The Real News Podcast

On Tuesday, Aug. 22, the Teamsters union announced that its members voted to ratify the national UPS contract by 86.3% – and with record turnout. Workers won significant raises, the abolition of the two-tier driver system, air conditioning in package cars, thousands of new full-time jobs, and more.In our previous episode, we discussed the gains of the tentative agreement and the years of Teamsters organizing it took to make them possible, including the past year's contract campaign which built a credible strike threat. In this episode, we dug deeper into the various layers of members' reactions to the contract, as well as what's required of the membership to enforce it and build on it moving forward.We invited Greg Kerwood, a UPSer from Local 25 in Somerville, Massachusetts, back on the show to share his point of view. Greg explained what he's heard from the membership, how social media may have distorted members' views, and why it's important to translate the disappointment of some workers – including his own – into productive organizing on the shop floor.We also share some news on the future of The Upsurge…*Hosted by Teddy OstrowEdited by Teddy Ostrow and Ruby WalshProduced by NYGP & Ruby Walsh, in partnership with In These Times & The Real NewsMusic by Casey GallagherCover art by Devlin Claro Resetar**Support the show at Patreon.com/upsurgepod.Follow us on Twitter @upsurgepod, Facebook, The Upsurge, and YouTube @upsurgepod.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Read the transcript of this podcast:News stories about Africa and the 1.4 billion people who live there, about 17% of the world’s population, have always been systematically de-prioritized in Western media. But it goes deeper than that: For people living in the West and the Global North, especially for those living in the heart of US empire, Africa and Africans have been permanently relegated to the outskirts of our imaginations. Why? Why is it so hard to get people to pay attention to this vast, diverse, important swathe of the world? And as we enter a new era, a 21st-century realignment on the stage of global competition for economic, political, and military influence in Africa from the likes of the US, China, Russia, India, Turkey, and more, and as Africa itself becomes one of the critical sites of resource extraction in the fossil fuel and green energy wars, and as Africans themselves bear a disproportionate amount of the disastrous effects of the climate emergency, will that perpetual relegation of Africa to the status of second-class concern change? And if so, will it change for the better?TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with Nii Akuetteh. A Ghanaian-born policy analyst and activist, Akuetteh is the founder of the Democracy & Conflict Research Institute based in Accra, Ghana, and he is the former executive director of Africa Action and Editor at TransAfrica. This conversation was recorded on June 30, 2023.Studio Production: David Hebden, Cameron Granadino, Adam Coley, Kayla RivaraPost-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Read the transcript of this podcast here: The world of higher education has been in shock this past week after West Virginia University President E. Gordon Gee announced plans to dramatically cut academic programs and jobs in the coming year. "West Virginia University, a crucial institution in one of the nation’s most impoverished states, is poised to jettison all of its faculty dedicated to teaching Spanish, French, Chinese and other foreign languages," Nick Anderson reports at The Washington Post. "The state’s largest public university also is moving toward elimination of a master’s degree program in creative writing and a doctoral program in mathematics, among other proposed cuts, in response to declining enrollment and what university officials call a 'structural' budget deficit of $45 million. In all, 32 of the university’s 338 majors on its Morgantown campus would be discontinued and 7 percent of its faculty eliminated under a plan made public last week." If WVU proceeds with the proposed cuts, the impact on campus workers—student employees, grad workers, faculty, staff, facilities workers—and the local economy will be massive.What brought WVU to this crisis point? And what can be done to fight back? In this urgent episode, we talk with: Leslie Wilber, an organizer with West Virginia Campus Workers who graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree from WVU earlier this year; Morgan King, a recent graduate of WVU, a Fulbright Scholar, and a Marshall Scholar; Dr. Jessie Wilkerson, associate professor and Joyce and Stuart Robbins Chair of History at WVU, a member of the West Virginia Campus Workers union, and the author of To Live Here, You Have to Fight: How Women Led Appalachian Movements for Social Justice.Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive at freemusicarchive.org):Jules Taylor, "Working People" Theme SongBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/india-and-israels-fascists-are-in-cahoots-can-hindu-and-jewish-progressives-form-an-alliance-tooWarnings of rising fascism have emanated from India for years as the Hindutva, or Hindu nationalist, movement under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has unleashed escalating religious and caste-based violence in "the world's largest democracy." Throughout, India's fascists have found a fellow traveler, a collaborative partner, and a state model to emulate in Israel's ethno-nationalist apartheid regime. How deep does the India-Israel relationship go? And how can Hindu and Jewish progressives be part of the solution? Aparna Gopalan joins The Marc Steiner Show to discuss her explosive investigation for Jewish Currents, "The Hindu Nationalists Using the Pro-Israel Playbook."Aparna Gopalan is the news editor at Jewish Currents.Studio Production: Cameron Granadino, David HebdenPost-Production: David HebdenHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/the-shady-consultants-bosses-hire-to-dissuade-workers-from-unionizingMost people often think of "union-busting" only in terms of overt and even illegal tactics like termination and intimidation, but most bosses first opt for subtler, more sophisticated activities to discourage worker organizing. Enter the "persuaders," also known as "union avoidance consultants"—professional firms that offer bosses the specialized service of spreading union disinformation and sowing confusion among the ranks of workers. TRNN Staff Reporter Mel Buer speaks with Dave Jamieson of HuffPost on the shady world of persuaders and what workers attempting to organize can expect if one shows up at their job.Dave Jamieson has been HuffPost's labor reporter since 2011. Read Jamieson's HuffPost series on the union-busting industry here.Studio Production: Adam ColeyPost-Production: Alina NehlichHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/george-jacksons-unfinished-revolutionAt the age of 18, George Jackson was condemned to a prison sentence of one year to life for the alleged robbery of $70 from a Los Angeles gas station. Jackson spent the remainder of his short life behind bars, but it was from the confines of prison that he became one of the most powerful revolutionary voices and one of greatest living threats to the American capitalist system. Jackson’s autobiographical book of prison letters, titled Soledad Brother, would become a touchstone of Black revolutionary thought for generations of radicals within and outside the prison-industrial complex. As Field Marshal of the Black Panther Party and one of the organization's principal thinkers, Jackson's philosophy and strategy for revolution lit the path to armed struggle taken by the Black Liberation Army and other organizations. On the 52nd anniversary of his killing by prison authorities, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez joins Rattling the Bars to speak with host Mansa Musa about Jackson's towering life and example, and about the impact Jackson’s work had on Mansa, on our departed mentor and fellow political prisoner Marshall “Eddie” Conway, and on their incarcerated comrades.Studio: David Hebden, Cameron GranadinoPost-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-rtbSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-rtbLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.comJonathan Eig’s ‘King: A Life’ is the first major biography in decades to be written on the civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.—it is also the first biography to include recently declassified FBI files on King and the Civil Rights Movement. As the book’s description notes, Eig’s explosive new biography “casts fresh light on the King family’s origins as well as MLK’s complex relationships with his wife, father, and fellow activists. ‘King’ reveals a minister wrestling with his own human frailties and dark moods, a citizen hunted by his own government, and a man determined to fight for justice even if it proved to be a fight to the death.” TRNN contributor Anders Lee speaks with Eig about the process of researching and writing a new biography of one of the nation’s most celebrated figures and mourned martyrs.Pre-Production: Anders LeePost-Production: Jules TaylorHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Read the transcript of this podcast and see the full show notes: https://therealnews.comAna Jakopič is a lawyer, organizer, and trade union leader in Slovenia. Currently, Ana is working as a field organizer and lawyer for KS 90, the Trade Union Confederation 90 of Slovenia (Konfederacija Sindikatov 90 Slovenije), where she focuses on organizing kindergarten workers, food industry workers, and port workers. We talk to Ana about the different kinds of workers she organizes with on a daily basis, the struggles working people across Slovenia are facing, and how connected/disconnected those struggles currently feel to the strikes taking place in Europe and beyond. But we also talk about Ana's life and her winding path into the labor movement; we talk about growing up in the post-Yugoslavian world, and about the impacts the Russo-Ukrainian War is having on Slovenians' lives today.Music/Post-Production: Jules TaylorHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/on-israel-and-palestine-public-opinion-is-finally-changing-when-will-us-policy-change-with-it“The shift in US public opinion toward Palestine and Israel has been dramatic over the last decade, especially transformative in the last few years,” Phyllis Bennis recently wrote in The Nation. “US polls have been shifting since the mid-2000s, away from the uncritical embrace of Israel and toward a view much more critical of Tel Aviv and in favor of Palestinian rights.” It has taken generations of struggle and countless instances of Israeli settler-colonial violence against Palestinians for Americans to finally question their government’s unwavering and virtually unconditional support of Israel. As attitudes towards Israel and its apartheid regime continue to change, and as more constituents demand accountability and action from their elected officials, when will that translate to substantive changes in US foreign policy? Phyllis Bennis returns to The Marc Steiner Show to discuss her recent article and what this sea change in public opinion could mean for Israel, for Palestinians, and for the US political landscape.Phyllis Bennis is a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC, where she also serves as director of the New Internationalism Project. She is a founding member of the US Campaign to End Israeli Occupation and serves on the national board of Jewish Voice for Peace. She is the author of numerous books, including Before & After: US Foreign Policy and the War on Terrorism.Read Bennis’s article in The Nation, “On Israel and Palestine, US Electeds Are Out of Touch With Their Own Voters”: https://www.thenation.com/article/world/on-israel-and-palestine-us-electeds-are-out-of-touch-with-their-own-voters/Studio Production: Cameron GranadinoPost-Production: David HebdenHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/la-county-sheriffs-keep-pulling-people-over-for-bogus-reasons-this-time-they-got-caughtA Los Angeles County Sheriff's traffic stop, allegedly conducted for excessive window tinting, led to a fishing expedition that stranded an innocent passenger at night without her phone, wallet, keys or transportation. But cop watchers @laurasharkcw @tomzebra and @jodiekatmedia appeared on the scene to hold LASD accountable and to assist the stranded passenger. This week on the Police Accountability Report, hosts Taya Graham and Stephen Janis speak with Tom and Laura about the encounter and discuss what this case reveals about the phenomenon of over policing and the incentive structure behind the questionable allocation of police time and resources.Production: Stephen Janis, Taya GrahamPost-Production: Stephen Janis, Adam ColeyHelp us continue producing Police Accountability Report by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-parSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-parLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!