Working People

We talk to Drew Edmonds, a Burgerville worker in Portland, Oregon, and an organizer with the Burgerville Workers Union. We talk about the fight Drew and his coworkers led to form the nation’s first federally recognized fast food union (followed by workers at Little Big Burger, another Portland chain). We talk about what it was like to unionize from the ground up across Burgerville stores, about how they have used the power of their union in the push to secure better wages and fairer treatment, and about the union-busting backlash and firings that they’ve faced from the company in response. We also talk about how their story speaks to the effectiveness and necessity of the organizing model of the IWW (the Industrial Workers of the World), which both the Burgerville Workers Union and the Little Big Union are affiliated with.    Additional links/info below... Boycott Burgerville  Burgerville Workers Union Facebook page and Twitter page Little Big Union website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) Wikipedia page and Twitter page Shane Burley, ThinkProgress, "These Burgerville Employees Organized the First Official Fast Food Labor Union in the Country" Eater Portland, Behind Portland's Fight for Unionized Fast Food Restaurants  Don McIntosh, NW Labor Press, "Burgerville Continues to Fire Pro-Union Workers" Elise Herron, Willamette Week, "Workers at Little Big Burger Form Union, Joining Portland Fast-Food Labor Drive" Kim Kelly, Teen Vogue, "Fast-Food Industry Workers Continue to Fight for Their Right to Unionize"  Annelise Orleck, Beacon Press, "We Are All Fast-Food Workers Now": The Global Uprising Against Poverty Wages    Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org) Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall" Cletus Got Shot, "Gravedigger"

We chat with writer, organizer, witch, and educator Raechel Anne Jolie about the spirit of May Day--a day of international worker solidarity.    Additional links/info below... Raechel's website and Twitter page Working Class History, "A Short History of May Day" Kim Kelly, The Guardian, "We Need May Day MoreThan Ever. Unite to Dream and Fight for a Better Tomorrow"  Richard Seymour, The Guardian, "May Day Is Not about Maypoles: The History of International Workers' Day"  Tim Goulet, Jacobin, "Today Belongs to Workers"    Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org) Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

We chat with Jennifer Gates, a Grocery Steward at Ralphs in Southern California and a member of UFCW 770. Jennifer is a singer, a single mom, and she's incredibly devoted to her job, her customers, and her coworkers. We talk about how she came to work at Ralphs, the relationships she's built over the years, and about the role that grocery stores play in the community. We also talk about how Jennifer and her brothers and sisters in UFCW 770 are currently fighting for a fairer contract from Ralphs-Kroger Co. at a time when the company is recording record profits but is still cutting hours/wages and raising food prices.   Additional links/info below... UFCW 770 website and Twitter page Food Fight website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Food Fight, Medium, "What the Heck is Food Fight?" Food Fight, Medium, “'Higher pay does not squeeze profits': Week 1 Contract Update" John Logan, Truthout, "Stop & Shop Strikers are Standing up For All Grocery Workers"   Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org) Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall" Chad Crouch, "Ink" Darkstorm Diabolik, "Hidden"

We talk with Reese Piper, a professional stripper, writer, and journalist reporting on sex work, labor rights, and autistic culture. We talk about Reese’s life, her childhood and schooldays, her love of books and getting lost in her imagination. We talk about being different, about going off to college, and we talk about Reese’s long path to realizing that she was autistic, and about how she came to terms with that while working as a dancer. We also talk about the labor politics of strip clubs and what we can do to show support for our fellow workers in the sex industry.    Additional links/info below... Reese's Twitter page and author page on Medium Reese Piper, Narratively, "Secret Life of an Autistic Stripper" Reese Piper, The Establishment, "Strip Club Raids and Closures Are Weapons of Gentrification"  Antonia Crane, Lenny Letter, "Stripped Bare" Antonia Crane, Mel Magazine, "The Most Realistic Sex-Worker Portrayals in Pop Culture, According to Sex Workers" Samuel Braslow, LA Magazine, "L.A.'s Exotic Dancers Are Launching a Labor Movement" Susan Elizabeth Shepard, Vox, "It's International Whores' Day. Let's Talk About Why Strippers Need Better Labor Laws" We Are Dancers (WAD) USA  Desiree Alliance  SWOP - USA    Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org) Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall" Traveling in Stereo, "What I Know" The Impossebulls, "HaveNots Mascot Revolution (SureShot Remix)"

We chat with Mexico-City-based journalist Martha Pskowski about her reporting on the maquila worker strikes just south of the U.S.-Mexico border, and about why we should all be paying attention to the recent developments in Mexican labor politics.   Additional links/info below... Martha's website and Twitter page Martha Pskowski, Dissent, "Mexican Labor Reawakens"  Lauren Kaori Gurley, The New Republic, "Is Mexico on the Brink of a Labor Revolution?" Paolo Marinaro and Dan DiMaggio, Labor Notes, "Strike Wave Wins Raises for Mexican Factory Workers" David Agren, The Guardian, "'We Won't Be Trampled On': Striking Mexican Workers Vow to Fight the Fight"   Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org) Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

We chat with Dave G, cohost of the Mandatory OT podcast, member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and longtime State Tested Nursing Assistant (STNA) in the Ohio Valley. We talk about what it's like to work as an STNA, the low pay, the rampant injuries workers sustain, and about the difficulty of unionizing when your coworkers are reactionaries.    Additional links/info below... Mandatory OT podcast Soundcloud and Twitter page IWW Twitter page  West Virginia IWW Twitter page Sample CNA Job Description  ZipRecruiter, "What Is the Average CNA Salary by State" John Caniglia & Jo Ellen Corrigan, The Plain Dealer, "Ohio Nursing Homes' Low Staffing Called a 'Crisis,' Puts Residents at Risk: A Critical Choice" Zack Budryk, Fierce Healthcare, "Workplace Danger: Nursing Assistants Suffer More Physical Injuries than Construction Workers" Alexandra Bradbury, Labor Notes, "Don't 'Lean' On Me, Hospital Workers Say"  Jeff Spross, The Week, "America Is on the Verge of a Nursing Crisis"   Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org) Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

At 1:00pm on Thursday, April 11, over 31,000 Stop & Shop workers across New England walked off the job. The strike is going on at this very moment and gaining public support, even as Stop & Shop bosses try to ice out and undercut workers. We talk to Mike LaFrance, a deli worker who's been at Stop & Shop for over 20 years, about what's going on and how folks around the country can show support.    Additional links/info below... PETITION: Support Stop & Shop Workers  SUPPORT LINE: Sign up for updates. Text “support” to 698329 to get latest updates on the strike and how you can help Call Stop & Shop Customer Service and express support for striking workers at 1-800-767-7772 Support Stop & Shop Workers Facebook and Twitter page Alexia Fernández Campbell, Vox, "The Largest Private Sector Strike in Years Is Playing Out at Supermarkets Across the Northeast"  Meaghan Ottolini & Marie Szaniszlo, The Boston Herald, "Teamsters Back Up Striking Stop & Shop Workers"  Tal Axelrod, The Hill, "Biden, Warren and Sanders Express Support for Striking Stop & Shop Workers"  Kim Kelly, Teen Vogue, "Strikes and Picket Lines, Explained"    Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free MusicArchive: freemusicarchive.org) Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

We chat with Christina Clark and John Deitcher from Endorphin Films about their viral short documentary, Dish Pigs, which tracks the lives and jobs of three professional dishwashers in Montreal.    Additional links/info below... Dish Pigs Endorphin Films' website and Twitter page Tim Forster, Montreal Eater, "Refreshing New Documentary Spotlights Dishwashers in Montreal Restaurants"    Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org) Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

We chat with Professor Miriam Posner about her recent articles in The New Yorker and LOGIC magazine on the global supply chain software that shapes workers' lives.     Additional links/info below... Miriam's website and Twitter page Miriam Posner, The New Yorker, "The Software that Shapes Workers' Lives" Miriam Posner, LOGIC, "See No Evil"    Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org) Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

We talk with Lucy Lloyd,  a self-taught Apple product repair and support technician living in Sedan, Minnesota, a town with a population of less than fifty people. We talk about everything from growing up in a small town to setting up her independent repair business in the corner of her mom’s flower shop. We also talk a lot about the right to repair, a really important political issue that directly impacts repair workers like Lucy and all of us who use, consume, and depend on technologies from cars to smart phones.    Additional links/info below... U.S. PIRG - Right to Repair  Repair.org  iFixit  Emily Matchar, Smithsonian Magazine, "The Fight for the 'Right to Repair'"  Nathan Proctor, WIRED, "Corporations are Co-Opting Right-to-Repair" Nathan Proctor, WIRED, "Right to Repair Is Now a National Issue"  Maximillian Alvarez, The Baffler, "The Death of Media"  Rosie Spinks, The Guardian, "We're All Losers to a Gadget Industry Built on Planned Obsolescence"  Jason Koebler, Motherboard, "Tractor-Hacking Farmers Are Leading a Revolt Against Big Tech's Repair Monopolies"  Matthew Gault, Motherboard, "The World Economic Forum Tells Davos: Electronics are 'the Fastest-Growing Waste Stream in the World'"   Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org) Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall" Creo, "Place on Fire"