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.

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

Seven unions demand end to US military aid to Israel (w/ George Waksmunski & Brandon Mancilla) 08/28/2024

Seven unions demand end to US military aid to Israel (w/ George Waksmunski & Brandon Mancilla) The death toll in Gaza continues to climb, with conservative estimates putting the numbers of dead around 40,000, but a recent report in the British medical journal The Lancet estimates the actual death toll could be 186,000 or even higher—that’s roughly 8% of Gaza’s population. And with each passing day, the humanitarian crises unfolding in Gaza and the West Bank gets orders of magnitude worse. Seeing the dire situation in Palestine, seven major US labor unions collectively drafted, signed, and sent a letter to President Biden demanding that US military aid to Israel stop immediately. The letter reads, in part: "Large numbers of Palestinian civilians, many of them children, continue to be killed, reportedly often with US-manufactured bombs. Rising tensions in the region threaten to ensnare even more innocent civilians in a wider war. And the humanitarian crisis deepens by the day, with famine, mass displacement, and destruction of basic infrastructure including schools and hospitals. We have spoken directly to leaders of Palestinian trade unions who told us heart-wrenching stories of the conditions faced by working people in Gaza." In this episode, Max and Mel speak with George Waksmunski, president of the United Electrical, Radio, & Machine Workers of America (UE), Eastern Region, and Brandon Mancilla, Region 9A Director for the United Auto Workers, about why their unions signed onto this call for an end to US aid to Israel and what organized labor can do to end the genocide in Gaza. Additional links/info below… UAW , page, page, and UE , page, page, and Michael Sainato, The Guardian, "" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "" Mel Buer, The Real News Network, "" Maximillian Alvarez, 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 Studio Production: Max Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor /episode/index/show/workingpeople/id/32770402

300 Episodes of 'Working People'! Announcements, reflections, & what comes next... 08/12/2024

300 Episodes of 'Working People'! Announcements, reflections, & what comes next... In 2024, Working People officially crossed the 300 episode mark! Since we published our first episode back in 2018, the show has grown in ways we never could have imagined, and the world itself has changed in radical, hopeful, terrifying ways, the labor movement has undergone incredible changes, and we’ve done our best to document that change and this moment in history through the conversations we’ve had with workers across industries, from all walks of life, about their lives, jobs, dreams, and struggles. Over the past seven seasons of the show, we've interviewed working people, young, old, and middle-aged, union and non-union, worker-owners at worker cooperatives, workers who were just laid off, workers on strike, workers unionizing, families of workers who were killed by their jobs, Indigenous workers living on reservations, workers whose children were murdered in a school shooting, sex workers, academic workers, manufacturing workers, railroad and airline workers, educators, yoga instructors and professional massage therapists, social workers, baristas, journalists, healthcare workers, service workers, construction workers, coal miners, lumberjacks, Amazon workers. We've spoken with working people in Cuba, Canada, Brazil, Slovenia, Turkey, Myanmar, the UK, France, and more. In this special episode commemorating 300 episodes of Working People, Max and new cohost Mel Buer reflect on how far the show has come and where we’re going next. To all of our listeners and supporters, to those who have been with us since the beginning and to those who found the show at some point over the past 7 seasons, to everyone who has ever listened to the show, shared our episodes, donated to our Patreon, to everyone who ever reached out to remind us that someone was listening and encouraged us to keep going, to everyone who has supported us , THANK YOU. We love you, and we wouldn't be here without you. We hope to keep making you and all our fellow workers proud with this show, and it's an honor to be in this struggle with you. Additional links/info below… Maximillian Alvarez, Current Affairs, "" Working People, "" (the first episode) Mel Buer's and profile and we might play it on the show! Permanent links below... Working People page 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/32543717

What it Means to 'Walk the Walk': the NEA Staff Lockout (w/ Rowena Shurn and Ambereen Khan-Baker) 08/08/2024

From the East Palestine Derailment Disaster to the Toledo Water Crisis (w/ Mike Balonek & Chris Albright) 08/01/2024

From the East Palestine Derailment Disaster to the Toledo Water Crisis (w/ Mike Balonek & Chris Albright) From East Palestine, Ohio, to South Baltimore and beyond, we’ve been connecting you with residents living in the toxic wastelands left by private and government-run industry—ordinary working people who have been thrust into extraordinary fights for their lives. In the latest installment of our ongoing Sacrificed series, we go to Toledo, Ohio, a city that, in 2014, lost access to its water supply for three days straight due to a massive, toxic algal bloom caused by runoff from industrial animal farming. We speak with filmmaker Mike Balonek and welcome back Chris Albright, a resident of East Palestine, to discuss the connections between the Norfolk Southern train derailment disaster and the Toledo Water Crisis. We also talk about an upcoming conference in Toledo on Saturday, August 3, hosted by the Justice for East Palestine Residents & Workers coalition: “Is your community a sacrifice zone? A conference on corporate-caused disasters.” The conference will focus on the Toledo Water Crisis, the derailment in East Palestine and the need for better railroad safety, and the radioactive poisoning of residents living near the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Pike County, Ohio. The conference will also feature the world premiere of filmmaker Mike Balonek’s new documentary The Big Problem In The Great Lakes, a film about the Toledo Water Crisis of 2014. Additional links/info below… Toledo conference details: Mike Balonek, WTOL 11, "" Maximillian Alvarez, Cameron Granadino, & Hannah Faris, The Real News Network, "" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "" Stephanie Elverd, The Pakersburg News & Sentinel, "" Permanent links below... Working People page 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/32379007

Teamsters Members React to Sean O'Brien's RNC Speech (w/ Amber Mathwig, Tony, Chantelle, Rick Smith, Zoey Moretti Niebuhr, Jess Leigh, Kat, & Robert Conklin) 07/22/2024

Teamsters Members React to Sean O'Brien's RNC Speech (w/ Amber Mathwig, Tony, Chantelle, Rick Smith, Zoey Moretti Niebuhr, Jess Leigh, Kat, & Robert Conklin) On Monday, July 15, on Day 1 of the Republican National Convention, Sean O’Brien, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, became the first Teamsters president ever to address the RNC. Invited by former president Trump, who is now officially the Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election, O’Brien’s speech was no ordinary RNC filler. And to anyone watching, or anyone paying attention to the political reality in this country, this was no ordinary RNC either. O’brien’s very presence on the RNC stage, and the contents of his speech, which lasted for 17 minutes, have sparked a firestorm of intense reactions and furious debates within the labor movement and the Republican and Democratic parties alike. Everyone is talking about this speech and what it all means for workers, but workers themselves need to be driving that conversation. In this special episode, cohosted by Max and Mel Buer, we bring together a diverse panel of Teamster members from across the country to have a spirited, fair, and productive discussion about O'Brien's speech, the 2024 elections, and the future of the labor movement. Speakers include: Amber Mathwig, a UPS warehouse worker and member of Teamsters Local 638 in Minnesota; Tony, a UPS worker, member of Teamsters Local 174 in Seattle, and a member of Teamsters Mobilize; Chantelle, a part-time UPS worker and member of Teamsters Local 177 in New Jersey; Rick Smith, a 35-year Teamster working in the freight industry and host of The Rick Smith Show; Zoey Moretti Niebuhr, a UPS worker, third-generation Teamster, member of Teamsters Local 391 in North Carolina, and president of Pride at Work—North Carolina; Jess Leigh, a UPS worker, shop steward for Teamsters Local 728 in Atlanta, and a member of the Teamsters LBGTQ Caucus and Teamsters Mobilize; Kat, a part-time UPS worker and shop steward for Teamsters Local 70 in Oakland; and Robert Conklin, a third-generation Teamster and member of Teamsters Local 665 in San Francisco. Additional links/info below… PBS NewsHour, "" Sean O'Brien Ryan Bort, Rolling Stone, "" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "" The Rick Smith Show , page, page, and Teamsters Mobilize , Facebook page, page, and Teamsters LGBTQ Caucus Pride at Work—North Carolina Maximillian Alvarez & Teddy Ostrow, The Real News Network, "" Teddy Ostrow, The Upsurge / The Real News Network, "" Permanent links below... Working People page 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/32243802

Dispatch from Labor Notes & Railroad Workers United Conferences (Chicago, 2024) 07/08/2024

Dispatch from Labor Notes & Railroad Workers United Conferences (Chicago, 2024) Two months ago, from April 17-21, workers and labor organizers of all stripes convened in Chicago for the bi-annual Labor Notes conference, which overlapped with the Railroad Workers United convention. As the registration website rightly noted, “Labor Notes Conferences are the biggest gatherings of grassroots labor activists, union reformers, and all-around troublemakers out there." This is not a buttoned up convention of union officials; this is a real grassroots gathering of people on the frontlines of struggle, talking openly, honestly, and strategically about their struggles, victories, and defeats, about what we can all learn from one another as fellow workers and fighters, and about how we can all contribute to growing the labor movement as fellow members of that movement. In this on-the-ground episode, cohosted by Max and Mel Buer, we speak with attendees at the RWU convention, Labor Notes, and participants in the Labor for Palestine protest that took place outside of Labor Notes on April 19. Speakers include: Johnny Walker, a railroad worker and member of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers—Transportation Division (SMART-TD) Local 610 in Baltimore; Matt Weaver, who has worked on the railroad since 1994, is a member of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees (BMWED-IBT) Local 2624, where he also serves as legislative director for his state; Marcie Pedraza, an electrician at Ford Chicago Assembly Plant and member of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 551; Jacob Morrison, a member of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), president of the North Alabama Labor Council, and cohost of The Valley Labor Report; Leticia Zavala, legendary farm labor organizer working with farm workers in Mexico and the United States, and a member of El Futuro Es Nuestro (It’s Our Future), a farmworker caucus within the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC, AFL-CIO); Colin Smalley, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) Local 777 in Chicago; Berenice Navarrete-Perez, vice president of the Association of Legislative Employees (ALE); Annie Shields, former journalist and union organizer with the NewsGuild of New York; and Axel Persson, a locomotive engineer in France and general secretary of the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT) Railway Workers Union in Trappes. Additional links/info below… Labor Notes , page, and page Railroad Workers United , page, and page El Futuro Es Nuestro – It's Our Future and page Labor for Palestine The Valley Labor Report channel, page, page, and Duncan Freeman, The Chief Leader: "" Axel Persson, ML Today, "" Martha Grevatt, Workers World, "" Permanent links below... Working People page 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/32040887

"Safe Staffing Now!": Baltimore Nurses at Largest Catholic Health Network in US Fight On for First Contract (w/ Nicki Horvat) 07/02/2024

"Safe Staffing Now!": Baltimore Nurses at Largest Catholic Health Network in US Fight On for First Contract (w/ Nicki Horvat) On the morning of Thursday, June 20, unionized nurses at Ascension St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore held a rally outside the hospital to raise awareness of their efforts to secure a first contract and to show management that they’re not backing down from their core demands for safe staffing and an operational model that puts patients and patient care first. "St. Agnes nurses are calling on Ascension to accept their proposals to improve safe staffing and, subsequently, nurse retention," a press release from National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU) stated. "Nearly 20 percent of nurses at St. Agnes began employment at the hospital after January 1 of this year. Meanwhile, just over a third of nurses have more than four years of experience at the hospital... The Catholic hospital system is one of the largest in the country with 140 hospitals in 19 states and also one of the wealthiest, with cash reserves, an investment company, and a private equity operation worth billions of dollars—and, because of its nonprofit status, is exempt from paying federal taxes." In this on-the-ground episode, we take you to the NNOC/NNU picket line and speak with Nicki Horvat, an RN in the Neonatal Intensive Care unit at Ascension St. Agnes and member of the bargaining team, about what she and her coworkers are fighting for. Additional links/info below… National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United , page, page, and NNOC/NNU Press Release: "" Angela Roberts, The Baltimore Sun, "" Gino Canella, The Real News Network, "" Gino Canella, The Real News Network, "" Robert Glatter, Peter Papadakos, & Yash Shah, Time Magazine, "" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "" Permanent links below... Working People page 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/31980117

In Brazil, the Climate Crisis Is Already Turning Working People into Climate Refugees (w/ Michael Fox) 06/24/2024

"CSX has got to go!" Industrially Polluted South Baltimore Residents March to "Evict" Rail Giant from Their Community 06/17/2024

"CSX has got to go!" Industrially Polluted South Baltimore Residents March to "Evict" Rail Giant from Their Community On June 10, in the working-class community of Curtis Bay in South Baltimore, over 50 residents, activists, and supporters from around the city marched through the streets of Curtis Bay to hold CSX Transportation accountable for polluting their community, homes, and bodies with toxic coal dust. Even after an expansive scientific study co-sponsored by the Community of Curtis Bay Association, the South Baltimore Community Land Trust, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland, and the Maryland Department of Environment confirmed the presence of coal dust in the air of the South Baltimore community of Curtis Bay, CSX has denied culpability and called the study “materially flawed.” Residents say they’re fed up with the company refusing to take responsibility for the coal dust, and with the city government for ignoring their cries for help for years, and they’re not going to stay quiet. “We got to stand together for Curtis Bay, for South Baltimore,” one resident and youth leader, Carlos Sanchez, told the crowd. “We have to remove CSX for the health of our communities.” With other locals watching from their porches, sidewalks, and storefronts, the crowd marched from the Curtis Bay Rec Center all the way up to the gates of the CSX terminal. There, they signed and delivered a giant “Eviction Notice” to CSX, a company that recorded over $10 billion in gross profits last year. In this on-the-ground edition of Working People, Maximillian Alvarez speaks with Curtis Bay residents on the day of the march and takes you to the heart of the action. Speakers in this episode (in order of appearance) include: Shashawnda Campbell of Baltimore Community Land Trust; David Jones, a resident who has lived in Curtis Bay for over 35 years; Angie Shaneyfelt, a resident who has lived in Curtis Bay for 17 years; Angela Smothers, a lifelong resident of Mt. Winans in South Baltimore; Carlos Sanchez, a youth leader born and raised in Lakeland, South Baltimore; Roma Gutierrez, a lifelong resident of Brooklyn, South Baltimore, and an environmental organizer and youth leader with South Baltimore Community Land Trust; an unnamed representative of Malaya Movement Baltimore; and Maria Urbina, a South Baltimore resident. Additional links/info below… Coal-Free Curtis Bay page and South Baltimore Community Land Trust , page, page, and Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "" Aman Azhar, InsideClimate News, “” Nicole Fabricant, University of California Press, Nicole Fabricant, The Real News Network, “” Michael Middleton & Dr. Sacoby Wilson, Maryland Matters, “” Chloe Ahmann, Baltimore Sun, “” Christine Condon & Dillon Mullan, Baltimore Sun, “” Maryland Department of Environment, "" Adam Willis, The Baltimore Banner, "" Permanent links below... Working People page 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/31768349

Liz Oliva Fernández 06/11/2024

Liz Oliva Fernández For the past six years on this show, we've talked to working people from across the United States, from virtually every walk of life, about their lives, jobs, dreams, and struggles. But today, we’re going to talk about what it’s like to live and work in a country that has been designated a political enemy of US empire, a country that sits only 90 miles away from the US, a country that American politicians have resolved to strangle into oblivion for the past 60 years. In this episode, we speak with Liz Oliva Fernández from Cuba. Liz is an award-winning Cuban journalist with Belly of the Beast, an independent outlet covering Cuba and US-Cuba relations, and she is the presenter of two new documentaries, Hardliner on the Hudson and Uphill on the Hill. In addition to exposing the sinister interests behind, and the devastating real-world impacts of, the Cold War Cuban policy of Joe Biden’s administration, pushed by powerful hardliners like Senator Bob Menendez, former Chair of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the films also document Liz's experience as a Black journalist from the Global South coming to the US to confront the predominantly white politicians and interests waging economic war on her country. We talk about Liz's new films, and we talk about growing up in Cuba, becoming a journalist, and life for woking people in Cuba under the US-imposed blockade and designation of Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism . Additional links/info below… Belly of the Beast , page, , and channel Belly of the Beast, Belly of the Beast, Andrew Buncombe, The Guardian, “" Ju-Hyun Park, The Real News Network, "" Permanent links below… Working People page 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/31692842

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