Working People

In this episode, which is a little longer than our typical episodes, we talk to Vickie Shannon Allen, a native Texan and a warehouse worker at an Amazon fulfillment center, where she sustained an injury on the job. Vickie’s struggle with Amazon to get the medical treatment she deserves is ongoing. As we discuss in the interview, it has been hell for her, and we are asking listeners to help us share her story and hold Amazon accountable. We talk with Vickie about her experience working for Amazon, but we talk about a lot more, too. We talk about growing up working class in Texas, about going to school hungry, and about the horrific, dehumanizing treatment she and her siblings got from their stepmother. We talk about falling in love for the first time, and we talk about heartbreak. We talk about working as a single mother and raising two boys. We talk about what it really means to fight for your future.   Additional links/info below... Link to Vickie’s GoFundMe fundraiser    Link to Vickie’s YouTube channel    International Amazon Workers Voice Facebook page  Michael Sainato, The Guardian, “Accidents at Amazon: Workers Left to Suffer after Warehouse Injuries”  Alex Press, Medium, “$15 Isn’t Enough to Empower Amazon’s Workers”  Louise Matsakis, WIRED, “Why Amazon Really Raised Its Minimum Wage to $15”  Bryan Menegus, Gizmodo, “Amazon’s Aggressive Anti-Union Tactics Revealed in Leaked 45-Minute Video”   Russell Brandom, The Verge, “Amazon Is Selling Police Departments a Real-Time Facial Recognition System”     Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)  Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall" Les Hayden, “Need”  Brother Timothy Clark, “Are You Ready?”  Silicon Transmitter, “Downfall”  Thorn & Shout, “Farewell”   

In our first BONUS EPISODE of the season, we chat to Rob Larson, writer and professor of economics at Tacoma Community College, and take a deep dive into his new book, Capitalism vs. Freedom: The Toll Road to Serfdom. We also talk about Eugene Debs and the “Real America,” Jeff Bezos's twitchy eye, pick-up basketball, and how workers can pull together to fight off and fight back against the depressing, daily realities of our un-free lives in this rigged system.  Additional links/info below... Link to Rob’s new book, Capitalism vs. Freedom: The Toll Road to Serfdom   AFT Washington homepage  Along Came Polly basketball scene    Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)  Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall" Coolzey, “Terrorist”  Coolzey, “Fed Up”  Jimmie Oder, “My Soul Is Sold”  Six Time Users, “Divide” 

In this episode, we chat with Sara, a DACA recipient and telemarketer in Las Vegas. Sara is not the kind of person you can put labels on—you definitely can’t put her in any one box. And that seems to have been written into her life story from the beginning. We talk about what it was like growing up in Southern California, moving between cities with different demographics, different cultures—cities where she had different types of friend groups and where she explored different parts of herself. We talk about how Sara and her brother had to stick together, especially since their mom had to be out working most of the day. We talk about working in fast food and running a cleaning service, and we talk about the leap of faith Sara and her girlfriend made moving to Las Vegas.  We also talk about what it’s been like for Sara to grow up undocumented in the United States. We talk about all the little things Sara and other undocumented folks just can’t do in their daily lives, from boarding an airplane to driving too close to the border. And, of course, we talk about what it’s been like to be a DACA recipient in our uncertain political moment, when anti-immigrant sentiments and policies tear lives and families apart. Like other working folks, Sara’s been through a lot in her life, but it is truly amazing how she doesn’t let anything keep her down, and you can hear in her voice how much she loves and appreciates the people and places close to her.   Additional links/info below (more links coming soon)... Paul Fleming & William Lopez, Huffington Post, “Ending DACA Has Created a Looming Public Health Crisis”  Ariel Ron & Dael Norwood, The Atlantic, “America’s Long History of Exploiting Migrant Workers”  Sebastián González De León, In These Times, “For Many Undocumented Workers, There’s No Such Thing As a Minimum Wage”  Joe McCarthy & Phineas Rueckert, Global Citizen, “7 Ways You Can Help Undocumented Immigrants Right Now”    For more info about hotel worker actions…  Follow hashtags: #OneJobShouldBeEnough & #ChicagoHotelStrike Katie Johnston, Boston Globe, “Union Workers to Picket at Seven Marriott-Run Hotels”  Dave Jamieson, Huffington Post, “Thousands of Marriott Workers to Vote on Multi-City Strike”  Mitchell Armentrout & David Struett, Chicago Sun Times, “Thousands of Hotel Workers Go on Strike in Downtown Chicago”    For more info on Disney Resort workers…  See our show notes to Episode #2 (Glynndana Shevlin)  Rebekah Pederson & Glynndana Shevlin, The New York Times, “I Work at the Happiest Place on Earth. Why Can’t I Pay My Rent?”  Gabriel San Roman, OC Weekly, “Principal Author of Anaheim’s Living Wage Law Says Disney’s Not Exempt”  Gabriel San Roman, OC Weekly, “Anaheim Dissolves Disney Subsidies, Declares Peace on Backs of Resort Workers” Andrew Gumbel, The Guardian, “‘Pay a Living Wage’: Bernie Sanders Accuses Disney of Dodging Fair Pay”  Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org) - Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall" - Chad Crouch, “Wide Eyes”  - Cambriana, “Vegas”  - David Hilowitz, “Scattered Light”

In this special Labor Day episode, we talk to LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota, and one of the founders of the resistance camps where the protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline (#NoDAPL) took place from the spring of 2016 to the winter of 2017. LaDonna is a Native historian who was thrust by history into the role of an activist—her work and bravery have brought hope and courage to people all around the globe. She’s an incredible human being and a masterful storyteller. We talk about LaDonna’s life, about the struggles of Native tribes, and about the ongoing, violent erasure of the lives and history of Native people in this country, on this continent, and around the world. We talk about the care and wisdom and protection LaDonna always got from her grandmother, and we talk about LaDonna’s memories of being torn away from her family and put in foster care as a child. We talk about how she was always made to feel different, an outsider on land that was stolen from her and her ancestors. And we talk about returning home to the Reservation, about learning how to live with the land, and about being a survivor.   Additional links/info below... **Sacred Stone Village Facebook page   **Sacred Stone Camp Facebook page  Wisdom of the Elders, “Turtle Island Storyteller, LaDonna Brave Bull Allard”  Democracy Now!, “Standing Rock Sioux Historian: Dakota Access Co. Attack Comes on Anniversary of Whitestone Massacre”  Democracy Now!, “‘Is This America?’ Co-Founder of Sacred Stone Camp Recalls Dog Attack on Native Americans”  Water Protector Legal Collective #NoDAPL Archive  Standing Rock Syllabus    For more info about the nationwide Prison Strike...  incarceratedworkers.org  Natasha Lennard, The Intercept, “Prison Strike Organizer Warns: Brutal Prison Conditions Risk ‘Another Attica’”  Ed Pilkington, The Guardian, “US Inmates Stage Nationwide Prison Labor Strike Over ‘Modern Slavery’”    Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive) - Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall" - King Kong Ding Dong, “Distant Drums”

In this episode, we talk to Tom Madden, a native Missourian, a professional plumber, and member of the Plumbers and Pipefitters Union Local 562. We talk about what it was like for Tom and his brothers to grow up in a strict household, and we also talk about some of his wilder days at high school parties. We talk about Tom’s father, a professional journalist and labor reporter in St. Louis, and about the huge impression it left on Tom to hear his dad talk about unions and take him and his brothers to worker demonstrations around the city. And we talk about the complex and absolutely vital work plumbers like him do to keep our homes, buildings, and cities functioning.  We also talk about the historic “Vote No on Proposition A” campaign to defeat so-called “right-to-work” legislation in Missouri this month, and about all the work it took from union and non-union workers across the state. We discuss what the threat of right-to-work has meant for workers around Missouri and elsewhere, and what it took for campaigners to reach voters around the state to work around decades of built-up misconceptions about what right-to-work actually is.   Additional links/info below... Local 562’s website  Alexia Fernández Campbell, Vox, “Missouri voters Just Blocked the Right-to-Work Law Republicans Passed to Weaken Labor Unions”  Judy Ancel, Labor Notes, “Why Missouri ‘Right to Work’ Went Down in Flames”  Lonnie K. Stevans, Review of Law & Economics, “The Effect of Endogenous Right-to-Work Laws on Business & Economic Conditions in the United States: A Multivariate Approach”  Joe Burns, Jacobin, “Don’t Take the Boss’s Bait”  For more info about the nationwide Prison Strike...  incarceratedworkers.org  Natasha Lennard, The Intercept, “Prison Strike Organizer Warns: Brutal Prison Conditions Risk ‘Another Attica’”  Ed Pilkington, The Guardian, “US Inmates Stage Nationwide Prison Labor Strike Over ‘Modern Slavery’”    Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive) - Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall" - Dirty Fences, “High School Rip” - Sam Moss, “Working on a Building” - Cletus Got Shot, “Saw Mill”

In this episode, we talk to Angela Prigge, who has been a hospitality worker in Hawaii, on the island of Kauai, for 18 years. Angela has lived in Hawaii her whole life, and we talk about her love for her home and her deep family roots there. We talk about how Angela’s grandparents moved to Hawaii from the Philippines, how her father and grandfather worked and lived on sugar plantations. We talk about Angela’s memories of the bakery her mom worked at in Kauai, and we talk about how her parents instilled in her, from a young age, an appreciation for the necessity and power of unions. We also discuss what it was like to witness firsthand the major changes that have happened to Hawaii’s economy, as farming and small businesses gave way to a tourism and hospitality industry that has come to dominate life on the islands. We talk about the ongoing struggles for workers who can hardly afford to live in Hawaii, which has the highest cost of living out of any state in the U.S. And we talk about how Angela, who is on the executive board of her union, UNITE HERE Local 5, and her coworkers are banding together to fight not only for better wages and fair treatment, but for a more dignified and enjoyable life—one that doesn’t completely revolve around work and bills.   Additional links/info below... UNITE HERE Local 5’s website Hawaii News Now ongoing series, “Priced Out of Paradise” Jed Smith, Stab Magazine, “Priced Out of Paradise: The Reality of Gentrification on the North Shore” Cultural Survival Quarterly, Issue 24-1, “Problems in Paradise: Sovereignty in the Pacific”   Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive) - Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall" - Ayla Nereo, “Waves” - We Is Shore Dedicated, “Home” - Monplaisir, “First” 

In this episode, we talk to Lauren Schandevel, a low-income student at the University of Michigan who grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Warren, Michigan. Lauren is a really remarkable person, and in our interview we chat about what it was like to grow up in her part of Macomb County, which always seems to crop up every election cycle whenever news outlets want to figure out what’s happening in the Rust Belt. We talk about Lauren’s experience moving back and forth between worlds, between her working-class home and the school she transferred to, where she took classes and hung out with people from wealthier backgrounds. We talk about school, family, friends, and the ecstatic and dismal pangs of adolescence.   We spend a fair amount of time talking about what it’s like being a low-income student attending a public university where the median family income for students' families is over three times what it is for families in Lauren's hometown. And we also talk at length about what Lauren has been doing to bring a class-based analysis to higher education, including starting "Being Not Rich at UM," an open-source guide for low-income students like herself who are trying to navigate college life at UM. We discuss what it means to Lauren, and what it means for class politics in higher education, that this guide went viral, drew national attention, and has even inspired students at other universities to author similar guides.    Additional links/info below... Being Not-Rich at UM guide  Jennifer Meer, The Michigan Daily, "University ranks last in economic mobility and diversity among elite public colleges" Gregor Aisch, Larry Buchanan, Amanda Cox, & Kevin Quealy, The New York Times, "Some Colleges Have More Students From the Top 1 Percent Than the Bottom 60. Find Yours" #RealCollege  Christopher Newfield, Johns Hopkins University Press, The Great Mistake: How We Wrecked Public Universities & How We Can Fix Them    Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive) - Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall" - Cosmo, "No Gods, No Masters" - Steve Combs, "Motown Rehearsal" - Strong Suit, "Derby Day"

In this episode, we talk to Adrienne, a teacher in Michigan, single mother of three, and a grievance officer in her local union. Adrienne is an incredible person whose devotion to caring for others, and whose ability to juggle multiple full-time jobs at once, is astounding. In our conversation, we talk about many facets of Adrienne's remarkable life, including her time growing up in cooperative housing in Lansing and her lifelong love of books and reading, which have always been a refuge for her. We also discuss her family and the the tragic death of her brother, Jamie, whose undiagnosed, lifelong pain shaped Adrienne's decision to become a teacher. We talk about her union work and about why it's so important for others to get involved, now more than ever, in the fight for social and economic justice in the workplace and beyond.      Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive) - Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall" - David Szesztay, "80s"  - Audiobinger, "Summer Nights" - Love Hustler, "Sinderella (Instrumental)" 

In this episode, I have the great pleasure of talking with Glynndana Shevlin, a Disney Resort worker and member of UNITE HERE Local 11. We talk about her life, her time working at Disney, and the struggles she and her co-workers face to make ends meet. Disney workers' wages, like the wages of workers around the country, have stagnated as inflation and the cost of living have exploded. While the Walt Disney Company continues to record yearly profits in the billions, the workers who "make the magic" for visitors from all over the world are struggling with homelessness, food insecurity, medical bills, etc. I talk to Glynndana about this and about the ballot initiative in Orange County to raise worker wages. Glynndana is an incredibly lovely person and I was really moved hearing her love for what she does as well as her commitment to ensuring that she and her fellow workers are treated fairly and get the dignity and respect they give to others on a daily basis. Additional links/info below... Local 11's website Union-coalition survey of Disney Resort workers Daniel Miller, LA Times, "Is Disney Paying It's Share in Anaheim?" Michelle Chen, The Nation, "Are Disney Workers Having a Hard Time Making Ends Meet?" Thy Vo, Voice of OC, "Anaheim $18 Minimum Wage Initiative Advances to November Ballot"   Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive) - Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall" - Pat Broderick, "Bluebird"  - Lobo Loco, "Good Thoughts"  - Brock Tyler, "Meeting You There"  

In this inaugural episode of Working People, we talk to Jesus Alvarez: a Mexican immigrant who became a US citizen in 1980; a shy kid who met his wife, Regina, while working at a Sizzler; a life-long Republican voter; a family man; a realtor who, like so many of us, lost just about everything during the Great Recession; a sports-lover with a quirky sense of humor; a devoted father; and an amazing human being who has lived such an interesting, beautiful life. Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive) - Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall" - Lia Nadja, "Soy Como el Espacio" - The Trumpeteers, "Little Wooden Church" - Alvaro Peña, "La Boca Seca"