Work Stoppage

In this new series we aim to talk about topics that are a little deeper than we can get into on a main feed episode based on some of the things that we are reading outside what we use for our main feed episodes. Each one will be self-contained and Patron Exclusive! There will still be previews in our main feed but to get the whole thing become a patron at http://patreon.com/workstoppage This first episode's discussion focuses around the compatibility of slavery with capitalism, how slavery was a major factor in fueling the industrial revolution, and many aspects of colonialism, including primary accumulation/expropriation. This longer view of history allows us to more accurately orient ourselves as working class internationalists so we are not fooled by the historical revisionism of the ruling capitalist class. Main Texts Discussed: Subscribe to Monthly Review - https://monthlyreview.org/subscribe/ https://monthlyreview.org/articles/the-slave-trade-and-the-industrial-revolution-debate-a-look-at-the-numbers/ https://monthlyreview.org/articles/could-capitalism-have-thrived-without-colonialism/ Other Media mentioned: Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano - https://monthlyreview.org/9780853459910/ Magellan (Movie Trailer) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h7rriQD1qc The Counter-Revolution of 1776 by Gerald Horne - https://1804books.com/products/look-inside-the-counter-revolution-of-1776-slave-resistance-and-the-origins-of-the-united-states-of-america River of Dark Dreams by Walter Johnson - https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674975385 Dark Work: The Business of Slavery in Rhode Island - https://nyupress.org/9781479870424/dark-work/ Prabhat and Utsa Patnaik - https://monthlyreview.org/article-author/utsa-patnaik/ US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau denying development to India clip - https://x.com/i/status/2030647228285825405 Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow us in all the places, links are at http://workstoppagepod.com

A week of major strike action as well as victories. We start with headlines from UC, American Axle, Belgian trade unions, Texas State University, Penn State University, Starbucks, and the government of Virginia. Samsung workers could shut down one of the largest and richest corporations of the world as the bosses refuse to share even a portion of the massive profits they are making. Workers and Indigenous groups in Bolivia have risen up against attacks on their living conditions.  Finally, we discuss the first strike on the Long Island Railroad in over 30 years. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

The US war on Iran and resulting war on the rest of the world is a constant theme in this week's headlines. We've got stories from World Cup workers, Spirit Airlines, German and Italian students, DeepMind, the University of California, SAG-AFTRA, Indiana University, Stanford, and Cornell. For our first main story, we discuss a recent Labor Notes piece on the deadly nature of working with engineered stone. Immigrant workers incarcerated at a privately run concentration camp in Michigan have gone on strike for nearly a month in protest of their mistreatment. Finally, we actually have a labor story about someone we never thought we'd discuss on the show: Mr. Beast. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Text of the episode: https://tinyurl.com/WSSI2TXT Matteo brings us another wonderful report from Italy and the Mediterranean region on the days leading up to May Day, as well as what happened on the day itself. He tells the story of Liberation Day, the defense of the flotilla to Palestine, and May Day and the inspirational actions of workers fighting against imperialism, genocide, and for a better world. We also learn about what a CSA (Centro Sociale Autogestito) is in Italy and its importance to the workers' struggle. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

PAPER: https://ourpapernow.org/ Boycott REI! https://boycottrei.com/ May Day was the biggest it's been in years, and we spend much of the episode discussing the major protests in the US and around the world for International Workers Day. Workers in South Carolina spent their May Day picketing Elbit Systems in an effort to end their community's role in US-Israeli genocide. Bozeman mobile home residents have launched the state's first rent strike in half a century after their absentee landlords have left their communities to rot. We also have headlines from ISU, UIC, the Woodburn School District, the former Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, REI, Hachette, and Amazon. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

May Day is this week!  Nationwide shutdown, bring your community together and hit the ruling class where it hurts, the bottom line! Getting to our regular headlines, we have stories from Starbucks, Harvard, REI, the University of California, Samsung, Bangladeshi gig workers, Portuguese nurses, and the workers of Brazil. For our main stories, first we discuss a strike by workers at Illinois State University, who are fighting just to afford to live where they work. A recently launched initiative, Union Now, aims to harness the energy workers have to support organizing, we discuss the possible implications.  Finally, we do a deep dive into the countrywide assault on speech on university campuses, and the ongoing war by the ruling class to silence any voice but their own. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Headlines on this 20th of April start with the breaking news of the change in Labor Secretary. Then we've got stories from Amazon, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Texas Tech University, Columbia University, Long Island Concrete, Florida's hospitality industry, and NASA. Over 30,000 building workers in NYC nearly went on strike, we discuss what the strike threat won in their new contracts. We discuss more of the ever increasing indicators that our economy just...doesn't work. Finally, educators and school staff in LA just won massive contract gains after nearly following their fellow workers in San Francisco on strike. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

This week's headlines include: Chicago nurses, Starbucks, Philz Coffee, Apple, the University of Alaska Anchorage, the University of Illinois Springfield, ProPublica, and the California Faculty Association. We start our main stories discussing the recent victorious strike at JBS in Colorado and break down what workers won. St John's University recently became the latest Catholic university in the US to try and dissolve its faculty union, but workers are fighting back. Finally, we discuss the impacts workers around the world are facing from the unprovoked US-Israeli war on Iran. Suggested Reading: https://inthesetimes.com/article/permanent-war-state-iran-workers-struggle Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

This week we are excited to bring listeners an interview that brings together two of our most urgent areas of discussion on our show: union democracy and the fight against ICE terror. We're honored to be joined by Leo and Kevin, two organizers with CREW, the Caucus of Rank and File Electrical Workers, an internal reform caucus in the IBEW. Not only are the folks in CREW working hard to make the IBEW a democratic, fighting union, as workers in the construction industry they are on the front lines of ICE's war against the working class. We discuss their goals of internal union reform, strategies for talking to coworkers who might have absorbed right wing talking points, and how the fight against ICE terror and the fight for our rights at work can't be separated. Contact CREW: https://www.rankandfilecrew.org/ Email: rankandfilecrew@gmail.com Maine Solidarity Fund: https://www.mainesolidarity.org/ Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee  

We've got a long one this week with so much going on. We start with an extra long headlines section checking in with Portland Community College, the University of Washington, the University of Illinois, Microsoft, the Daily Wire, Waffle House, Webasto, DHL, Grubhub, and the NFL. Following an update on the status of the strike at JBS in Colorado, we discuss a recent strike at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the refusal of even publicly funded broadcasters to pay their workers. Resident doctors in the UK have been forced to strike yet again, for the fifteenth time, in their struggle to restore their pay just to where it was 18 years ago. Finally, the union struggle at Amazon has been going on for half a decade and this week workers gained two important victories in advancing the fight. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

This week we are excited to bring listeners an interview that brings together two of our most urgent areas of discussion on our show: union democracy and the fight against ICE terror. We're honored to be joined by Leo and Kevin, two organizers with CREW, the Caucus of Rank and File Electrical Workers, an internal reform caucus in the IBEW. Not only are the folks in CREW working hard to make the IBEW a democratic, fighting union, as workers in the construction industry they are on the front lines of ICE's war against the working class. We discuss their goals of internal union reform, strategies for talking to coworkers who might have absorbed right wing talking points, and how the fight against ICE terror and the fight for our rights at work can't be separated. Contact CREW: https://www.rankandfilecrew.org/ Email: rankandfilecrew@gmail.com Maine Solidarity Fund: https://www.mainesolidarity.org/ Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

We start out with a reportback from Dan and Lina who went to their local No Kings protests and discuss the energy behind the call for a May Day general strike. We've got headlines this week from Canada Post, AirTrain, United Airlines, TSA, Western Washington University, Starbucks, Amazon, and Patagonia. The major strike by meatpackers at JBS in Colorado has been extended as workers continue to fight for a fair deal. Non-tenure track faculty have been deeply exploited by US universities in recent years, but this week those educators won a historic contract at NYU that could set a new standard. Finally, we discuss a recent piece in the Guardian on the wave of attacks on child labor laws across the country, and how ill it bodes for our whole economy. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Late last year, teachers at the Highlander Charter School in Providence, Rhode Island launched the state's first ever strike at a charter school. We have covered a lot of teachers strikes on our show, but strikes at charters have been few and far between. Just as with teachers at traditional public schools, teachers at charters are on the front lines of the struggle not only for their own working conditions, but for their students' learning conditions. So we were super excited to speak with the teachers at Highlander about their struggle, the lessons they've learned, and how teacher organizing can help build stronger communities! Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

We start this week's episode with headlines from CBS, ProPublica, Portland Community College, REI, Starbucks, Corewell Health, the WNBA, Atlassian Software, and the Tornel Rubber Company. Our first story checks in on the strike by Colorado meatpackers at JBS in a fight for safety and dignity on the job. Workers at Kaiser Permanente both ended a major strike with a win AND started a new strike in the same week. Horrific revelations of abuse by UFW co-founder Cesar Chavez rocked the labor world this week, we discuss the impact and lessons for the future of the movement. Finally, a recent interview in Jacobin discussed the way workers in Australia are fighting a similar issue we have here in the US, the disconnect between struggle on the shop floor and political action for the working class. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Somehow it's been 300 whole episodes since we started this show. But as long as work continues stopping, we will keep discussing it! We've got headlines from the MST, Belgian trade unions, Portland Community College, REI, Starbucks, Amazon, American Axle, and AFGE. JBS workers in Colorado are on strike, the biggest in meatpacking in decades. Oakland workers in logistics are trying to navigate how best they can do their part in gumming up the war machine when the boxes they move aren't even labeled. Student Workers of Columbia are poised once again to strike as their bosses in admin keep trying to drive student unions from existence. Finally, we discuss the Mamdani Administration in NYC and several stories about how policies are affecting workers in these first couple months. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

The US war on Iran continues to create an emergency for the working class worldwide, and we start by discussing the need for workers to enter the struggle to end it. We've got headlines this week from LabCorp, Mercedes, JBS, Home Depot, DHL Express, Patagonia, Crumbs & Whiskers and The Holy Donut. For our first full story, we discuss the ongoing strike by teachers in Sacramento. Next, yet another story has come out revealing a new smart device's "AI" features are actually just poorly paid remote workers. Florida is taking yet another major step in its war on public unions. Finally, we discuss how workers continue to fight against Gestapo terror here in the belly of the beast. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Texas IBEW Member Legal Fee Funds:  https://www.gofundme.com/f/bring-our-union-sister-home https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-Brian-IBEW-Brother Our episode this week is a bit lighter on labor stories as the launch of yet another war by the US takes up most of our intro. When we do get back into the labor news we have headlines from Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, Texas IBEW, Twin Rivers USD, St John's University, Burger King, Panipat Refinery in India, and the nation of Mexico. The first of our two major stories this week is on an upcoming strike by contingent faculty at NYU who can barely afford to live while working at one of the country's most expensive universities. Finally, there has been yet another major strike launched by incarcerated workers in Alabama against prison slavery and the cruelty and inhumanity of the Alabama Department of Corrections. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

SWOC Hardship Fund: https://opencollective.com/student-workers-of-columbia We start with headlines this week from Columbia University, Penn, Volkswagen, New York Presbyterian Hospital, Mission Hospital, and the nation of Argentina. For our first major story this week, we discuss recent reporting on South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang, which is mimicking not just Amazon's market share, but its worker abuses as well. Workers have been taking to the streets to fight the billionaire assault, but the AAUP has also been taking the billionaires to court, and they've been winning. Finally, we discuss the next stage of the fightback in Minneapolis, as unions and tenants have come together to organize what could be the largest rent strike in modern US history. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Our episode begins with some silliness, but we do get to labor headlines. We've got stories from Ubisoft, Taco Bell, Kaiser Permanente, Ford, Starbucks, and big protests in Argentina and India. The nurses strike in New York *almost* came to an end this week, but nurses at NY Presbyterian are staying out. San Francisco teachers won their first strike since 1979, we break down how last week went. Meatpacking workers with JBS are on the front lines of the joint struggle for immigrant workers specifically and the working class broadly and are ready to strike despite threats of deportation. Finally, we discuss how the class struggle in Minnesota has forced the government to back down, and why more action is needed to win the struggle against ICE terror. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

In our newest series led by our Italian reporter Matteo we get to hear from a worker organizer, Romeo, of the Feb 6, 2026 international strike of Mediterranean dockworkers against war and for Palestine. CALP or the Autonomous Collective of Port Workers is a militant collective of workers who have had enough of the ruling imperialist class trying to force them into complicity with international crimes against humanity so they have become sand in the machine, shutting down weapons shipments coming through their ports.  Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

We start with headlines from Waymo, Kaiser Permanente, San Francisco teachers, Los Angeles teachers, REI, Seven Stars Bakery, Starbucks, and the state of Nebraska. New York nurses have been on strike for over a month, we discuss the state of their strike and the possible deals announced on Monday. VW workers in Chattanooga won a historic victory for organizing in the South with their recent contract win, we break down the gains. Workers across Europe blocked ports for Palestine this week, even as Western governments and media outlets try to ignore it.  Finally, we discuss the targeted attacks on workers organizers by ICE and the way students and rank and file union members are organizing to stop it. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Once again our main focus this week is the struggle against ICE's reign of terror. Beyond Minneapolis, the working class outrage at the crimes of DHS exploded into a nationwide shutdown. In our main story we discuss the implications of this growing movement for trade unionism and the broader struggle for working class political power. Before we get to that however, we start with headlines from CUNY, Ubisoft, Trader Joe's, PAME and Starbucks. Beyond the nationwide political struggle this week were two major stories we also wanted to cover. First we check in on the fight to preserve the gains of the last two decades by the working class in Bolivia. And we also check in on the largest *economic* strike in the country, as 31,000 healthcare workers walked out once again at Kaiser Permanente. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

The eyes of the nation have been on Minneapolis all week, and our main story this week is on Friday's general strike and the need to expand it. Before that, we start with headlines from the Louvre, Cayuga Medical Center, TikTok, Wafler Farms, and the AAUP. For our main regular labor stories, we start with a roundup of recent stories on attempts to replace workers with AI (and their failures). Spanish Amazon workers have been more successful than most in winning union recognition, and a recent piece in Truthout documents how they've done it. Just a few weeks into his term, new NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani has already started trying to leverage the power of city government for pro worker reforms. We close of course discussing the historic citywide general strike in Minneapolis and the critical importance of growing the movement against fascism across the entire country. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

In light of the Jan 23, 2026 Twin City general strike we are unlocking this episode so people can look at another general strike in Twin City history. We start this episode off in Toledo but in the second half we look at Minneapolis. We're diving back into labor history with a return to our short series on the history of general strikes in the US. On this episode, we round out the strikes of 1934 by discussing the Toledo Auto-Lite and Minneapolis general strikes. The pitched battles fought by workers across the country terrified the ruling class into accepting some of the most pivotal labor reforms in US history. Fighting scabs, company thugs, police, and even the National Guard, workers with nothing to lose in the midst of the Great Depression struck back against their exploiters and won victories that echoed for decades. Organizing such massive endeavors is never easy or quick, but there are so many lessons we can take from our comrades of the past to help improve our efforts today.  

Folks are rising up across the country outraged by ICE's reign of terror. Our main story is on the popular fightback in Minnesota, but first we have headlines from ArcelorMittal, Ford, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Portland State University, Blinkit, Barnes and Noble, and Kaiser Permanente. We follow up on last week's historic strike by 15,000 nurses in NYC. A recent piece in Dissent Magazine details the surge in the use of robots at Amazon and the harms born by workers. Also this week, we discuss the corrosive impact on working people of having a far right government using Nazi slogans in power. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Our labor news is somewhat overshadowed this week by the horrific murder of Renee Good in Minneapolis and the subsequent eruption of popular outrage nationwide. When we do get to our headlines, we've got stories from North Carolina Public Schools, the National Institutes of Health, NYC Hospitals, Telluride Colorado, Starbucks, Half Price Books, and The Animation Guild. After finally losing the epic three year long strike with journalists, the owners of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette announced plans to close the paper out of spite. The VA has been under attack since Trump came into office and a recent piece in the American Prospect reveals how the country's mental health system for veterans is being dismantled at the worst possible time. Finally, we discuss the response of organized labor to Renee Good's murder and the need for a nationwide movement to end ICE terror.   Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX   Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Professor Schuhrke joins us once again to discuss his newest book No Neutrals There: US Labor, Zionism, and the Struggle for Palestine. We discuss the history of the Zionist project and how US labor leadership guided a huge amount of support for the settler colonial project, but also ways that the seeds of resistance in the imperial core were there as early as the Nakba. The book gives us a real view of the scope of what we are fighting against when it comes to the history of US labor support for Israel and provides hope in that the free Palestine movement has never been stronger than it is today. We have a long way to go to repair the harms done by people in the past but we know better than any other time in history that victory is possible.   Check out our previous interview with Jeff on his book Blue Collar Empire: https://www.patreon.com/posts/114816687   Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX   Follow the pod at http://instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Lexington Community Relief Fund: https://www.lexfoundation.org/?give=59EKZZDK Our first episode of the year and the US is already committing new insane war crimes. After a lengthy discussion of the recent attacks on Venezuela and the urgent need for US labor to materially oppose it, we start our regular labor news. We've got headlines from Tyson, Canada Post, Petrobras, the ECHL, Aramark, Seven Stars Bakery, and Chicago Public Schools. It wouldn't be another year in labor news if we didn't start with a story of yet more abuses by Amazon, this time against pregnant workers. We have an update on the strike by waste collectors in Birmingham over in the UK that has stretched on for nearly a year. Workers in Bolivia have launched a nationwide uprising against the right wing government's attacks on the poor. Finally, next week may see the first major strike of 2026 in the US, as thousands of nurses at a dozen hospitals in the NYC area are poised to walk out for safe staffing. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

2025 was, to put it lightly, a pretty bad year. We've got our annual recap of the fights we've waged in the working class against the billionaire assault and a look to what may be coming up in 2026. From the fight to defend our immigrant neighbors to the defense of the very existence of higher education, workers across the US have been on the defensive from a full on attack from the ruling class. Whether through using AI as a form of labor discipline or shredding the collective bargaining rights of millions of workers, bosses have been aggressive in trying to crush our rights. But we've also seen a staunch defense of workers in the anti-genocide movement and millions of workers taking to the streets in general strikes in countries around the world. As bad as things got in 2025, there's a lot of reason to feel hopeful as we start 2026 looking to build a fightback that can overcome the class warfare of the Trump Regime. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

To get access to the full interview, support us on Patreon @ http://patreon.com/workstoppage Professor Schuhrke joins us once again to discuss his newest book No Neutrals There: US Labor, Zionism, and the Struggle for Palestine. We discuss the history of the Zionist project and how US labor leadership guided a huge amount of support for the settler colonial project, but also ways that the seeds of resistance in the imperial core were there as early as the Nakba. The book gives us a real view of the scope of what we are fighting against when it comes to the history of US labor support for Israel and provides hope in that the free Palestine movement has never been stronger than it is today. We have a long way to go to repair the harms done by people in the past but we know better than any other time in history that victory is possible.  Check out our previous interview with Jeff on his book Blue Collar Empire: https://www.patreon.com/posts/114816687 Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at http://instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

It's our last regular episode of 2025 and we've got a ton of labor news for you all. We start with headlines from Starbucks, Amazon, New Seasons Grocery, Sysco, the WNBA, the University of Maine, and the nations of Portugal, Bolivia, Mexico, and Brazil. Resident doctors in the UK have gone on strike again, this time with a Labour government in power that refuses to pay them. A recent Workday Magazine piece exposes Disney as a user of prison labor in Minnesota. New York City officials are actually standing up against corporate giants Amazon and UPS for once, following recent worker movements. Finally, we discuss the implications of the possible super merger between either Netflix or Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery for workers in the entertainment industry. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

With the world getting worse and worse, the cause of labor remains the hope of the world. With that in mind, we start with headlines from workers on another general strike in Italy, the nationwide Starbucks strike, nurses and Amazon drivers unionizing with the Teamsters, id software workers joining the CWA, and many more. AI is once again exposed as relying on the labor of low paid, highly exploited workers, this time at surveillance company Flock. The New School is the latest institution in higher education being actively dismantled by its administration, we discuss the student-faculty fightback. In These Times this week has an update on the fight by worker organizer Willian Giménez González against ICE attacks. Portuguese workers were the latest to launch a general strike this week, and we discuss the tactics and strategy that would be needed to actually pull one off here in the US. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

2025 is winding down but the fight for workers rights never slows, we're back with another episode! This week's headlines include stories from Pakistan, Italy, the UK, Canada, France, Occupied Palestine, and Philadelphia. Several weeks ago, a massive anti-union purge was carried out by the management of Teen Vogue, we discuss the implications for our so-called "Free Press." Nurses are under attack not only from hospital admins, but the federal government which recently ended the classification of nurses as professionals, slashing availability of student loans. Teachers in Maryland are fighting not only for their students, but for the people of Palestine by launching a campaign to get the state government to divest their pension fund from Israel Bonds. Finally, we cover several recent articles on the ways that different groups of workers are coming together in cities across the country to organize resistance to ICE kidnappings and protect their neighbors. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Workers have been pummeled by an overload of customers on Black Friday, so there's a lot to catch up on as we enter the final month of 2025. We start with headlines covering Amazon, Highlander Charter School, Brown University, the University of Maryland, Columbia University, the UFW, National Park Workers, Campbell's, Uber and Lyft, and Leonardo S.p.A. Our main stories start by checking in on the nationwide Starbucks strike, that has now grown to 85 cities across the US. Workers have taken serious fire for standing up for truth and justice in many fields, we take a round up to see how workers are facing attacks on anti-genocide speech and for standing up to ICE. Finally, as neo-liberalism turns life for workers in the West into a waking nightmare, more and more are standing up, so we take a tour around major strikes launched or announced this week in Belgium, Portugal, India, Australia, and of course, Italy. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Long drive ahead of you this week? We've got your labor news ready to go! We start with a ton of headlines checking in with Starbucks, Amazon, Nestle, New Seasons Market, the University of Pennsylvania, Sharp Healthcare, and the nightmare that is the state of Florida. For our full stories this week, we start by checking in on union busting in a place even our jaded listeners might not expect: public libraries. Then we check in on developments with the strike by workers at Canada Post and discuss the ramifications of the end of their nationwide industrial action. Finally, the LA Times released an expose this week showing the stark levels of child exploitation in US agriculture, a scourge which is directly tied to the long history of superexploitation of migrants that US agribusiness fortunes are built on. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

It's another jam packed episode, once again workers are doing so much we struggled to cover it all! We start with headlines from the University of California, Portland State University, University of Chicago, Case New Holland, GM Canada, Walgreens, the ECHL, Kickstarter, and the United States Federal Government. Starbucks workers launched their largest strike ever this past week, we check in on the first pickets and the fight for a contract. The extremely long and hard fought strike by workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette finally came to a conclusion this week through legal action. Over 15,000 workers in Iran's oil sector went on strike recently for pay, benefits, and to preserve their country's sovereignty. Finally, we check in on the malfeasance of the Labour Party who under Keir Starmer are simultaneously attacking both Doctors and Teachers. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Election day got all the coverage in the major media last week, but workers struggles don't stop so we've got our weekly roundup for you with all the news that got crowded out. We start with headlines from public workers in Memphis, students in Alberta, Teamsters in Philly, climbing gym workers in Minnesota, bartenders in Utah, and Iron Workers in Chicago. Our main stories start covering the impact on workers across the country by the government shutdown combined with the Trump Administration's attacks on the union movement. The VA has seen some of the harshest cuts, and we discuss the ripple effects this is having on veteran's healthcare. UC workers won a tentative agreement after threatening the largest strike in the university system's history, we discuss the organizing effort that made it happen. Finally, Starbucks workers have officially voted to authorize a massive nationwide strike, with the first rallies set to start this week. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

We're back with another packed episode as John returns and people everywhere are talking about general strikes. First we start with headlines from Volkswagen, Breakthrough Beverages, Minneapolis Public Schools, Texas State University, Microsoft, Uber, and the FAA. The Trump Administration has rolled out another policy to attack workers, this time attacking our right to keep all our digits. A recent piece on On Labor raises the possibility of sectoral bargaining in higher education as a solution to intransigent administrators constantly undermining student workers. The UK hit a new low as a recent report shows that even when they rule companies are illegally refusing to pay workers, they don't even bother collecting their fines. The provincial government of Alberta is waging a scorched earth campaign to rob teachers of their right to strike, which may actually prompt a general strike across the province. Finally, we follow up with yet another report exposing that most of the companies claiming they're replacing workers with AI...aren't. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

We start with headlines from Starbucks, Amazon, MIT, Ohio University, Harvard, UPS, Fairfax County, Allina Healthcare and Tunisia. In a possible major shift, Saudi Arabia announced the end to their system of contract slave labor known as the Kafala system, we discuss how that may play out in reality. A recent piece from In These Times spoke with unionized workers at Reuters in British Columbia who are fighting their employer's collaboration with ICE. Over 100,000 workers launched a mass strike in New Zealand against austerity policies crushing the country's education and healthcare sectors. Finally, Capital and Main put out an excellent report this week on efforts by workers at dollar stores in Louisiana to organize for better pay and conditions outside the usual NLRB process, and how that might be replicated elsewhere. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

With millions of people taking to the streets this weekend, we've got a packed episode for you. We start with headlines from Republic Services, Blizzard Entertainment, Starbucks, Microsoft, the Royal College of Nursing, Tata, and the nation of Spain. Tens of thousands of workers just wrapped up a historic week long strike at Kaiser Permanente, we discuss their continued struggle. Peoples Dispatch reports on the fight by workers in the cotton industry of Benin against forced labor.  Volkswagen is facing a potential fight, Labor Notes breaks down the organizing effort in Chattanooga. Air traffic controllers aren't getting paid due to the shutdown, and yet their union is advocating workers not to call in sick. Finally, more and more workers are standing up to ICE kidnapping their neighbors, we recount some of their latest efforts and tactics. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

If you're not a patron, subscribe at patreon.com/workstoppage to get full access to the episode. For the final episode in our series, we finally discuss the struggle of Mexican workers in the factories of the southwest. We've covered farmworkers, miners, oil workers, and by the 1920s, more and more jobs began to open up for Mexican workers in more stable jobs in canneries and other factories. But just as with the extractive sectors, bosses used open racism to segregate their workforce and drive conditions down for everyone. We discuss the organization of railroad workers in Los Angeles, cannery and furniture factory workers across California, and the truly epic strike by pecan shellers in San Antonio that reshaped the industry. We close out our series summarizing the lessons we've learned throughout all these struggles, and how they can be applied to rebuild our labor movement into the fighting organization of the entire working class that this moment so desperately needs. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

The government may be shut down, but labor never stops, so neither do we. We open with some headlines at Mauser Packaging Solutions, Hilton Hotels, Canada Post, Microsoft, the nation of Greece, and the LA Times. Home healthcare workers in Michigan won a huge union victory this week, with tens of thousands winning union representation for the first time. Thousands of healthcare workers in California and Hawaii are gearing up for what may be the largest strike at Kaiser Permanente in history this week. The Trump Administration is using its own campaign of terror against farmworkers to justify lowering their wages. Finally, Chicago has become the epicenter of ICE's attack on the working class, and even the Pope is calling for labor unions to step up their defense. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

We've got some huge international strikes and check-ins on some long running campaigns this week. We start with headlines from Iowa hospitals, Cornell University, Incheon International Airport, New Zealand primary schools, Doordash, and Amazon. Our first main story we discuss a Labor Notes piece updating us on the ongoing effort to organize one of the country's biggest banks, Wells Fargo. After the illegal seizure of the Global Sumud Flotilla, Italian workers made good on their threats to launch a massive general strike. Workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette have been on strike for over 2 years, we discuss what's keeping them going after all this time and the importance of their struggle to a dire media landscape. Finally, a piece in the American Prospect from Sarah Lazare demonstrates clearly how the attacks on immigrants are attacks on all of us, and why the time is now for a unified fightback by organized labor. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

If you're not a patron, subscribe at patreon.com/workstoppage to get full access to the episode. Even as the Mexican Revolution was winding down, the struggle for equal rights in their own country by Mexican miners and oil workers was still heating up. In the late 1910s and early 1920s, spurred by the forces of change in the revolution and the staunch internationalism of the IWW, Mexican miners launched some of their biggest strikes yet. Facing intransigent bosses, gunboat diplomacy by the US, and dealing with a bourgeois government dedicated to ensuring stability for investment, the challenges the miners faced were steep. But even decades of violent repression couldn't stop the struggle for a fair living by the workers facing some of the deadliest conditions in any industry. We close our survey of the struggles of Mexican miners on both sides of the border with the epic battle between Mine Mill Local 890 and Empire Zinc, a struggle so inspiring it was captured on film. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

No Contract, No Coffee Pledge: https://starbucksworkersunited.controlshift.app/petitions/no-contract-no-coffee-pledge-to-act-in-solidarity-with-starbucks-workers-united We're back at full strength as John returns this week, and it was a busy one! We start with headlines from Microsoft, Apple, Volkswagen, Aricell, RISE, Northwell Health, Oklahoma Public Schools, Spirit Airlines, and Starbucks. In a wild story from friend of the show Claudia Irizarry Aponte at The City, managers at Brooklyn Defender Services tried to bribe workers to replace the UAW with a company union. We've got an update on the continuing mobilization of Italian workers in solidarity with Palestine, as dockworkers from around Europe pledge efforts to coordinate. Teamsters at the University of Minnesota brilliantly used their leverage to win the first strike in their history. Canada Post workers are on strike once again, this time as the Liberal government launches attempts to gut postal service nationwide. Finally, in the spirit of many recent worker uprisings, we check in on the struggle in Ecuador, where Indigenous-led movements are fighting IMF austerity. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Support Palestinian Families: https://lifeline4gaza.com/ The news has been...a lot lately, but there have been a ton of labor stories that have been drowned out and we are here to bring them to you! We start with headlines from Texas State University, California Public Schools, Chicago day laborers, nurses at the VA, farm workers in upstate New York, Republic Services, and Netflix Animation. Workers across Europe have been in motion this week, and our first major story covers the fight against austerity by millions of French workers who have taken to the streets. We saw another extremely cynical union busting drive under religious justification, this one at Loyola Mormont University. Finally, we discuss the historic general strike by Italian workers that shut down the entire country in solidarity with Palestine and the Global Sumud Flotilla. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

If you're not a patron, subscribe at patreon.com/workstoppage to get full access to the episode. For the first of two episodes focusing on the struggle of miners in the Southwest, we discuss the critical role played by Mexican miners in the growth of the US electrical industry at the turn of the 20th century. As demand for copper exploded, the mines of Arizona and northern Mexico became incredibly valuable, and thus demand for labor soared.  Mine owners used racial hierarchies and job segregation to split their workers against each other to prevent the power of solidarity from shutting down their isolated mining towns. Mexican miners organized in the thousands, but were often refused solidarity from the house of labor, whether the AFL or the Western Federation of Miners. We discuss the bloody struggles for fair wages and safe working conditions in the early 1900s, as Mexican miners were often forced to stand alone against the tyranny of the bosses and the state, waging heroic struggles and paying for every extra cent they earned with blood.  Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

We're down a host this week, but Dan and Lina press on to bring you the labor headlines.  We've got stories from the CTU, Hyundai, Amazon, and Onatrio Public Colleges. For our first main story, it turns out not only is AI not intelligent, in order to be even slightly coherent, it relies on low paid human labor. Union busting law firm Littler Mendelson was exposed in an article in the American Prospect for advocating breaking labor law bosses don't like. Workers at Starbucks are continuing to devise new tactics to pressure the company to finally sign a union contract as membership has soared past 12,000. Finally, two articles this week from Jacobin and In These Times ask how labor can change tactics to respond to a crisis the NLRB process is not designed to solve. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

It's back to school time so we start this week's headlines with a bunch of stories of teachers fighting for the learning conditions their students deserve all over the country, in primary, secondary, and higher education. We've also got headlines on rideshare drivers, healthcare workers, hotel workers, train drivers, and dockworkers. This week saw yet another new low for Columbia University admins, who are now trying to strip all grad workers of their right to unionize. ICE staged its largest workplace raid ever this week, abducting over 450 workers at a major Hyundai factory under construction in Georgia, halting the project and causing outrage in South Korea. The latest jobs numbers are out, so we close by taking some time to dig into the numbers showing that these racist attacks are hurting rather than helping US born workers, and leading to a recession.  Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

If you're not a patron, subscribe at patreon.com/workstoppage to get full access to the episode. In our sixth episode, and final episode of our subset on the struggle of farmworkers,  we discuss the epic agricultural strikes of the 1930s.  With farm wages slashed to starvation levels during the Great Depression, organization in the fields made the slogan "Fight, Don't Starve!" a reality. While the AFL continued to refuse to organize farmworkers, the Communist Party stepped into the gap and organized the largest agricultural strike wave in US history in 1933. In response, farm owners and their allies in the state unleashed truly fascist repression, attempting to drown these struggles in blood. But the perseverance of the workers and their dedication to racial and national unity managed to extract vital wins even in the depths of the worst economic downturn in the country's history. These struggles would terrify farm owners so much, they would lobby the state to create the country's first guest worker program, the Bracero Program, to institute a legalized regime of apartheid in the fields and try to prevent the racial unity that proved so powerful. These fights and the response from the capitalist class laid the foundations for the structures of exploitation and oppression faced by farmworkers today, and carry many lessons for those who would organize for a better future. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

It's Labor Day! Which means we're working and hopefully you aren't, because the labor news needs reporting, but everyone else needs to be at a protest, picket line, and/or barbecue. We start with headlines from Northwestern University, Arena League Football, the Offshore Wind industry, Yosemite National Park, UPMC, Activision Blizzard, and Valleyview Municipal Library in Alberta, Canada. For our main stories we discuss the continued campaign of escalations by the incredible organizers with No Azure for Apartheid, fighting Microsoft's collaboration with genocide. Next we've got a story that couldn't be more emblematic of the purpose of the nationwide campaign of ICE terror, with union organizers in upstate New York being specifically targeted for deportation. Uber and Lyft drivers in California took a major step towards official unionization this week, but the deal that made that possible comes with quite a few asterisks. Finally, the UAW notched another major win in an extremely tight election at the BOSK EV battery plant in Glendale, Kentucky. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee