Podcasts about solidarity center

Leslie is joined by Kevin Mapp, the USW's International Vice President of Human Affairs.  Kevin coordinates bargaining in the union's health care, containers, public sector and ship building sectors. The pair discuss the power of international solidarity in four parts. Part 1: Global Solidarity and Corporate Greed Multinational corporations operate globally, oftentimes attempting to pit workers in different countries against each other in a race to the bottom on wages and working conditions. Unionized workers, however, understand that the only answer to large-scale corporate greed is global solidarity.     - The USW works with global labor federations like IndustriALL and UNI so that they can share information about operations in different countries.     - The USW maintains formal strategic alliances with at least six other unions in Australia, Mexico, Germany, Brazil, and the United Kingdom.     - The USW also maintains relationships with unions in a number of other countries as they work to ensure that workers have a place to succeed in the global economy. All of these relationships are premised on the simple truth that workers the world over confront many of the same challenges, and their greatest strength is solidarity. Part 2: Urgency in Liberia and Bridgestone's Operations Nowhere has this been more urgent than in Liberia, where workers on Bridgestone's massive rubber plantation have been struggling for decades to improve their working conditions. Japanese-owned Bridgestone is one of the world's largest tire and rubber manufacturers. It employs more than 125,000 workers worldwide, including approximately 4,000 members of the USW. Unions in Japan, South Africa, Europe, and Brazil also represent Bridgestone workers. In Harbel, Liberia, Bridgestone operates the world's largest contiguous rubber plantation, covering some 185 square miles. It's owned by Bridgestone subsidiary, Firestone Liberia, and approximately 7,000 workers reside there with their families.     - These workers both live and work on the plantation, buying food from the company store and sending their children to schools run by the company.     - The work is difficult, slashing bush, tapping trees, draining latex into metal buckets that weigh 65 pounds each when full, and carrying them long distances to weigh stations.     - This latex then goes straight into the North American supply chain, serving as the starting point for American-made tires. Part 3: Unionization and Challenges at Firestone Liberia In 1990, Terry Renninger, then president of Bridgestone's Liberia operations, said, “The best way to think of it is as an old Southern plantation.” Indeed, in the years leading up to the formation of their union, the Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia (FAWUL), workers endured what a 2005 human rights lawsuit called “forced labor, the modern equivalent of slavery.” In 2007, workers successfully organized, and since then they've been making incremental progress in improving working conditions on the plantation, though serious problems remain regarding wages, health care, housing, workplace safety, and more. On top of this, in 2019, Bridgestone fired more than 2,000 workers, forcing them instead to work for contractors, doing the same work but earning significantly lower wages without benefits or other protections provided by FAWUL's contract. According to the U.S.-based Solidarity Center:     - One of the big benefits they lost was the education promised to their children, who now must walk long distances through difficult terrain to attend classes in open-air classrooms without desks or other supplies.     - Workers struggle to afford protective glasses, boots, or gloves.     - Living conditions are cramped, and payment for food comes out of workers' paychecks, which can sometimes leave them with zero or negative balances on their pay slips. Part 4: Current Efforts and Hope for the Future Since then, these workers have pushed back, with the support of unions like the USW, as well as the Solidarity Center and others.     - On Aug. 31, 2024, contractors voted overwhelmingly to unionize and are attempting to rejoin FAWUL.     - FAWUL is currently in negotiations with Bridgestone, and one of the key issues is the fate of contractors. The USW has been proud to provide strategic and bargaining support, but the true strength comes from workers themselves who have shown they're willing to take action. The outcome of these negotiations is still not certain, but it's clear that workers – across the world – are strongest when they're united. Kevin Mapp also serves as a trustee on the USW Health and Welfare Fund, is an advisory board member to the Institute for Career Development, and a member of the Board of Directors for the Michigan AFL-CIO Labor Foundation. He is a graduate of the Harvard Trade Union Program and the Cornell National Labor Leadership Initiative.A committed activist, Kevin also serves on the boards of both the metro-Detroit and national A. Philip Randolph Institutes (APRI), where he works to promote social and economic justice, voting rights and community education. Follow the USW on Facebook, Instagram and X, using the handle @steelworkers, and visit their website at www.USW.org.

Leslie is joined by Kevin Mapp, the USW's International Vice President of Human Affairs.  Kevin coordinates bargaining in the union's health care, containers, public sector and ship building sectors. The pair discuss the power of international solidarity in the case of Bridgestone. Multinational corporations operate globally, oftentimes attempting to pit workers in different countries against each other in a race to the bottom on wages and working conditions. Unionized workers, however, understand that the only answer to large-scale corporate greed is global solidarity.     - The USW works with global labor federations like IndustriALL and UNI so that they can share information about operations in different countries.     - The USW maintains formal strategic alliances with at least six other unions in Australia, Mexico, Germany, Brazil, and the United Kingdom. Nowhere has this been more urgent than in Liberia, where workers on Bridgestone's massive rubber plantation have been struggling for decades to improve their working conditions. Japanese-owned Bridgestone is one of the world's largest tire and rubber manufacturers. It employs more than 125,000 workers worldwide, including approximately 4,000 members of the USW. In Harbel, Liberia, Bridgestone operates the world's largest contiguous rubber plantation, covering some 185 square miles. It's owned by Bridgestone subsidiary, Firestone Liberia, and approximately 7,000 workers reside there with their families.     - These workers both live and work on the plantation, buying food from the company store and sending their children to schools run by the company.     - The work is difficult, slashing bush, tapping trees, draining latex into metal buckets that weigh 65 pounds each when full, and carrying them long distances to weigh stations.     - This latex then goes straight into the North American supply chain, serving as the starting point for American-made tires. In 1990, Terry Renninger, then president of Bridgestone's Liberia operations, said, “The best way to think of it is as an old Southern plantation.” Indeed, in the years leading up to the formation of their union, the Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia (FAWUL), workers endured what a 2005 human rights lawsuit called “forced labor, the modern equivalent of slavery.” In 2007, workers successfully organized, and since then they've been making incremental progress in improving working conditions on the plantation, though serious problems remain regarding wages, health care, housing, workplace safety, and more. On top of this, in 2019, Bridgestone fired more than 2,000 workers, forcing them instead to work for contractors, doing the same work but earning significantly lower wages without benefits or other protections provided by FAWUL's contract. According to the U.S.-based Solidarity Center:     - One of the big benefits they lost was the education promised to their children, who now must walk long distances through difficult terrain to attend classes in open-air classrooms without desks or other supplies.     - Workers struggle to afford protective glasses, boots, or gloves.     - Living conditions are cramped, and payment for food comes out of workers' paychecks, which can sometimes leave them with zero or negative balances on their pay slips. Since then, these workers have pushed back, with the support of unions like the USW, as well as the Solidarity Center and others.     - On Aug. 31, 2024, contractors voted overwhelmingly to unionize and are attempting to rejoin FAWUL.     - FAWUL is currently in negotiations with Bridgestone, and one of the key issues is the fate of contractors. The USW has been proud to provide strategic and bargaining support, but the true strength comes from workers themselves who have shown they're willing to take action. The outcome of these negotiations is still not certain, but it's clear that workers – across the world – are strongest when they're united.

Episode #233: Jeff Vogt, Legal Director of the Solidarity Center and member of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Governing Body, discusses significant labor issues in Myanmar since the 2021 military coup. Vogt explains the role of ILO Conventions 87 and 29, which Myanmar has ratified, focusing on the right to freedom of association and the prohibition of forced labor. He details the historical context of labor unions in Myanmar, noting a brief period post-2011 where laws allowed union formation and collective bargaining, although with many limitations. This period ended abruptly with the coup, leading to the dissolution of unions and a crackdown on trade union leaders.Vogt highlights the pervasive control and repression by the military that impacts both the public and private sectors. He emphasizes the severe restrictions now placed on workers' rights and the inability of workers to collectively address grievances or negotiate work conditions. Vogt also discusses the ILO's role and procedures, including the significant step of a Commission of Inquiry—a rare measure reserved for severe violations of ratified conventions. He calls for international actions and sanctions to pressure Myanmar to comply with its obligations, stressing the critical importance of organized labor and freedom of association in promoting democracy and protecting workers' rights.“The ability of workers to be able to associate and collectively form trade unions is absolutely important,” he says. “And it's not only important because of the role of workers in advocating for members of their workplace, but the role of workers in their unions in being proponents for democracy, both in the workplace and in their communities and society.”

Two union organizers working with the Solidarity Center in the US and around the world talk about the lessons they've learned on how to organize platform workers. RadioLabour is the international labour movement's radio service. It reports on labour union events around the world with a focus on unions in the developing world. It partners with rabble to provide coverage of news of interest to Canadian workers.    

Platform gig workers in developing countries are being cruelly exploited but many are fighting back. A report by the Solidarity Center about workers in Ecuador protecting themselves by forming a union. RadioLabour is the international labour movement's radio service. It reports on labour union events around the world with a focus on unions in the developing world. It partners with rabble to provide coverage of news of interest to Canadian workers.

The new Solidarity Center podcast. Today's labor quote: Attica prisoners Today's labor history: The Attica Uprising @wpfwdc @AFLCIO #1u #UnionStrong #LaborRadioPod Proud founding member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.

The new Solidarity Center podcast. Today's labor quote: Attica prisoners Today's labor history: The Attica Uprising @wpfwdc @AFLCIO #1u #UnionStrong #LaborRadioPod Proud founding member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.

Unionizing the Ivory Tower: Cornell Workers' Fifteen-Year Fight for Justice and a Living Wage (ILR Press, 2023) chronicles how a thousand low-paid custodians, cooks, and gardeners succeeded in organizing a union at Cornell University. Al Davidoff, the Cornell student leader who became a custodian and the union's first president, tells the extraordinary story of these ordinary workers with passion, sensitivity, and wit. His memoir reveals how they took on the dominant power in the community, built a strong organization, and waged multiple strikes and campaigns for livable wages and their dignity. Their strategies and tactics were creative and feisty, founded on worker participation and ownership. The union's commitment to fairness, equity, and economic justice also engaged these workers—mostly rural, white, and conservative—at the intersections of racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia. Davidoff's story demonstrates how a fighting union can activate today's working class to oppose antidemocratic and white supremacist forces. Al Davidoff is co-founder of the National Labor Leadership Initiative and the Director of Organizational and Leadership Development for US labor's global arm at the Solidarity Center. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Unionizing the Ivory Tower: Cornell Workers' Fifteen-Year Fight for Justice and a Living Wage (ILR Press, 2023) chronicles how a thousand low-paid custodians, cooks, and gardeners succeeded in organizing a union at Cornell University. Al Davidoff, the Cornell student leader who became a custodian and the union's first president, tells the extraordinary story of these ordinary workers with passion, sensitivity, and wit. His memoir reveals how they took on the dominant power in the community, built a strong organization, and waged multiple strikes and campaigns for livable wages and their dignity. Their strategies and tactics were creative and feisty, founded on worker participation and ownership. The union's commitment to fairness, equity, and economic justice also engaged these workers—mostly rural, white, and conservative—at the intersections of racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia. Davidoff's story demonstrates how a fighting union can activate today's working class to oppose antidemocratic and white supremacist forces. Al Davidoff is co-founder of the National Labor Leadership Initiative and the Director of Organizational and Leadership Development for US labor's global arm at the Solidarity Center. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

Unionizing the Ivory Tower: Cornell Workers' Fifteen-Year Fight for Justice and a Living Wage (ILR Press, 2023) chronicles how a thousand low-paid custodians, cooks, and gardeners succeeded in organizing a union at Cornell University. Al Davidoff, the Cornell student leader who became a custodian and the union's first president, tells the extraordinary story of these ordinary workers with passion, sensitivity, and wit. His memoir reveals how they took on the dominant power in the community, built a strong organization, and waged multiple strikes and campaigns for livable wages and their dignity. Their strategies and tactics were creative and feisty, founded on worker participation and ownership. The union's commitment to fairness, equity, and economic justice also engaged these workers—mostly rural, white, and conservative—at the intersections of racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia. Davidoff's story demonstrates how a fighting union can activate today's working class to oppose antidemocratic and white supremacist forces. Al Davidoff is co-founder of the National Labor Leadership Initiative and the Director of Organizational and Leadership Development for US labor's global arm at the Solidarity Center. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

Unionizing the Ivory Tower: Cornell Workers' Fifteen-Year Fight for Justice and a Living Wage (ILR Press, 2023) chronicles how a thousand low-paid custodians, cooks, and gardeners succeeded in organizing a union at Cornell University. Al Davidoff, the Cornell student leader who became a custodian and the union's first president, tells the extraordinary story of these ordinary workers with passion, sensitivity, and wit. His memoir reveals how they took on the dominant power in the community, built a strong organization, and waged multiple strikes and campaigns for livable wages and their dignity. Their strategies and tactics were creative and feisty, founded on worker participation and ownership. The union's commitment to fairness, equity, and economic justice also engaged these workers—mostly rural, white, and conservative—at the intersections of racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia. Davidoff's story demonstrates how a fighting union can activate today's working class to oppose antidemocratic and white supremacist forces. Al Davidoff is co-founder of the National Labor Leadership Initiative and the Director of Organizational and Leadership Development for US labor's global arm at the Solidarity Center. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/education

Unionizing the Ivory Tower: Cornell Workers' Fifteen-Year Fight for Justice and a Living Wage (ILR Press, 2023) chronicles how a thousand low-paid custodians, cooks, and gardeners succeeded in organizing a union at Cornell University. Al Davidoff, the Cornell student leader who became a custodian and the union's first president, tells the extraordinary story of these ordinary workers with passion, sensitivity, and wit. His memoir reveals how they took on the dominant power in the community, built a strong organization, and waged multiple strikes and campaigns for livable wages and their dignity. Their strategies and tactics were creative and feisty, founded on worker participation and ownership. The union's commitment to fairness, equity, and economic justice also engaged these workers—mostly rural, white, and conservative—at the intersections of racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia. Davidoff's story demonstrates how a fighting union can activate today's working class to oppose antidemocratic and white supremacist forces. Al Davidoff is co-founder of the National Labor Leadership Initiative and the Director of Organizational and Leadership Development for US labor's global arm at the Solidarity Center. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/economics

Unionizing the Ivory Tower: Cornell Workers' Fifteen-Year Fight for Justice and a Living Wage (ILR Press, 2023) chronicles how a thousand low-paid custodians, cooks, and gardeners succeeded in organizing a union at Cornell University. Al Davidoff, the Cornell student leader who became a custodian and the union's first president, tells the extraordinary story of these ordinary workers with passion, sensitivity, and wit. His memoir reveals how they took on the dominant power in the community, built a strong organization, and waged multiple strikes and campaigns for livable wages and their dignity. Their strategies and tactics were creative and feisty, founded on worker participation and ownership. The union's commitment to fairness, equity, and economic justice also engaged these workers—mostly rural, white, and conservative—at the intersections of racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia. Davidoff's story demonstrates how a fighting union can activate today's working class to oppose antidemocratic and white supremacist forces. Al Davidoff is co-founder of the National Labor Leadership Initiative and the Director of Organizational and Leadership Development for US labor's global arm at the Solidarity Center. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Unionizing the Ivory Tower: Cornell Workers' Fifteen-Year Fight for Justice and a Living Wage (ILR Press, 2023) chronicles how a thousand low-paid custodians, cooks, and gardeners succeeded in organizing a union at Cornell University. Al Davidoff, the Cornell student leader who became a custodian and the union's first president, tells the extraordinary story of these ordinary workers with passion, sensitivity, and wit. His memoir reveals how they took on the dominant power in the community, built a strong organization, and waged multiple strikes and campaigns for livable wages and their dignity. Their strategies and tactics were creative and feisty, founded on worker participation and ownership. The union's commitment to fairness, equity, and economic justice also engaged these workers—mostly rural, white, and conservative—at the intersections of racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia. Davidoff's story demonstrates how a fighting union can activate today's working class to oppose antidemocratic and white supremacist forces. Al Davidoff is co-founder of the National Labor Leadership Initiative and the Director of Organizational and Leadership Development for US labor's global arm at the Solidarity Center. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Solidarity Center podcast reports. Today's labor quote: Paolo Marinaro. Today's labor history: IWW founded. @wpfwdc @AFLCIO #1u #UnionStrong #LaborRadioPod @SolidarityCntr Proud founding member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.

The Solidarity Center podcast reports. Today's labor quote: Paolo Marinaro. Today's labor history: IWW founded. @wpfwdc @AFLCIO #1u #UnionStrong #LaborRadioPod @SolidarityCntr Proud founding member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.

If 350,000 Teamsters strike UPS on August 1, they'll be hitting the streets for millions of dispossessed working and middle-class Americans; the Working People podcast talks with Teamsters Local 705's Sean Orr; then, the Solidarity Center Podcast celebrates 25 years of supporting Mexican workers; What does it mean to be a power lineman? Bryce Hubbard explains, on The Power Line Podcast. In our last segment, from Your Rights At Work, Professor Louie breaks down what it really means to be working class. Please help us build sonic solidarity by clicking on the share button below. Highlights from labor radio and podcast shows around the country, part of the national Labor Radio Podcast Network of shows focusing on working people's issues and concerns. #LaborRadioPod @AFLCIO @WorkingPod @SolidarityCntr @powerlinepodcast Edited by Patrick Dixon, produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru Mr. Harold Phillips.

  A survey of more than 600 workers with disabilities in Nigeria's formal and informal sectors, conducted by the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) Women Commission and the Solidarity Center in collaboration with Nigerian unions and disability rights organizations, finds that most workers with disabilities cannot access decent work as defined by the UN […]

Broadcast on March 9, 2023 Hosted by Chris Garlock Myrtle Witbooi started as a young domestic worker in apartheid South Africa, became General Secretary of the South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union and was the first president of the International Domestic Workers Federation. From the Labor History Today podcast, in honor of International Women's Day, Myrtle Witbooi – who died earlier this year – in her own voice, honored by the late Richard Trumka, and remembered by the Solidarity Center's Alexis De Simone. Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Michael Nassella and Kahlia Chapman. @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Members of the Black Women's Roundtable shared strategies for advancing racial and gender justice through labor movements worldwide at a recent Solidarity Center event. Today's labor quote: Mother Jones. Today's labor history: AFL leader William Green born.     @wpfwdc #1u #unions #LaborRadioPod @AFLCIO #1u @SolidarityCntr Proud founding member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.

  Discrimination, marginalization and powerful political forces like authoritarianism do not stop at a country's border—and that is why it is so important for black women worldwide connect through their unions and allied organizations, panelists said Thursday at a Solidarity Center-sponsored event. “We need to strengthen this kind of international unity as a way to […]

  One year ago, military forces of the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine, launching an unprovoked and unnecessary war. This war has cost thousands of lives and damaged Ukraine's social and economic infrastructure, which will take years to rebuild. Russia's attack on Ukraine is the direct cause of major food shortages and agricultural supply chain disruptions […]

She started as a young domestic worker in apartheid South Africa, became General Secretary of the South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union and was the first president of the International Domestic Workers Federation; Myrtle Witbooi – who died on January 16 – in her own voice and remembered by the Solidarity Center's Alexis De Simone. On this week's Labor History in Two:  The Most Dangerous Woman in America.    Questions, comments, or suggestions are welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us at LaborHistoryToday@gmail.com Labor History Today is produced by Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor. #LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @wrkclasshistory  @SolidarityCntr @domesticworkers #Domesticworkers

  A new video shows the strategies unions and civil society allies in Kyrgyzstan, with Solidarity Center support, are using to advance and protect the rights of people with disabilities. Strategies include coalition-building and joint advocacy projects with national and local disability rights organizations, pro-bono legal support, data collection, legislative reform and trainings-of-trainers with disabilities.  […]

In the early 80's an organization called The National Endowment For Democracy (NED) was formed under the Reagan administration by a bi-partisan group of representatives, and bureaucrats to allegedly to foster democracy around the world. At its conception, 4 others subgroups were included; The International Republican Institute (IRI), The National Democratic Institute (NDI), The Solidarity Center, & The Center For International Enterprise (CIPE). This covered both political parties, Unions, & Private Business. According to former Intel Agents, & Journalists like the late Robert Parry, NED, & its other well funded, and well connected organizations were created to do what the CIA had been doing for decades, and that was to assist in the infiltration, and overthrow of foreign governments who weren't on board with the Western Elites business plans of expansion, and global imperialism. Today Ned funds over 2000 other NGO's around the world, and cand be found working closley with USAID, Freedom House, Bellingcat, George Soros' Open Societies. Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, wherever there's a color revolution, you will find NED, and its vast legion of tax-exempt groups fomenting dissent, and looking for embers to heap gasoline upon. Often by way of education, or media including tv, print, radio, and internet. Under the guise of fairness, and equality NED does a little good in order to make way for its financial masters. Did I mention, its supposedly non-governmental yet, is funded by Congress aka, taxpayers, and to the tune of $300 Million a year? So, it gets money like a government agency, but doesn't have to follow the same rules, and regulations. This my friends is where the R's, and D's, the private, and public sectors come together to create the atmosphere where the upper echelons of industry, and high finance can profit all over the world. This is the expanding arm of the real NWO.Cheers, and Blessings

Close to 20% of all domestic workers are migrant workers, according to the International Labor Organization. Most of these domestic workers are women and they are particularly common in Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia. Kenya sends a lot of domestic workers to Gulf countries. More than half of the over 87,784 Kenyans employed in the Middle East since 2019 have been domestic workers.But many women returning from this work describe horrific circumstances, particularly in Saudi Arabia. And in an alarming number of cases, death. On today's episode of the Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, reporter Pauline Ongaji talks with Kenyan women who have returned from domestic work in Saudi Arabia. Then host Reena Ninan speaks with Caroline Kasina from the Solidarity Center in Kenya and Ruth Khakame from the Kudheiha union about their efforts to organize Kenyan domestic workers in Gulf states. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the early 80's an organization called The National Endowment For Democracy (NED) was formed under the Reagan administration by a bi-partisan group of representatives, and bureaucrats to allegedly to foster democracy around the world. At its conception, 4 others subgroups were included; The International Republican Institute (IRI), The National Democratic Institute (NDI), The Solidarity Center, & The Center For International Enterprise (CIPE). This covered both political parties, Unions, & Private Business. According to former Intel Agents, & Journalists like the late Robert Parry, NED, & its other well funded, and well connected organizations were created to do what the CIA had been doing for decades, and that was to assist in the infiltration, and overthrow of foreign governments who weren't on board with the Western Elites business plans of expansion, and global imperialism. Today NED funds over 2000 other NGO's around the world, and cand be found working closley with USAID, Freedom House, Bellingcat, George Soros' Open Society. Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, wherever there's a color revolution, you will find NED, and its vast legion of tax-exempt groups fomenting dissent, and looking for embers to heap gasoline upon. Often by way of education, or media including tv, print, radio, and internet. Under the guise of fairness, and equality NED does a little good in order to make way for its financial masters. Did I mention, its supposedly non-governmental yet, is funded by Congress aka, taxpayers, and to the tune of $300 million a year? So, it gets money like a government agency, but doesn't have to follow the same rules, and regulations. This my friends is where the R's, and D's, the private, and public sectors come together to create the atmosphere where the upper echelons of industry, and high finance can profit all over the world. This is the expanding arm of the real NWO.Cheers and Blessings

On America's Workforce Radio, North Alabama Area Labor Council Secretary-Treasurer (and Valley Labor Report radio/podcast host) Jacob Morrison  rebukes former Auburn football coach and current Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville for criticizing Millennials' work ethic. From PFFA Pod, the official podcast of the Portland Fire Fighters' Association (IAFF Local 43) a chat with new Behavioral Health Coordinator Tara Stein. And on the Solidarity Center podcast, the rights of workers in the informal waste and recovery sector, who help recycle almost 60 percent of the world's plastic waste. Bonus: The Fight for Better Wages, Hours and Working Conditions on Labor History in 2:00. Please help us build sonic solidarity by clicking on the share button below. Highlights from labor radio and podcast shows around the country, part of the national Labor Radio Podcast Network of shows focusing on working people's issues and concerns. #LaborRadioPod @AFLCIO @AWFUnionPodcast @SolidarityCntr Edited by Patrick Dixon, produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru Mr. Harold Phillips.

In the early 80's an organization called The National Endowment For Democracy(NED) was formed under the Reagan administration by a bi-partisan group of representatives, and bureaucrats to allegedly to foster democracy around the world. At its conception, 4 others subgroups were included; The International Republican Institute(IRI), The National Democratic Institute(NDI), The Solidarity Center, & The Center For International Enterprise(CIPE). This covered both political parties, Unions, & Private Business. According to former Intel Agents, & Journalists like the late Robert Parry, NED, & its other well funded, and well connected organizations were created to do what the CIA had been doing for decades, and that was to assist in the infiltration, and overthrow of foreign governments who weren't on board with the Western Elites business plans of expansion, and global imperialism. Today Ned funds over 2000 other NGO's around the world, and cand be found working closley with USAID, Freedom House, Bellingcat, Goerge Soros' Open Societies. Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, wherever there's a color revolution, you will find NED, and its vast legion of tax-exempt groups fomenting dissent, and looking for embers to heap gasoline upon. Often by way of education, or media including tv, print, radio, and internet. Under the guise of fairness, and equality NED does a little good in order to make way for its financial masters. Did I mention, its supposedly non-governmental yet, is funded by Congress aka, taxpayers, and to the tune of $300 Million a year? So, it gets money like a government agency, but doesn't have to follow the same rules, and regulations. This my friends is where the R's, and D's, the private, and public sectors come together to create the atmosphere where the upper echelons of industry, and high finance can profit all over the world. This is the expanding arm of the real NWO.   Cheers, and Blessings   PT. 1 Ep. 130 Democracy Is Their Business, & Business Is Good!   Support My Work   Odd Man Out Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/theoddmanout   Follow John Brisson's Work, Like, Share, and Subscribe https://twitter.com/weve_read   https://linktr.ee/weveread   Show Notes   In 1983, the strategy of overthrowing inconvenient governments and calling it “democracy promotion” was born.   "With unfailing consistency, U.S. intervention has been on the side of the rich and powerful of various nations at the expense of the poor and needy. Rather than strengthening democracies, U.S. leaders have overthrown numerous democratically elected governments or other populist regimes in dozens of countries ... whenever these nations give evidence of putting the interests of their people ahead of the interests of multinational corporate interests." ~ Michael Parenti   The National Endowment for Democracy, an agency created by the Reagan administration in 1983 to promote political action and psychological warfare against states not in love with US foreign policy. It is Washington's foremost non-military tool for effecting regime change. William Blum, America's Deadliest Export   Reagan Inaugurates NED https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YYR6LJedPnM   ... as CN founder Robert Parry explained in an 2015 article republished today on Consortium News, the C.I.A. had a direct hand in the establishment of the NED, even in the writing of the Congressional legislation that authorized the U.S. Agency for International Development to fund it with U.S. government money. The continued hand of the C.I.A. was to be hidden in the “Age of Overt Action.”  https://consortiumnews.com/2022/01/20/the-three-types-of-us-regime-change/   "The US NED, NDI, Open Society, and the International Republican Institute (IRI) are engaged in funding and supporting opposition groups including the so-called “Umbrella Revolution” in Hong Kong, the “Bersih” street movement in Malaysia headed by now-jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, and deceptive media fronts like Prachatai in Thailand, who openly and repeatedly attack Thailand's indigenous institutions, while providing cover for US-backed opposition groups, including Thaksin Shinawatra's Peua Thai Party (PTP) and his ultra-violent street front, the so-called “red shirts.” U.S. Funded Foreign Election "Monitors" Exposed   William Blum On NED, Rogue State https://thirdworldtraveler.com/Blum/TrojanHorse_RS.html   In the omnibus appropriations bill that the president signed in December Obama 2009, lawmakers set the NED's amount at $118 million,(Now $300) more than restoring the proposed cut. The bill went on to specify that the $18 million above the administration's request had to go for democracy, human rights, and rule of law programs.   NED, and The Council On Foreign Relations(CFR)- The National Endowment for Democracy is funded by the U.S. Congress. Founded in 1983, in recent years NED has spent about $100 million annually on over 1,000(Now 2000) projects of nongovernmental organizations in over ninety nations. A large percentage of these projects are to foster the neoliberal geopolitical capitalist penetration of these countries, under the cover of promoting democracy. In the year prior to the 2014 conflict in the Ukraine, for example, it spent millions on sixty-five different projects in that nation, including $359,945 to fund a “Center for International Private Enterprise,” at least partly to build up the lobbying power of Ukrainian businesses. Many of the Ukrainian projects are to train local activists, including election-related training. The twenty-three-member board of directors of NED include ten CFR members (43.5 percent). Two of them—Vin Weber and Robert B. Zoellick—are former or current Council directors and two—Elliott Abrams and Stephen Sestanovich—are CFR Senior Fellows. Laurence Shoupe   NED Subgroups   International Republican Institute(IRI)   BOD-Members Include   Lindsey Graham   Mitt Romney   HR McMaster   Marco Rubio   Tom Cotton   Jamie Ernst   John McCain was the former longtime Director https://www.iri.org/     The National Democratic Institute(NDI)   Members Include   Thomas Daschle   Stacy Abrams   Donna Brazile   Howard Dean   Michael McFaul   Walter Mondale   Chris Dodd   Michael Dukakis   Richard Gephardt   Madeline Albright was the former longtime Director https://www.ndi.org/ambassadors-circle   Hillary at NDI https://2009-2017.state.gov/secretary/20092013clinton/rm/2011/11/176750.htm   Mr. Richard C. Blum( Husband Of Diane Feinstein)
 in their Millionaires Circle Donor List   The Solidarity Center(The Union Arm) https://www.solidaritycenter.org/   Center For International Private Enterprise(CIPE) (The Private Business Arm) https://www.cipe.org/   Some NGO's Funded By NED   *Notice Heavy in Ukraine, and Afghanistan   https://swprs.org/organizations-funded-by-the-ned/     House Bill To Create NED https://www.congress.gov/bill/98th-congress/house-bill/2914?s=1&r=82     NED, & It's Main Four Groups https://www.ndi.org/publications/national-endowment-democracy-ned-ndi-iri-cipe-and-solidarity-center-welcome-increased   Please check out my Podcasting Family over at Alternate Current Radio. You will find a plethora of fantastic talk, and music shows including the flagship Boiler Room, as well as The Daily Ruckus! https://alternatecurrentradio.com/   Fringe Radio Network- Radio on the Fringe!  http://fringeradionetwork.com/   Patreon-Welcome to The Society Of Cryptic Savants  https://www.bitchute.com/video/C4PQuq0ud   Social Media: _theoddmanout on Twitter, and Instagram       Facebook https://www.facebook.com/theoddcastfttheoddmanout         "A special Thank You to my Patrons who contributed to this episode. You are very much appreciated.   Thank You Guys For Your Continued Support!   Their Order Is Not Our Order!

  Flagging a high number of work-related deaths and life-altering injuries in the country during the first ten months of this year, Solidarity Center partners Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (KVPU) and Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine (FPU) are educating their members and leadership on how to better protect themselves at work […]

In the early 80's an organization called The National Endowment For Democracy(NED) was formed under the Reagan administration by a bi-partisan group of representatives, and bureaucrats to allegedly to foster democracy around the world. At its conception, 4 others subgroups were included; The International Republican Institute(IRI), The National Democratic Institute(NDI), The Solidarity Center, & The Center For International Enterprise(CIPE). This covered both political parties, Unions, & Private Business. According to former Intel Agents, & Journalists like the late Robert Parry, NED, & its other well funded, and well connected organizations were created to do what the CIA had been doing for decades, and that was to assist in the infiltration, and overthrow of foreign governments who weren't on board with the Western Elites business plans of expansion, and global imperialism. Today Ned funds over 2000 other NGO's around the world, and cand be found working closley with USAID, Freedom House, Bellingcat, Goerge Soros' Open Societies. Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, wherever there's a color revolution, you will find NED, and its vast legion of tax-exempt groups fomenting dissent, and looking for embers to heap gasoline upon. Often by way of education, or media including tv, print, radio, and internet. Under the guise of fairness, and equality NED does a little good in order to make way for its financial masters. Did I mention, its supposedly non-governmental yet, is funded by Congress aka, taxpayers, and to the tune of $300 Million a year? So, it gets money like a government agency, but doesn't have to follow the same rules, and regulations. This my friends is where the R's, and D's, the private, and public sectors come together to create the atmosphere where the upper echelons of industry, and high finance can profit all over the world. This is the expanding arm of the real NWO.   Cheers, and Blessings   Support My Work   Odd Man Out Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/theoddmanout     Show Notes   In 1983, the strategy of overthrowing inconvenient governments and calling it “democracy promotion” was born.   "With unfailing consistency, U.S. intervention has been on the side of the rich and powerful of various nations at the expense of the poor and needy. Rather than strengthening democracies, U.S. leaders have overthrown numerous democratically elected governments or other populist regimes in dozens of countries ... whenever these nations give evidence of putting the interests of their people ahead of the interests of multinational corporate interests." ~ Michael Parenti   The National Endowment for Democracy, an agency created by the Reagan administration in 1983 to promote political action and psychological warfare against states not in love with US foreign policy. It is Washington's foremost non-military tool for effecting regime change. William Blum, America's Deadliest Export   Reagan Inaugurates NED https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YYR6LJedPnM   ... as CN founder Robert Parry explained in an 2015 article republished today on Consortium News, the C.I.A. had a direct hand in the establishment of the NED, even in the writing of the Congressional legislation that authorized the U.S. Agency for International Development to fund it with U.S. government money. The continued hand of the C.I.A. was to be hidden in the “Age of Overt Action.”  https://consortiumnews.com/2022/01/20/the-three-types-of-us-regime-change/   "The US NED, NDI, Open Society, and the International Republican Institute (IRI) are engaged in funding and supporting opposition groups including the so-called “Umbrella Revolution” in Hong Kong, the “Bersih” street movement in Malaysia headed by now-jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, and deceptive media fronts like Prachatai in Thailand, who openly and repeatedly attack Thailand's indigenous institutions, while providing cover for US-backed opposition groups, including Thaksin Shinawatra's Peua Thai Party (PTP) and his ultra-violent street front, the so-called “red shirts.” U.S. Funded Foreign Election "Monitors" Exposed   William Blum On NED, Rogue State https://thirdworldtraveler.com/Blum/TrojanHorse_RS.html   In the omnibus appropriations bill that the president signed in December Obama 2009, lawmakers set the NED's amount at $118 million,(Now $300) more than restoring the proposed cut. The bill went on to specify that the $18 million above the administration's request had to go for democracy, human rights, and rule of law programs.   NED, and The Council On Foreign Relations(CFR)- The National Endowment for Democracy is funded by the U.S. Congress. Founded in 1983, in recent years NED has spent about $100 million annually on over 1,000(Now 2000) projects of nongovernmental organizations in over ninety nations. A large percentage of these projects are to foster the neoliberal geopolitical capitalist penetration of these countries, under the cover of promoting democracy. In the year prior to the 2014 conflict in the Ukraine, for example, it spent millions on sixty-five different projects in that nation, including $359,945 to fund a “Center for International Private Enterprise,” at least partly to build up the lobbying power of Ukrainian businesses. Many of the Ukrainian projects are to train local activists, including election-related training. The twenty-three-member board of directors of NED include ten CFR members (43.5 percent). Two of them—Vin Weber and Robert B. Zoellick—are former or current Council directors and two—Elliott Abrams and Stephen Sestanovich—are CFR Senior Fellows. Laurence Shoupe   NED Subgroups   International Republican Institute(IRI)   BOD-Members Include   Lindsey Graham   Mitt Romney   HR McMaster   Marco Rubio   Tom Cotton   Jamie Ernst   John McCain was the former longtime Director https://www.iri.org/     The National Democratic Institute(NDI)   Members Include   Thomas Daschle   Stacy Abrams   Donna Brazile   Howard Dean   Michael McFaul   Walter Mondale   Chris Dodd   Michael Dukakis   Richard Gephardt   Madeline Albright was the former longtime Director https://www.ndi.org/ambassadors-circle   Hillary at NDI https://2009-2017.state.gov/secretary/20092013clinton/rm/2011/11/176750.htm   Mr. Richard C. Blum( Husband Of Diane Feinstein)
 in their Millionaires Circle Donor List   The Solidarity Center(The Union Arm) https://www.solidaritycenter.org/   Center For International Private Enterprise(CIPE) (The Private Business Arm) https://www.cipe.org/   Some NGO's Funded By NED   *Notice Heavy in Ukraine, and Afghanistan   https://swprs.org/organizations-funded-by-the-ned/     House Bill To Create NED https://www.congress.gov/bill/98th-congress/house-bill/2914?s=1&r=82     NED, & It's Main Four Groups https://www.ndi.org/publications/national-endowment-democracy-ned-ndi-iri-cipe-and-solidarity-center-welcome-increased   Please check out my Podcasting Family over at Alternate Current Radio. You will find a plethora of fantastic talk, and music shows including the flagship Boiler Room, as well as The Daily Ruckus! https://alternatecurrentradio.com/   Fringe Radio Network- Radio on the Fringe!  http://fringeradionetwork.com/   Patreon-Welcome to The Society Of Cryptic Savants  https://www.bitchute.com/video/C4PQuq0ud   Social Media: _theoddmanout on Twitter, and Instagram       Facebook https://www.facebook.com/theoddcastfttheoddmanout         "A special Thank You to my Patrons who contributed to this episode. You are very much appreciated.   Thank You Guys For Your Continued Support!   Their Order Is Not Our Order!  

  Thousands of mostly women garment workers in Lesotho who produce jeans and knitwear for the global market are standing up to gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) at their factories, homes and communities after participating in education and awareness training, part of a pathbreaking, worker-centered program negotiated in part by the Solidarity Center. And, as a […]

During this year's 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign and in honor of #GivingTuesday, you can support our work in ending GBVH and get a free copy of the book, “Stopping Gender-Based Violence and Harassment at Work,” by donating $100 to the Solidarity Center. Show your solidarity and make a donation now!   […]

  When women agricultural workers in Morocco joined to form their first union and negotiate a contract that established gender equality and prohibited sexual harassment and other forms of gender-based violence on the job, their collective action followed years of Solidarity Center training and support. This GivingTuesday offers a chance to support violence-free workplaces—and all […]

The past few years have brought challenge and pain for working people in the United States. Women were hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic with many forced to balance work and child-rearing. Consequently, a number of women left the labor market during the pandemic, and others struggled to work part-time, work full-time and assist children who were mostly learning from home. But that's not all.Last fall, there were so many strikes or threats of strikes that October was referred to as Striktober. From Amazon to Starbucks to Apple to major health systems, workers across the nation grew tired of laboring under unsafe working conditions or without wages that allowed them to care for themselves and their families. Many responded by fighting for the right to collectively bargain. These workers sought safety and security on the job, but also a strong voice for themselves and the people they serve.Guests:NEHA MISRA, who represents the Solidarity Center in the Alliance to End Slavery and TraffickingJENNIFER (JJ) ROSENBAUM, executive director of the Global Labor Justice – International Labor Rights ForumSHANNON LEDERER, director of Immigration Policy, AFL-CIOHost:JENNIFER R. FARMER, Spotlight PRFaith Talks are monthly conversations with United Women in Faith hosted by Jennifer R. Farmer, Spotlight PR. Each conversation explores themes and resources that empower us to put faith, hope and love into action.

. Haiti garment workers should be paid four times their current salaries just to keep pace with the cost of living, a new Solidarity Center study finds. The High Cost of Low Wages in Haiti: A Living Wage Estimate for Garment Workers in Port-au-Prince, determined that based on the current minimum wage ($781 per month), […]

A little known fact, even to those who work there, is that the AFL-CIO organizes in support of US imperialist policies that drive a global race to the bottom in wages and working conditions, negatively impacting US workers too. The AFL-CIO's Solidarity Center is one of the four core components of the National Endowment for Democracy. Clearing the FOG speaks with Kim Scipes, a co-founder of the new Labor Education Project on the AFL-CIO's International Operations (LEPAIO). Scipes describes the long history of labor imperialism and how unions are challenging it. Adrienne Pine provides a brief report on workers protesting the brutal labor practices of the State Department's main contractor, BL Harbert, building the US Embassy in Honduras. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

  A powerful new report shows that collective bargaining changes work and workers' lives for the better. According to the report, workers in Honduras with collective bargaining agreements are less likely to feel compelled to migrate or to face verbal abuse, and they earn more than workers without collective bargaining agreements. The Solidarity Center-supported report, […]

On today's show: The voice of a Belarus union leader who is now imprisoned, but who spoke with the Solidarity Center podcast just over a year ago…also this week, unions rarely like to talk about their failures but the BCTGM Voices Project – from the Bakery Workers union – brings us a fascinating and honest report on an unsuccessful organizing campaign at Hershey's in Stuart's Draft, Virginia…Our final report today is about how content streaming has affected workers in the entertainment business from the SAG-AFTRA podcast. Spoiler alert, it's a very mixed bag. Highlights from labor radio and podcast shows around the country, part of the national Labor Radio Podcast Network of shows focusing on working people's issues and concerns. #LaborRadioPod @AFLCIO @SolidarityCntr @BCTGM @sagaftra Edited by Patrick Dixon; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru Mr. Harold Phillips. Transcription coming soon; please check back!

What's driving the current wave of worker organizing across the United States and around the world? How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed the game for how companies and governments engage with workers? Human Rights Initiative Director Marti Flacks discusses the growing popularity of trade unions and the implications for global supply chains with Cathy Feingold of the AFL-CIO and Paolo Marinaro of the Solidarity Center. Additional Resources: AFL-CIO: https://aflcio.org/ Solidarity Center Mexico: https://www.solidaritycenter.org/category/americas/mexico/ Starbucks Workers Drive Nationwide Surge in Union Organizing: https://www.npr.org/2022/05/01/1095477792/union-election-labor-starbucks-workers-food-service-representation GM Silao Facility Workers Vote Overwhelmingly in Favor of the SINTTIA Union: https://aflcio.org/2022/2/4/gm-silao-facility-workers-vote-overwhelmingly-favor-sinttia-union Work That Pays Off: The Strategic Dimension of Labor Obligations in Trade Agreements: https://www.csis.org/analysis/work-pays-strategic-dimension-labor-obligations-trade-agreements

On today's show: a different voice from the nearly year-long Warrior Met Coal strike; that of a six-year-old miner's daughter, on the Heartland Labor Forum. Next up we hear from a couple of new Network members: on the Baltimore Labor Report, REI workers in New York City organize, and on the AFGE Y.O.U.N.G. podcast, how being a federal employee affects AFGE members politically, what they can and cannot do. Then, Crispin Hernandez of Workers' Central of Central New York updates For a Better World about the campaign to lower the threshold for overtime for farmers. We have two international labor reports today: from the Solidarity Center podcast, how workers defied the odds to form a democratic union at the GM plant in Silao, Mexico, and on Work Stoppage, the difficulties of labor organizing in Colombia. Where did the idea of a Human Resources department originate and why does it seem to always favor the employer? We find out from the Million Dollar Organizer podcast.   We wrap up this week's show with a fascinating interview from the 3rd & Fairfax podcast, as Weakest Link head writer Ann Slichter and writer Scott Saltzburg talk about what it takes to put together a primetime network game show. Highlights from labor radio and podcast shows around the country, part of the national Labor Radio Podcast Network of shows focusing on working people's issues and concerns. #LaborRadioPod @AFLCIO @checkoutradio @DCLabor @checkoutradio @MyPhillyLabor @UAW_Local_2209 @podcastgig @BC_LHC @ILLaborHistory @Heartland_Labor @fairworldprj @SolidarityCntr @WorkStoppagePod @boboedy @WGAWest Edited by Patrick Dixon, Mel Smith and Chris Garlock; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru Mr. Harold Phillips.

What does it take to make the workplace safe for women, free from sexual harassment and gender-based violence? What are some of the ways women have won improvements, and how did they build their power to do this?In this episode: A union in Indonesia declares an industrial park a ‘harassment free zone': Dian Septi Trisnanti, FBLP, Indonesia An Enforceable Brand Agreement aims to end severe gender-based violence in factories in Lesotho: Motheba Ramaema & Sam Mokhele, NACTWU, Rola Abimourched, WRC. Rukmini tells her story of becoming a union founder, and why more women need to lead worker struggles: Rukmini, GLU, India Campaigns to ratify ILO Convention 190 on Violence and Harassment: Priscilla Robledo, CCC Italy and Sina Marx, FEMNET, Germany Please tell us what inspired you about this show, and share your feedback, comments and questions, by emailing: podcast@cleanclothes.org  Speakers:  Dian Septi Trisnanti, founder of FBLP union (Federasi Buruh Lintas Pabrik) , Chairperson of KPBI union, IndonesiaMotheba Ramaema, shop steward, National Clothing, Textile and Allied Workers Union, LesothoSam Mokhele, General Secretary, National Clothing, Textile and Allied Workers Union, LesothoRola Abimourched, Senior Program Director at the Worker Rights Consortium,  USA. Rukmini Vaderapura Puttaswamy, President of Garment Labour Union (GLU), Bangalore.  Priscilla Robeldo, campaigner and lobby and advocacy coordinator with CCC Italy.Sina Marx, Coordinator International Projects and Campaigns, FEMNET, Germany. Host: Febriana Firdaus (febrianafirdaus.com) Field Reporter: Harsha VadlamaniInterpreter: KaveriSound Engineering Support: Steve Adam (www.spectrosonics.com.au)  Producer: Matthew Abud  Clean Clothes Podcast Team: Anne Dekker, Johnson Ching-Yin Yeung, Liz Parker, Tanne de Goei Full Transcript DIAN:When we built our union in 2009, most of us, the officers, are women. And we have the same vision for the equality and also fight against GBV. We have method in organise women workers as women.  HOST:That's Dian Septi Trisnanti, one of the founders of the Forum Buruh Lintas Pabrik union, or FBLP in Indonesia.  Welcome to episode two of the Clean Clothes podcast. I'm Febriana Firdaus.  This time, we're talking women workers – about the violence and harassment they often endure And some ways of building power and fighting back. In 2014 Dian's union joined with other organisations, to promote women's rights in a large industrial park in North Jakarta, Indonesia.  DIAN:There are two union, one women's organisation, and Jakarta Legal Aid, become one alliance in the women worker committee, to struggle against GBV, gender based violence. We have two programs, the first program is to install warning board that the industrial park is free from Gender Based Violence or sexual harassment. HOST:The warning board was a large sign that announced the industrial park was a zone free of gender-based violence and harassment.  It was part of a strategy to raise the profile and awareness of this as an issue for workers.  And of course, as a warning to any perpetrators.  DIAN:The industrial park, KBN Cakung, in North Jakarta, agreed to install the warning board in 2016 on November, it's the international day against women violence.  HOST:Dian also directed a documentary film, Angka Jadi Suara, which followed this effort.  The film shows the effort behind the campaign. This included lobbying the management of the industrial park, and the Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection.  At the centre of the film though, is the workers – and the sexual harassment and gender-based violence they experience.  DIAN:There were one person, one woman, who want to tell the story. This women, my friend yeah, she has a trauma. The interview takes about five hours and we have to stop about one hour just to give her time to stop and then take a breath and then take a break. And after that I asked to her if she want to stop then we will stop. But she said that she will not stop because if not now, then when? And after the documentary finish the first person that we give the edited version is her.   HOST:The documentary had a number of public screenings, and media coverage.  It took the story beyond the industrial park, to a bigger audience.  The voices of women workers, are at the centre of the union's efforts.  In 2012 they established community radio station Marsinah FM.  The station is named after Marsinah, a female union leader murdered in 1993 under the Suharto dictatorship. DIAN:We know that as a women, the social construction always ask us to be silent and do not have any chance to share our opinion. We have to be brave enough to speak up our mind. The community radio teach us to speak up our mind in our studio. We have journalistic, journalism training. We encourage women workers to write their story. It increase women workers' confidence that they have ability to write, to tell the story and to be recognised by the community because they can speak their mind and share it in the social media.  HOST:Supporting women's leadership, in the union and the community, is the central focus. That includes Dian's friend, who told her story for the documentary film. DIAN:She now go to college. She have scholarship. And she built a house that poor children, they learn about theatre, art, and also about the school the education, and she look for scholarship for the children that want to continue their school.  HOST:Just last year, the FBLP merged with another union to become the All-Indonesia United Workers Confederation, or KPBI.  In the November Congress, Dian was elected chairperson. HOST:In Maseru, Lesotho, workers have been subjected to severe and extensive sexual harassment and sexual violence in the factories of global supplier, Nien Hsing.  An investigation by the US-based Worker Rights Consortium, from 2017 to 2019, documented the scale and nature of the abuse.  This led to a ground-breaking Enforceable Brand Agreement, with a program led by local unions and non-government organisations, to end the abuse.  Matthew Abud has this report. REPORTER:Lesotho has more than forty five thousand garment workers. It's the mainstay of the country's economy.  Around ten thousand work for Taiwanese company Nien Hsing, which owns five factories there.  In these Nien Hsing factories, middle management exploited their power over workers in multiple ways MOTHEBA:My name is Motheba Ramaema. I work as a shop steward. I've been working as a shop steward for a year, but I've been with the factory for three years now. Actually most of the, I could call it abuse, was actually done by supervisors. So they'd ask for favours with the impression if you give them certain favours, then they'd give you more overtime which means better pay. Another thing is that most of the supervisors here, they run loan shark kind of business. And then they'll make you loan money from them at a very high interest rate, claiming that if you loan money from them then you'll be eligible to qualify for overtime. And sometimes like if when we begin work, we are hired on a contractual basis. So they would actually sometimes ask for sexual favours, saying that if you give it up, then you will be employed full time.  SAM:My name is Sam Mokhele. I work for the trade union called National Clothing, Textile and Allied Workers Union. I'm the general secretary of the trade union. They even reported such cases to us as unions. And we took initiative of taking the matter to the police to intervene. But only to find that there were no investigations made thoroughly. The victims at some point, they end up not reporting such cases because they were lacking confidence having realised that some who have reported the incidences, were not properly addressed.  REPORTER:Media coverage of the abuse lists a cascade of terrible details – including of management watching incidents of rape of workers by supervisors on CCTV. US-based Worker Rights Consortium conducted the research that put the workers' stories and experiences into the public sphere.  WRC's Rola Abimourched explains. ROLA:We were commissioned to do an investigation of three factories owned by Nien Hsing. This commission was looking into just labour rights issues within those three factories. And so through that investigation we identified extensive pervasive gender based violence and harassment.  At first it was heartbreaking. I mean I think you read some of the testimony, you just can't get around it. You just have this culture of acceptance, you know there's no other reality but to accept that you could be a target of gender-based violence and harassment. So that was one reaction but I think another is sadly realising that this is not necessarily unique to the country, that we hear and have seen gender based violence and harassment be an issue in many other factories all over the world. I would say all the brands recognised that they did not want their brand to be associated with the type of abuse we had identified. And so that was definitely a motivating factor to find a solution. It was clear that none of their audits had caught this issue, and that there needed to be a comprehensive response and not the normal CSR response. I think the reputational risk was quite clear, and… I think I can stop there! REPORTER:The brands sourcing from Nien Hsing in Lesotho included Levi Strauss, The Children's Place, and Kontoor.  The demand was for an Enforceable Brand Agreement or EBA, between the brands, unions, and NGOs.  This means the brands are committed to supporting real measures to eradicate gender-based violence.  And they're legally liable if they don't follow through.  WRC, Solidarity Center, and others, helped provide the input and support that led to the design of the eventual EBA. SAM:We took a tour to US where we visited Fair Food Program. They were already working on a similar program so we went there for experience. We learned how they are operating, we learned how they are working with the brands, we learned how they are handling the cases. So we took that model to our country, and then conceptualised the model into our context.  ROLA:The Lesotho program includes, or established a independent monitoring entity that would investigate and reach remedy on cases of gender-based violence and harassment.  REPORTER:That entity is run by the unions and the NGOs.  Other key features are a popular education component, which includes two days' training on what Gender Based Violence and Harassment is, as well as how the EBA program operates. There's also a toll-free information line for workers to call, to ask any questions or talk through anything that they've experienced.   ROLA:And of course, there's a oversight committee that's made up of equal votes between the unions and the NGOs and the brand representatives, with a neutral chair, and then WRC has an observer status as does Nien Hsing on that committee.  SFX? REPORTER:But COVID, like just about everywhere else, has put this on hold.  At the time of production Lesotho was in its second lockdown.  But that doesn't mean nothing's changed in the Nien Hsing factories that are operating.  The scrutiny and pressure has made itself felt.  Motheba Ramaema again.  MOTHEBA:I could say like slightly. I want to put a bit of an emphasis on the slightly part. Things slightly changed. Because initially the supervisors were treating us like we are sex slaves. But now, because they know that we know our rights, they try to follow the proper channels when there's conflicts between me and my boss or between me and the big boss, you know. Because initially you'd just be told that you're fired. Now we know that if you do one-two-three, then that could lead to three warnings and then you could be fired. So now they communicate better with us, the treat us more like we are people. Other than earlier, when they used to treat us like we are animals. They haven't completely stopped but they have slightly come to realise that we are human as well.  REPORTER:This is changing the perceptions of some workers.  MOTHEBA:Actually I think workers are now more motivated to join the unions because they too have seen the slight changes that are there in the workplace. So now they see that the unions are actually here to help us. Because initially they thought unions were here to make money, because we have to pay a subscription fee. But now that they're seeing change, and now that we have training workshops and we tell them about their rights, and how to approach certain things, more people are now keen to actually join the union. It's just that now with this whole COVID pandemic, we don't really now have more time to actually talk, because everybody's now concentrating, let me do my work, let me be safe and go home. So I think after this whole pandemic, that's when we'll see a proper change.  HOST: Motheba Ramaema ending that report. Building up women's power to confront gender discrimination at work is a long road.  One union leader who's been walking that road is Rukmini, from the Garment Labour Union in Bangalore, southern India.  Harsha Vadlamani went to find out more.  REPORTER: The Garment Labour Union is a women-led trade union here in Bangalore, in southern India. Its office is bustling with something always on the go – meetings, training sessions for workers, or campaign planning. Probably all three.  I've come to meet Rukmini, the union's President and one of its founders.KAVERII've known her from 2016 so I think that's five years now.  REPORTER:My Kannada language skills are a bit limited – so Kaveri has come along too, to help out. Rukmini's a well-known figure now, leading campaigns for workers' rights, from Bangalore to international forums.  It's been a long journey that's led her to this work.  RUKMINI: [Original in Kannada] KAVERI:She was enrolled in school for three months after which she had to drop out, because her mother was the sole breadwinner in the family and her father used to drink and not take care of the family, so she had to help her mother in the field and also take care of the household chores.  REPORTER:Rukmini married at sixteen.  She says herself, she was too young to understand what that meant.  At first she thought leaving the village for Bangalore was an adventure.  After her first child, she realised the family needed more income.   HARSHA:Can you describe your first day at a garment factory? What was it like?  RUKMINI: [Original in Kannada] KAVERIWhen she started working she did make a lot of blunders which she laughs about even now. But then the whole day, the first day in the factory when she was told not to work, but to just work on the waste pieces, so she could get a hang of what the industry would be and what work she would have to do, so that's how she joined the garment factory.  RUKMINI: [Original in Kannada] KAVERIShe received around 750 Rupees and the day she received that she felt you know it was like a lot of money. And she was really excited because her husband received only 300 Rupees whereas she received around 750 so that was like a big achievement for her. And she did not know what to do with that money because it was huge! HARSHA:Rukmini, what was your first experience with the union? How did it happen? RUKMINI: [Original in Kannada] KAVERI:So initially when she joined with the garments there was a lot of harassment that workers had to face, they were verbally abused, scissors were thrown on them if they did not reach the production targets, the production targets were really high and they were not paid for the overtime work that they did. That is when Cividep in the year 2003 were distributing leaflets to workers in the garment factories saying they're organising a campaign or they're organising a training where workers could attend and understand the rights. And Rukmini did not know how to read it so the entire night she sat down to read and understand what was there in the leaflet that they have given to her. And when she realised that they were doing something for the benefit of the workers, she decided that she would attend this particular meeting and understand what the benefits are, understand the rules and policies. That is when Rukmini really heard the word union and understood what a union was and why a union is important.  REPORTER:After this meeting, Rukmini and others established a self-help group where women could learn about the rules, regulations, and entitlements for workers. This soon become something more formalised. Gender-based violence and harassment, was a big need from the very start.  KAVERI:There are cases of sexual harassment that happens in the factory but women don't really come forward because the moment the co-workers get to know that this has happened, you know the woman is treated in a really bad way. So they don't even share it with their family or with their husband or report it to the police station, because they feel that once the family gets to know, the neighbours, the co-workers get to know about this incident, the family would not allow them to work.  REPORTERThey founded the union – and then held a rally with around a thousand workers – the first time this had happened in the city.  Management tried do discourage her from working with the union. Rukmini says they tried to bribe her and launched a trumped-up investigation against her, which failed.  Her husband was also opposed.  RUKMINI: My husband told you not go to union, so many pressure in management, given lot of money. You take come home, you not go to union. I told my husband, I told you pressurise I not go to union, I give you divorce. I told my husband, my husband not told anything.  REPORTER: This was the first garment workers' union in the city since the industry first started – way back in the mid-seventies. RUKMINI: [Original in Kannada] KAVERI:In the year 2006 Rukmini started working as a full-time union activist. During this time she faced harassment by the male co-workers in the union. This made Rukmini realise that it was very important to form a women-led trade union because majority of the garment workers were women. In the year 2012, is when GLU, Garment Labour Union, a women-led trade union was started in Bangalore.  HARSHA:When you finally started GLU, what were the challenges that you faced?  RUKMINI: [Original in Kannada] KAVERI:So initially when they were part of another union they only worked as field activists. So they did not know how to interact or bargain with the management, or with the government or with the brands. So they found it very difficult. And during this period they took a lot of help from various organisations and NGOs to help them in drafting letters, drafting memorandums.  REPORTER:GLU was making its influence felt in policy.  RUKMINI: [Original in Kannada] KAVERI:In the year 2013, GLU was a part of the Minimum Board Wage Meeting which was organised by the government of Karnataka. The initial wages for the workers today is 9,500, but GLU is working towards making it mandate for the management to provide 21,000 as their monthly wages. The government also made a mandate that the eight hours work would be shifted to 12 hours work. GLU has fought against this announcement made by the government, and they've reduced the number of working hours from 12 to 8 hours now.  REPORTER:GLU's run other successful campaigns – for example, against a proposal to have women work night shift, which was then dropped.  The union now has eight thousand members.  Big challenges loom. India's government want to consolidate forty-four of its current labour laws, into just four.  This would badly affect worker wages, health and safety, and social benefits. It would also make it harder for unions like GLU to organise workers.  GLU's core strategy though, remains unchanged. RUKMINI: [Original in Kannada] KAVERI:Majority of the workforce in the garment factory is women, so it is very important that women folks take up leadership because only a woman can understand another woman's feelings and struggles. In the present scenario majority of the positions, higher positions like production manager, supervisors, are all being taken, all are men. So they wouldn't understand what a woman is going through, hence it's very important that women come forward and take up leadership.  RUKMINI: Together we can achieve anything.  HOST: Rukmini, ending that report by Harsha Vadlamani A major global effort towards outlawing gender based violence, is the ILO Convention 190 against Violence and Harassment.  Adopted in June 2019, it's now been ratified by three countries, Fiji, Namibia, and Uruguay. Italy's Parliament has also approved ratification.  Priscilla Robledo coordinates lobbying and advocacy for the Clean Clothes Campaign in Italy.  PRISCILLA:We had this one MP from the main centre-left party who's, she's very active on women issues and gender issues. She isn't really into labour rights as such but she's very much into the so-called civil rights. So her law proposal was filed on September 2019, and eventually in September 2020 the parliament kind of approved the authorisation to ratification with full unanimity of the chamber, which is pretty a success.  The knowledge and awareness about these topics in Parliament is there, but it's very scattered and belongs to just a very few people, typically women themselves, that really understand and appreciate the issues at stake. The majority of the senators who approved the legislation I think would think yeah, this is just an international convention that will benefit workers in the global south or in global supply chains. And this is also what the press rapporteur of the Senate has actually said, mentioning also the garment industry and of course this is because of our own advocacy upon him.  However though, this is also an issue for this country, Italy. The only data that we have are from the Institute of National Statistics, which in 2016 carried out the very first study on gender-based violence in the workplace. And this study found that two out of ten women in the workplace did experience violence and harassment of any sort. Eighty percent of them didn't report it, didn't defend themselves, and the reason is there are no means at the moment in this country that you can use for enforcing your rights.  C190 is just one step of a bigger puzzle. It's a lot more topical now that the EU is embarking on a process to eventually approve mandatory human rights due diligence legislation. Surely as a campaign we will focus on making sure that some gender, gender-based due diligence requirements will be included. But we know this isn't easy at all.  HOST:That's Priscilla Robledo from Clean Clothes Campaign in Italy. You'll hear more about mandatory human rights due diligence in the EU, in a later episode.  From EBAs, to the ILO convention, to building women's power in the trade union movement.  What does the Clean Clothes Campaign need to consider, on gender and gender-based violence? This is Sina Marx, from FEMNET in Germany. SINA:I think the Clean Clothes Campaign really need to address gender as a cross-cutting issue. I mean we do that since several years but to make it really strong and to really think of it in all areas of work that we are tackling. Because gender-based violence and harassment gets a very strong lobby since the adoption of the ILO convention, but gender is obviously is more than that. It also comes into force when looking at wages, when looking at occupational health and safety. So not say that gender is in all the topics but also say, gender is its own topic and we really want to bring this issue forward. Also looking at our own structures, are we giving it the attention that it needs. Are we addressing power relations within our own structures? Do the trade unions and partner organisations that we're working with, make it a priority within their work? If they don't, why not. I think that it's a very crucial point that trade unions not only in production countries in Asia for example, but also within trade unions in Europe, need to address the issue of hierarchies within their own structures. How can we support our partners in production countries to make gender a top priority but also how to, how are we able to support their struggles in order to bring for example the ILO convention to their national legislative bodies, how can we support the lobby and advocacy activities towards this? I think it's really the time now to make this a forerunner issue within our network.  HOST:That's Sina Marx.   And that's the end of our show.  Please send your ideas, feedback, and questions.  Email us at this address: podcast@cleanclothes.org. You can also see the email address on the podcast webpage. Matthew Abud produced this episode, with Anne Dekker, and the Clean Clothes Podcast team. Liz Parker, Tanne de Goei, and Johnson Chin-Yin Yeung. Steve Adam gave sound engineering support.  I'm Febriana Firdaus. See you for the next episode.  

The year may be coming to an end but worker's struggles continue and those fights are reflected in many of this week's shows. On the Work Stoppage podcast, the crew are joined by Charlie, a striking PhD student from Columbia University who talks about what their union's demands are and recounts a walkout involving the president of the university and his class on free speech. Then, Alex Bazeley and Bobby Wagner discuss the Major League Baseball lockout on the Working People podcast. On The Rick Smith Show, David Pepper reports on the slow death of democracy in the states, while we hear about the fight for healthcare heroes at Kaiser Permanente on the Solidarity Works podcast. During the lockdown, millions of migrant workers were sent home unpaid, and many were forced to pay their own way back after already being in debt to get a job in their destination country. But wage theft started long before the pandemic. This week's episode of The Solidarity Center Podcast highlights the struggles of migrant workers for decent working conditions and comes a few days before International Migrants Day today, December 18. Then, on Working Class History, we learn about the forces and events leading up to the Bread Intifada in Egypt in 1977. We wrap up this week's show with some of last Sunday's Evening of Favorite and Sacred Songs concert by the DC Labor Chorus, which aired on the Your Rights At Work radio show. Highlights from labor radio and podcast shows around the country, part of the national Labor Radio Podcast Network of shows focusing on working people's issues and concerns. #LaborRadioPod @empathymedialab @duesunion @SolidarityCntr @AFLCIO @WorkStoppagePod @WorkingPod @RickSmithShow @steelworkers @SolidarityCntr @wrkclasshistory @DCLabor Edited by Patrick Dixon and Mel Smith; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru Harold Phillips.

The co-founder and director of the Plantation Rural Education and Development Organization in Sri Lanka describes the work of the Justice for Wage Theft Campaign, a global network of unions and migrant rights organizations, including the Solidarity Center, that formed during the pandemic to push for governmental and employer reforms to ensure migrant workers have […]

This week's show starts in Thailand with Sawit Kaewwan, the secretary general of the State Enterprises Workers' Relations Confederation (SERC) on the Labor Link Podcast. Sawit has worked tirelessly to build solidarity between migrant workers and union workers in Thailand to improve workers' rights. UnionDues is back with special guest Tom Grinyer, Chief Executive of the British Medical Association—the UK's doctors' union. Tom discusses their goal to balance the doctors' needs with those of their patients and how that mission has helped them throughout the pandemic. For our last international show, the Solidarity Center's Podcast, features Rita Goyit from the Nigeria Labor Council. She talks about some of their creative and inspirational initiatives designed to fight against gender-based harassment in workplaces in Nigeria. Back in the states, worker John Yougstun joins The Checkout and talks about the working conditions at his employer HelloFresh, as well as his and his colleagues' attempt to form a union, and the company's latest response to their efforts. The AFL-CIO's State of the Unions podcast welcomes the new president of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, Jimmy Williams Jr. He highlights some of the pushback he has received for his advocacy of undocumented workers and the importance of a strong connected membership. In honor of Latina Pay Gap Day, El Desvío features Irasema Garza, Attorney and Co-Author of a report on the pandemic's impact on Latina workers. She explains the invisibility of Latinas in the workplace, and the link between childcare and their wage gap. And finally, with a Wisconsin dairy farmer who has lived through it all, A Better World Podcast traces the historical relationship between small dairy farms and government policies starting with Reaganomics and ending on Trump's USMCA deal.  Highlights from labor radio and podcast shows around the country, part of the national Labor Radio Podcast Network of shows focusing on working people's issues and concerns. #LaborRadioPod @empathymedialab @duesunion @SolidarityCntr @AFLCIO @checkoutradio @LCLAA @fairworldprj Edited by Patrick Dixon and Mel Smith; produced by Patrick Dixon and Chris Garlock; social media guru Harold Phillips.

This week we are starting with news fresh off the picket line. BCTGM's Bakery Workers Local 3G president Trevor Bidelman called into Your Rights at Work from Battle Creek, Michigan. He reports on the strike against Kellogg's, the demands of the workers, and also builds some solidarity with people calling into the show. Then, we have Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers on The State of the Unions. Weingarten discusses what's going on at Capitol Hill and what it means for the labor movement. Next up, we hear from the New York AFL-CIO's Union Strong, where the Commissioner of the NY Department of Labor, Roberta Reardon, discusses unemployment as well as how the DOL has been addressing workers safety concerns as more people are going back to work. For the next two shows we're going to have to zoom out a bit and look at two different countries and their own informal economies. On the Solidarity Center's Podcast Brother Gbenga, one of the founders of the Federation of the Informal Workers Organizations of Nigeria speaks from the capital Lagos. Gbenga explains the Nigerian informal economy, its problems, and how his organization helps those who work within it.  A continent away, the Fairwork Podcast, contextualizes Ukraine's informal economy with regards to its Soviet history and where its labor movement fits in with its political movements. Lastly, we are following up with the second part of The Legacy of Occupy Wall Street from Dissent magazine's Belabored podcast. Guests Ruth Milkman and Nastaran Mohit continue the conversation on the labor movement's relationship with Occupy and its lasting impacts on social movements today. Highlights from labor radio and podcast shows around the country, part of the national Labor Radio Podcast Network of shows focusing on working people's issues and concerns. #LaborRadioPod @AFLCIO @NYSAFLCIO @DCLabor @SolidarityCntr @TowardsFairWork @DissentMag Edited by Patrick Dixon and Melanie Smith; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru: Harold Phillips with Mel Smith.

On this week's show… From the Stick Together podcast, a report on the fracking in the Northern Territory boondoggle in which the government spent $50 milllion to create a handful of jobs… On Red Dead Redemption, one of our new Network shows out of Aukland, host Justine Sachs answers people's work woes about COVID now that they are in Level 3… On Activate Live, Machinists' Organizing Director Vinny Addeo discusses the PRO Act… From The Solidarity Center Podcast, Francisco Maltés, president of the Unitary Workers Center, the largest union confederation in Colombia, discusses a major victory against state oppression with a diverse coalition… The Belabored podcast marks the 10-year anniversary of the Occupy movement with Stephen Lerner and Jonathan Westin on what Occupy meant to labor then and now, and how it's changed organizing… From Working Class History, the first part of their podcast miniseries about the May 18 1980 uprising in Gwangju, South Korea against the US-backed military dictatorship. And we wrap up Grit NW host Joe Cadwell, offering his take on critics. Bonus track: Labor History in 2:00: The Southern Differential Highlights from labor radio and podcast shows around the country, part of the national Labor Radio Podcast Network of shows focusing on working people's issues and concerns. #LaborRadioPod @AFLCIO @duesunion @WorkingPod @stick__together @95bFM @MachinistsUnion @SolidarityCntr @DissentMag @wrkclasshistory @GritNw @ILLaborHistory Edited by Patrick Dixon and Melanie Smith; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru: Harold Phillips with Mel Smith.

On August 19th, workers at the massive General Motors plant in Silao, Mexico participated in an historic vote that ousted the corrupt and undemocratic protection union that had long controlled labor relations there. The effort to win such a vote was made possible by the labor rules and Rapid Response enforcement mechanism of the USMCA trade deal. In this Labor Day special, we sit down with Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch Research Director Daniel Rangel and long-time labor organizer Jeff Hermanson, who has been supporting the General Motors campaign through the AFL-CIO's Solidarity Center. We discuss the situation at Silao, its significance in the context of trade policy and what it says about the prospect for workers to utilize the USMCA to fight for labor rights in North America. Music: Groove Grove by Kevin MacLeod. Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3831-groove-grove. License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Phyo Sandar Soe, assistant general secretary of the Confederation of Trade Unions-Myanmar, describes how workers have been on the frontlines for democracy since the February 1 coup. Hear more on the Solidarity Center's podcast. Today's labor history: Postal unions and the Postal Service sign first labor contract in the history of the federal government. Today's quote: Phyo Sandar Soe. @wpfwdc #1u #unions #LaborRadioPod @AFLCIO @SolidarityCntr #Myanmar @CtumMyanmar @AFLCIOGlobal Supported by our friends at Union Plus; founding member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.

Phyo Sandar Soe, assistant general secretary of the Confederation of Trade Unions-Myanmar, describes how workers have been on the frontlines for democracy since the February 1 coup. Hear more on the Solidarity Center's podcast. Today's labor history: Postal unions and the Postal Service sign first labor contract in the history of the federal government. Today's quote: Phyo Sandar Soe. @wpfwdc #1u #unions #LaborRadioPod @AFLCIO @SolidarityCntr #Myanmar @CtumMyanmar @AFLCIOGlobal Supported by our friends at Union Plus; founding member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.

Is telework more productive? On Your Rights At Work, federal and DC workers say yes. Gene Lantz connects Independence Day and Bastille Day on the Workers Beat Extra, and on the Solidarity Center Podcast, host Shawna Bader-Blau talks with Phyo Sandar Soe, leader with the Confederation of Trade Unions, Myanmar, about the repression faced by trade unionists there and how workers are fighting back against the junta. You say you want a general strike? Marianne Garneau discusses the challenges on Laborwave Radio. On Tales from the Reuther Library, Blaming Teachers: How America simultaneously professionalized and patronized education. The Maritime Trades Dan Duncan talks about Buy American and the Jones Act on America's Workforce Radio and on The 141 Report, host Dave Lehigh talks shop with Darryl Currant, grievance committee chairperson at IAM Lodge 1725, about building a strong union in the South, and why it's important to organize as a team. We wrap up this week's show with poet Ed Werstein on the Blue Collar Gospel Hour. Bonus track: Lumber Workers Put Down Their Axes on today's Labor History in 2:00. Highlights from labor radio and podcast shows around the country, part of the national Labor Radio Podcast Network of shows focusing on working people's issues and concerns. #LaborRadioPod @AFLCIO @WorkingPod @DCLabor @KNON893FM @SolidarityCntr @LaborwaveRadio @ReutherLibrary @AWFUnionPodcast @IAMDistrict141 @TheBlueCollarG1 @ILLaborHistory Edited by Patrick Dixon, Melanie Smith and Chris Bangert-Drowns; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru: Harold Phillips

On this episode of Democracy that Delivers, our host Ken Jaques and our co-host and Executive Director, Andrew Wilson, are joined by International Republican Institute's President, Dr. Daniel Twining. This discussion concludes our podcast series titled, The Future of Democracy. Dr. Daniel Twining explains the importance of both building and protecting democracies and how the four core institutes of The National Endowment for Democracy, CIPE, IRI, NDI, and Solidarity Center, each have a unique approach to democracy work.

The Solidarity Center Executive Director Shawna Bader-Blau was the first guest today on the AWF Union Podcast. She spoke about the history of their organization and their funding, their mission to help workers obtain safe and healthy workplaces and keeping collective power across borders for all workers. Also featured on the podcast today was Samira Brooks, a homecare worker with SEIU VA 512. She spoke with AWF Union Podcast host Ed “Flash” Ferenc about her responsibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic, national day of action for homecare and healthcare workers and the constant fight for workers to get what they deserve.

A chat with Instagram sensation "Ya Fav Trashman"; how women remain the most economically impacted by the pandemic, and why it's hit migrant workers especially hard; a Teamster takes on UPS for allowing a congressman to pose as a driver; we'll also find out about why the Cedar Point Nursery case has broader implications for the entire labor movement; and we'll hear about organizing workers at Anchor Steam Brewing, as well as check in with Richard Lipsitz, the longest serving president of the Western New York Area Labor Federation, who's stepping aside after nearly five decades fighting for the working class. We've got reports from Working People, Solidarity Works, The Solidarity Center Podcast, My Labor Radio, Monday Morning QB, The Docker Podcast, Union Strong and Labor History in 2:00. Plus a bonus music track from Your Rights At Work commemorating the 110 anniversary of the deadly Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. Highlights from labor radio and podcast shows around the country, part of the national Labor Radio Podcast Network of shows focusing on working people's issues and concerns. Also, check out our livestream show, available on Facebook and YouTube, where you'll also find profiles of members of the Network. #LaborRadioPod @AFLCIO @WorkingPod @steelworkers @SolidarityCntr @mgevaart @WPFWMMQB @dockerpodcast @nysaflcio @ILLaborHistory @DCLabor Edited by Patrick Dixon and Chris Bangert-Drowns; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru: Harold Phillips

Host Shawna Bader-Blau, Solidarity Center executive director, talks with worker rights advocates in Belarus and Brazil who share inspiring stories of workers defending democracy.

On this episode of Democracy that Delivers, our host Ken Jaques and our co-host and Executive Director, Andrew Wilson, are joined by Solidarity Center’s Executive Director, Shawna Bader-Blau. This discussion is the second podcast in our series titled, The Future of Democracy. Shawna Bader-Blau shares her insight on the events of January 6th, COVID-19, and how they both have shaped and changed the future of democracy and democracy work.

Union City Radio on the passage of the PRO Act in the U.S. House of Representatives…three International Women's Day reports, from Radio Labour, KBOO Labor Radio and, from the brand-new Solidarity Center podcast, ending gender-based violence at work…the Heartland Labor Forum this week talked to members of the Bamazon Community Organizing Team, who've been working hard to support the Amazon workers organizing drive…and on Monday Morning QB, a report on efforts to organize a union by fitness instructors in Washington, DC…we wrap up this week's show with a report on something most of would probably rather not think about but we all need, and that's plumbing. America's Workforce Radio celebrates World Plumbing Day with the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters. Plus: from Labor History in 2:00, Ending Jim Crow on the Job. Highlights from labor radio and podcast shows around the country, part of the national Labor Radio Podcast Network of shows focusing on working people's issues and concerns. Also, check out our livestream show, available on Facebook and YouTube, where you'll also find profiles of members of the Network. #LaborRadioPod @DCLabor @radiolabour @kboo @SolidarityCntr @Heartland_Labor @WPFWMMQB @AWFUnionPodcast @ILLaborHistory Edited by Patrick Dixon and Chris Bangert-Drowns; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru: Harold Phillips

This week I sit down with Shawna Bader-Blau, who leads the Solidarity Center, and dive into the uncomfortable. I am inspired by Shawna's intention and interest in experiencing the deepest discomfort in an effort to grow. "I have paused a lot this year. I have taken moments to look and evaluate and say, there is racism, there is feminism, there is so much of this in our society.... I take time in that discomfort, I hear it, I learn from it, I take a minute to be in it so I can feel the importance of it."Shawna's boldness and courage are two things I would love for you to take with you in your day and decision making. Thank you so much to her for sitting down with me to talk through the messy middle we find ourselves in. 00:00 - 02:30 | Introduction & Check in 02:30 - 4:00 | Learned through the Pandemic, Racial Injustice, Hardship 4:00 - 10:00 | Importance of Connection 10:00 - 15:30 | Weakness Spotlighting 15:30 - 20:00 | Standing in Discomfort 20:00 - 25:00 | Leaders Lesson in Courage 25:00 - 27:00 | Closing

Solidarity Center is the largest international worker rights organization in the United States. We empower workers in over 60 countries to raise their voice for dignity on the job.

Labor Radio Podcast Network’s Weekly Wednesday Livestream interviews labor leaders about current labor issues with rotating hosts made up of network members. Guests for January 27, 2021 of LRPN Livestream included JJ Rosenbaum (Global Labor Justice/International Labor Rights Forum), Neha Misra (Solidarity Center), and  Shannon Lederer (AFL-CIO). LRPN Hosts: Bama Athreya (The Gig Podcast) and Evan Papp (Empathy Media Lab) Additional Guest information: Neha Misra is the Senior Specialist for Migration and Human Trafficking at the Solidarity Center. Neha serves on the executive board of the International Labor Recruitment Working Group and represents the Solidarity Center in the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST). Before joining the Solidarity Center, she worked in Bosnia and Herzegovina on postwar elections and democracy, and in the United States as a senior attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice.  JJ Rosenbaum is the Executive Director - Global Labor Justice / International Labor Rights Forum. JJ is an attorney, organizer, and human rights strategist advocating for human rights, decent work for all, and fair migration. For over two decades, JJ has used legal, policy, and advocacy strategies to win access to rights and collective power for low-wage workers and advised workers’ centers on transnational grassroots collaborations. Shannon Lederer is the Director of Immigration Policy at AFL-CIO. As director of immigration policy for the AFL-CIO, Shannon Lederer works with union affiliates and allies in all sectors of the labor movement to develop and advance policies that promote workers' rights and shared prosperity. In her 17 years in the labor movement, Lederer has focused extensively on efforts to reform our abusive guest-worker programs and regulate the international labor recruitment industry. She also has worked closely with global unions to develop cross-border strategies to more effectively represent and defend workers in a migratory labor context. Credits: Produced by Chris Garlock (Union City Radio); Executive Producer and engineer and editor is Evan Matthew Papp (Empathy Media Lab).  About the Labor Radio Podcast Network The Labor Radio Podcast Network is both a one-stop shop for audiences looking for labor content and a resource for labor broadcasters and podcasters. Resources include a weekly podcast summarizing shows produced by network members, marketing on social media, a website listing network shows and how audiences can find them, a database for contacting expert guests, access to a private listserv for Network members, and a weekly video call to increase solidarity and support amongst members.   Launched in April 2020, the Labor Radio Podcast Network focuses on working class issues that are often overlooked in the corporate-controlled media. The goal of the network is to help raise the voices of working people and strengthen organized labor to demand and achieve better treatment from workplaces and elected officials. If you are a journalist interested in learning more or if you’re a labor radio or podcast producer and want to join the network, contact us at info@laborradionetwork.org.   Follow the conversation on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram using the hashtag #LaborRadioPod or visit the website at: https://www.laborradionetwork.org/.   FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/LaborRadioNet/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/laborradionet INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/laborradionet/ WEEKLY PODCAST NETWORK SUMMARY: https://laborradiopodcastweekly.podbean.com/   #LaborRadioPod #1U #UnionStrong

Labor Radio Podcast Network’s Weekly Wednesday Livestream interviews labor leaders about current labor issues with rotating hosts made up of network members. Guests for January 27, 2021 of LRPN Livestream included JJ Rosenbaum (Global Labor Justice/International Labor Rights Forum), Neha Misra (Solidarity Center), and  Shannon Lederer (AFL-CIO). LRPN Hosts: Bama Athreya (The Gig Podcast) and Evan Papp (Empathy Media Lab) Additional Guest information: Neha Misra is the Senior Specialist for Migration and Human Trafficking at the Solidarity Center. Neha serves on the executive board of the International Labor Recruitment Working Group and represents the Solidarity Center in the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST). Before joining the Solidarity Center, she worked in Bosnia and Herzegovina on postwar elections and democracy, and in the United States as a senior attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice.    JJ Rosenbaum is the Executive Director - Global Labor Justice / International Labor Rights Forum. JJ is an attorney, organizer, and human rights strategist advocating for human rights, decent work for all, and fair migration. For over two decades, JJ has used legal, policy, and advocacy strategies to win access to rights and collective power for low-wage workers and advised workers’ centers on transnational grassroots collaborations. Shannon Lederer is the Director of Immigration Policy at AFL-CIO. As director of immigration policy for the AFL-CIO, Shannon Lederer works with union affiliates and allies in all sectors of the labor movement to develop and advance policies that promote workers' rights and shared prosperity. In her 17 years in the labor movement, Lederer has focused extensively on efforts to reform our abusive guest-worker programs and regulate the international labor recruitment industry. She also has worked closely with global unions to develop cross-border strategies to more effectively represent and defend workers in a migratory labor context. Credits: Produced by Chris Garlock (Union City Radio); Executive Producer and engineer and editor is Evan Matthew Papp (Empathy Media Lab).    About the Labor Radio Podcast Network The Labor Radio Podcast Network is both a one-stop shop for audiences looking for labor content and a resource for labor broadcasters and podcasters. Resources include a weekly podcast summarizing shows produced by network members, marketing on social media, a website listing network shows and how audiences can find them, a database for contacting expert guests, access to a private listserv for Network members, and a weekly video call to increase solidarity and support amongst members. Launched in April 2020, the Labor Radio Podcast Network focuses on working class issues that are often overlooked in the corporate-controlled media. The goal of the network is to help raise the voices of working people and strengthen organized labor to demand and achieve better treatment from workplaces and elected officials. If you are a journalist interested in learning more or if you’re a labor radio or podcast producer and want to join the network, contact us at info@laborradionetwork.org. Follow the conversation on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram using the hashtag #LaborRadioPod or visit the website at: https://www.laborradionetwork.org/.   FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/LaborRadioNet/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/laborradionet INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/laborradionet/ WEEKLY PODCAST NETWORK SUMMARY: https://laborradiopodcastweekly.podbean.com/   #LaborRadioPod #1U #UnionStrong

This week's episode of Asia Unscripted features two guests: Tim Ryan and Atley Chock of the Solidarity Center, the largest U.S.-based international worker rights organization partnering directly with workers and their unions. Tim Ryan is the Asia Regional Program Director for Solidarity Center, and previously served in Asia as the Solidarity Center’s Country Program Director for Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Atley Chock is a Senior Program Officer in the Solidarity Center's Asia Department and supports capacity building, training, and other technical assistance programs for trade unions and worker organizations in Southeast Asia.In this episode, Tim and Atley speak about workers' rights in Thailand as well as labor disruptions and challenges caused by COVID-19. Please be reminded that the US-Asia Institute is a nonpartisan, non-advocacy organization with no policy agenda. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the US-Asia Institute. Support the show (https://www.usasiainstitute.org/support-usai-ch)

Episode 195: Voting in America, compared to many other countries, is not easy. That’s always been true. Donald Trump’s relentless effort to undermine the vote in November, in this case by crippling the postal service and trying to make it impossible for ballots to be counted on time, is surely corrupt. But, the undermining of the vote is made easier by a rickety election system that has existed for decades. Miles Rapoport, a former Connecticut Secretary of State and, now, Senior Practice Fellow in American Democracy at Harvard’s Ash Center, talks to me about the threat to voting this Fall, what we can do and his bigger project to implement a national mandate that everyone must vote as a civic requirement. Support the Working Life Network here: www.patreon.com/WorkingLifePodcast and at ActBlue: secure.actblue.com/donate/working-life-1 If you wanted to pick a country that has been ravaged for decades by economic, political and physical blows a grimly appropriate choice would be Haiti—a country that is the poorest place to live in the Western Hemisphere. Its people endured decades of autocratic rule under the Duvalier regimes, who looted the country. More recently, the scars of a 7.0 earthquake in 2010 still loom large because a desperately poor country always has less ability to cope with a natural disaster and, then, fully recover. Lauren Stewart, the Solidarity Center’s Regional Director for the Americas, joins me to tell the tale of a campaign by Haitian garment workers to survive the COVID-19 pandemic which has put many out of work. Support the Working Life Network here: www.patreon.com/WorkingLifePodcast and at ActBlue: secure.actblue.com/donate/working-life-1 -- Jonathan Tasini Follow me on Twitter @jonathantasini Sign up for The Working Life Podcast at: www.workinglife.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jonathan.tasini.3

This year marks 20 years since the US first made a historic commitment to ending modern slavery.“We’ve accomplished so much in the last 20 years,” said John Richmond, US ambassador-at-large of the State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, during the June 25 release of the 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report.Related: 'American exceptionalism': EU travel bans show US is abdicating global leadership, former CDC head says“Our engagement on this has made a difference. This report and the US have made a positive difference.”Every year, the US issues an annual report that ranks countries by their progress fighting human trafficking. Countries in the lowest category are restricted from receiving US aid.The 2020 report lists 22 countries receiving improved rankings for their work on the issue over the past year.“The department put this out on time without any delays in the midst of a global pandemic and that itself serves to show the priority this administration and the secretary has placed on this issue,” Richmond said, reminding the audience that President Donald Trump had also hosted a summit on human trafficking, and issued an executive order to combat online child exploitation.But advocates across the globe warn that with the pandemic and economic downturn, there’s an urgent risk that more people will fall prey to human traffickers. They say the report is poorly timed, and counterproductive.“At this moment, at the 20th anniversary, the State Department wants to tell a story of success and progress. And that's just not the story that the data tell.”Martina Vandenberg, The Human Trafficking Legal Center“At this moment, at the 20th anniversary, the State Department wants to tell a story of success and progress,” said Martina Vandenberg, the founder and president of The Human Trafficking Legal Center. “And that's just not the story that the data tell.”Especially because right now, she says, the global pandemic is making more people vulnerable to human trafficking.Related: As Lebanon’s financial crisis worsens, migrant workers are being dumped on the streets like ‘trash’“So, what we're seeing around the globe is people going into greater debt. People now trapped in countries to which they have migrated, but completely unemployed,” she said. “And the likelihood is that those people will be more vulnerable to indentured servitude and more vulnerable to forced labor when the world begins to open up again.”Vandenburg also takes issue with the US giving itself the highest possible ranking. Many advocates felt that the US deserved to be downgraded this year.Jean Bruggeman is the executive director of Freedom Network USA. She says many of the president’s border and immigration policies increase wait times and denials, putting more people at risk for trafficking, including vulnerable populations, like LGBTQI people.“I do not think that the United States is engaged in sustained efforts. And I think the report tells you that when they say that, you know, they maintained prosecution efforts, at best, they reduced efforts to provide protection. And the only prevention work they do is federal agency training, which is not actually prevention. It’s not actually changing the circumstances, which puts people at risk.”Related: Options dwindle for Venezuelan migrants across Latin America during the pandemicNeha Misra, a specialist at the Solidarity Center, a nongovernmental organization, says the report’s rankings have always been somewhat politicized, but this year’s takes it to another level. She questions, for example, the upgraded ranking of Saudi Arabia, and says it may lead that country to do less to combat trafficking.“Even countries that don't get US aid, reputationally, it meant a lot. It was embarrassing to be on [the] tier-three or the tier-two watchlist. And if the tier rankings don't mean anything, then that reputational pressure is gone.”Neha Misra, Solidarity Center“Even countries that don't get US aid, reputationally, it meant a lot. It was embarrassing to be on [the] tier-three or the tier-two watchlist. And if the tier rankings don't mean anything, then that reputational pressure is gone.”For survivors who are now in the fight against human trafficking, the report is disheartening, says Suamhirs Piraino-Guzman. He was kidnapped in Honduras as a child and smuggled into the United States by human traffickers.Related: In Ciudad Juárez, a new 'filter hotel' offers migrants a safe space to quarantinePiraino-Guzman was appointed by President Barack Obama to the US Advisory Council on Human Trafficking in 2015.“I’ll be honest with you. I think we need to stop pretending that we're moving forward.”If the US isn’t honest about the reality of human trafficking, he said, it’s not really serving the people who need help the most. 

Episode 186: I pull back the lens a bit on the Black Lives Matter movement to consider how the uprising is touching the consciousness of workers around the globe, especially in Africa. Chris Johnson, the regional director of Africa for the Solidarity Center, joins me in a conversation about the close relationship between racism and economic oppression, and how African workers are linking the BLM movement to their own economic oppression. Support the Working Life Network here: www.patreon.com/WorkingLifePodcast and at ActBlue: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/working-life-1 How would you like to have a governor who saved a man five hours before his state-ordered execution? That’s a choice New Hampshire Democrats will have in the September primary to choose their nominee for governor—he is Andru Volinsky who joins me to talk about his long-time civil rights advocacy, not to mention his work on jobs, climate change and taxes. Support the Working Life Network here: www.patreon.com/WorkingLifePodcast and at ActBlue: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/working-life-1 Stop the looters! Jail them now…people like Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, HCA Healthcare CEO Samuel Hazen and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin—all of whom, as I discuss, are the real big-time looters who are fleecing the country. Support the Working Life Network here: www.patreon.com/WorkingLifePodcast and at ActBlue: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/working-life-1 -- Jonathan Tasini Follow me on Twitter @jonathantasini Sign up for The Working Life Podcast at: www.workinglife.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jonathan.tasini.3

EPISODE 179 There is no way to downplay the risks to U.S. frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic—and I've dug into that in the past month or so, in our various segments talking about workers in health care, postal service, hog and poultry processing, airlines, rail, and subways. It's dangerous and frightening—and it's exponentially more terrifying when you look at the global threat to workers. Think about what tens of millions of workers in poorer countries, with far fewer resources, are facing. The images coming out of Africa, Asia and South America showing huge migrations of workers are mind-boggling—how do you even wrap your mind around how to achieve social distancing at bus depots in India, crammed with huge crowds of migrants, who are desperately trying to get home because they have nowhere to go as industries have shut down in the pandemic. Or, consider Haiti, the poorest country in this hemisphere—close your eyes and think of garment workers who pack into tap-taps (those are public minibus transports) to ride to factories that are teeming with people, that on a good day, are dangerous, risky places to work—and, then, arriving at a factory to find that the employer is forcing workers to sign a piece of paper that says if the worker gets sick that worker is legally responsible for their illness. Shawna Bader-Blau, executive director of the Solidarity Center, joins me to paint the global picture. And, then, courtesy of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH), it's the Dirty Dozen of the Corona Pandemic, and a few other dishonorable mentions—companies like Amazon and Tyson Foods who, surprise, put profits over the safety and health of workers, along with big corporate lobbyists who work hard to block paid sick leave. I chat with Peter Dooley, a National COSH leading workplace safety and health expert, about the Dirty Dozen, and we also discuss a model framework for how to make sure workers stay safe in the pandemic.

Episode 179: There is no way to downplay the risks to U.S. frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic—and I’ve dug into that in the past month or so, in our various segments talking about workers in health care, postal service, hog and poultry processing, airlines, rail, and subways. It’s dangerous and frightening—and it’s exponentially more terrifying when you look at the global threat to workers. Support the podcast here: www.patreon.com/WorkingLifePodcast Think about what tens of millions of workers in poorer countries, with far fewer resources, are facing. The images coming out of Africa, Asia and South America showing huge migrations of workers are mind-boggling—how do you even wrap your mind around how to achieve social distancing at bus depots in India, crammed with huge crowds of migrants, who are desperately trying to get home because they have nowhere to go as industries have shut down in the pandemic. Or, consider Haiti, the poorest country in this hemisphere—close your eyes and think of garment workers who pack into tap-taps (those are public minibus transports) to ride to factories that are teeming with people, that on a good day, are dangerous, risky places to work—and, then, arriving at a factory to find that the employer is forcing workers to sign a piece of paper that says if the worker gets sick that worker is legally responsible for their illness. Shawna Bader-Blau, executive director of the Solidarity Center, joins me to paint the global picture. Support the podcast here: www.patreon.com/WorkingLifePodcast And, then, courtesy of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH), it’s the Dirty Dozen of the Corona Pandemic, and a few other dishonorable mentions—companies like Amazon and Tyson Foods who, surprise, put profits over the safety and health of workers, along with big corporate lobbyists who work hard to block paid sick leave. I chat with Peter Dooley, a National COSH leading workplace safety and health expert, about the Dirty Dozen, and we also discuss a model framework for how to make sure workers stay safe in the pandemic. Support the podcast here: www.patreon.com/WorkingLifePodcast -- Jonathan Tasini Follow me on Twitter @jonathantasini Sign up for The Working Life Podcast at: www.workinglife.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jonathan.tasini.3

Episode 148: Take your shirt off. Or your pants. Almost certainly those garments and others were made in a faraway country, by people making pennies who work in horrendous conditions. I think we all know that when we are told to think about it—but we don’t think about it on a daily basis. I talk with Sonia Mistry of the Solidarity Center about the squalid, dangerous conditions in Bangladesh faced by garment workers—and a fire that recently made thousands homeless. Support the podcast here: www.patreon.com/WorkingLifePodcast Then, I enter into the land of “anti-deferral accounting”—that just rolls off the lips, right? Well, it might not be the most user-friendly lingo but it could add up to a trillion and a half more dollars to shore up Social Security—coming from the pockets of the richest of the richest. Steve Wamhoff, the director of federal tax policy at the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, explains it all. Support the podcast here: www.patreon.com/WorkingLifePodcast -- Jonathan Tasini Follow me on Twitter @jonathantasini Sign up for The Working Life Podcast at: www.workinglife.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jonathan.tasini.3

Episode 138: Wait, didn’t we just talk last week about the attacks on government workers? Well, a week doesn’t go by when another attack against people, who keep our society working, is launched by this administration—this time it’s the workers at the Environmental Protection Agency. AFGE Local 1236 Bethany Dreyfus joins me to give us the lowdown on the draconian rules imposed just days ago. I can’t add to the descriptions of the daily despicable conditions faced by migrants and refugees at the southern border. Instead, what I wanted to do today is go the root of what brought so many to flee their homes—what made people refugees? It’s economic oppression, corruption, the lack of the rule of law—all blessed, supported, encouraged and funded by the U.S. I look at this in two conversations. First, Vicki Gass, Senior Policy expert for Central America and Mexico for Oxfam, describes why people become refugees. And, then, Gladys Cisneros the Solidarity Center’s country program director in Mexico, digs into whether changes in Mexico’s labor law system, especially the process of enforcement, are significant enough to believe that a new NAFTA treaty wouldn’t simply be a new, continuing blank check for corporations to exploit workers. -- Jonathan Tasini Follow me on Twitter @jonathantasini Sign up for The Working Life Podcast at: www.workinglife.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jonathan.tasini.3

Episode 123: If you are looking for a place to see the scourge of free market capitalism at work, you don’t have to look further than Bangladesh. I talk with Monika Hartsel of the Solidarity Center about the thousands of workers in Bangladesh who have been recently fired for protesting and demanding better wages. I, then, welcome back Marianela Acuña Arreaza of the Houston-based Faith and Justice Worker Center to discuss the widespread wage theft her organizations has uncovered. Our Robber Barons of the week are the CEOs of Big Pharma.

For International Women’s History Month, Democracy That Delivers will feature podcasts for CIPE’s Center for Women’s Economic Empowerment every week of March.   Robin Runge is the senior gender Specialist at Solidarity Center, another core institute of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). She is an expert on the development of policies and laws domestically and internationally to address the impact that gender-based violence and other equality issues have on women in the workplace. The Equality and Inclusion Department at Solidarity Center works to empower women to be able to confront and challenge global systems that subject them to discrimination in the workplace. During this podcast, Runge, along with Barbara Langley, Director of CIPE’s Center for Women’s Economic Empowerment, and host Ken Jaques, discuss the effects of violence in the world of work. They discuss the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) new legally binding convention on violence in the workplace, which is expecting an upcoming vote in the summer. The convention would strengthen and advance the #MeToo movement in three important ways.

Episode 117: The rich are living the creed of the 1987 film “Wall Street”: Greed is good! Consider this: 26 billionaires now have a collective wealth of $1.4 trillion—equal to the wealth of the bottom 3.8 billion people on the planet. That’s just a smidgen of the immorality I discuss with Oxfam America’s Paul O’Brien, whose organization has a startling report out called “Public Good or Private Wealth?”. Then, I chat with Hind Cherrouk, regional director for North Africa and the Middle East for the Solidarity Center, about the mass uprisings by workers in Tunisia who are seeking a small raise so they can actually eat. Our Robber Barons of the week are those 26 billionaires spotlighted by Oxfam.

Episode 100: A quick "birthday" promo: you are listening to the 100th episode of the podcast. Make today the day you become one of our small financial supporters--go to workinglife.org, click on the Patreon link and sign up to be a monthly contributor. Every bite of food you take has a lot of sweat and tears of agricultural workers around the world. I welcome back our good friend and global organizer Shawna Bader-Blau, executive director of the Solidarity Center, to talk about the tens of millions of people who toil in the food global supply chain--and how to build a food justice movement. Turning to the recent elections in New York, Katherine Brezler, grassroots activist extraordinaire, drops by to pick apart why progressives should feel pretty damn good about the results at the polls. Our Robber Baron of the week is the CEO of a drug company that jacked up the price of a critical drug more than 500%.

Producer/Host: Amy Browne The Eastern Maine Labor Council and Food AND Medicine hosted their annual Labor Day Celebration at the Solidarity Center in Brewer Monday. This year's theme was “When We Unite, We Win!”. In keeping with that theme, representatives from area unions talked about the successes they say have been brought about in recent months when workers acted in solidarity. Former Maine Senate Majority Leader Troy Jackson was the emcee: (NOTE: This is a special 30 minute edition of Maine Currents which was aired only via our internet stream while our transmitter was off-air for tower repairs. We’ll return to our regular hour-long format next week) The post Maine Currents 9/9/15 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

U.S. Special Representative for International Labor Affairs, Sarah Fox, participates in a discussion with Shawna Bader-Blau, the Executive Director of the Solidarity Center on the Solidarity Center’s work, some of its recent successes, and opportunities to continue to strengthen workers’ rights worldwide.

U.S. Special Representative for International Labor Affairs, Sarah Fox, participates in a discussion with Shawna Bader-Blau, the Executive Director of the Solidarity Center on the Solidarity Center’s work, some of its recent successes, and opportunities to continue to strengthen workers’ rights worldwide.