Work Stoppage

John's back, Lina's away, and businesses keep oppressing their workers. We start this week's episode with an Amazon roundup, as the NLRB officially orders a new election in Bessemer, the NY AG demands Christian Smalls be reinstated, and independent researchers find Amazon concealed 20,000 workplace related COVID cases. Next we have a rare discussion of labor relations in the sports world, as the o...

We weren’t able to line up everyone’s schedules this week so it’s just Lina and Dan on this week’s episode of Work Stoppage. We start with the Kellogg’s strike, where a new tentative agreement has been reached to potentially end the two month long strike. Next we discuss the international effort to reign in Amazon’s labor abuses with strikes around the world on Black Friday organized by the Make A...

The holidays are right around the corner but the class struggle never stops.  We start this weeks episode checking in with the Amazon Labor Union in New York, where issues with turnover and vicious union busting have forced the union to temporarily withdraw their NLRB election petition.  14,000 Kroger workers in Houston have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, which could start as soon as...

There are new contracts all over the place on this week’s episode of Work Stoppage.  We start with Kaiser Permanente, where a tentative agreement has been reached to prevent the planned implementation of a two tiered contract.  Then we discuss the end of the month long John Deere strike, after workers ratified a new deal which contains hard fought gains but maintains their two tiered system.  Also...

We start this week’s episode of Work Stoppage catching up with some of the bigger strikes in the country.  First, Starbucks has pulled out all the stops in its union busting efforts, even bringing in former CEO and failed presidential candidate Howard Schultz to try and convince workers to vote against their union as ballots go out this week. Then we check in on the Kellogg’s strike, where the com...

A lot has happened on the John Deere picket lines since we last talked about the strike, so we start there this week.  One UAW worker was tragically killed after being struck by a vehicle walking to their car from the picket line, and the union has turned down Deere’s most recent contract offer after it failed to remove the current two-tiered system.  We also follow up with the organized Netflix w...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. As a Labor News show, we talk about unions constantly and how vital they are to building any sort of socialist project. But the labor movement has been around a long time without prompting a revolution, so what should our organizing tactics be if our ultimate goal isn't just sli...

John is on the mend so the gang’s back together for this week’s episode of Work Stoppage, which starts with a follow up on the United Paizo Workers, whose union was voluntarily recognized by the company! Then we discuss the tragic death of Halyna Hutchins and how everything that led to it demonstrates why the IATSE workers voted so overwhelmingly to strike. Also this week, workers in Italy have ra...

John’s under the weather this week, and Lina and Dan start off with a follow up on the IATSE strike, where a tentative agreement was reached by the bargaining committee over the weekend but may not be ratified when the membership gets to vote. We also check in with Starbucks Workers United as the company has closed two of the stores that had been attempting to unionize, while insisting that it has...

Major strikes are popping up all over and Striketober is in full swing. This week we start with our friends at Doughnut Workers United, where the NLRB recently ruled in their favor that Voodoo Doughnuts illegally fired several of their workers for striking and must rehire them and pay back pay.  Then we discuss the recent car attack on protesting farmers in Lakhimpur, Uttar Pradesh, where four far...

Our first story this week is following up with Automobile Mechanics Local 701 in Chicago, where hundreds of mechanics have narrowly agreed to end their 8 week long strike and accept a new contract. Then we discuss a package of reforms passed in New York City to address some of the most egregious aspects of gig work for delivery drivers. We also cover harsh working conditions and intimidation at th...

We’re back to the news on this week’s episode and we start with some follow ups. First we discuss the victory of the Nabisco workers in their 5 week strike and break down the specific wins in their new contract. Then we check in with the workers at Activision Blizzard King who have filed an unfair labor practice charge alleging the company is intimidating workers organizing in the wake of the rece...

On this week’s episode of Work Stoppage we were lucky enough to be joined by a couple guests from Hudson Workers United (@HWUnited) to tell us about their drive to organize workers in the legal industry. They tell us about the difficult conditions they’ve face during the pandemic, the strategies that have worked for them in their struggle to build collective power, and the backlash they’ve faced a...

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 this Overtime Episode Lina goes over some of the legacy of Saul Alinsky, who is often credited with creating the organizing model that is still used by many people and unions today. All quotes from this episode are from the book No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New G...

Every week’s a busy week in the world of Labor, and this one’s no different.  First we follow up with Starbucks Workers’ United (@SBWorkersUnited) and their quest for recognition of their union, as Starbucks management has pulled out all the stops to fight them.  Then we cover several Amazon related stories, from California passing a bill to regulate algorithmic work quotas, to the company’s fake...

The regular gang is back together this week and we start out discussing the cruel irony of the government allowing unemployment benefits to run out for millions of workers on Labor Day. Also this week, major hotel chains like Marriott and Hilton are using the crisis of the pandemic to consolidate their market position and attacked unionized workforces. We also cover the harsh conditions faced by t...

Our rotating cast continues this week as Lina is back but John is out and we have our first recurring guest, Ethan from Invent the Future and Red Game Table, back on the show. We start out covering the NLRB dismissing complaints from striking Warrior Met coal miners about vehicles striking their picket lines for “lack of evidence” despite numerous videos. Then, we cover a couple international stor...

It’s just John and Dan as Lina is off this week, and we start with a dire warning to never trust a man in a cravat after Nathan J Robinson responded to the staff of Current Affairs’ desire to form a co-op by firing everyone. Then, after a brief check-in with the Teamsters in Indiana who have reached an agreement with Pepsi to end their strike, we hit some of the big news this week as a judge in Ca...

On this week’s episode of Work Stoppage we start by checking in on the Teamsters strike at a Pepsi plant in Indiana, where workers have gotten a surprising show of support from the local government of the nearby town of Hammond.  Then we take a look at how a Wisconsin healthcare company is giving bonuses only to non-union workers, and discuss a new app called Unit which claims it can help workers...

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 and final part of our series on the nature of the state, we examine the work of two theorists of the modern capitalist state, Antonio Gramsci and Louis Althusser.  Starting with Gramsci’s understanding of the concept of hegemony, we look at the arms of the state tha...

On the second part of our Overtime series on The Nature of the State, John brings us through some of the core aspects of the Anarchist theory of the state.  Taking a look at the analysis of Kropotkin and Malatesta, we examine how the early Anarchist conception of the state is similar to the Marxist definition, and also where it differs.  With a bit of a looser structure than the first episode of t...

This week’s episode starts by following up with the striking UMWA workers at the Warrior Met coal mine in Alabama who have recently picketed in NYC in front of Blackrock and also held a large solidarity rally drawing union workers from across the country.  We also cover the declaration of one NLRB official that Amazon made a fair election in Bessemer “impossible” and therefore the election should...

We’re back to the regular news format this week and it’s a heavy one. First we follow up with the Frito-Lay workers, who have won some concessions from the company after being on strike for almost 3 weeks. Then we cover a major truck drivers’ strike across Puerto Rico that has resulted in a confrontation between the local government and the colonial “oversight board” installed by the US. We also d...

On this week’s episode of Work Stoppage we were lucky enough to be joined by a guest, Ida Nikou, a PhD student studying labor relations in Iran to discuss the recent strikes among temporary and contract workers in Iran’s oil industry. We learn some of the background on the situation for workers in Iran across various industries, what kinds of unions exist, what level of labor rights (or lack there...

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 this Overtime episode, the first in a series, John, Lina, and Dan take some time to dig into the fundamentals behind our understandings of the nature of the state: what it is, its historical development, how it functions, and how it can be changed. During this first part of o...