Podcasts about american labor movement

Get on the Job and Organize: Standing Up for a Better Workplace and a Better World by Jaz Brisack Amazon.com For fans of Fight Like Hell and A History of America in Ten Strikes, the leader of the Starbucks and Tesla union movements shares stories from the front lines to help us organize our own workplaces. Get on the Job and Organize is a compelling, inspirational narrative of the Starbucks and Tesla unionization efforts, telling the broader story of the new, nationwide labor movement unfolding in our era of political and social unrest. As one of the exciting new faces of the American Labor Movement, Jaz Brisack argues that while workers often organize when their place of work is toxic, it's equally important to organize when you love your job. With an accessible voice and profound insight, Brisack puts everything into the context of America's long tradition of labor organizing and shows us how we too can organize our workplaces, from how to educate yourself and your colleagues, to what backlash can be expected and how to fight it, to what victory looks like even if the union doesn't necessarily “win.” Jaz Brisack is an American union organizer, author, and barista. They are known for leading unionizing efforts at Starbucks, namely at a Buffalo, New York store.

Episode 13 of Fragile Juggernaut surveys the impasse of the Second New Deal with the historian Ahmed White, when the newfound power of working-class organization in mass production confronted the counterattack of property and established social hierarchy. During 1937, the “Little Steel” Strike, the “Roosevelt Recession,” and the political dilemmas of union power in the two-party system challenged the growth of the CIO and began to change its character. In prior chronological episodes, the movement of mass worker organizing has gone from strength to strength, culminating in the effervescence of sitdown strikes amongst very different kinds of workers and the landslide political victories of 1936. But within the year, capital responds with a strike of its own–producing the Roosevelt recession–which leads state agents to turn toward repression of the labor movement rather than conciliation, FDR to reshuffle the basis of his coalition, and workers to find themselves without the leverage that they had possessed a few months earlier. The CIO responds to these new circumstances with new strategies. Some redouble their commitments to FDR's coalition, while others begin seeking autonomy from its confines. The left, however, vacillates, becoming the prime victim to this new moment in the history of the CIO—unable to cohere or politically articulate a new wave of wildcat strikes that take off. Featured music: “Ballad of Harry Bridges” by the Almanac Singers; “CIO song” by Aunt Molly Jackson; “No More Mourning” by John L. Handcox; “Alabama Trio Mill Blues” by Ralph Willis. Archival audio credits: labor organizer Boris Ross from the "Documenting Social History: Chicago's Elderly Speak"; interview with Chicago activist Mollie West; Gaumont British Newsreel on Little Steel Strike; organizer and Congressman John Brenard. Fragile Juggernaut is a Haymarket Originals podcast exploring the history, politics, and strategic lessons of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and the rank and file insurgency that produced it. Support Fragile Juggernaut on Patreon and receive our exclusive bimonthly newsletter, full of additional insights, reading recommendations, and archival materials we've amassed along the way. Buy Women and the American Labor Movement, 20% Off: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1168-women-and-the-american-labor-movement

Matt Grossmann and Arnold Weinfeld from Michigan State University's Institute for Public Policy and Social Research (IPPSR) discuss the latest in Michigan and national politics, policy, and the economy on the State of the State podcast, a monthly round up of policy and research for the state of Michigan. Peter Berg joins the conversation to talk about the UAW strike and its implications moving forward. Berg is a professor of employment relations and director of the School of Human Resources and Labor Relations at MSU. Conversation Highlights: (1:12) – “We don't have a real working majority in the House of Representatives.” (3:11) – “They have a very small majority. And anytime you have a small majority, you have a few members who can make a difference. And now that we've proven that a few members can take down the speaker, that incentivizes everyone else who has an agenda to step forward and disrupt the process.” (7:57) – “A lot has already been done. This will be right up there with the most changes from the right to the left of any state legislative session of the last 50 years.” (10:54) – “The vast majority of the folks who are here now, when given the theoretical opportunity to the leave for California or Texas or Chicago, want to stay in Michigan.” (13:05) – “It is certainly true that young people are more liberal on social issues, but if you ask someone if this is going to make them stay in the state, it's easy to say yes, this policy makes a difference to me. If you look at the 50-state data and try to associate any set of policy changes with actual migration from state to state, you find zilch, no relation whatsoever between policy of any kind and which way people are moving.” (16:42) – “We're closer to the end than the beginning, but it's really hard to predict how long this will go on.” (18:07) – “This targeted strike across the three companies was a new approach. I think it's been effective.” (20:09) – “The UAW is trying to raise the floor. And they're trying to extend their reach within the future EV industry world.” (21:17) – “The UAW needs to transition from this heavy adversarial approach to now that we're in this, how are we going to work together to achieve those efficiencies so that we all survive? Because the threat is that EV employment is going to be less than internal combustion employment. And that means fewer UAW members. So, great we won all these big increases, but the long term may see membership decline if they don't come together and work together after this agreement to find a way to make the industry successful for everyone.” (24:24) – “We're seeing a lot of labor activism. We're seeing more strike action because workers right now are in a position of power and they're exercising that.” (27:31) – “The view of unions as fighting for social justice and civil rights is the view of a lot of young people…there is a sense that the public is seeing unions differently, and whether that leads to change in some way or more interest in voting for a union and for density numbers to really move, we'd need a change in labor law.” Listen to “MSU Today with Russ White” on the radio and through Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you listen.

If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month. By the time she was in her mid thirties, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn had been on a non-stop, nationwide tour of the class struggle in the United States, joining every fight she could. That work made her one of the most beloved organizers in US history, but also took a toll on her health. Joining the Communist Party in the late 30s following years of convalescence on the West Coast, Flynn spent much of her later years in leadership and mentoring the new generation of fighters for the working class. But her experience in workers legal defense became critical, as the Party faced a massive assault following World War 2, sending Flynn to prison at age 65. Throughout her life, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn never wavered for one moment in her total devotion to the working class and the struggle against oppression. She stands as an inspiration to everyone who fights for a better world, and her life story is full of rich lessons for organizers today. Series Sources: The Rebel Girl by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Elizabeth Gurley Flynn: Modern American Revolutionary by Lara Vapnek Women and the American Labor Movement by Philip Foner https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/women-in-labor-history/ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Gurley_Flynn https://www.cpusa.org/article/cpusa-statement-on-the-removal-of-elizabeth-gurley-flynns-historical-marker-in-new-hampshire/ https://libcom.org/article/1909-missoula-free-speech-fight  https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/industrialworker/iub/v1n39-nov-23-1907-iub.pdf Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

This is Jonathan Karl's third book on Trump, the three privately known together as the "Treason Trilogy." Karl is ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent. The book is Tired of Winning: Donald Trump and the End of the Grand Old Party . You can get your copy here. The book is based on his interviews with Donald Trump and top Trump officials, and paints a picture of a chaotic and directionless White House under Trump's leadership. Karl argues that Trump personally led the charge to overthrow the government on January 6th and remains a clear and present danger to democracy. He also discusses the loyalty Trump demands from his supporters and the potential consequences if Trump were to be reelected in 2024. Karl concludes by urging voters to understand the stakes and the potential dangers of a Trump return to power. Today Bill highlights the work of the Laborers' International Union of North America. A union at the heart of the American Labor Movement. More information at LIUNA.org See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Turning Tides: Links In the Chain will discuss the American labor movement. The seventh episode, Occupied, will cover the period from 1982 to 2011, in which Ronald Reagan's administration, helped along by neoliberalism, lays the groundwork for the 2008 financial crisis.If you'd like to donate or sponsor the podcast, our PayPal is @TurningTidesPodcast1. Thank you for your support!Produced by Melissa Marie Brown and Joseph Pascone in affiliation with AntiKs Entertainment.Researched and written by Joseph PasconeEdited and revised by Melissa Marie BrownIntro and Outro created by Melissa Marie Brown and Joseph Pascone using Motion ArrayWebsite: https://theturningtidespodcast.weebly.com/IG/YouTube/Threads/Facebook: @theturningtidespodcastEmail: theturningtidespodcast@gmail.comIG/YouTube/Facebook/Threads/TikTok: @antiksentEmail: antiksent@gmail.comEpisode 7 Sources:There is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America, by Philip DrayMobsters, Unions, and Feds: The Mafia and the American Labor Movement, by James B. JacobsThe Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, by Michael Lewishttps://www.profootballnetwork.com/nfl-richest-owners-net-worth-ranked/https://english.alarabiya.net/features/2020/03/15/What-kills-more-people-The-coronavirus-or-the-economic-recession-it-s-causingWikipedia

Strikes have been in the news more and more lately, but what is a Labor Union and why should we care? Unions have gotten us many of the rights we take for granted today: the eight-hour workday, safer working conditions, better wages, and benefits. Women have played a huge part in this, from teenage girls in the first picket lines, to Mother Jones and Lucy Parsons, to the Uprising of the 20,000 and beyond. This week, we're talking to journalist and organizer Kim Kelly about the American Labor Movement and what history can teach us about how to change the world today.

Matt Grossmann and Arnold Weinfeld from Michigan State University's Institute for Public Policy and Social Research (IPPSR) discuss the latest in Michigan and national politics, policy, and the economy on the State of the State podcast, a monthly round up of policy and research for the state of Michigan. Peter Berg joins the conversation to talk about the UAW strike and its implications moving forward. Berg is a professor of employment relations and director of the School of Human Resources and Labor Relations at MSU. Conversation Highlights: (1:12) – “We don't have a real working majority in the House of Representatives.” (3:11) – “They have a very small majority. And anytime you have a small majority, you have a few members who can make a difference. And now that we've proven that a few members can take down the speaker, that incentivizes everyone else who has an agenda to step forward and disrupt the process.” (7:57) – “A lot has already been done. This will be right up there with the most changes from the right to the left of any state legislative session of the last 50 years.” (10:54) – “The vast majority of the folks who are here now, when given the theoretical opportunity to the leave for California or Texas or Chicago, want to stay in Michigan.” (13:05) – “It is certainly true that young people are more liberal on social issues, but if you ask someone if this is going to make them stay in the state, it's easy to say yes, this policy makes a difference to me. If you look at the 50-state data and try to associate any set of policy changes with actual migration from state to state, you find zilch, no relation whatsoever between policy of any kind and which way people are moving.” (16:42) – “We're closer to the end than the beginning, but it's really hard to predict how long this will go on.” (18:07) – “This targeted strike across the three companies was a new approach. I think it's been effective.” (20:09) – “The UAW is trying to raise the floor. And they're trying to extend their reach within the future EV industry world.” (21:17) – “The UAW needs to transition from this heavy adversarial approach to now that we're in this, how are we going to work together to achieve those efficiencies so that we all survive? Because the threat is that EV employment is going to be less than internal combustion employment. And that means fewer UAW members. So, great we won all these big increases, but the long term may see membership decline if they don't come together and work together after this agreement to find a way to make the industry successful for everyone.” (24:24) – “We're seeing a lot of labor activism. We're seeing more strike action because workers right now are in a position of power and they're exercising that.” (27:31) – “The view of unions as fighting for social justice and civil rights is the view of a lot of young people…there is a sense that the public is seeing unions differently, and whether that leads to change in some way or more interest in voting for a union and for density numbers to really move, we'd need a change in labor law.” Listen to “MSU Today with Russ White” on the radio and through Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you listen.    

Turning Tides: Links In the Chain will discuss the American labor movement. The sixth episode, Death & Dishonor, will cover the period from 1963 to 1981, in which corruption began to dismantle the American labor movement from the inside out, helped largely along by the Vietnam War and President Johnson's administration.If you'd like to donate or sponsor the podcast, our PayPal is @TurningTidesPodcast1. Thank you for your support!Produced by Melissa Marie Brown and Joseph Pascone in affiliation with AntiKs Entertainment.Researched and written by Joseph PasconeEdited and revised by Melissa Marie BrownIntro and Outro created by Melissa Marie Brown and Joseph Pascone using Motion ArrayWebsite: https://theturningtidespodcast.weebly.com/IG/YouTube/Facebook: @theturningtidespodcastTwitter: @turningtidespodEmail: theturningtidespodcast@gmail.comIG/YouTube/Facebook/Threads/TikTok: @antiksentEmail: antiksent@gmail.comEpisode 6 Sources:There is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America, by Philip DrayMobsters, Unions, and Feds: The Mafia and the American Labor Movement, by James B. JacobsWorking, by Studs TerkelFrom Peoples into Nations: A History of Eastern Europe, by John ConnellyWikipedia

In the 2010s cities and counties across the US witnessed long-overdue change as they engaged more with questions of social, economic, and racial justice. After decades of urban economic restructuring that intensified class divides and institutional and systemic racism, dozens of local governments countered the conventional wisdom that cities couldn't address inequality—enacting progressive labor market policies, from $15 minimum wages to paid sick leave. In their book Justice at Work: The Rise of Economic and Racial Justice Coalitions in Cities, Marc Doussard and Greg Schrock visit case studies in cities including Chicago, Detroit, Denver, Seattle, and New Orleans, and show that the contemporary wave of successful progressive organizing efforts is likely to endure—but their success hinges on a few factors including sustaining power at the grassroots. Here, Marc Doussard is in conversation with David B. Reynolds.Marc Doussard is professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is coauthor of Justice at Work: The Rise of Economic and Racial Justice Coalitions in Cities and author of Degraded Work: The Struggle at the Bottom of the Labor Market.David B. Reynolds was director of the Center for Labor and Community Studies at University of Michigan. Reynolds has been a labor educator for 20 years and is coauthor of A New New Deal: How Regional Activism Will Reshape the American Labor Movement and coeditor of Igniting Justice and Progressive Power: The Partnership for Working Families Cities.Books and published works referenced:-Justice at Work: The Rise of Economic and Racial Justice Coalitions in Cities by Marc Doussard and Greg Schrock-Degraded Work: The Struggle at the Bottom of the Labor Market by Marc Doussard-A New New Deal: How Regional Activism Will Reshape the American Labor Movement by Amy B. Dean and David B. Reynolds-Igniting Justice and Progressive Power: The Partnership for Working Families Cities by David B. Reynolds and Louise Simmons-Partnering for Change: Unions and Community Groups Build Coalitions for Economic Justice, edited by David B. Reynolds (with essay by Reynolds and Jen Kern: Labor and the Living Wage Movement)-”Living Wage Campaigns: An activist's guide to building the movement for economic justice.” David Reynolds and Jen Kern. (Labor Studies Center, Wayne State University and Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, 2000.)-Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies by John Kingdon-The City Is the Factory, edited by Miriam Greenberg and Penny LewisOther references:-Fight for 15-ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now)-PowerSwitch Action: https://www.powerswitchaction.org/-American Rescue Plan (also known as the American Rescue Plan Act or ARPA)-The Green New DealCities mentioned:SeattleDetroitDenverChicagoSan JoseSan DiegoSilicon ValleyAnn Arbor

In 1997 nearly 200,000 Teamsters went on strike against UPS. They fought for a better contract and they won. Will the American Labor Movement experience another massive strike at UPS led by the Teamsters in 2023? Matt, a member of the Teamsters, joins us to discuss that and much more.

https://www.alainguillot.com/daisy-pitkin/ Daisy Pitkin shows us A portrait of the American labor movement with her book On the Line: A Story of Class, Solidarity, and Two Women's Epic Fight to Build a Union. Get the book here: https://amzn.to/3yq5BHs

“The remedy” to labor troubles, said J. West Goodwin, a Missouri businessman and newspaperman “is a counter organization.” In a fascinating conversation around the history of capital and labor, we dive deep into the business sector's remedies to workers organizing unions, blacks seeking greater liberation and other forms of progress. We talk about laws criminalizing syndicalism and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), vigilante groups from the Ku Klux Klan to committees of "law and order" doing the bidding of the ruling class and private security forces that the bosses hire to repress labor organizing. We also discuss current events paralleling the earlier periods of labor and progressive repression. We talk about race, class and the iron heel of the state coming down on all those that resist it. We talk with Prof. Ahmed White at the University of Colardo Boulder, and Prof. Chad Pearson at Collin College about their forthcoming books (see the bios below) on the topics. Bios// Ahmed White is the Nicholas Rosenbaum Professor of Law at the University of Colorado-Boulder where he has taught labor and criminal law since 2000. He is the author of The Last Great Strike: Little Steel, the CIO, and the Struggle for Labor Rights in New Deal America (Oakland: University of California Press, 2016) as well as a great many law review articles, book chapters, reviews, and essays. His current book, Under the Iron Heel: The Wobblies and the Capitalist War on Radical Workers, will be published later this year by the University of California Press and he is presently at work on another book, this one about communist organizing and labor repression in the 1920s and 1930s. Chad Pearson teaches history at Collin College, a community college in Plano, Texas. He is the author of Reform or Repression: Organizing America's Anti-Union Movement (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016) and is co-editor with Rosemary Feurer (pronounced Foyer) of Against Labor: How U.S. Employers Organized to Defeat Union Activism (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2017). He has published essays in Counterpunch, History Compass, Jacobin, Journal of Labor and Society, Labor History, Labour/Le Travail, and Monthly Review. His current book, Capital's Terrorists: Klansmen, Lawmen, and Employers in the Long Nineteenth Century, will be published by the University of North Carolina Press later this year. ----------------------------------------------------------- Outro// "Union Burying Ground" by Woody Guthrie Links// Pearson: Capital's Terrorists: Klansmen, Lawmen, and Employers in the Long Nineteenth Century (https://bit.ly/3zQ8anh) White: Under the Iron Heel The Wobblies and the Capitalist War on Radical (https://bit.ly/3n301Ev) The Ku Klux Klan Was Also a Bosses' Association (https://bit.ly/3y8tQtn) The Right-Wing Violence Trump Has Encouraged Has Deep Roots in American History (https://bit.ly/3tSrr3v) Memorial Day, 1937 (https://bit.ly/39Fo611) Law, Labor, and the Hard Edge of Progressivism: The Legal Repression of Radical Unionism and the American Labor Movement's Long Decline (https://bit.ly/3HEbW55) Follow Green and Red// https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast Check out our new website: https://greenandredpodcast.org/ Donate to Green and Red Podcast// Become a recurring donor at https://www.patreon.com/greenredpodcast Or make a one time donation here: https://bit.ly/DonateGandR This is a Green and Red Podcast (@PodcastGreenRed) production. Produced by Bob (@bobbuzzanco) and Scott (@sparki1969). “Green and Red Blues" by Moody. Editing by Isaac.

Violence and the Origins of the Modern World, The Women's Suffrage Movement, the Bisbee Deportation & the American Labor Movement, Part 3 of 5

Throughout American history, progress has never come easily, as we've been reminded repeatedly over the last few years. It requires hard work, persistence, and passionate individuals banding together to support causes they believe in. Few people know that better than Dolores Huerta, the trailblazing civil rights and labor movement leader who helped farm workers find their voice and power by organizing a strike and boycott among California grape workers in the 1960s in response to horrific working and living conditions. Despite violent backlash, the workers' steadfast determination over the next five years resulted in health benefits, higher wages, and better, safer living and working conditions. Sixty years ago, along with Cesar Chavez, Huerta formed the National Farm Workers Association—which later became what is currently America's most enduring agricultural union, the United Farm Workers. As a direct result of her leadership in the American Labor Movement, countless people have been able to better support themselves and their families and have earned the treatment of respect and dignity they deserve. She has remained on the front lines of nearly every progressive social movement since. On this episode, Huerta shares with President Clinton her remarkable life story, the experiences she had as a young person that shaped her into a trailblazing activist, and how today—at 92 years old—she still has the motivation and commitment to make a positive difference on women's rights, immigrant rights, labor rights, voting rights, and civil rights through the Dolores Huerta Foundation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Jeremi and Zachary are joined by Professors Joesph Fishkin and William Forbath, authors of The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution, to discuss the role of equality and the law. Zachary sets the scene with his poem: "Of Oligarchs and Idealists" Joseph Fishkin is a Professor of Law at UCLA, where he teaches and writes about employment discrimination law, election law, constitutional law, education law, fair housing law, poverty and inequality, and distributive justice. Before joining the UCLA faculty he taught for a decade at the University of Texas School of Law. His first book, Bottlenecks: A New Theory of Equal Opportunity, winner of the North American Society for Social Philosophy Book Award, was published by Oxford University Press. He is the coauthor with Willy Forbath of The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution: Reconstructing the Economic Foundations of American Democracy (Harvard University Press 2022). William Forbath holds the Lloyd M. Bentsen Chair and is Associate Dean of Research at UT Austin School of Law. He is the author of Law and the Shaping of the American Labor Movement, The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution: Reconstructing the Economic Foundations of American Democracy (with Joseph Fishkin), and dozens of articles, book chapters, and essays on legal and constitutional history and theory and comparative constitutional law. He is completing a trans-national history of Jewish lawyers and Jewish politics in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In addition to UT, he has taught at UCLA, Sciences Po, Tel Aviv, Columbia, and Harvard.

Peter Roff— Death of the American Labor Movement: https://townhall.com/columnists/peterroff/2022/02/09/is-the-american-labor-movement-dying-all-signs-point-to-yes-n2603007Follow Peter Roff on twitter- @PeterRoffFollow Jason on Gettr: @JasonJonesShow Follow Jason on Locals: https://jasonjones.locals.com/and on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/osu4491Visit Movie to Movement @ www.MovieToMovement.comAnd the Vulnerable People Project: www.TheGreatCampaign.org 

Oren Cass returns to the show to discuss issues related to the 2022 primaries and the future of the Republican Party. To listen to the full episode, become a patron at patreon.com/whatsleft Suggested reading Cass, "America Needs a Conservative Labor Movement," https://www.wsj.com/articles/america-needs-a-conservative-labor-movement-11600379608 A Seat the Table for the American Labor Movement, https://americancompass.org/in-focus/seat-at-the-table/ (downloadable report) "What American Workers Really Want Instead of a Union at Amazon," https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/04/20/what-american-workers-really-want-instead-of-a-union-at-amazon-483117 Not What They Bargained For: A Survey of American Workers, https://americancompass.org/essays/not-what-they-bargained-for/ (downloadable report) "A Better Bargain: Worker Power in the Labor Market," https://americancompass.org/essays/a-better-bargain-worker-power-in-the-labor-market/ Cass' book The Once and Future Worker: https://www.manhattan-institute.org/theonceandfutureworker

Brian Dijkema's address at the second National Conservatism Conference, 11/01/21.

Full episode available for patrons: https://www.patreon.com/posts/slow-death-of-57099684 We investigate the reasons why the American labour movement is so disorganized, with a particular focus on the McCarthyist attacks on working class militants during the post-WWII period.

This episode discusses the process of identifying an issue, developing a campaign to address that issue, and the kinds of public action a successful campaign involves.  How organizing develops and conducts campaigns is different to how many other kinds of campaign are run, whether that be an election campaign or an advertising campaign. To discuss with me the distinctive approach to campaigns and how they constitute a form of public action that not only wins change, but also builds up a community better able to act for itself rather than simply be acted upon is Jonathan Lange and Janice Fine. The conversation with Jonathan and Janice focuses on the initiation, development, and then subsequent spread of the Living Wage Campaign, a campaign in which Jonathan played a key role and that Janice researched and wrote on extensively. The focus on the Living Wage Campaign, which originated in Baltimore, serves as a case study through which to stage a wider discussion of what campaigns are, how they develop creative policy proposals, and their broader role in organizing.GuestsJonathan Lange comes from what he describes an old fashioned Jewish socialist family. His grandfather and father were active union members. It was in the labor movement that he got his start, organizing with the Clothing and Textile Workers Union in the 1980s.  He then became a community organizer with the IAF and has since organized in both work based and place based forms of organizing for over 40 years. As we shall hear, he was the lead organizer of the first ever Living Wage Campaign. A key aspect of his work has been training other organizers and leaders around the world, particularly in the United Kingdom and Germany which is where I met him over 15 years ago now.Janice Fine is Professor of Labor Studies and Employment Relations at the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University. She is also the co-founder and Director of Research and Strategy at the Center for Innovation in Worker Organization (CIWO). Fine teaches and writes about forms of collective action among low-wage workers in the U.S including innovative union and community organizing strategies. She also studies historical and contemporary debates within labor movements regarding such issues as immigration policy, labor standards, privatization, and government oversight.  Much of this is addressed in her book Worker Centers: Organizing Communities at the Edge of the Dream. Prior to becoming an academic she worked as a community and labor organizer for over twenty years.Resources for Going DeeperCampaigns:Mike Gecan, “Part II: The Habit of Action,” Going Public: An Organizers Guide to Citizen Action (New York: Anchor Books, 2002), 49-126; Joan Minieri and Paul Getsos, “Part Three: Developing and Running Campaigns,” Tools for Radical Democracy: How to Organize for Power in Your Community (San Francisco: John Wiley & Son, 2007), 35-124; Luke Bretherton, Resurrecting Democracy: Faith, Citizenship and the Politics of a Common Life (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), Chapters 4 & 5; Taylor Branch, “The Montgomery Bus Boycott,” Parting the Water: America in the King Years, 1954-63 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988), Chapter 5; Saul Alinsky, “They sit to conquer,” John L. Lewis: An Unauthorized Biography (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1949), Chapter 6.The Living Wage Campaign:Janice Fine, “Community Unions and the Revival of the American Labor Movement,” Politics & Society, Vol. 33 No. 1 (2005), 153-199; Dennis Deslippe, “BUILD, Baltimore's Working Poor, and Economic Citizenship in the 1990s,” Journal of Civil and Human Rights 6.1 (2020), 31-60.

Alan Berkman (1945–2009) was a medical student and doctor who became radicalized by his experiences at the Wounded Knee takeover, at the Attica prison uprising, and at health clinics for the poor. He provided covert care to members of revolutionary groups, participated in bombings of government buildings and was eventually captured and served eight years in some of America's worst penitentiaries. After his release in 1992, he returned to medical practice and became an HIV/AIDS physician, teacher, and global health activist. He worked to change U.S. policy, making AIDS treatment more widely available in the global south and saving millions of lives around the world. Using Berkman's unfinished prison memoir, FBI records, letters, and hundreds of interviews, Susan Reverby sheds fascinating light on questions of political violence and revolutionary zeal in her account of Berkman's extraordinary transformation from doctor to co-conspirator for justice. Reverby has had a long and productive career in the Women's & Gender Studies department at Wellesley College. Her 1987 book, Ordered to Care: The Dilemma of American Nursing, brought the perspectives of the “new” labor history to nursing. She continued to explore the American medical system, editing Tuskegee's Truths: Rethinking the Tuskegee Syphilis Study (2000) and writing Examining Tuskegee: The Infamous Syphilis Study and Its Legacy (2009). She will be engaged in conversation with three members of the ESFL community who have read Co-Conspirator for Justice: Colette Hyman teaches US History at Winona State University and is the author of Staging Strikes: Workers' Theatre and the American Labor Movement in the 1930s (1997) and Dakota Women's Work: Creativity, Culture & Exile (2012). Art Serotoff is a long-time anti-racist activist based in south Minneapolis. Sara Olson spent seven years in a California prison for charges related to her involvement with the Symbionese Liberation Army in the 1970s. She is an activist with the Women's Prison Book Project. Fred Peterson worked as a bush doctor with Oxfam UK in Zimbabwe in 1981-82. He was a participant in the Twin Cities Committee for the Liberation of Southern Africa, and worked as an ER doc in St. Paul for many years.

Happy Labor Day! Ever wonder why we have a Labor Day holiday in the USA and Canada? Wonder no more, here is the answer! I’ll cover the history behind Labor Day, a little of the history of the American Labor Movement and a bit about the rise and fall of Labor Unions in the USA up to current times. Hint - rich folks hate unions, because of course they do. Most rich folks throughout history seem to have issues with the people that made them rich, right? Let me talk to you about that and more in this episode! Songs are by Arthur Bell, Billy Liar, The Drowns and Chixdiggit. Yes, the songs are all about work. Bonus! The story and some thoughts of the folklore hero John Henry are also in this episode. Take it easy, crack open a cold one and let ME do all the work for a little bit.

We've unlocked our bonus episode on the Collar Laundry Union, in which we do a deep dive into the unionizing efforts of Troy, NY’s laundresses, and the role of Kate Mullany in leading the country’s first sustained women’s union. We detail the conditions of the laundries, the women’s first successes agitating for better pay and working conditions, their eventual dissolution, and the legacy they left for women workers. Kate Mullany in the National Women’s Hall of Fame: https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/kate-mullany/The Times Union on Mullany’s induction into the Labor Hall of Fame: https://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-features/article/Troy-s-Kate-Mullany-Irish-immigrant-who-7468417.phpHistorian Suzanne Spellen’s essays on Kate Mullany: https://www.brownstoner.com/history/walkabout-kate-mullany-a-troy-story-part-1/Also cited: Women and the American Labor Movement by Philip S. Foner

The episode discusses the FIRE movement in comparison to the American Labor Movement   When considering the work you do   Remember how great you have it and look for opportunity You don't have to do work you hate if you're willing to make serious sacrifices You can engage with me further by going to www.pauldavidthompson.com/mastermind  

Meghan Courtney, Reuther Library archivist, discusses Nelson Mandela’s 1990 visit to the U.S. as well as his long-term relationship with the American Labor Movement during his time in prison and after his release. Mandela’s 12 day, 8 city fundraising tour in June 1990 took place just months after his release from 27 years in a … Continue reading American Labor’s Anti-Apartheid Movement and Nelson Mandela’s 1990 U.S. Tour →

We speak with Winona State University professor Colette A. Hyman about her new book, Dakota Women’s Work: Creativity, Culture, & Exile, which explores the changes in the lives of Dakota women, starting before the arrival of whites and moving beyond the U.S.-Dakota War. She is also the author of Staging Strikes: Workers’ Theatre and the American Labor Movement. In the second half of the show, we chat with poet and bestselling author Rita Mae Brown about her newest Mrs. Murphy mystery, The Big Cat Nap. She is the author of the Sneaky Pie Brown series, the Sister Jane series and a number of other novels, including Rubyfruit Jungle. She was also nominated for an Emmy Award for her screenplay writing.

Jonathan Tasini, author of The Essential Bernie Sanders, speaks Thursday, April 7, 6 p.m., Garey 102. A frequent Sanders surrogate on TV and radio, Tasini has written for The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Business Week, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times. In 2006 Tasini unsuccessfully challenged Senator Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary because of her vote for the Iraq War. Tasini is the author of five books: The Essential Bernie Sanders and His Vision for America (2015); It’s Not Raining, We’re Being Peed On: The Scam of the Deficit Crisis (2010); The Audacity of Greed: Free Markets, Corporate Thieves and The Looting of America (2009); They Get Cake, We Eat Crumbs: The Real Story Behind Today’s Unfair Economy (1997); and The Edifice Complex: Rebuilding the American Labor Movement to Face the Global Economy (1995). Sponsored by the Writing & Rhetoric Program

Jonathan Tasini, author of The Essential Bernie Sanders, speaks Thursday, April 7, 6 p.m., Garey 102. A frequent Sanders surrogate on TV and radio, Tasini has written for The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Business Week, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times. In 2006 Tasini unsuccessfully challenged Senator Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary because of her vote for the Iraq War. Tasini is the author of five books: The Essential Bernie Sanders and His Vision for America (2015); It’s Not Raining, We’re Being Peed On: The Scam of the Deficit Crisis (2010); The Audacity of Greed: Free Markets, Corporate Thieves and The Looting of America (2009); They Get Cake, We Eat Crumbs: The Real Story Behind Today’s Unfair Economy (1997); and The Edifice Complex: Rebuilding the American Labor Movement to Face the Global Economy (1995). Sponsored by the Writing & Rhetoric Program

Nicole Sandler speaks with DownWithTyranny's Howie Klein about Bill Halter's primary challenge to Blanche Lincoln. Amy Dean, author of "A New New Deal: How Regional Activism Will Reshape the American Labor Movement" spoke about unions and their issues. And Jack Rice told us about his recent trip to earthquake ravaged Haiti.