Work Stoppage

After a bit of a detour talking about Cuba, this week’s episode starts with a follow up on the striking SEIU Local 73 Cook County workers who have ended their strike after securing several key victories.  Then we take a look at the surge in support for rank and file democracy at the latest Teamsters convention and the prospects for a major win for the Teamsters for a Democratic Union slate.  We di...

Dan is back from vacation and this week’s episode starts with a follow up on the striking Cook County Health workers and nurses, where the nurses won major concessions from the county but the other healthcare workers remain on strike. Next we cover some of the evolving tactics the UMWA workers have been using during their ongoing strike at Warrior Met coal, as well as recent revelations that Amazo...

On last week’s episode we discussed the recent strike by workers organizing with Doughnut Workers United at Voodoo Doughnuts in Portland during the recent heat wave. This week we were lucky enough to be able to interview one of the workers illegally fired in retaliation for that strike. We discuss the general conditions at Voodoo Doughnuts, the tactics used by management to combat the union drive,...

This week we are joined by @laborkyle as a guest! We start with a follow-up from the Colorado Labor Board on how employers aren't allowed to just put "not hiring in Colorado" on their listings to avoid labor law. We then cover the retaliatory firing of workers for a workplace safety strike at Voodoo Doughnuts, ways in which Trader Joe's is attacking worker rights again, and how Amazon's work condi...

This week’s episode starts with a follow up on the Cedar Point Nursery Supreme Court case we covered in our interview with Sam Knight, where the Court has now made it functionally illegal to do workplace organizing of agricultural workers in California.  Then we cover 2700 Chicago area nurses and other hospital staff going on strike for better wages and to stop plans to double their healthcare cos...

On this week’s episode of Work Stoppage we start out following up on the BlockTheBoat campaign, which has faced police violence after moving up the west coast to Seattle.  Then we discuss the recent Supreme Court ruling defending Nestlé and Cargill’s use of child slavery in Africa, and workers at the AFL-CIO’s offices filing a labor complaint against the Federation for its plan to force them back...

We have a special interview episode this week as we are joined by two former employees of "No Evil" Foods, who tell us what it was like to face a fierce union busting campaign from a company supposedly founded on progressive values.  The anti-union campaign waged by Evil Foods against its employees, followed by the firing of the entire production staff, is one of the starkest recent reminders than...

We open this week’s episode with a follow up on the Warrior Met coal miners’ strike, where striking workers have faced repeated car attacks while picketing. We also catch up on the striking ATI steelworkers, who are pushing back on company attacks on their healthcare.  Then we cover the Biden Administration’s recent betrayal of a campaign promise to extend OSHA protections to cover covid, and a fi...

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, Dan examines the long, sordid history of collaboration between the leadership of the AFL-CIO and the CIA. Working to enforce the interests of US Empire and the ruling class that controls it, the leadership of the AFL-CIO used the specter of “communist d...

This week we start out checking in on the striking Volvo Truck workers in Virginia, who have rejected a corporate-friendly tentative agreement for the second time. We then cover the demise of New York’s proposed bill to create toothless state unions for gig workers after strong opposition from Los Deliveristas Unidos and other unions.  Next, we discuss the success of the AROC/ILWU #BlocktheBoat ca...

We start this week’s episode with workers from the ILWU refusing to allow an Israeli-operated ship to dock in Oakland in solidarity with labor unions in Palestine.  Then we discuss massive demonstrations across Brazil led by trade unions calling for an end to the fascist Bolsonaro regime, and a series of sit down strikes in Indian auto plants protesting unsafe working conditions during the current...

This week’s episode is a heavy one as we cover some of the harshest consequences of the pandemic faced by workers. We start on a happy note, following up on nursing home workers winning their demands and avoiding a strike in Connecticut after the governor had threatened to use the National Guard as scabs. We then move to New York for two stories on gig workers, one covering draft legislation which...

John is back and this week’s episode starts with an update on the status of the ongoing uprising in Colombia, followed by a general strike in occupied Palestine and workers actions around the world standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people.  We follow up with striking workers at a Virginia Volvo Truck plant who overwhelmingly voted to reject a proposed business friendly contract, cover a...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting www.patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. On this solo episode, Dan reads several sections from Detroit: I Do Mind Dying, a history of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, and discusses what we can learn from a criminally under-analyzed movement. The League represented an advanced attempt to unify the class st...

This week’s episode has a bit of a shuffle as John is busy moving, but Lina and Dan were lucky enough to be joined by special guest Ethan from Invent the Future and Red Game Table!  We start out with a follow-up on the uprising currently happening in Colombia, then move to the governor of Connecticut calling out the National Guard to act as scabs to break a potential strike at nursing homes. Next...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting www.patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. On this week’s episode, John, Lina, and Dan follow up on a successful union drive at Maine’s largest hospital, and workers at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island working to build an independent union with lessons from the BAmazon drive.  Next, we discuss the president of NY...

Sign the Trader Joe's Employee Petition here: https://www.coworker.org/petitions/trader-joe-s-crew-members-demand-no-cuts-to-wages-and-healthcare-coverage-be-returned?fbclid=IwAR1swxthYfSMbaVrigvusuRZEK2-Yql0QHscE-9xqFp49Rm05Xf1HBMRMuU This week’s episode starts with an update on the ongoing United Steelworkers strike against ATI in multiple states.  Then John, Lina and Dan discuss a petition by T...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting www.patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. We start this week’s episode with a brief follow-up to our deep dive on the BAmazon election and then get right back into our regularly scheduled labor news.  We cover a strike by 2900 UAW members at a Volvo Truck manufacturing plant in Virginia, a Teamsters strike at the Po...

It’s the BAmazon episode of Work Stoppage this week, as John, Lina, and Dan dedicate the entire episode to covering Amazon in the aftermath of the workers’ loss in the recent union election in Bessemer, Alabama.  We recap the run-up to the union drive, summarize Amazon’s ferocious and underhanded anti-union campaign, and try and draw out what lessons we can take from the BAmazon union drive to imp...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting www.patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. This week’s episode starts with some more labor history as John, Lina, and Dan discuss a selection from Detroit: I Do Mind Dying, on working conditions in the auto industry in Detroit in the 1970s.  We then get into the week’s labor news discussing a medical marijuana dispen...

John, Lina, and Dan start this week’s episode with a look back at some labor history, discussing child labor and child labor unions in Pennsylvania coal country in the early 20th century.  Then we turn to Amazon, covering the end of voting for the BAmazon union, some of Amazon’s recent aggressive social media activity, the “coincidental” unveiling of Boston Dynamics’ new warehouse robot during one...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting www.patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. This week, John, Lina, and Dan are joined by Sam Knight, cofounder of The District Sentinel Co-op, correspondent with Means Morning News and freelance journalist, to discuss his recent piece for Truthout on a case before the Supreme Court with potentially huge consequences f...

This week, John, Lina, and Dan follow up on the results of the UK Supreme Court’s ruling against Uber, the House passing the PRO Act because they know it has no chance in the Senate, and Amazon’s nightmarish use of ‘Gamification’ in their warehouses.  We also discuss attacks on undocumented workers attempting to unionize at a bake shop in Long Island, Elon Musk getting hundreds of Tesla workers in...

If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting www.patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. John, Lina, and Dan cover an attempt to pass a Prop 22 clone in Massachusetts and the efforts of local gig workers to oppose it, workers alleging that Google forced them out of the company after they reported instances of sexism or racism, and Panda Express’ use of bizarre a...

John, Lina, and Dan cover Biden’s mild comments on the BAmazon union drive, Danny Glover’s actual material support for said union, and the way Amazon has used calls for a $15/hr minimum wage as a PR move to hide how they drive wages down.  We also cover McDonald’s spying on their workers involved in Fight for $15, and a series of lawsuits accusing the company of tolerating pervasive sexual harassm...