Working People

The soul of the labor movement is the fight for democracy in and outside of the workplace—and, from the shop floor to the ballot box, organizers, volunteers, and rank-and-file workers with UNITE HERE are putting everything they have into that fight. Even in the midst of a deadly pandemic that hit the service and hospitality industries especially hard, union members with UNITE HERE hit the pavement in record numbers ahead of the 2020 general elections. As Harold Meyerson notes in The American Prospect, UNITE HERE members canvassed "more precincts than any other organization on the Democratic side of the ledger that year. Talking to well over a million voters in Vegas, Reno, Phoenix, Philadelphia, and Atlanta, they played a key role in Joe Biden’s victory and in the Democrats winning control of the Senate. This year," ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, "they have even more members knocking on doors than they did two years ago." As working people face an increasingly unbearable cost-of-living crisis, as the right continues to attack abortion rights (and voting rights, and workers' rights, and LGBTQ people, and teachers, etc.), as basic human needs like healthcare, housing, and clean water are put farther out of reach for the poor and working classes, as more people give up on a political system they feel gave up on them a long time ago, the  fight for a better society must come from the grassroots. In this special panel, recorded a week before the 2022 midterm elections, we talk with three UNITE HERE members—Maggie Acosta (Arizona), Bryan Villarreal-Vasquez (Nevada), and Sheila Silver (Pennsylvania)—about their tireless canvassing efforts in battleground states, what they're hearing from voters, and what the struggle for democracy means to them and their union.  Additional links/info below... UNITE HERE website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Harold Meyerson, The American Prospect, "Can the Hotel Workers’ Union Save the Democrats?" Harold Meyerson, The American Prospect, "The Only Precinct Walkers" Support the Call Center Workers Solidarity Fund  Brett Anderson, The New York Times, "These Cooks, Waiters and Casino Workers Could Swing the Senate" UNITE HERE Press Release: "Largest Canvass Operation in NV, AZ, and PA Sees Path to Victory vs. MAGA Republicans" Permanent links below... Working People Patreon page Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org) Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song

The wave of grassroots worker organizing is spreading to different industries and businesses around the country, including those that have notoriously resisted any and all unionization efforts in the past. The Home Depot, the single largest home improvement retail company in the US, is one of those businesses, and there is a union drive underway as we speak at a store in Philadelphia. As Johan Furman writes at More Perfect Union, "On Monday, September 19, workers filed a petition to organize a union among 276 workers at a Home Depot in northeast Philadelphia. If successful, the independent union would be the first at the home repair chain, the fifth-largest private employer in the U.S." We talk to Vince Quiles, who's worked at the northeast Philly store for five years and is one of the worker-organizers leading the drive to become the first unionized Home Depot location in the country.  Additional links/info below... THDworkersUnite Twitter page Vince's Twitter page Johan Furman, More Perfect Union, "Workers Plan to Renovate Home Depot with a Union" Max Marin, The Philadelphia Inquirer, "Home Depot Workers in Northeast Philly Allege ‘Surveillance,’ Other Union-Busting Tactics Ahead of Election" Breaking Points, "Home Depot Workers REVOLT After Massive Stock Buyback" Permanent links below... Working People Patreon page Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org) Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song

"On the morning of Oct. 1... almost 500 union members from three United Steel Workers (USW) locals at WestRock’s Mahrt Mill paper mill in Cottonton, Alabama, voted to reject a second contract offer from the company," Jacob Morrison recently reported for The Real News Network. "The refusal to ratify WestRock’s 'last, best, and final' offer came as a result of the company insisting on removing contract language pertaining to what the workers there call 'penalties' for long hours. Members resoundingly rejected this contract, even though it included an unheard-of $28,000 ratification bonus—increased from an already staggering offer of $20,000, which workers already rejected on Sept. 21." Workers at WestRock's Mahrt Mill paper mill have been locked out by the company since early October and say they can't be bought off with bonuses for signing a contract that will ensure they have even less time for life outside of work. In this special guest-hosted episode, Morrison speaks with Mahrt Mill workers from the picket line about the lockout and their fight to get their lives back.  Additional links/info below... Jacob's Twitter page MAHRT USW LOCAL 0971 Facebook page The Valley Labor Report Twitter page, YouTube channel, and Patreon  Jacob Morrison, The Real News Network, "Alabama Paper Mill Workers Want Their Lives Back—And They're Giving Up $30,000 to Get It" Permanent links below... Working People Patreon page Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org) Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song Jules Taylor - all other musical selections, available at soundcloud.com/lousy

***This is a Patreon Exclusive episode*** Subscribe to our Patreon:  www.patreon.com/workingpeople Thank you to all the Patreon subscribers for their love, support, and generosity.  <3 Max, Jules & the Working People Team.     A great man once said, "The history of all hitherto existing society is the struggle between papa and boy." We chat with our friends Aaron and Shawn from the Srsly Wrong podcast about their new animated series Papa & Boy on Means TV, and about why bosses love to treat workers like children.    Additional links/info below... Watch Episode 1 of Papa & Boy, "Take a Bath," on YouTube  Watch Papa & Boy on Means TV Srsly Wrong website, Facebook, page, Twitter page, & Patreon Means TV website, Facebook page, & Twitter page The Srsly Wrong MAY DAY Crossover Special (w/ Working People, Rebel Steps, & Doomer v. Bloomer) Working People, "The Winnipeg General Strike (w/ Srsly Wrong)" Permanent links below... Working People Patreon page Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org) Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song

“Flight attendants at Delta are currently pushing to form a union at the only major airline in the US where flight attendants are not unionized," journalist and friend of the show Michael Sainato recently wrote in The Guardian. "The aim is to allow the airline’s 23,000 flight attendants to vote on whether to unionize with the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) and will face fierce opposition from an airline that has fought previous efforts.” Delta has fiercely fought off unionization efforts in the past, but workers and organizers are confident that this time they'll get a victory. We talk with Jonnie Lane, who works at Delta and has been a flight attendant for the past 15 years, about her path to working in the airline industry, what it's been like working as a flight attendant before and during COVID-19, and what a union would mean for Jonnie and her coworkers.   Additional links/info below... Jonnie's Twitter page Delta AFA website and Twitter page AFA-CWA website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Michael Sainato, The Guardian, "Delta Flight Attendants Race to Unionize: ‘We’re the People Behind the Profits’" Meagan Day, Jacobin, "Once Again, Flight Attendants Are Leading the Way" Gabby Del Valle, Vox, "Delta Told Its Workers to Buy Video Games Instead of Unionizing" The People's Forum, "BOOK TALK: The Work of Living with Maximillian Alvarez" Permanent links below... Working People Patreon page Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org) Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song

It’s been 12 years since the catastrophic explosion that sank the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, killing 11 workers and causing the largest marine oil spill in human history. A lot of forgetting can happen in that time. A lot of cultural amnesia and historical distortion has been able to set in over the past 12 years, whether that came in the form of a years-long PR campaign from British Petroleum (BP), the high-budget Hollywood-ification of the disaster in the 2016 movie starring Mark Wahlberg, or just the general lack of workers' voices and stories in the media. In this episode, we talk with Leo Lindner, who worked for 10 years at the mud company M-I, the last 5 of which were spent working on the Deepwater Horizon. Leo was on the rig on April 20, 2010, the day of the explosion. We talk to Leo about his life, about moving to and growing up in Louisiana as a kid, working on tugboats and in oil fields, and about the experience of being a worker in the midst of one of the most devastating industrial and environmental disasters of the modern era.  Additional links/info below... Leo's Twitter page Richard Pallardy, Encyclopedia Britannica, "Deepwater Horizon oil spill (2010)" Lisa Friedman, The New York Times, "Ten Years After Deepwater Horizon, US Is Still Vulnerable to Catastrophic Spills" James B. Meigs, Slate, "Blame BP for Deepwater Horizon. But Direct Your Outrage to the Actual Mistake" Alison Rose Levy, TruthDig, "The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Was a Cover-Up, Not a Cleanup" Associated Press, "Short Portraits of 11 Who Died on the Deepwater Horizon" Megan Milliken Biven, Current Affairs, "Dredging Up the Past" Oliver Milman, The Guardian, "'I Pray to God It Never Happens Again': US Gulf Coast Bears Scars of Historic Oil Spill 10 Years On" Permanent links below... Working People Patreon page Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org) Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song

(C/W: bullying, harassment, suicide) This time last year, we introduced listeners to the family of Evan Seyfried, a dedicated Kroger employee in Milford, Ohio, for nearly 20 years, whose beautiful life was tragically cut short after he was targeted and tortured by coworkers and driven to suicide, according to Evan’s family. A lot has happened since we published that episode one year ago, and we wanted to provide Working People listeners with an update on how Evan’s family and loved ones are doing, what the status of the lawsuit against Kroger is, and how the Justice for Evan coalition is growing around the country. In this panel episode, we check in with Evan’s father Ken, his brother Eric, his girlfriend and best friend Amy Chamberlin, Jana Murphy and Erica Erskine of the Justice for Evan coalition, and Austin LiPuma, the attorney representing the Seyfrieds in their lawsuit against Kroger. Additional links/info below... Justice for Evan Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram Working People, "Evan Seyfried (w/ Ken, Linda, & Eric Seyfried)" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "'Justice for Evan': Supporters Demand Accountability from Kroger after 19-Year Employee Allegedly Bullied by Management to Suicide" Maximillian Alvarez, Breaking Points, "Max Alvarez: A DEADLY, Silent Epidemic of Workplace Abuse is Growing" National Workplace Bullying Coalition website, Facebook page, and Twitter page "Lawsuit: Kroger Manager Drove Employee To Suicide" (PDF) Julian Mark, The Washington Post, "Former Kroger Grocery Store Employee’s Suicide Was a Result of ‘Torturous Conditions,’ Lawsuit Says" Permanent links below... Working People Patreon page Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org) Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song

Railroad workers discuss ongoing crisis in the industry, including staff cuts, exhausting schedules, and draconian attendance policies. They criticize corporate greed and the destructive impact it has had on the freight rail industry. The podcast also explores the imbalance of profit distribution, mistreatment of employees, and the need for better tools and technology for locomotive engineers. Additionally, it delves into the systemic problems and safety concerns in the railway industry, the lack of moral values in management, issues with regulatory enforcement, and the correlation between high inflation rates and the scarcity of raw materials.

The rail industry is experiencing a self-induced crisis as a result of decades of cost-cutting, profit-maximizing executive decisions that have driven rail workers and the supply chain into the ground. In an attempt to mediate between the major freight rail companies and unions representing around 115,000 railroad workers, President Biden appointed a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) to offer recommendations for resolving the ongoing contract dispute. But an overwhelming number of surveyed workers seem prepared to reject the PEB’s recommendations, and if the current contract dispute isn’t resolved the US could be headed towards its largest rail strike in decades. In this livestream produced by The Real News Network, Max and journalist Mel Buer co-host a panel with current/former railroad workers and members of Railroad Workers United Jeff Kurtz and Ron Kaminkow to discuss the looming possibility of a massive national rail strike. With permission from TRNN, we are sharing the audio from this livestream on the Working People feed for our listeners.  Additional links/info below... Mel's Twitter page Ron's Twitter page Railroad Workers United website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Press Release: "RWU Announces Position on PEB #250" Survey Results: Rail Workers and the PEB  Working People, "Jay" Mel Buer, The Real News Network, "Fired Up Rail Workers Rally in Galesburg, Illinois, as Potential National Strike Looms" Mel Buer, The Real News Network, "Corporate Billionaires Are Wrecking the Supply Chain. Just Look at the Railroads" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Railroad Workers Are Being Ground to Dust. Who Will Help Them?" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Court Blocks Railroad Workers from Striking Over Draconian Attendance Policy" Joe DeManuelle-Hall, Labor Notes, "Rail Workers Reject Contract Recommendations, Say They're Ready to Strike" Permanent links below... Working People Patreon page Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org) Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song

***This is a Patreon Exclusive episode*** Subscribe to our Patreon:  www.patreon.com/workingpeople Thank you to all the Patreon subscribers for their love, support, and generosity.  <3 Max, Jules & the Working People Team.     Gen Z has inherited a world on fire, but they will not accept it, and they are using every tool they have at their disposal to change it. The activists and content creators at Gen Z for Change, for instance, are creatively using their organizing skills, coding skills, and social media skills to push for climate action and to defend reproductive rights, workers' rights, and more. We talk to Elise Joshi and Sean Wiggs from Gen Z for Change about their recent campaigns to support workers organizing at Amazon, Ralphs, and Starbucks, and about the importance of building intergenerational solidarity.  Additional links/info below... Gen Z for Change website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and TikTok  Elise's TikTok and Twitter page Sean's TikTok and Twitter page People over Prime  Change is Brewing  Wreck It Ralphs  Taylor Lorenz & Caroline O'Donovan, The Washington Post, "Gen Z TikTok Creators Are Turning Against Amazon" Lauren Kaori Gurley, Motherboard, "People Are Using Job Listings to Sabotage Companies That Mistreat Their Workers" Permanent links below... Working People Patreon page Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org) Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song