Heartland Labor Forum

Workers of Kansas City and beyond: Do you wonder where your money has gone? Economist Rob Larsen found it, and this week on the Heartland Labor Forum he’ll talk about his book Mastering the Universe; The Obscene Wealth of the Ruling Class. Then, we’ll travel back to 1980s to a time when progressive Democrats won elections in the Heartland and ask Cory Haala, author of When Democrats Won the Heartl...

Can working class candidates win elections in rural Missouri? That’s our question on the Heartland Labor Forum this week. We’ll hear from The View from Rural Missouri Substack star Jess Piper and candidates Amy Minich, Casey Scott, Shelby Dreier, Gena Puckett and Judy McNeese. All are running to represent Missouri small towns and farmers in the state legislature. We invited all the opponents in th...

Two veteran union organizers: Pete Olney and Rand Wilson discuss the compelling need to organize Amazon and what that effort could learn from the Fight for $15 and a union. Then the Railway Labor Act just turned a 100. It was our first national labor law which set up the National Mediation Board to settle disputes. We'll ask Deirdre Hamilton, former NMB member if it’s showing its age and needs rev...

With the midterms less than a month away, The Heartland Labor Forum is asking candidates what they think about working class issues. This week we’re diving into some hotly contested races: John Patterson vs Keri Ingle in the 8 th Senate District. Then it’s Kemp Strickler vs Sean Smith in the 34 th House District, Kevin Grover vs Jeff Martin in the 30th and Susan Hoisington vs. Bill Allen in the 17...

You’ve probably heard that coal miners would take a canary into a mine because canaries drop dead before miners do when exposed to poison gasses. Social Security workers will talk on the show about the DOGE and the strain of understaffing, office closures and benefit cuts that are poisoning their work lives and hurting recipients, and we’ll ask if Social Security workers are the canaries warning u...

The Midterms are barreling toward us with lots of fresh recruits wanting to unseat incumbents. We’ll focus on three Kansas races - the first Congressional District – a weirdly shaped creature with its head in the east and its backside up against Colorado - plus two state House districts – the 3 rd around Pittsburg and 6 th which includes Lewisburg and Paola where a UAW member is running. All candi...

We visit the promised land, or is it? Scandinavian social democracy means universal healthcare, pensions, paid family leave and unions for most. Sounds great, right? We’ll talk pros and cons with Erika Gubrium, an American scholar in Norway. Then, there’s a dark and lurid history of secret societies in Missouri. Devin Thomas wrote a book called The Veiled Prophet: Secret Societies, White Supremacy...

Kansas City area voters should know before the we air  on Thursday at 6pm which district and what candidates for Congress they can vote for.  Wherever the 4 th turns out to be, we’ve invited Democrat Jordan Herrera, Republican incumbent Mark Alford and Libertarian Thomas Holbrook to talk about working class issues. Then, unions in companies bought up by another have had certain protections from be...

Tennessee didn’t just produce Dolly Parton. The Highlander Center arose there in spite of Tennessee. It is a school for the movement - first for labor in the 1930s then civil rights in the 50’s and 60’s. We will talk to Elaine Weiss about her book Spell Freedom: The Underground Schools That Built the Civil Rights Movement . It’s an essential story of how to build a movement that can change America...

Do early child care facilities work for working families?  The answer is no — at least not for union and trades families.  This week on the Heartland Labor Forum we’ll hear about problems and solutions with the Labor Beacon’s Julia Williams and Tina Shonk Little, member of Operating Engineers local 101.  Then Kansas City Jobs with Justice has a new organizer, Allie White. She’s full of ideas and e...

A hundred years ago in Kansas City Kansas, the KKK ruled. In fact, for three decades, they held substantial control of city government while fomenting hatred of Blacks, immigrants and Catholics. We’ll interview Tim Rives, author of the book about the KKK in KCK. Then, the United Autoworkers Union is generating controversy over democracy vs. top down unity as they approach the existential negotiati...

The climate change deniers haven’t stopped our forests and fields from burning this summer. So, this week on the Heartland Labor Forum we’ll ask Kevin A. Young, author of Abolishing Fossil Fuels how do we build the political will to address climate change? Could the answer lie in the past? Then, a panel of our volunteer producers will discuss how you can become a radio star on our show just like u...

Did you learn any labor history in school? Probably not much. We’ll find out from Adam Sanchez of Rethinking Schools Magazine why it’s important for working class kids to learn their own history. Then, as investor capital flees the private equity sector over AI fears, the Trump administration wants to allow retirement accounts to include venture capital and hedge fund investments.  We'll ask Eilee...

In 2022 the Heartland Labor Forum interviewed author Natasha Iskander who investigated the massive worker rights violations at the Doha World Cup and asked if you have to be a skilled worker to be treated as a human. This week we’ll revisit that interview and then ask Stage Hands Union leader Jacob Hobbs if this summer’s World Cup has done any better for his members and other workers. Our feature...

It’s not often that union members become politicians, but Kevin King, former labor leader is now mayor of Independence. We’ll get his story. Then KCUR’s Sam Zeff will run down two consequential constitutional amendments on the August 4 th . Amendment 4 would make it almost impossible for citizens to pass a constitutional amendment, and 5 would phase out the state income tax and authorize the legis...

The August 4 th Kansas ballot has a blockbuster constitutional amendment to change the way the state Supreme Court is selected. This week on the Heartland Labor Forum we’ll find out from the Kansas Reflector’s Tim Carpenter what this means for the rights of women to control their bodies and funding for our public schools. Then, Labor Notes has been the voice of union activism since 1979. Their bie...

What is the status of the Green New Deal and the Inflation Reduction Act now that Trump is President? This week on the Heartland Labor Forum we’ll talk jobs, unions and the green transition with the University of Massachusetts Robert Pollin. Then, Daniel Kotzin teaches history at William Jewell College. In April he gave a talk on the racist history of US immigration law as part of the first Constr...

Labor educator and activist Les Leopold has given up on the Democratic Party and written a book called The Billionaires Have Two Parties; We Need a Party of Our Own. He’s calling on unions and the working class to build a labor party starting in the spaces where the Democrats have little to no support, don’t run candidates or lose by double digits. He’ll be on the Heartland Labor Forum this week.

We explore two books. First, New York Times reporter Noam Scheiber’s Mutiny: The Rise and Revolt of the College Educated Working Class who face underemployment, low pay and crippling debt after graduation. Then, Joe Uehlein whose memoir Three Roads takes him from 60’s antiwar protests to the Battle of Seattle, to civil disobedience at the White House against the Keystone pipeline, all the while wo...

The National Labor Relations Board will soon have a Republican majority, meaning that the rollback of Biden-era union protections is imminent. We’ll talk with journalist Robert Iafolla (Eye-uh-foal uh) of Bloomberg Law about what’s next for the NLRB. Then, we’ll talk to DSA’s Elias Garcia about their campaign to get local businesses to sign the Monarch Pledge and say “No” to ICE.

It’s KKFI’s Summer Fund Drive! PLEASE DONATE DURING THE SHOW OR ANYTIME. YOU CAN CALL 888-931-0901 OR GO TO KKFI.ORG . Thursday, on the Heartland Labor Forum: This year’s Missouri legislative session, perhaps more aptly known as the Legislative Session of Misery ended on May 15.  Rep, Emily Weber will give us the scoop on what passed and how you’ll be affected.   Then, we’ll check in with Represen...

We discuss the proposed Kansas City Royals stadium to be built at Crown Center in partnership with Hallmark. The plan seems to be creating more questions than answers, and as part of our recurring coverage of the stadium, we’ll look at the economics of public subsidies for sports venues, as well as whether the city’s sales tax revenue projections on the stadium are a home run or a swing-and-a-miss...

Planning a summer road trip? How about visiting the places where ordinary people made extraordinary change? We’ll talk to Chris Garlock of the Labor Heritage Foundation about their new Labor Landmark Map! Then we’ll visit a nearby landmark – Quindaro, the town founded by Wyandot Indians, abolitionists and free blacks as a free port on the Missouri River. We’ll talk to a descendant of Robert Monroe...

Who doesn’t love a library? Unfortunately, library workers at Mid-Continent Libraries don’t feel much love from their bosses, and they’ve organized a union. We’ll have them and results of their vote on it on tonight’s show. Then, one might think that being head of the Texas AFL-CIO would be a thankless job in such an anti-union state, but Rick Levy made the state’s labor movement broader, bolder,...

Ever heard of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers based in Detroit in the 1970s? There’s a new book called Motown and the Making of Working-Class Revolutionaries . This week on the Heartland Labor Forum, we’ll talk to the authors. Then, the Missouri legislature will short-change schools next year making grants from the Kansas City Public School Foundation more necessary than ever. Find out a...