Work Stoppage

Order Health Communism here: https://www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism  If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. We were so excited to be joined by our friends Bea and Artie from the Death Panel to discuss their new book Health Communism. We talk about the way capitalism divides us into "workers" and "surp...

We start our episode this week checking in with friends of the show Doughnut Workers United, who have finally won their union at Voodoo Doughnuts in Portland, OR after years of organizing. It only took two days for the strike by food service workers at San Francisco Airport last week to win huge gains. We also give a brief update on where the different rail unions are in the contract ratification...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. For the second episode of our series discussing the labor movement in films, we’re going across the pond to cover two movies from the UK.  First up, we discuss Ken Loach’s Sorry We Missed You, a devastating realist look at the state of the working class in Britain. The film foll...

In order to let as many folks as possible hear from Starbucks workers fighting for their union, we've decided to unlock our full interview from last week! We hope you enjoy the interview, and if you like the show please support us at patreon.com/workstoppage. Original Description: This week we were excited to be joined by Alisha Humphrey, a worker-organizer with Starbucks Workers United in Oklahom...

Once again we start this week’s episode of Work Stoppage checking in on the rail workers, as details of the tentative agreements have been released and a strike remains a real possibility. We follow that with some quick updates as the NLRB hits Amazon with a complaint for illegal union busting at LDJ5, the Case New Holland strike hits five months, the ridiculous attempt to bill UMWA for $13M in un...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. No Contract No Coffee Pledge: https://crm.broadstripes.com/ctf/SJID0H Solidarity Fund for SBWU partners: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/starbucksworkersfund This week we were excited to be joined by Alisha Humphrey, a worker-organizer with Starbucks Workers United in Oklahoma...

We start this week’s episode summarizing developments with the potential national rail strike, which was delayed but very much not completely canceled by the recent tentative agreement.  Next we discuss the end of the Seattle Teachers Strike and what we can glean from the little information available at the moment. Moving into new stories, over 1000 timber workers are on strike in the Pacific Nort...

The potential for a national rail strike has been looming for a long time, and now that we have finally reached the point where one could actually happen, we decided we needed to have someone who knows a lot more about the railroads than we do on the show to help explain the situation. We were very excited to be joined by Justin Roczniak from Well There’s Your Problem to bring us historical analys...

We’ve got an absolutely jam packed episode this week, labor news never stops. First, we are excited to discuss the victory of the Heine Brothers Coffee workers in their union election. Next we cover the Seattle teachers strike, where workers are fighting for resources needed to serve special education and multi-language learning students. A recent report from the Washington Post has documented the...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. Work Stoppage is going to the movies! In this first episode of a new series, we check out some classics of labor cinema, Matewan and Cradle Will Rock. Matewan tells the story of one of the most famous battles of the Appalachian Mine Wars of the early 20th century which would cul...

Fund to donate to Leonard Peltier’s Walk to Justice: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=24H3YHAGGSZ7Y  Solidarity Fund for Fired Starbucks Workers in Anderson, SC: https://www.gofundme.com/f/fired-starbucks-union-leaders-in-anderson-sc  Happy Labor Day everyone, we’ve got another packed episode of Work Stoppage. We start out with a sad follow up as yet another young organizer with the...

On this week’s Work Stoppage, the Columbus teachers’ strike ended after just a few days, we discuss the new contract the workers ratified this weekend.  Workers at REI in Berkeley finally got their votes counted and their win extends the union to both coasts! An ongoing trial over Whole Foods’ attempts to ban workers from wearing masks with BLM on them has revealed the direct links between the fig...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. This week we were honored to be joined by Nate Holdren, professor at Drake University and author of the recent book Injury Impoverished: Workplace Accidents, Capitalism, and Law in the Progressive Era.  In the book, Nate chronicles the shift in the way workplace injury is handle...

Amazon recently fired friend of the show Matt for his organizing work with the ALU. Donate to his support fund here: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/1f94594f-a62a-4a3b-bf7f-88e92b69442a We’ve got strikes everywhere this week. First we start by checking in with Trader Joe’s, where the company recently closed a store in NYC to kill a union drive. Next we discuss the recommendations from Bi...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. On the second part of our series on the history of early US textile strikes, we move into the 20th century. As the textile industry expanded, advances in technology did not come with advances in safety. The drive for maximum profit led to one of the worst industrial disasters in...

This week’s episode is kind of an angry one. We start out with some good news, as the ATU in DC have won their strike, and workers at Intelligentsia Coffee in Chicago have won their union vote. Trader Joe’s workers in Minneapolis won their union election in a landslide, potentially setting up a new nationwide union push. We also follow up with the workers at Heine Brothers coffee, where union bust...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. The development of the industrial revolution in the United States begins with the textile industry. Centered in New England, the explosion of wealth from industrial manufacturing of cloth would form the foundation for the construction of the rest of the US industrial base. Along...

We start this week’s episode with a quick follow up with the Indiana grad student workers who have won major gains despite the university’s continued refusal to recognize their union. Boston teachers have used rank and file methods to win a historic new contract that will help address homelessness in the city. The NLRB has signed onto an order demanding UMWA workers cover the costs of their more t...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. On the first two parts of this series, we discussed what exactly rank and file organizing is, and how it differs from top down, business unionist organizing methods, and then discussed some historical examples. In this third part of the series, we do a deep dive on two major ran...

Alabama Starbucks Support Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/relief-fund-for-scottsboro-starbucks-partners This week on Work Stoppage, we start with a couple big union election victories. First, Hudson Workers United finally has their union election win recognized after a year-long ordeal. Then, workers at Trader Joe’s in Hadley, MA won their election to form the first recognized union at the chain....

In order to let as many folks as possible hear from the CAUSE workers fighting for a union at Amazon, we've decided to unlock our full interview with them!  We hope you enjoy the interview, and if you like the show please support us at patreon.com/workstoppage. Original Description: We were honored this week to be joined by Lance, an organizer with Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Emp...

Lina’s back and we had so much labor news this week it was hard to squeeze it all in one episode. We start with several quick follow-ups. 400 Planned Parenthood workers in the upper Midwest won their union election in a landslide this week, as did the workers at America’s Test Kitchen. Workers at Activision walked out across the country this week in protest, and Medieval Times’ union movement has...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. We were honored this week to be joined by Lance, an organizer with Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment, CAUSE.  CAUSE has been working to organize workers at Amazon’s RDU1 warehouse in Garner, North Carolina, just outside Raleigh, since the beginning of thi...

Lina is away so it’s just John and Dan on this week’s episode of Work Stoppage. We start out with the Medieval Times workers in New Jersey who have won their union…and immediately got threats from the company to not bargain in good faith.  Next we discuss the Verizon Retail union movement expanding to stores in Portland and Flint, Michigan. We have yet another case of a “progressive” coffee chain...

By popular demand and in order that as many folks as possible are able to hear about the amazing organizing effort going on at Amazon in Kentucky, we've decided to unlock the entire interview!  We hope you enjoy, and if you like the show, please consider supporting us at patreon.com/workstoppage Original Description: We were very lucky to be joined this week by Matt, a worker-organizer at Amazon’s...