Work Stoppage

This week dives into significant labor actions, featuring a strike by 60,000 healthcare workers at the University of California and a massive one-day general strike in Greece. Discussions emphasize the urgent fight for trans rights within healthcare and the collective struggle against job cuts affecting federal workers. The team highlights Alaska Airlines' recent contract wins and ongoing efforts by Delta workers to unionize, pushing back against corporate exploitation. The impact of political decisions on worker rights and solidarity across sectors makes for a compelling listen.

This week, the fight against the Trump administration's policies continues, with union victories among restaurant and healthcare workers shining a light on labor solidarity. Tensions rise as Teamsters support controversial labor endorsements. Global headlines bring news from Finland and Cameroon, while teachers in LA celebrate successful contract negotiations. The conversation also examines the implications of federal layoffs and the challenges faced by postal workers against privatization. This vibrant discussion captures the pulse of the labor movement's ongoing struggles and achievements.

UFCW Solidarity Pledge: https://www.ew4d.org/blog/solidarity-pledge We start this week's episode with headlines on UnitedHealthcare, Starbucks Workers United, the SEIU, pension fights in Panama and Belgium, and port workers in Kenya. 10,000 workers in UFCW Local 7 in Colorado remain on strike at King Soopers against attempts to gut their retirement benefits. 20,000 workers at the University of California prepare to strike for fair pay later this month. The fight to organize Amazon continues, even after this week's disappointing election loss in North Carolina. We do our best to keep up with the flurry of attacks on federal workers and the organized fight back against them. Finally, workers are responding to massive layoffs at Alamo Drafthouse with strikes. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee More info on the show at http://workstoppagepod.com/

Louisiana Nurses Strike Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/donate-to-the-nurses-strike-fund Another whirlwind week of attacks on workers rights and the fightback from the labor movement. In our headlines we check in on the Oregon Nurses Association, the UFW, Student Workers of Columbia, the Professional Staff Congress, and more workers across the country and the world. 10,000 workers at King Soopers in Colorado are on strike, we discuss the first week of UFCW Local 7's fight for a fair contract. Nurses in New Orleans used the spotlight on the city for the Super Bowl to highlight their struggle for safe staffing. Workers in National Nurses United, the UE, AAUP, SPFE and many other unions across the country are fighting back against the twin assaults on our trans siblings and our immigrant co-workers, we discuss some of their first steps. Finally, the AFGE, AFSCME, and the AFL-CIO at large are leading the fight against Elon Musk's attempts to purge and loot the federal government. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee More info on the show at http://workstoppagepod.com/

We're still drinking from the firehose of labor news this week with another massive episode. We start with some headlines on AI in healthcare, a class action lawsuit against Apple, and follow ups with DC restaurant workers, Indian Samsung workers, and Teamsters at CostCo. In our first main story we check in on the imminent union vote at the RDU1 Amazon warehouse in Garner, NC. Workers are fighting back against the billionaire's assault on workers both at the federal and the local level, we run down some of the efforts. Once again we were so lucky to be joined by C Moline to discuss the recent rejection of the proposed contract by Letter Carriers around the country. Finally, we close celebrating the major victory by workers at Whole Foods in Philadelphia, who won the first union at the company with the UFCW. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee More info on the show at http://workstoppagepod.com/

Petition Supporting Monterey Bay Aquarium Workers: https://mbaworkersunited.org/community-letter-support We have a supersized episode this week, with so much going on we could barely cover everything. We start with an extended headline segment covering developments in Palestine, Canada, Pakistan, Las Vegas, Milwaukee, Chicago, and Monterey Bay. We were also lucky this week to be joined for a short interview with Claudia Irizarry Aponte, investigative journalist for The City, to discuss her recent investigation of unions in the home health care industry in NYC. Trump started his second turn with a flurry of attacks on workers, we discuss some of the ways unions like AFGE and the CTU are fighting back. We discuss an unusual area for us this week, fine dining, as workers at 5 of the swankiest restaurants in Washington DC are unionizing. Amazon went scorched earth on Canadian workers this week, shuttering its entire operations in Quebec rather than bargain with  its workers. Finally, despite its friendly reputation, Costco is playing hardball at the bargaining table, which may force 18,000 Teamsters to strike this week! Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee More info on the show at http://workstoppagepod.com/

Know Your Rights Toolkit: https://assets.nationbuilder.com/arisechicago/pages/2726/attachments/original/1735833065/Toolkit_immigrant_workers_-_digital_EN.pdf Alamo Drafthouse Worker Support Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/mutual-fund-for-laid-off-alamo-drafthouse-employees ILWU Los Angeles Wildfire Relief Fund: https://checkout.square.site/merchant/6RSQCXFP2D8CP/checkout/EBJ3K7AK2WR2SCPQUAHP2DUB Trump's back, which means its time to ramp up the fight back against attacks on our fellow workers. After our headlines, we discuss how the government of the Bahamas used legal repression to crush a planned two day nationwide strike before it happened. Then we discuss a recent exposé in The City by friend of the show Claudia Irizarry Aponte on a "union" for home health workers that does more for the bosses than for its members. Also this week, we've got two stories on wage theft, union busting, and retaliation by Geo Group against immigrants detained in its privately operated concentration camps. Finally, we discuss a recent Labor Notes piece sharing the lessons from union struggles to defend immigrant workers across the country and how our unions can defend our fellow workers. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee More info on the show at http://workstoppagepod.com/

We're fully into the new year and bosses are doing all sorts of new horrors. We start with updates from the UFW, the Utah Ski Patrol, CIR-SEIU, NYU, and Amazon. In our first major story, the ILA have reached an agreement on a new deal just a week ahead of a new shutdown of East Coast ports. Next, in a major shift in the labor landscape, the SEIU have rejoined the AFL-CIO after 20 years independent. As fires ravaged Los Angeles this week, companies sent their workers into the smoke with no regard for human life. Thousands of doctors, nurses, and other caregivers have hit the picket lines in Oregon's largest healthcare strike ever. Finally, the UAW have filed for another massive union vote in the South this week, this time to represent battery plant workers in Kentucky at BlueOval SK. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee More info on the show at http://workstoppagepod.com/

It's our first episode of the new year, so let's ring it in with some class struggle! We start with some headlines on workers at Amazon, Starbucks, Milk-Bone, VW, Hilton Hotels, and the University of Southern California. For our first full story we discuss a recent investigation by The Guardian into the appalling conditions faced by the migrant workers who produce Champagne. Next, ski patrol workers in Park City, Utah are on strike at the country's biggest resort company. Mental health workers at Kaiser Permanente have been on strike since October, the latest group of workers fighting criminal understaffing in the US healthcare system. Speaking of nurses, we discuss recent analysis by People's Dispatch on the way imperialism forces many nurses in Brazil to migrate to the West. Finally, we discuss reports of a potential neutrality agreement between the UAW and Rivian. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee More info on the show at http://workstoppagepod.com/

Its our final show of the year, and we take a look back on the major union victories, industrial actions, and trends in labor that characterized 2024. Millions of workers took to the streets in opposition to the US-Israeli genocide in Palestine, which looks to shape labor relations on campus in 2025. Worker organizing has surged since 2020, and we look back on all the violence unleashed by the supposedly democratic West against worker mobilization this year. Perhaps no single business is as emblematic of the modern US economy as Amazon, and this year the Teamsters unified the struggle to organize workers there and took it to the next level. As our society becomes more and more unequal, more workers who used to be self-employed professionals: doctors, lawyers, and highly compensated tech workers, have been forced to organize. This year also saw a new level of corporate attacks on the NLRB, portending a major struggle over workers rights in the second Trump Administration. Finally, it  wouldn't be a year end show without some predictions, so we take a stab at our thoughts on the year to come. Happy New Year! Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee More info on the show at http://workstoppagepod.com/