of multiple student organizers connected to Palestine solidarity protests at the University of Michigan. “According to the group Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE), agents seized the students’ electronics and a number of personal items,” Michael Arria reports at Mondoweiss. “Four individuals were detained, but eventually released.” In this urgent episode of Working People, we speak with a panel of graduate student workers from the University of Michigan and Columbia University about how they and their unions are fighting back against ICE abductions, FBI raids, and top-down political repression, all while trying to carry on with their day-to-day work. Panelists include: Lavinia, a PhD student at the University of Michigan School of Information and an officer in the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO); Ember McCoy, a PhD candidate in the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan and a rank-and-file member of GEO and the TAHRIR Coalition; Jessie Rubin, a PhD student in the School of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University and a rank-and-file member of Student Workers of Columbia (SWC); and Conlan Olson, a PhD student in Computer Science at Columbia and a member of the SWC bargaining committee. Additional links/info: Graduate Employees Organization (GEO), University of Michigan , , , and Student Workers of Columbia-UAW Local 2710 , , , and TAHRIR Coalition UMich GEO Press Release: Mahmoud Khalil statement from ICE detention: “” Allie Wong, The Intercept, ““ Grant Miner, The Nation, “” Michael Arria, Mondoweiss, “” Alvin Powell, The Harvard Gazette, “” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “” Permanent links below… and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network , page, and page In These Times , page, and page The Real News Network , channel, feeds, page, and page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Maximillian Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor /episode/index/show/workingpeople/id/36458345

A bitcoin mine in Texas is “killing us slowly,” local residents say 04/23/2025

A bitcoin mine in Texas is “killing us slowly,” local residents say I would like to see Texas become the center of the universe for bitcoin and crypto,” US Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in 2021. In 2024, Republican Governor Greg Abbott Texas “wears the crown as the bitcoin mining capital of the world.” But in small towns like Granbury, TX, about an hour southwest of Fort Worth, residents are the ones paying the price for Texas’ crypto boom. Granbury’s 300-megawatt bitcoin mine, which is owned by Marathon Digital, a Florida-based cryptocurrency company, uses a mix of liquid immersion and industrial fans to prevent over 20,000 computers from overheating. Many residents say that it’s the constant sound from those fans that has made life increasingly unbearable in their small town—and that their concerns are going ignored by the company and government officials. In this episode of Working People, we speak with four residents of Granbury living near the Marathon bitcoin mine: Danny Lakey, Karen Pearson, Nick Browning, and Virginia Browning. Additional links/info: Protect Hood County Andrew R. Chow, TIME, “” Andrew R. Chow, TIME, “” (Video Report) Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “” Maximillian Alvarez, Steve Mellon, & Mike Balonek, The Real News Network, “” Keaton Peters, Inside Climate News, “” NBC News, “” James Pollard, The Texas Tribune, “” Permanent links below… and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network , page, and page In These Times , page, and page The Real News Network , channel, feeds, page, and page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Maximillian Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor /episode/index/show/workingpeople/id/36286280

‘A tremendous chilling effect’: Columbia students describe dystopian reality on campus amid Trump attacks 04/17/2025

‘A tremendous chilling effect’: Columbia students describe dystopian reality on campus amid Trump attacks One year ago, Columbia University became ground zero for the student-led Gaza solidarity encampment movement that spread to campuses across the country and around the world. Now, Columbia has become ground zero for the Trump administration’s authoritarian assault on higher education, academic freedom, and the right to free speech and free assembly—all under the McCarthyist guise of rooting out “anti-semitism.” From Trump’s threats to cancel $400 million in federal grants and contracts with Columbia to the abduction of international students like Mahmoud Khalil by ICE agents, to the university’s firing and expulsion of Student Workers of Columbia-United Auto Workers union president Grant Miner, “a tremendous chilling effect” has gripped Columbia’s campus community. In this urgent episode of Working People, we speak with: Caitlin Liss, a PhD candidate in history at Columbia University and a member of Student Workers of Columbia-UAW (SWC); and Allie Wong, a PhD student at the Columbia Journalism School and a SWC member who was arrested and beaten by police during the second raid on the Gaza solidarity protests at Columbia on April 30, 2024. Additional links/info: Student Workers of Columbia-UAW Local 2710 April 17: Day of Action to Defend Higher Ed Mahmoud Khalil statement from ICE detention: “” Allie Wong, The Intercept, ““ Grant Miner, The Nation, “” Jonah E. Bromwich & Hamed Aleaziz, The New York Times, “” AAUP letter to college and university legal offices: “” Alan Blinder, The New York Times, “” Oliver Laughland, The Guardian, “” Alice Speri, The Guardian, “” Annie Ma, Makiya Seminera, & Christopher L. Keller, Associated Press, “” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “” Permanent links below… and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network , page, and page In These Times , page, and page The Real News Network , channel, feeds, page, and page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Maximillian Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor /episode/index/show/workingpeople/id/36200565

‘People are hiding in their apartments’: Inside Trump’s assault on universities 04/12/2025

‘People are hiding in their apartments’: Inside Trump’s assault on universities International students are being abducted and disappeared by ICE in broad daylight. Life-saving research projects across the academy are being halted or thrown into disarray by seismic cuts to federal grants. Dozens of universities are under federal investigation for their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs, their allowance of trans athletes to compete in college sports, and their tolerance of constitutionally protected Palestine solidarity protests. In today’s urgent episode of Working People, we get a harrowing, on-the-ground view of the Trump administration’s all-out assault on institutions of higher education and the people who live, learn, and work there. TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with , President of the American Association of University Professors, Associate Professor of Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers University, and co-director of the ; and , Assistant Professor at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University, AAUP Council Member, and Peabody-award winning host of . Additional links/info: April 17: Day of Action to Defend Higher Ed American Association of University Professors (AAUP) Federal Unionists Network AAUP letter to college and university legal offices: “” Alan Blinder, The New York Times, “” Oliver Laughland, The Guardian, “” Alice Speri, The Guardian, “” Joy Connolly, Chronicle Review, “” Collin Binkley, Associated Press, “” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “” Permanent links below… and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network , page, and page In These Times , page, and page The Real News Network , channel, feeds, page, and page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Maximillian Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor /episode/index/show/workingpeople/id/36111815

“Kill the Cuts”: Federally funded researchers warn DOGE cuts will be fatal 04/11/2025

“Kill the Cuts”: Federally funded researchers warn DOGE cuts will be fatal On Tuesday, April 8, unions, unionized federal workers, and their supporters around the country mobilized for a national “Kill the Cuts” day of action to protest the Trump administration’s cuts to life-saving research, healthcare, and education programs. As organizers stated on the Kill The Cuts website, "By cutting funds to lifesaving research and medical care, the Trump administration is abandoning families who are suffering and costing taxpayers billions of dollars. These cuts are dangerous to our health, and dangerous to our economy. On Tuesday, April 8th, 2025 workers across the country are standing up and demanding NO cuts to education and life-saving research." In this on-the-ground edition of Working People, we take you to the front lines of the Kill the Cuts rally that took place in Washington DC, and we speak with workers and union representatives whose lives and work have already been affected by these cuts.Speakers include: Margaret Cook, Vice President of the Public, Healthcare, and Education Workers sector of the Communications Workers of America (CWA); Matt Brown, Recording Secretary of NIH Fellows United (United Auto Workers Local 2750); Rakshita Balaji, a post-baccalaureate researcher at the National Institutes of Health (NIH); and Amanda Dykema, shop steward for American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 1072 at the University of Maryland, College Park.Additional links/info: Kill the Cuts NIH Fellows United Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “” Jocelyn Kaiser, Science, “” Permanent links below… and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network , page, and page In These Times , page, and page The Real News Network , channel, feeds, page, and page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Maximillian Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor /episode/index/show/workingpeople/id/36092655

Trump escalates the war on federal unions 04/04/2025

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and the Uprising of the 20,000 03/27/2025

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and the Uprising of the 20,000 As we’ve mentioned many times before on the show, movements today are a part of a legacy of extraordinary actions taken by ordinary people. Tapping into our own labor history provides us with a blueprint for action in today’s turbulent world. On March 25th, 1911, a fire began in the scrap bins under a cutter’s table on the 8th floor of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City. Within minutes, the entire floor was engulfed in flames, spreading to the ninth floor and 10th floors–where 200+ workers were just finishing up to go home for the night. By the time workers were alerted to the conflagration, options for escaping the fire were few. By the time the fire was brought under control, 146 workers were dead. New York City saw sweeping reforms in the aftermath of the fire, catapulting some pro-reform lobbyists like Francis Perkins all the way to the highest halls of government with the introduction of the New Deal 20 years later. Near the 114th anniversary of this tragedy, Mel sat down with labor historian Dr. Erik Loomis, professor at the University of Rhode Island and author of his forthcoming book, “Organizing America: Stories of Americans Who Fought for Justice” to talk about the struggle for better working conditions in the garment industry in New York City, the fire itself and the reforms enacted afterwards, and why it’s important to learn from our own labor history in this current moment. Additional links/info: Cornell University - ILR School: Dr. Erik Loomis on about Dr. Loomis’s forthcoming book, “Organizing America” Permanent links below… and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network , page, and page In These Times , page, and page The Real News Network , channel, feeds, page, and page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Mel Buer Post-Production: Jules Taylor /episode/index/show/workingpeople/id/35890115

Privatize USPS? Mail carriers are fighting for a better idea 03/24/2025

Show us the ropes: How Touchstone Climbing Gym workers unionized five locations 03/15/2025

‘It’s Elon versus everyone’: A dire warning from fired federal workers (w/ Cat Farman, Jasmine McAllister, & Will Munger) 03/05/2025

‘It’s Elon versus everyone’: A dire warning from fired federal workers (w/ Cat Farman, Jasmine McAllister, & Will Munger) In this urgent episode of Working People, we focus on the Trump-Musk administration’s all-out assault on federal workers and its takeover and reordering of our entire system of government. “At least 20,000 federal workers have so far been fired by the Trump administration,” Ed Pilkington and Chris Stein report in The Guardian, “most of them recent hires on probationary periods who lack employment protections. In addition, the White House claims that more than 75,000 employees have accepted its offer of deferred resignations. The purge has prompted speculation that Trump is engaging in one of the biggest job cutting rounds in US history, which could have a powerful knock-on effect on the American economy.” In today’s episode, we take you to the front lines of struggle and hear directly from three federal workers about what is happening inside the federal government, why it concerns all of us, and how federal workers and concerned citizens of all stripes are fighting back. Panelists include: Cat Farman, president of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Union, Local 335 of the National Treasury Employees Union; Jasmine McAllister, a rank-and-file CFPB Union member and data scientist who was illegally fired two weeks ago; and Will Munger, a rangeland scientist who works across the intermountain west and who, until this month, served as a postdoctoral researcher with the USDA Agricultural Research Service. Additional links/info: CFPB Union , Federal Unionists Network , page, and Ed Pilkington & Chris Stein, The Guardian, “” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “” Democracy Now!, “” Emily Anthes & Apoorva Mandavilli, The New York Times, “” Permanent links below… and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network , page, and page In These Times , page, and page The Real News Network , channel, feeds, page, and page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Maximillian Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor /episode/index/show/workingpeople/id/35539335

Chemically exposed residents of East Palestine, OH, and Conyers, GA, have been left behind (w/ Ashley McCollom, Hannah Loyd, & Kristina Baehr) 02/26/2025

Democracy dies, first, in the workplace (w/ Hamilton Nolan & Sara Nelson) 01/09/2025

Sick Georgia residents have been abandoned after toxic BioLab fire (w/ Hannah Loyd, Christina O'Connor, & Jeramie Julian) 12/14/2024

Sick Georgia residents have been abandoned after toxic BioLab fire (w/ Hannah Loyd, Christina O'Connor, & Jeramie Julian) “In late September,” Timothy Pratt writes in Capital & Main, “a massive billow of smoke from a chemical fire spread over metro Atlanta, lingering for weeks and prompting national news coverage. The smoke has cleared, but the anger has not dissipated in Conyers, the city of 20,000 where the fire occurred, and in surrounding areas... Smoke from the blaze left some residents with breathing difficulties, headaches, dizziness and skin rashes in the days that followed, along with a deepening worry about their community’s safety... The fire was pool-chemical company BioLab’s fourth in the last two decades, a track record that has created what one observer described as “generational rage” among residents.” In this installment of our ongoing series Sacrificed—where we speak to people living, working, and fighting for justice in America’s “sacrifice zones”—we speak with Hannah Loyd, Christina O'Connor, and Jeramie Julian: three residents who live near, and have been directly affected by, the September fire at the Conyers BioLab facility. Additional links/info below… Christina’s page and Hannah’s page Conyers, GA, Facebook group: Timothy Pratt, Capital & Main, “” Holly Yan, CNN, “” Status Coup News, “” Joi Dukes, FOX 5 Atlanta, “” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “” Maximillian Alvarez, In These Times / The Real News Network, “” Permanent links below… and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network , page, and page In These Times , page, and page The Real News Network , channel, feeds, page, and page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song /episode/index/show/workingpeople/id/34452330

What working people's struggles to survive the Great Depression can teach us today (w/ Dana Frank) 12/06/2024

Judy Gearhart and the Labor Link Podcast - What can a can of tuna teach us about International Worker Solidarity 12/04/2024

Catholic nurses at Ascension call on Bishops to help with contract fight (w/ Gideon Eziama & Lisa Watson) 11/21/2024

Catholic nurses at Ascension call on Bishops to help with contract fight (w/ Gideon Eziama & Lisa Watson) On November 12, unionized nurses at Ascension St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore held a rally in front of the Marriott Hotel downtown, where the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) was holding a meeting. St. Agnes nurses rallied with supporters from around the city, and they were even joined by fellow Ascension nurses who traveled from Wichita, Kansas, and Austin, Texas. According to a press release from National Nurses Organizing Committee / National Nurses United (NNOC-NNU), the purpose of the rally was to “highlight how Ascension has failed to follow to both serve and advocate for patients ‘at the margins of society’ and ‘treat its employees respectfully and justly.’... Baltimore nurses have been in negotiations since Feb. 2024, following a successful union election in November 2023. Ascension has failed to bargain in good faith with Saint Agnes nurses on language that would improve safe staffing and protect patients from cuts to services, lawsuits for billing disputes, and surprise billing or excess charges.” In this on-the-ground episode, you’ll hear speeches and chants from the Nov. 12 rally, and we speak with Gideon Eziama, a registered nurse with over 20 years of experience who has worked at Ascension St. Agnes for the last six years, and Lisa Watson, a registered nurse at Ascension Via Christi St. Francis Hospital in Wichita, who traveled to Baltimore to stand in solidarity with her coworkers at Ascension St. Agnes. Additional links/info below… National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United , page, page, and NNOC/NNU Press Release: “” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “” Aleja Hertzler-McCain, Religion News Service, “” Permanent links below… and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network , page, and page In These Times , page, and page The Real News Network , channel, feeds, page, and page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Max Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor /episode/index/show/workingpeople/id/34074866

“Let’s unite!”: Poisoned residents of America’s sacrifice zones are banding together (w/ Hilary Flint, Melanie Meade, Elise Keaton Wade, & Angela Shaneyfelt) 11/15/2024

“Let’s unite!”: Poisoned residents of America’s sacrifice zones are banding together (w/ Hilary Flint, Melanie Meade, Elise Keaton Wade, & Angela Shaneyfelt) Sacrifice zones are areas where people have been left to live in conditions that threaten life itself, from toxic industrial pollution to the deadly, intensifying effects of man-made climate change. In a more just and less cruel society, the very concept of a “sacrifice zone” wouldn’t exist. And yet, in America, after decades of deregulation and public disinvestment, more working-class communities are becoming sacrifice zones, and more of us are being set up for sacrifice at the altars of corporate greed and government abandonment. America’s sacrifice zones are no longer extreme outliers; they are, in fact, a harrowing model of the future that lies in store for most of us if the corporate monsters, corporate politicians, and Wall Street vampires destroying our communities aren’t stopped. And residents of different sacrifice zones across the country, fellow workers on the frontlines of all this reckless and preventable destruction, are connecting with each other, learning from one another, and working together to fight back. In this Working People liveshow, recorded on Oct. 19 at Red Emma’s worker cooperative bookstore, cafe, and community events space in Baltimore, we speak with a special panel of residents from four different sacrifice zones in the US about how the situations they’re facing in their own communities and their struggles for justice and accountability are connected. Panelists include: Hilary Flint, communications director of Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community and a former resident of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, a few miles from the site of the Feb 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment and chemical disaster in East Palestine, Ohio; Melanie Meade, a community organizer, educator, and life-long resident of Clairton, Pennsylvania, the site of US Steel's Clairton Coke Works, which was named the most toxic air polluter in Allegheny County in a 2021 report by PennEnvironment; Elise Keaton Wade, a real estate attorney by trade, longtime environmental justice activist, and a native of Southern West Virginia; Angela “Angie” Shaneyfelt, a resident of Curtis Bay in South Baltimore, who lives just blocks away from an open air coal terminal owned and operated by rail giant CSX Transportation, which has been polluting her community for generations. Special thanks to Dr. Nicole Fabricant and the South Baltimore Community Land Trust for organizing this live show. Additional links/info below… Coal-Free Curtis Bay page and South Baltimore Community Land Trust , page, page, and Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community , page, , and page Hilary’s Nicole Fabricant’s Melanie’s page Angela’s page Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “” Maximillian Alvarez, In These Times / The Real News Network, "" Maximillian Alvarez & Molly Crabapple, In These Times, “” Laura Gottesdiener, The Nation, “” Nicole Fabricant, University of California Press, Nicole Fabricant, The Real News Network, “” Adam Willis, The Baltimore Banner, "" Melanie Meade, PublicSource, “” Daniel Shailer, PublicSource, “” Permanent links below… and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network , page, and page In These Times , page, and page The Real News Network , channel, feeds, page, and page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Max Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor /episode/index/show/workingpeople/id/33950297

How will railroad workers vote after Biden and Congress blocked their strike? (w/ Hugh Sawyer, Mark Burrows, & Ron Kaminkow) 11/02/2024

How will railroad workers vote after Biden and Congress blocked their strike? (w/ Hugh Sawyer, Mark Burrows, & Ron Kaminkow) Two years ago, the US was on the cusp of seeing its first national rail strike in decades. Then, President Joe Biden, at the urging of the rail companies, and with the help of both parties in Congress, preemptively blocked railroad workers from striking in December of 2022. Workers were forced to accept a contract that did not address the vast majority of issues that have been putting them, our communities, and our supply chain at hazard. How has this all shaped railroad workers’ attitudes and approaches to the upcoming elections? In this urgent panel discussion, we pose this question directly to three veteran railroaders, and we have an honest discussion about how working people should act strategically within and outside the electoral system to advance their interests. Panelists include: Hugh Sawyer, a veteran locomotive engineer with 36 years of experience, a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen Division 316, and a founding member and acting treasurer of Railroad Workers United; Mark Burrows, a retired locomotive engineer with 37 of experience, who has served as co-chair and organizer for Railroad Workers United, where he still edits RWU’s quarterly newsletter “The Highball”; Ron Kaminkow, a recently retired former brakeman, conductor, and engineer who worked for many years in freight rail before working 20 years as a passenger engineer at Amtrak, a founding member of RWU and delegate in the Northern Nevada Central Labor Council. Additional links/info below… Railroad Workers United , page, and page Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “” Maximillian Alvarez & Mel Buer, The Real News Network, “” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "" Mel Buer, The Real News Network, “” Adam Johnson, Nima Shirazi, Maximillian Alvarez, & Mel Buer, Citations Needed / The Real News Network, “” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “” Permanent links below… and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network , page, and page In These Times , page, and page The Real News Network , channel, feeds, page, and page Featured Music... Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song /episode/index/show/workingpeople/id/33757547

SpoOoOoky Special 2024: The Movie that Traumatized Us All 10/31/2024

Workers take on Kaiser Again, Strike for a Fair Contract in SoCal 10/29/2024

Workers take on Kaiser Again, Strike for a Fair Contract in SoCal On Monday, Oct 21, 2400 behavior health workers at Kaiser Permanente’s Southern California locations walked off the job in their ongoing struggle for a fair contract. Over the summer, negotiations between the health system and the bargaining committee, represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), failed to close the gap between their proposals, opening the door for a strike. The workers are now well into their second week on strike. The healthcare giant refuses to bargain seriously with the workers, offering paltry raises instead of agreeing to the workers’ demands for better pay, pensions, and safer staffing levels at the Kaiser mental health clinics in and around Southern California. These gains, the union believes, would allow Kaiser to compete with other health systems, drastically improve patient care quality, and solve many of the scheduling issues that have plagued the health system since before the start of the pandemic. The union hopes that by striking, they can show management that they are serious about securing a fair contract for their members. Last week, on the first day of the strike, Mel sat down with Chris Reeves and Lisa Caroll, two behavioral health workers who work in Los Angeles and San Diego, respectively, to talk about the state of negotiations, what workers are demanding, and how it feels to be out on the picket line in the struggle for a fair contract. Note: This episode was recorded on Oct 21, 2024, on the first day of the strike. Additional links/info below… NUHW’s Donate to the Stay up-to-date on the strike Check out TRNN’s in the east coast Permanent links below… and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network , page, and page In These Times , page, and page The Real News Network , channel, feeds, page, and page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Max Alvarez /episode/index/show/workingpeople/id/33675862

After two years of striking, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette workers aren’t ready to give up 10/18/2024

Look for the Helpers: Organizing Relief Aid in Asheville, NC, After "Apocalyptic" Hurricane Helene (w/ Byron Ballard & Lori Freshwater) 10/14/2024

Look for the Helpers: Organizing Relief Aid in Asheville, NC, After "Apocalyptic" Hurricane Helene (w/ Byron Ballard & Lori Freshwater) Over the past two weeks, people around the country have watched in horror as our neighbors and fellow workers have been battered by the successive disasters of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton. “After making landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on Sept. 26 and tearing through the Gulf Coast of Florida,” Adeel Hassan and Isabelle Taft write in The New York Times, “Helene plowed north through Georgia and walloped the Blue Ridge Mountains, washing out roads, causing landslides and knocking out power and cell service for millions of people. Across western North Carolina, towns were destroyed, water and fuel supplies were disrupted, and residents were in a communications black hole, scrambling for Wi-Fi to try to reach friends and family... As of Oct. 6, there were more than 230 confirmed deaths from the storm.” The hurricanes have passed, but the devastation and dire need they left in their wake remain. In this urgent mini-cast, we speak with two guests who are on the ground in Asheville, NC, providing relief and mutual aid to their community: Byon Ballard, a cofounder of the Mother Grove Goddess Temple in Asheville, where she serves as Senior Priestess, and Lori Freshwater, a journalist and relief aid volunteer who is originally from North Carolina. Additional links/info below… Mother Grove Goddess Temple , page, and Mother Grove Goddess Temple Beloved Asheville , page, and Adeel Hassan & Isabelle Taft, The New York Times, “” Dharna Noor, The Guardian, “” Oliver Milman, The Guardian, “” Oliver Milman & Jonathan Watts, The Guardian, “” Lauren Aratani, The Guardian, “” Permanent links below… and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network , page, and page In These Times , page, and page The Real News Network , channel, feeds, page, and page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Max Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor /episode/index/show/workingpeople/id/33453467

Cornell's Crackdown on Palestine Solidarity Protests Could Force Grad Student-Worker to Leave US (w/ Jawuanna McAllister & Jenna Marvin) 10/03/2024

Cornell's Crackdown on Palestine Solidarity Protests Could Force Grad Student-Worker to Leave US (w/ Jawuanna McAllister & Jenna Marvin) The student encampment movement last school year turned institutions of higher education into flashpoints of struggle over Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, US support for it, and the right to speak out against it. This year, college and university campuses have become laboratories of repression where different administrative efforts to silence Palestine solidarity and antiwar demonstrators are being deployed. And that is playing out right now at Cornell University. As Aaron Fernando writes at The Nation, “Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York, has taken disciplinary action against an international student that will likely force him to leave the country, and could have a chilling effect on other international students participating in political protests. Momodou Taal is a PhD candidate in Africana studies and a graduate student worker, attending Cornell under the F-1 visa program. In the last academic year, Taal joined student-led actions demanding that Cornell divest from industries complicit in Israel’s attacks on civilians in Gaza.” The Cornell grad worker union, Cornell Graduate Students United-UE, released a statement condemning the university’s disciplinary actions against Taal, and is demanding the administration bargain with the union “over the effects of the discipline administered to Taal.” “CGSU-UE condemns Taal’s suspension, which represents a disturbing pattern of discriminatory discipline against marginalized graduate workers. The union is still fighting for just cause protections in discipline and discharge, due process for academic evaluations, strong academic freedom, and nondiscrimination protections inclusive of political affiliation and action, religious practice, and caste.” In this urgent episode, Max speaks about Cornell’s actions against Taal with two members of the CGSU-UE bargaining committee: Jenna Marvin, a third-year PhD student in the History of Art & Visual Studies at Cornell; and Jawuanna McAllister, a sixth-year PhD candidate in Molecular Biology and Genetics at Cornell. Additional links/info below… Cornell Graduate Students United-UE and Petition: “” Aaron Fernando, The Nation, “” Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, “” Permanent links below… and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network , page, and page In These Times , page, and page The Real News Network , channel, feeds, page, and page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Max Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor /episode/index/show/workingpeople/id/33310577

Microsoft AI Data Center Comes for Drought-Battered Mexican Town’s Water (w/ Diana Baptista) 10/03/2024

Microsoft AI Data Center Comes for Drought-Battered Mexican Town’s Water (w/ Diana Baptista) As the climate crisis intensifies, billions of poor and working people around the world are suffering from lack of regular (or any) access to clean water, but the dawn of “AI” is about to make the problem much worse. In their recent report for Context, “Forget jobs—AI is coming for your water,” Diana Baptista and Fintan McDonnell write, “Artificial intelligence lives on power and water, fed to it in vast quantities by data centres around the world. And those centres are increasingly located in the global south.” In Colón, a municipality in Central Mexico that is home to Microsoft’s first hyperscale data center campus in the country, working people are already bearing the environmental costs of man-made climate change, and they will be the ones to bear the costs of AI and Big Tech. “The town of 67,000 is suffering extreme drought. Its two dams have nearly dried up, farmers are struggling with dead crops, and families are relying on trucked and bottled water to fulfill their daily needs.” In the latest installment of our ongoing series, Sacrificed, Max speaks with Diana Baptista, a data journalist at the Thomson Reuters Foundation based in Mexico City, about Mexico’s ongoing water crisis and about the human and environmental costs of AI and cloud computing. Additional links/info below… Diana’s Context and Fintan McDonnell & Diana Baptista, Context, “” Fintan McDonnell & Diana Baptista, Context, “” David Berreby, Yale Environment 360, “” Tamara Pearson, The Real News Network, “” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “” Permanent links below… and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network , page, and page In These Times , page, and page The Real News Network , channel, feeds, page, and page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Max Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor /episode/index/show/workingpeople/id/33310547

Alec Plant 09/23/2024

Alec Plant Two years ago, workers from several different Trader Joe’s grocery stores joined the wave of unionization efforts spreading across the country. Workers in Hadley, Massachusetts, made history in 2022 by not only becoming the first Trader Joe’s store to vote to unionize but also by opting to form an independent union, Trader Joe’s United (TJU). However, like with Starbucks, Amazon, Medieval Times, and other companies where workers have been exercising their right to organize in recent years, rampant union busting has been part of the Trader Joe’s story from the beginning. What’s worse, as Alex Press writes in Jacobin, rather than be compelled to follow the law and play by the rules, the supposedly progressive grocery chain has joined Elon Musk’s SpaceX in attacking the very constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Board. What is the current state of the union drive at Trader Joe’s? What issues are employees (“crew members”) still dealing with on the job, and what can supporters do to help? In this episode, Max speaks with Alec Plant, a worker organizer at the Lincoln and Grace Trader Joe’s in Chicago and a member of Trader Joe’s United. Additional links/info below… Trader Joe’s United , page, and Lauren Kaori Gurley, The Washington Post, “” Alex Press, Jacobin, “” Dave Jameison, HuffPost, “” Talia Soglin, Chicago Tribune, “” Steven Greenhouse, The New Republic, “” Steven Greenhouse, The Guardian, “” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, "” Permanent links below… and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network , page, and page In These Times , page, and page The Real News Network , channel, feeds, page, and page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Max Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor /episode/index/show/workingpeople/id/33164942

When Work Inspires Art: Labor Poet George Fish 09/19/2024

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