Scott Walker tried to destroy Wisconsin’s unions, but these organizers are still fighting

We're kicking off Season 5 of Working People with a multi-part series on teachers and public sector unions in the state of Wisconsin. As part of a special collaboration between The Real News Network and In These Times magazine for “The Wisconsin Idea,” Max, Cameron Granadino (TRNN), and Hannah Faris (In These Times) traveled to Wisconsin in the summer of 2021 to investigate two intertwining stories that have played a crucial role in the right-wing shift and the decades-long attack on workers and unions in a state that used to be a bellwether of the labor movement and progressive politics in America.

Over the course of this series, we'll be talking to teachers and organizers in Wisconsin to see how, nearly 50 years after the infamous Hortonville teachers strike and a decade after the passing of Act 10 under Republican governor Scott Walker, they are still fighting to recover and build worker power. In this interview, Max talks with Amanda and Jeff Frenkel, two K-12 teachers in Hortonville and union organizers with the American Federation of Teachers, about the challenges they and their coworkers are facing today, and about the ways they are working to rebuild the union and serve their community.

Pre-Production: Maximillian Alvarez, Hannah Faris, Alice Herman, Cameron Granadino, Eleni Schirmer (research consultant), John Fleissner (research consultant), John Yaggi (research consultant), Harvey J. Kaye (research consultant), Jon Shelton (research consultant), Adam Mertz (research consultant)

Studio: Cameron Granadino
Post-Production: Cameron Granadino, Stephen Frank, Kayla Rivara, Jules Taylor


Read the transcript and full description of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/scott-walker-tried-to-destroy-wisconsins-unions-but-these-small-town-organizers-are-still-fighting


Additional links/info below...

American Federation of Teachers—Wisconsin website, Facebook page, and Twitter page:
https://www.aft-wisconsin.org/
https://www.facebook.com/AFTWisconsin/
https://twitter.com/AFTWisconsin

Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "The Fight to Organize Teachers in Small-Town Wisconsin":
https://therealnews.com/the-fight-to-organize-teachers-in-small-town-wisconsin

Eleni Schirmer, Gender and Education, "When Solidarity Doesn't Quite Strike: The 1974 Hortonville, Wisconsin Teachers' Strike and the Rise of Neoliberalism":
https://www.academia.edu/26744754/_When_solidarity_doesnt_quite_strike_the_1974_Hortonville_Wisconsin_teachers_strike_and_the_rise_of_neoliberalism_Gender_and_Education’

In These Times investigative series: The Wisconsin Idea:
https://inthesetimes.com/thewisconsinidea

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive at freemusicarchive.org):
Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song"

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