Working People

The Amazon Labor Union victory at the JFK8 warehouse on Staten Island was historic, but right now, as we speak, Amazon is currently in court trying to throw out the results of that election, and pro-union worker-organizers keep getting fired. One of those workers is Alicia Johnson, who, as Luigi Morris writes, is "a 56-year-old Black immigrant who lives in the deep Bronx and worked at JFK8 as a Picker Packer. Her commute to work took more than two and a half hours." After Alicia exercised her right to request accommodation from Amazon that would allow her to keep working with an injured leg, along with providing the necessary medical paperwork, she was fired in a suspected act of retaliation. We talk to Alicia about her time working at Amazon, why she supports the union, and about the Kafkaesque nightmare she's faced trying to secure the unemployment benefits she's entitled to.  Additional links/info below... GoFundMe: ALU Member Alicia Johnson, Fired in Retaliation  Luigi Morris, Left Voice, "Amazon Won’t Stop Union Busting and Firing Organizers" Alex Press, Jacobin, "Amazon Is Trying to Destroy Its Staten Island Union by Firing Union Supporters" Andrea Hsu, NPR, "Inside the Marathon Zoom Call Where Amazon Seeks to Overturn Historic Union Victory" Working People, "Amazon Labor Union" Amazon Labor Union website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram 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

We all know that, even before the horrific, world-changing event of COVID-19, society would fall apart without hospital workers and medical staff. But as we also know, like so many other fields and sectors of work, the medical field is a very stratified one. Even though we as patients may not see it, many of the folks who make hospitals and medical facilities run are overworked, understaffed, under-protected, and paid way less than we’re led to believe. This was made painfully clear last month when frontline physicians at LA county hospitals voted overwhelmingly in favor of striking over unfair labor practices. After voting to strike, LA County members of the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR/SEIU), which is a local of the Service Employees International Union, won a historic tentative agreement with LA County, including average salary increases of 5.5% in the first year of the contract, followed by 3.25% in the following two years, a $3000 increase in annual housing stipends, a signing bonus for incoming interns, the creation of a $125,000 fund for diverse recruitment efforts and more. To talk about all of this and more, we chat with Dr. Frances Gill, a first-year resident physician at LAC/USC Medical Center who is training to be a psychiatrist. Additional links/info below... Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR/SEIU) website, Facebook page, and Twitter page CIR/SEIU Press Release: LA County Frontline Physicians and CIR Members Announce Contract Resolution After History-Making Campaign  Dave Muoio, Fierce Healthcare, "LA County's Tentative Labor Deal Heads Off 1,300-Physician Strike at 3 Public Hospitals" 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

From Dollar General and Dollar Tree to Family Dollar, dollar stores are spreading rapidly throughout Louisiana and across the country, but dollar store workers notoriously have to endure low pay, understaffing, and hazardous working conditions. That's why Step Up Louisiana, "a community based organization committed to building power to win education and economic justice for all," is organizing employees, customers, and community members to fight for safer stores and better pay and working conditions for dollar store workers. In this episode, we speak with Kenya Slaughter, who has been an organizer and frontline worker at Dollar General for a number of years, and Curtis Williams, a dollar store customer who has gotten involved in Step Up Louisiana's campaign.  Additional links/info below... Step Up Louisiana's website and Twitter page Kenya Slaughter, The New York Times, "I Never Planned to Be a Front-Line Worker at Dollar General" 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

We've adjusted our episode publishing schedule to bring y'all an urgent episode about Starbucks' escalating retaliation against pro-union workers and Starbucks Workers United. As Rina Torchinsky writes for NPR, "Starbucks is closing a store in Ithaca, NY, in what Starbucks union organizers are calling an illegal move of retaliation after workers at the location voted to unionize. The coffee giant gave the employees at the College Ave. location near Cornell University a one-week notice of the closure, the union says, with the store slated to permanently close on June 10. The coffee giant has said the decision to close the store was unrelated to the unionization effort. The store was one of three Starbucks locations in Ithaca that voted to unionize on April 8. Workers at the College Ave. location previously went on a one-day strike in April for what the union says were unsafe working conditions—'a waste emergency caused by the overflowing grease trap.' Starbucks later cited the grease trap as reason for shuttering the location, according to the union."  In this mini-cast, we talk with Nadia Vitek, a partner at the College Ave. location and a worker-organizer with Starbucks Workers United, about the sudden decision to close the store and the mounting evidence that this is an illegal act of retaliation meant to send a chilling message to pro-union workers around the country.  Additional links/info below... Starbucks Workers United website, Twitter page, and Instagram Union Election Data: Current Starbucks Statistics Rina Torchinsky, NPR, "Starbucks Union Says the Coffee Giant Is Closing a Store to Retaliate" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "The Historic, Youthful, Rank-and-File Movement to Unionize Starbucks" Paul Blest, VICE News, "Lateness, Cursing, a Broken Sink: Starbucks Keeps Firing Pro-Union Employees" 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

Adjunct faculty and lecturers at Santa Clara University, a private Jesuit university in Silicon Valley, have been working to organize a non-tenure-track faculty union for five years. Along with navigating the particular challenges that come with worker organizing in higher education, theirs is a historic campaign because it is taking place at a religious institution, which the National Labor Relations Board does not exercise jurisdiction over. Nevertheless, after years of organizing and union busting, NTT faculty at Santa Clara are currently voting in their long-awaited union election. In this mini-cast, we reconnect with former Working People guest Maggie Levantovskaya to talk about why NTT faculty have fought so hard for so long to get to this point and why organizing your workplace—in higher ed and beyond—is so important. Maggie is a lecturer in the English Department and member of AFLOC, the Adjunct Faculty and Lecturer Organizing Committee, at Santa Clara University. Additional links/info below... Maggie's website and Twitter page Santa Clara University Adjunct and Lecturer Union website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram  Working People, "Maggie Levantovskaya" Maggie Levantovskaya, Medium, "On 'Divisiveness'" Maggie Levantovskaya, Current Affairs, "Organizing Against Precarity in Higher Education" 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

Caliber Public Schools, a group of charter schools in Northern California, states on its website that its mission is "to achieve educational equity by shifting the experiences, expectations and outcomes for students in historically underserved communities. Our strengths-based educational program validates, affirms, respects and supports students, families and staff members to reach their full potential." But when teachers and staff who believe in that mission did not feel validated, affirmed, respected, and supported, they took it upon themselves to organize and push Caliber to live up to its promise. Earlier this month, the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) ruled that a majority of the 150 teachers and staff at Caliber: Beta Academy in Richmond and Caliber: ChangeMakers Academy in Vallejo had demonstrated sufficient support for unionizing with the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and ordered management to formally recognize the union. In this episode, we talk with Tyler Powles, who was a 4th-grade teacher at Caliber: Beta Academy for five years, and Erinn Murphy, an education specialist (and school parent) at Caliber: ChangeMakers Academy, about their experience working for the charter school network and fighting for a union.  Additional links/info below... Caliber Workers Union website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Industrial Workers of the World website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Cal Colgan, Industrial Worker, "Charter School Workers’ Year-long Fight for Recognition" IWW Press Release: "California Public Employment Relations Board Determines Union of Teachers and Support Staff at Caliber Public Schools Must Be Granted Recognition" Zane Sparling, The Oregonian, "Burgerville Employees Ratify Contract, Establishing First Fast-Food Union in U.S." Working People, "cOrE vAlUeS (w/ MacKenna Alvarez)" Working People, "Drew Edmonds"  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

If you were following the strikes and labor actions that were happening last year, then you may have noticed that a certain face kept popping up in photos and reports from picket lines all over the country, from the Kelloggs’, Nabisco, and John Deere strikes, to the Warrior Met Coal miners caravan to New York City. Who was this mysterious member of the Transport Workers Union making his way to states all around the US to show solidarity with workers in their different struggles? Well, it turns out that that guy is Tevita 'Uhatafe, a first-generation Tongan American, family man, rank-and-file member of the Transport Workers Union Local 513 in Dallas-Fort Worth, and Vice President of the Tarrant County AFL-CIO Central Labor Council. In this episode, we talk with Tevita about his life, about why family has always been so important to him, about working in the airline industry, coming to the organized labor movement, and about how doing the vital solidarity work he does is such a fundamental part of who he is as a person. Additional links/info below... Tevita's Twitter page Tevita's PayPal (let's get Tevita to Labor Notes!): @TUhatafe  Haeden Wright's Twitter page Braxton Wright's Twitter page Haeden and Braxton's PayPal (let's get them to Labor Notes too!): @haedenwright Tarrant County Central Labor Council website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Tevita recognized for his contribution to the labor movement for Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "'Twerking-class heroes: LA strippers are fighting for a union"  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

We'll be back with new interviews next week after Jules has settled in and recovered from moving cross country! Until then, with permission from The Real News Network, we are sharing the audio of Max's recent interview with Arianna Ayala, a Starbucks partner in New York City and worker-organizer with Starbucks Workers United. The rank-and-file effort to unionize Starbucks stores around the United States is one of the most head-spinningly historic worker-led movements in our generation. Since the Elmwood Avenue store in Buffalo, New York, made history by becoming the first location to unionize in December of 2021, hundreds of Starbucks locations have filed for union elections, and the overwhelming majority of stores that have already held elections voted in favor of unionizing. Even in the face of intense opposition from corporate executives and upper-level managers at one of the most powerful companies in the world, and working within the incredibly restrictive confines of US labor law, partners organizing with Starbucks Workers United keep racking up wins. In this interview for TRNN, Max sits down with Arianna Ayala, a Starbucks partner and member of the organizing committee at her store in New York City, which recently filed for a union election, to talk about her own experience working at Starbucks during the COVID-19 pandemic, why she and her fellow partners took that fateful step to organize, and why they, like Starbucks partners around the country, believe that a unionized workforce will make Starbucks a better company. Additional links/info below... Starbucks Workers United website, Twitter page, and Instagram Union Election Data: Current Starbucks Statistics Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "The Historic, Youthful, Rank-and-File Movement to Unionize Starbucks" Paul Blest, VICE News, "Lateness, Cursing, a Broken Sink: Starbucks Keeps Firing Pro-Union Employees" Alex N. Press, Jacobin, "The Starbucks Union Drive Is Spreading With Impressive Speed" Rani Molla, Vox, "How a Bunch of Starbucks Baristas Built a Labor Movement" Kate Rogers, CNBC, "Starbucks Hit with Sweeping Labor Complaint Including Over 200 Alleged Violations" 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 the final installment in our special series of conversations with teachers, organizers, scholars, and activists in Wisconsin that Max, Cameron Granadino (TRNN), and Hannah Faris (In These Times) recorded in the summer of 2021 as part of a special collaboration between The Real News Network and In These Times magazine. To round out the series, we drive straight into the heart of darkness with an in-depth discussion with veteran educators and organizers Frank Emspak and Adrienne Pagac about the passage of Act 10 in Wisconsin under Republican Governor Scott Walker, the statewide protests against it, and the devastation that it has left in Wisconsin for the past 11 years. Frank is Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School for Workers and a labor activist based in Madison, Wisconsin. He is a regular contributor to WORT Labor Radio, Progressive Magazine, and a range of other media outlets. Adrienne is a scholar, organizer, and former co-president of the Teaching Assistants Association. The statewide protests against Act 10, known as the Wisconsin Uprising, comprised one of the largest sustained collective actions in the history of the United States, and anyone who was there in 2011 will attest to the collective spirit of resistance and solidarity that the uprising embodied, and the lasting impact it left on all who participated. But the protests were ultimately unsuccessful in beating back Act 10, and the short and long term effects of its passage have been a disaster for working people and organized labor. How did this coordinated assault on labor come to pass in Wisconsin? And what lessons can the rest of us around the country learn from the 50-year war on workers that has changed the state of Wisconsin for generations? Additional links/info below... Frank's Twitter page Adrienne's Twitter page Frank Emspak, Red Madison, "Commemorating the Wisconsin Uprising" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "'You've got to shut it down': Lessons from Wisconsin's 2011 Worker Uprising" In These Times investigative series: The Wisconsin Idea The Jacobin Show, "The Democratic Coalition after Trump and the Fall of Wisconsin" Dan Kaufman, Norton Books, The Fall of Wisconsin: The Conservative Conquest of a Progressive Bastion and the Future of American Politics Michael D. Yates, Monthly Review Press, Wisconsin Uprising: Labor Fights Back John Nichols, Bold Type Books, Uprising: How Scott Walker Betrayed Wisconsin and Inspired a New Politics of Protest 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"

Amazon labor union rally, support from Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, challenges faced by Amazon workers, the power of workers' unions, importance of media coverage in workers' struggles