Work Stoppage

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. In the second part of our series on the decline of the US labor movement, we discuss the impact of business unionism in the 1970s and the 1980s.  We dispel the commonly promoted image that Jimmy Carter was a friend of the working class, and cover some of the many anti-labor acti...

After some discussion about the transition to new leadership at the Teamsters, our first story on this week’s episode of Work Stoppage covers the recent walkouts at 3 Amazon facilities carried out by Amazonians United.  Then we hit the weekly quota of Starbucks coverage discussing the return of Howard Schultz as CEO, the refusal of the company to stop its aggressive union busting campaign, and a s...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. In the first episode of a new series, we dig into the primary causes of the ongoing decline of union membership in the US, especially in private industry.  While there are certainly spots of hope in movements like Starbucks Workers United and other grassroots union organizing dr...

Our episode of Work Stoppage starts this week with a reminder that the workers at Amy’s Kitchen have called for a boycott as the company attacks their union efforts.  Our first full story catches up with the Teamsters in Seattle who are now facing attempts by companies to break the strike in the concrete industry by hiring unlabeled “Ghost Trucks” to supply job sites.  Next, Starbucks workers in D...

After yet another crazy week both in and outside the labor world we’ve got another packed episode for you.  First, we follow up with the workers at REI in Manhattan who have won their union election in a landslide.  Next, the NYT Tech Guild also overwhelmingly won their election, becoming the largest union of tech workers in the US.  Following up our story on the rise of independent unions in Mexi...

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’ve talked about the violence facing labor organizers, human rights defenders, and Indigenous leaders in Colombia on the show before, in the context of last year’s working class uprising.  But we hadn’t really had a chance to give the topic the amount of time it deserves.  Col...

It’s been a busy week in Labor news so we’ve got a jam packed episode of Work Stoppage.  First, we’ve got a few recent victories:  Workers at Coffee Tree Roasters in Pittsburgh won their union election 17-3 and will now be represented by UFCW Local 1776.  Workers at Rich Products’ Jon Donaire ice cream cake plant have ended their four month long strike with three times the wage increase that the c...

We start this week’s episode checking in with Starbucks’ latest repressive move against its workers as they’ve fired one of the lead organizers at the first store to unionize in Buffalo. Next, we discuss a recent shady deal by the UFCW to represent Uber drivers in Canada, where the representation costs will be covered by Uber and the UFCW will lobby Canada’s parliament to preserve worker “flexibil...

After making fun of REI’s attempt to make a “progressive" union busting podcast, our episode starts following up with the striking Clover workers in South Africa.  Workers have faced violent attacks from company strikebreakers against their picket lines but are standing strong and expanding their strike activity. Next we cover strikes by healthcare workers in Sri Lanka and Nigeria, where workers h...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. Sometimes there’s a story in the news that needs a bit more in depth discussion than we can give it on a regular episode.  So we’re starting a new patrons-only series of Shop Floor Discussion episodes to cover them.  For our first longer form discussion, we want to tackle the re...

We’ve got a packed episode of Work Stoppage this week.  Just before recording Starbucks decided to fire seven of their workers in Memphis for unionizing, in one of the more obvious cases of retaliation we’ve covered.  Thousands of teachers protested last Friday in Puerto Rico over incredibly low wages which force many of them to take second or even third jobs just to make ends meet.  The GOP intro...

Since we've just finished a new patrons-only series on the nature of the state, this time focusing on the repressive state apparatus, we figured it would be a good idea to make the first part of our series on the theory of how the state functions available to all our listeners. This episode gives a window into what we have been going over on the Overtime episodes.  To support the show and get acce...

This week we begin following up with our friends at Student Workers of Columbia who have finally ratified their first contract after a years’ long struggle for recognition.  Next we discuss the recent developments in the healthcare industry where several companies are attempting to apply the gig model to nursing.  Issues have been brewing in the rail industry for years as companies have slashed wo...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. In the final episode of our series on the history of the US repressive state apparatus, we discuss some of its major developments on the homefront during the last 20 years. We cover the massive rise in state surveillance and attacks on the Muslim community in the wake of 9/11. A...

We start this week’s episode of Work Stoppage following up with the King Sooper’s workers, who have ratified a new contract and ended their strike. Next we check in with the Game Workers Alliance drive at Activision Blizzard King, where Raven Software QA workers have officially filed for union recognition with the NLRB. Also this week, truck drivers at the Port of Los Angeles are fighting their mi...

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 third part of our Overtime series on the history of the US repressive state apparatus, we dive into the long relationship between the CIA and the global drug trade.  From working with the Mafia to break strikes in post-war Europe and protecting their heroin smuggling, to...

We start this week’s episode following up with the Republic Services sanitation workers in San Diego, who have ended their month long strike and ratified a new contract.  We discuss the gains and the limitations of the new deal.  We also check in with the massively expanding Starbucks Workers United campaign, which has spread to 26 locations as of this writing and likely more once we release the e...

Covid is still raging out of control as the government refuses to handle the pandemic, so our first story this week is a look at some of the ways teachers and now students are fighting for safe learning environments, starting with a sickout by teachers and a strike threat by students in Oakland, California.  Then we follow up with the Student Workers of Columbia, who have reached a tentative agree...

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 Overtime series on the history of the US repressive state apparatus, we discuss its extension to attack working class movements overseas in Operation Gladio and Operation Condor.  We discuss how in the aftermath of World War 2, the United States organ...

It’s the first episode of Work Stoppage of 2022 and the state is once again throwing workers to the wolves.  We start with a follow up on the St Vincent nurses strike, where they’ve ratified a new contract to end one of the longest strikes in the country, but have faced a nefarious move by the company to try and spark a decertification vote.  Next we discuss a union drive recently launched by work...

For the last episode of Work Stoppage of 2021, we decided to take a look back at the stories and trends that we covered in the labor movement this year. We discuss the first major efforts at unionizing Amazon [7:00-24:11], the ways in which OSHA let workers down [24:12-35:19], and the many companies that put forward a "progressive" image only to use the same union busting tactics of every other co...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. Join us down the rabbit hole on this first part of a series of patrons-only Overtime episodes where we discuss an overview of the history of the US repressive state apparatus, and how it has been used to crush working class movements.  In this episode we discuss the history of v...

We start this week’s episode with a check in with Doughnut Workers United, who finally officially won their unfair labor practice charges against Voodoo Doughnuts for illegally firing workers protesting unsafe working conditions during this summer’s heat wave.  Next, we go over the end of the Kellogg’s strike, covering the new contract’s wins but also the notable fact that it doesn’t eliminate the...

It’s a heavy start to this week’s episode, as we begin with the horrific aftermath of the multi-state tornado system that killed over 80 people, including at least 14 workers forced to stay at their jobs by their management.  These workers were murdered by their employers in the pursuit of profit, for which the companies are unlikely to ever be brought to justice.  We follow up that difficult segm...

On a very special interview episode of Work Stoppage, we were lucky enough to be joined by Charlie, a PhD student and organizer with Student Workers of Columbia, who are currently engaged in the largest strike in the country.  We discuss the history of student worker organizing at Columbia and the process students have been going through to try and get their first contract with the university.  We...