Working People

Directed by the Trump administration, the US Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed changes to apprenticeship programs that could spell disaster for union workers in the building trades, giving businesses  the ability to create their own apprenticeship programs (IRAPs), underpay workers, and undercut unions. We recorded this PSA to let listeners know what is going on, why it's bad, and what you ca...

We talk with Josh Holbrook, one of the Kentucky coal miners currently protesting coal companies Black Jewel, Black Hawk, and Revelation for stiffing him and his coworkers on backpay after going bankrupt.    Additional links/info below... GoFundMe - Letcher County BlackJewel Coal Miners   Action Network - Fund for Former Revelation, Black Hawk, and Black Jewel Miners Demonstrating in Harlan County...

A section from our chat with Astra Taylor, writer, filmmaker, organizer, and co-founder of the Debt Collective. We talk about Astra's new documentary, What Is Democracy? , and her companion book, Democracy May Not Exist, But We'll Miss It When It's Gone .    Additional links/info below... Astra's Twitter page Debt Collective website and Twitter page Astra Taylor, Zeitgeist Films, What Is Democracy...

We chat with journalist Emily Guendelsberger about her new book, On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane .   Additional links/info below... Emily's Twitter page Emily Guendelsberger, Little, Brown, On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane     Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org )...

Last Monday, Representatives Ilhan Omar, Pramila Jayapal, and Senator Bernie Sanders unveiled the Student Debt Cancellation Act of 2019, which includes a plan to wipe out the $1.6 trillion in student debt held by 45 million Americans. In this this special episode, we talk to Ami Schneider and Sanders Fabares, two debt holders and graduates from the for-profit Art Institute college chain who decide...

In this urgent special episode, we talk with Diana Marin, Supervising Attorney at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, and Professor Bill Lopez about what to do if ICE raids your workplace. We discuss what precautions individuals, families, and communities must take in anticipation of a possible raid, what you should do if a raid occurs at your work, and what the impacts of these raids are.    NO...

We chat with Current Affairs Amusements and Managing Editor, Lyta Gold, about her latest viral tweet and about why upper-middle-class liberals get so mad when you talk about class.    Additional links/info below... Lyta's Twitter page THE tweet   Current Affairs website , Facebook page, and Twitter page   Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org ) Lobo Lo...

We wrap up Season Two by chatting with Erin Fristad. Erin is currently an adjunct professor at a community college and she works with combat veterans as an equine therapy specialist. She is also a writer and she worked in the commercial fishing industry around Alaska for many years. We talk about her time as a commercial fisherwoman, how she ended up there, what sort of jobs she did, and what sort...

Our friend David Parsons from The Nostalgia Trap podcast comes back on the show to talk about their exciting new video project, left media, and about the importance of telling history a different way.   Additional links/info below... The Nostalgia Trap website , Twitter page, and Patreon page David's Twitter page   Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org...

We are excited to launch our new ORGANIZE! series. In this ongoing series, we'll be talking to working people who have had enough of this rigged system and who have taken it upon themselves to band together and fight back. In a world where so many avenues for political change have just been swallowed up, colonized, and defanged by the ruling class, we want to see where working-class folks are turn...

Friend of the show Kaytlin Bailey is back to tell us about the work she's doing at Decriminalize Sex Work and about the hysterical, disastrous push by legislators in Florida to further criminalize sex workers.    Additional links/info below... Kaytlin's website and Twitter page  Decriminalize Sex Work website and Twitter page SWOP USA website and Twitter page SWOP Behind Bars website and Twitter p...

Activist Arielle Cohen shares her abortion story and some words of wisdom to guide us through these dark times.    Additional links/info below... Arielle's Twitter page National Network of Abortion Funds website and Twitter page Planned Parenthood Action website and Twitter page The Yellowhammer Fund website and Twitter page Center for Reproductive Rights website and Twitter page The National Wome...

We chat with Walter Vicente, a Guatemalan immigrant and textile worker in North Carolina. But Walter isn't just a worker … he is also a proud co-owner at a worker co-op called Opportunity Threads, a cut-and-sew factory in Morganton, North Carolina. As it says on the Opportunity Threads website: "Everyone in our plant is hired with the expectation of becoming a worker-owner. Worker-ownership means...

We are kicking off our new series: Workers' Book Club ! In this ongoing series, we will record workers chatting with authors about books that relate to the lives, jobs, dreams, and struggles of the working class. To get things started, our host, Maximillian Alvarez, sat down to chat with author, historian, and independent scholar Keri Leigh Merritt about the recent volume she co-edited with Matthe...

We chat with John Tormey, writer and track laborer for the commuter rail in Massachusetts, about his essay for The Baffler , "Known Assailants," Boston accents, and the white working class.    Additional links/info below... John's Twitter page John Tormey, The Baffler , " Known Assailants "  John Tormey, Covered with Fur , " Dead Things " John Tormey, Rabble Lit , " Train Approach Warning "   Feat...

We chat with Alexandra Carbone, gig worker and organizer with Rideshare Drivers United, about the #StrikeUberLyft strike tomorrow and how you can show solidarity with workers. (Don't cross the picket line!)     Additional links/info below... Alexandra's Twitter page Rideshare Drivers United website ,   Twitter page, and strike map   Salvo , " Striking the Gig " Andrew J. Hawkins, The Verge , " Ube...

We talk to disability and health activist Stefanie Mezigian about ride-sharing company Lyft's violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and how this is connected to the #StrikeUberLyft strike scheduled for May 8th. (Don't cross the picket line on May 8th! Turn your ride-sharing apps off and show solidarity with workers.)   Additional links/info below... Stefanie's Twitter page For Our Futu...

We chat with writer and podcaster Luke Savage about his recent Jacobin piece on how the media and politicians alike either reduce the working class to a few simplistic stereotypes or erase us entirely.    Additional links/info below... Luke's Twitter page and Jacobin author page   Michael and Us podcast Luke Savage, Jacobin , " The Real Working Class Is Invisible to the Media "   Featured Music (a...

We talk to Drew Edmonds, a Burgerville worker in Portland, Oregon, and an organizer with the Burgerville Workers Union. We talk about the fight Drew and his coworkers led to form the nation's first federally recognized fast food union (followed by workers at Little Big Burger, another Portland chain). We talk about what it was like to unionize from the ground up across Burgerville stores, about ho...

We chat with writer, organizer, witch, and educator Raechel Anne Jolie about the spirit of May Day--a day of international worker solidarity.    Additional links/info below... Raechel's website and Twitter page Working Class History , " A Short History of May Day " Kim Kelly, The Guardian , " We Need May Day MoreThan Ever. Unite to Dream and Fight for a Better Tomorrow "  Richard Seymour, The Guar...

We chat with Jennifer Gates, a Grocery Steward at Ralphs in Southern California and a member of UFCW 770. Jennifer is a singer, a single mom, and she's incredibly devoted to her job, her customers, and her coworkers. We talk about how she came to work at Ralphs, the relationships she's built over the years, and about the role that grocery stores play in the community. We also talk about how Jennif...

We talk with Reese Piper, a professional stripper, writer, and journalist reporting on sex work, labor rights, and autistic culture. We talk about Reese's life, her childhood and schooldays, her love of books and getting lost in her imagination. We talk about being different, about going off to college, and we talk about Reese's long path to realizing that she was autistic, and about how she came...

We chat with Mexico-City-based journalist Martha Pskowski about her reporting on the maquila worker strikes just south of the U.S.-Mexico border, and about why we should all be paying attention to the recent developments in Mexican labor politics.   Additional links/info below... Martha's website and Twitter page Martha Pskowski, Dissent , " Mexican Labor Reawakens "  Lauren Kaori Gurley, The New...

We chat with Dave G, cohost of the Mandatory OT podcast, member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and longtime State Tested Nursing Assistant (STNA) in the Ohio Valley. We talk about what it's like to work as an STNA, the low pay, the rampant injuries workers sustain, and about the difficulty of unionizing when your coworkers are reactionaries.    Additional links/info below... Mandato...

At 1:00pm on Thursday, April 11, over 31,000 Stop & Shop workers across New England walked off the job. The strike is going on at this very moment and gaining public support, even as Stop & Shop bosses try to ice out and undercut workers. We talk to Mike LaFrance, a deli worker who's been at Stop & Shop for over 20 years, about what's going on and how folks around the country can show support.   ...