The Real News Podcast

On Monday, July 15, on Day 1 of the Republican National Convention, Sean O’Brien, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, became the first Teamsters president ever to address the RNC. Invited by former president Trump, who is now officially the Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election, O’Brien’s speech was no ordinary RNC filler. And to anyone watching, or anyone paying attention to the political reality in this country, this was no ordinary RNC either. O’brien’s very presence on the RNC stage, and the contents of his speech, which lasted for 17 minutes, have sparked a firestorm of intense reactions and furious debates within the labor movement and the Republican and Democratic parties alike. Everyone is talking about this speech and what it all means for workers, but workers themselves need to be driving that conversation. In this special episode of Working People, cohosted by TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez and TRNN Staff Reporter Mel Buer, we bring together a diverse panel of Teamster members from across the country to have a spirited, fair, and productive discussion about O'Brien's speech, the 2024 elections, and the future of the labor movement.Speakers include: Amber Mathwig, a UPS warehouse worker and member of Teamsters Local 638 in Minnesota; Tony, a UPS worker, member of Teamsters Local 174 in Seattle, and a member of Teamsters Mobilize; Chantelle, a part-time UPS worker and member of Teamsters Local 177 in New Jersey; Rick Smith, a 35-year Teamster working in the freight industry and host of The Rick Smith Show; Zoey Moretti Niebuhr, a UPS worker, third-generation Teamster, member of Teamsters Local 391 in North Carolina, and president of Pride at Work—North Carolina; Jess Leigh, a UPS worker, shop steward for Teamsters Local 728 in Atlanta, and a member of the Teamsters LBGTQ Caucus and Teamsters Mobilize; Kat, a part-time UPS worker and shop steward for Teamsters Local 70 in Oakland; and Robert Conklin, a third-generation Teamster and member of Teamsters Local 665 in San Francisco.Additional links/info below…PBS NewsHour, "WATCH: Teamsters President Sean O'Brien speaks at Republican National Convention | 2024 RNC Night 1"Sean O'Brien post on X about Sen. Josh HawleyRyan Bort, Rolling Stone, "Union Twitter account goes rogue after president speaks at RNC"Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Everybody hates Sean"The Rick Smith Show website, Facebook page, Twitter/X page, and InstagramTeamsters Mobilize website, Facebook page, Twitter/X page, and InstagramTeamsters LGBTQ Caucus websitePride at Work—North Carolina InstagramMaximillian Alvarez & Teddy Ostrow, The Real News Network, "UPS and Teamsters reach tentative agreement, but is a strike still possible?"Teddy Ostrow, The Upsurge / The Real News Network, "The UPS Teamsters contract has been ratified. What now?"Permanent links below...Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter pageIn These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter pageThe Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter pageFeatured Music...Jules Taylor, "Working People" Theme SongRead the transcript of this podcast here. Studio Production: Maximillian AlvarezPost-Production: Jules TaylorHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcastHelp 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!

Canadian journalist Nora Loreto reads the latest headlines for Monday, July 22, 2024.TRNN has partnered with Loreto to syndicate and share her daily news digest with our audience. Tune in every morning to the TRNN podcast feed to hear the latest important news stories from Canada and worldwide.Find more headlines from Nora at Sandy & Nora Talk Politics podcast feed.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcastReferenced articles:Story 1 - LCBO workers to vote on agreement, ending their strike.Story 2 - Solidarity actions with Gaza at Halifax and St. John's Pride parades. Story 3 - Cop who broke man's nose during arrest didn't break the law. Story 4 - Israeli retaliatory attack in Yemen kills 80. Houthis vow to keep attacking Israel. Story 5 - Diplomatic relations betwen Sudan and Iran open up again.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!

O'Brien is in hot water as rank-and-file Teamsters speak out against his appearance at the Republican National Convention this week. The International Brotherhood of the Teamsters president was the sole union president to make an appearance at the RNC, and the audience's tepid reception to his anti-corporate message might help explain why he was the only union man around. Rank-and-file members have attacked O'Brien's appearance as undemocratic, harmful to union members of color and LGBTQ Teamsters, and politically unproductive.Longtime Teamsters organizer John Palmer sits down with TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez to discuss the speech, and why the union deserves better.Read the transcript of this interview here. Studio Production: Cameron Granadino, David HebdenPost-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcastHelp 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!

Canadian journalist Nora Loreto reads the latest headlines for Friday, July 19, 2024.TRNN has partnered with Loreto to syndicate and share her daily news digest with our audience. Tune in every morning to the TRNN podcast feed to hear the latest important news stories from Canada and worldwide.Find more headlines from Nora at Sandy & Nora Talk Politics podcast feed.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcastReferenced articles:Story 1 - Montreal children's hospital is seeing a spike in children injuries due to e-scooters. Story 2- Vancouver Island University is suing its own students over a Gaza solidarity encampment. Story 3 - Own a handheld steam cleaner from Bissell? It might burn you and is now under a recall notice. Story 4 - At least 17 people dead in student protests in Bangladesh over civil service hiring quotas. Story 5 - Itamar Ben-Gvir visits Al-Aqsa mosque, sparking fears that Israel has its eye on the Occupied Jerusalem site.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!

Two months ago, from April 17-21, workers and labor organizers of all stripes convened in Chicago for the bi-annual Labor Notes conference, which overlapped with the Railroad Workers United convention. As the registration website rightly noted, “Labor Notes Conferences are the biggest gatherings of grassroots labor activists, union reformers, and all-around troublemakers out there." This is not a buttoned up convention of union officials; this is a real grassroots gathering of people on the frontlines of struggle, talking openly, honestly, and strategically about their struggles, victories, and defeats, about what we can all learn from one another as fellow workers and fighters, and about how we can all contribute to growing the labor movement as fellow members of that movement. In this on-the-ground episode, cohosted by Max and Mel Buer, we speak with attendees at the RWU convention, Labor Notes, and participants in the Labor for Palestine protest that took place outside of Labor Notes on April 19.Speakers include: Johnny Walker, a railroad worker and member of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers—Transportation Division (SMART-TD) Local 610 in Baltimore; Matt Weaver, who has worked on the railroad since 1994, is a member of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees (BMWED-IBT) Local 2624, where he also serves as legislative director for his state; Marcie Pedraza, an electrician at Ford Chicago Assembly Plant and member of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 551; Jacob Morrison, a member of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), president of the North Alabama Labor Council, and cohost of The Valley Labor Report; Leticia Zavala, legendary farm labor organizer working with farm workers in Mexico and the United States, and a member of El Futuro Es Nuestro (It’s Our Future), a farmworker caucus within the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC, AFL-CIO); Colin Smalley, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) Local 777 in Chicago; Berenice Navarrete-Perez, vice president of the Association of Legislative Employees (ALE); Annie Shields, former journalist and union organizer with the NewsGuild of New York; and Axel Persson, a locomotive engineer in France and general secretary of the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT) Railway Workers Union in Trappes.Additional links/info below…Labor Notes website, Facebook page, and Twitter/X pageRailroad Workers United website, Facebook page, and Twitter pageEl Futuro Es Nuestro – It's Our Future website and Facebook pageLabor for Palestine websiteThe Valley Labor Report YouTube channel, Facebook page, Twitter/X page, and PatreonDuncan Freeman, The Chief Leader: "At Labor Notes conference, a sense of mission and solidarity"Axel Persson, ML Today, "CGT leader speaks to Labor Notes conference"Martha Grevatt, Workers World, "Militant pro-Palestine demonstration during Labor Notes conference takes the street"Permanent links below...Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter pageIn These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter pageThe Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter pageFeatured Music...Jules Taylor, "Working People" Theme SongRead the transcript of this podcast here. Studio Production: Maximillian Alvarez, Mel BuerPost-Production: Jules TaylorHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcastHelp 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!

Canadian journalist Nora Loreto reads the latest headlines for Thursday, July 18, 2024.TRNN has partnered with Loreto to syndicate and share her daily news digest with our audience. Tune in every morning to the TRNN podcast feed to hear the latest important news stories from Canada and worldwide.Find more headlines from Nora at Sandy & Nora Talk Politics podcast feed.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcastHelp 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!

Canadian journalist Nora Loreto reads the latest headlines for Wednesday, July 17, 2024.TRNN has partnered with Loreto to syndicate and share her daily news digest with our audience. Tune in every morning to the TRNN podcast feed to hear the latest important news stories from Canada and worldwide.Find more headlines from Nora at Sandy & Nora Talk Politics podcast feed.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcastReferenced articles:Story 1 – Child and youth advocate in BC calls for radical changes to the child welfare system, after inquiry into torture and murder of boy.Story 2 – Immigration lawyer David Hirsch Davis, previously sanctioned for sexual assault and professional misconduct, is suspended by the Law Society for 6 months for punching articling student in the groin. Story 3 – TC Energy loses its bid for $15B in damages over cancelled Keystone XL pipeline.Story 4 – Six people dead from apparent poisoning in luxury hotel in Bangkok. Story 5 – ISIS claims responsibility for attack inside Oman mosque where 6 were killed and 28 injured.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!

John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and now Trump. America is no stranger to attempted and successful political assassinations, but something feels different about this time. On July 13, former President Donald J. Trump survived an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, PA, that left one bystander dead and two others seriously injured. The shooter, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, PA, is now dead. While Crooks was a registered Republican, and the FBI has yet to identify a motive, the Republican Party has wasted no time in pinning the assassination on Democrats and the left. In response, Democrats and Biden are putting up little defense, capitulating to the right-wing narrative and issuing vague pronouncements against "charged rhetoric" and "political violence." TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez joins The Marc Steiner Show for a breakdown of how the political ground is shifting beneath our feet—and what it portends for the election.Read the transcript of this podcast here. Studio Production: Cameron Granadino Post-Production: Alina NehlichHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcastHelp 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!

Canadian journalist Nora Loreto reads the latest headlines for Tuesday, July 16, 2024.TRNN has partnered with Loreto to syndicate and share her daily news digest with our audience. Tune in every morning to the TRNN podcast feed to hear the latest important news stories from Canada and worldwide.Find more headlines from Nora at Sandy & Nora Talk Politics podcast feed.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcastReferenced articles:Story 1 - Video released that shows that police negligence caused the death of John Ettawakapow. Story 2 - Encampment dismantled by activists at the University of Manitoba before the university could have "the spectacle they wanted" of taking it down. Story 3 - Massive protests in Bangladesh over hiring practice changes leaves at least 100 students injured. Story 4 - Paul Kagame wins Rwandan election with a vote share of 99%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!

The modern prison system's origins in slavery can be seen in telltale signs throughout the system. The system of chattel slavery had no incentive to keep Black families together—in fact, separation was deliberately used to punish the enslaved. Today, the prison system mirrors this in its treatment of families of the incarcerated. Prisoners are denied the opportunity to be fully present parents by the nature of their condition, and further separation from family through visitation denial, relocation, and other means are used as a way to punish and torture inmates. Ernest Boykin, a father of seven, speaks on his personal experience as a formerly incarcerated parent—and everything he did to ensure that he would remain in his children's lives despite the system's efforts to deny him that right.Studio / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoAudio Post-Production: Alina NehlichRead the transcript of this interview here. Help us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcastHelp 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!