Work Stoppage

There’s so much to cover this week we had to pull Starbucks out for its own episode, watch for that in the patron feed later this week. We start by following up with the striking Chevron workers in Richmond, CA, where the oil conglomerate has hired local cops to act as strikebreakers. After a few more quick-hit follow up stories, we discuss a strike at Case New Holland in Wisconsin and Iowa, where...

We start this week’s episode of Work Stoppage with some tough news, as the organizing drive at the LDJ5 facility by the ALU was defeated 62%-38% in their election.  The same week, OSHA refused to do anything to Amazon after they murdered six of their workers in last year’s tornado, while at the same time Amazon has now dropped any covid protections for their workers.  Meanwhile, Delta is feeling 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. We’ve talked about the importance of unions being organized and run in a “rank-and-file” manner a million times on the show, but we hadn’t really had a good opportunity to sit down and layout exactly what that means.  On this episode, we discuss what exactly rank-and-file unioni...

For International Workers' Day, we decided to unlock our recent patron episode on the organizing methods of the Amazon Labor Union since it's a discussion on such an important, ongoing organizing campaign.  Happy May Day Comrades! Original Description: On April 1, the Amazon Labor Union won one of the most historic labor victories in the US in decades.  Despite the enormous difference in resources...

We start this week’s episode following up with Verizon workers, where the company seems to be taking a page from Starbucks’ union busting as they have illegally fired a worker at a store in Washington for organizing.  Then we catch up with the striking Finnish healthcare workers, who have ended their strike and are threatening mass resignations in response to threats from the government to make he...

We start this week following up on the effort to unionize in immigration law by the brave organizers of Hudson Workers United, whose fight has now dragged on for over a year.  Next we check in with the ALU, where the focus has turned to the LDJ5 sorting center’s upcoming election, and Amazon has cranked up the union busting.  In our weekly look at the Starbucks Workers United movement, we discuss...

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 April 1, the Amazon Labor Union won one of the most historic labor victories in the US in decades.  Despite the enormous difference in resources, the ALU was able to defeat one of the richest, most anti-union corporations in the world.  This is such a momentous development, w...

We start this week’s episode of Work Stoppage checking in on the fallout from P&O Ferries illegally laying off their entire workforce without warning.  Three weeks later and their fleet is still out of service, leading to massive shipping and travel delays in the UK. Next we discuss the end of the striking IBEW workers at WTTW, where the three week strike seems to have ended largely in defeat with...

It’s a jam packed episode this week, everyone’s excited for the main story but we’ve got a lot to talk about in the labor world first.  After hitting a few quick updates to some ongoing stories, we discuss the end of the Sacramento teachers’ strike, where a new tentative agreement has won raises without cuts to healthcare.  Next, we cover some of the recent news in organizing in the games industry...

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 part of our series on the decline of the US labor movement, we reach the End of History.  We discuss major events in US labor since the 90s, including waves of mergers, corporate consolidation, accelerating financialization, NAFTA, and the crash of 2008.  We then ge...

It’s another packed episode this week, as the class struggle never stops. First, we follow up with the Minneapolis educators, who have agreed to a new contract, ending their three week strike. Next we do our weekly Starbucks roundup, discussing union busting in Boston and union victories in Mesa, AZ, Seattle, and Knoxville, TN. Another major teachers strike is on, this one in Sacramento, where low...

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...