Working People

When we hear the term "whistleblower," we tend to think of names like Daniel Ellsberg, Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, Julian Assange—people who have risked their freedom, even their lives, to expose government lies, abuses of power, and state secrets that the public needs to know about. But there are a range of federal statutes designed to protect those who blow the whistle on their employers, too, especially when those employers are breaking the law and/or endangering their workers and the public. Michael Paul Lindsey II is a military veteran who has worked for Union Pacific as a trained locomotive conductor and engineer for the past 17 years, and he has maintained good standing as an employee throughout that time. Over the course of his career on the rails, however, Paul has seen and experienced firsthand how corporate greed has destroyed the railroad industry, damaged our supply chain, run workers into the ground, and put the public in danger. Even though he knew it could put his career at risk, Paul has been outspoken on these issues, using his popular TikTok channel, writing op-eds, and giving interviews in which he has exposed, with a veteran railroader's insight, the destructive business and labor practices of Union Pacific and the other Class 1 rail carriers, and how those practices have contributed to catastrophes like the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Then the company came for him. In suspected retaliation for his whistleblowing, Paul has officially been fired from Union Pacific. In this urgent and exclusive interview, we talk with Paul about his career on the rails, the changes he's seen take hold of the industry he loves, and the dubious circumstances that led to his firing. Additional links/info below... Paul's TikTok channel Paul's TikTok video about East Palestine derailment  OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Program Michael Paul Lindsey II, Railway Age, "The Game Has Changed" Michael Paul Lindsey II, Railway Age, "‘Dear National Carriers Conference Committee and AAR’" Maximillian Alvarez, Breaking Points, "Railway Companies Engage In 'CORPORATE TERRORISM' Ahead of Strike" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, ""This Was Preventable": Railroad Workers Explain How Wall St Caused the East Palestine Derailment" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "East Palestine, 100 Days Later" Mel Buer, The Real News Network, "What Union Pacific and the Media Aren’t Telling You About the Baker, CA, Train Derailment" Mel Buer, The Real News Network, "Corporate Billionaires Are Wrecking the Supply Chain. Just Look at the Railroads" Useful Idiots, "‘Union Joe’ Biden Sells Out Rail 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

We hosted another Working People live show, in collaboration with the Action Builder / Action Network team, on May 8 at the 30th Constitutional Convention of the Canadian Labour Congress in Montréal. In this panel discussion, Max speaks with Sarah Beth Ryther, employee-organizer with Trader Joe's United in Minneapolis, and Josh Thole, former Major League Baseball player and current Minor League Special Assistant for the MLB Players Association, about what union organizing from the ground up looks like, and about how we can scale up our local organizing efforts and build the infrastructure to sustain nationwide campaigns.  Additional links/info below... Major League Baseball Players Association website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Trader Joe's United website, Twitter page, and Instagram Trader Joe’s United Solidarity Fund Action Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Action Builder website Jeff Schuhrke & Sarah Beth Ryther, Jacobin, "Trader Joe’s Workers Have Won Their First Unions in America" Working People, "Alex P." Evan Drellich, The Athletic, "‘Hit the Go Button’: The Six Years that Made Baseball’s Minor League Union" Tipping Pitches, "The Gang Forms a Union (feat. Trevor Hildenberger)" Working People, "2023 Canadian Labour Congress, Part 1 (w/ Emily Leedham, Guy Smith, Mary Newman, James Russwurm, & Liz Ha)" Working People, "2023 Canadian Labour Congress, Part 2 (w/ Nora Loreto, Meg Davis, Larry Rousseau, & Nicholas Marcus Thompson)" 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 legislative attacks on the rights of trans people, drag performers, and queer people spreading to statehouses around the country like wildfire, to rightwing media relentlessly spewing fascistic anti-LGBTQ+ messages, to far-right groups ramping up their intimidation tactics and violent assaults to force LGBTQ+ people back into the closet, Pride month feels different in 2023. And yet, the rebellious, liberatory spirit of Pride persists, and the struggle for equality, acceptance, and the right to pursue what makes us happy continues—and the labor movement must be a source of strength in that struggle. How far has the labor movement come in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights? How far do we still have to go? And what role can and should labor play in the broader, necessary fight for LGBTQ+ liberation and against the fascist attacks on our fellow workers, our neighbors, and our loved ones? We talk to Fae Weichsel, a first assistant cameraperson and member of IATSE Local 600, where they also serve on the National Executive Board and co-chair the Young Workers Committee, and Jessica Gonzalez, who has worked in the video game industry for the past decade, is currently a lead technical test analyst for a video game company, and is a founder of A Better ABK (Activision-Blizzard-King Workers Alliance) and the Game Workers Alliance. Additional links/info below... Fae's Twitter page and Bluesky page Jessica's Twitter page and Linktree IATSE Local 600 website, Facebook page, and Twitter page ABetterABK website and Twitter page Game Workers Alliance website and Twitter page Human Rights Campaign, "LGBTQ+ Americans Under Attack: A Report and Reflection on the 2023 State Legislative Session" Amelia Hansford, PinkNews, "Trans Journalist Erin Reed on Fighting Anti-LGBTQ+ Hate and Working at the Coalface of Transphobia" Tess Owens, Vice News, "The Far Right Has Made Security a Huge Issue For Pride" William Phelps, Tag24, "Jessica Gonzalez, Former Activision Blizzard Employee, Is a Champion of Game Workers' Rights" Kellen Browning, The New York Times, "A Vote by Activision Workers Could Give Unions a Foothold in Gaming" Kellen Browning & Mike Isaac, The New York Times, "Activision, Facing Internal Turmoil, Grapples With #MeToo Reckoning" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "The New 'Lavender Scare' Is an Attack on the Working Class" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Entertainment Workers Discuss the Dark Side of Hollywood and Historic IATSE Strike Vote" Julian Mark & Jaclyn Peiser, The Washington Post, "Starbucks Workers at 150 Stores Launch Strike Over Pride Decor" 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 largest private sector labor contract in the US is set to expire at midnight on July 31; as negotiations continue to play out, we will soon see whether or not the 350,000 Teamsters working for United Parcel Services (UPS) will hit the picket line and wage one of the largest strikes in US history. As Sean Orr, a UPS package-car driver and elected shop steward for Teamsters Local 705 in Chicago, and Elliot Lewis, a UPS package-car driver and alternate shop steward for Teamsters Local 804 in New York City, recently wrote in Jacobin, "This contract fight is about two visions of work in the twenty-first century. One is promoted by workers: equal pay for equal work, dignity and autonomy on the job, and a stable work-life balance. The other is promoted by Wall Street: hypersurveillance, low pay, subcontracting, gig work, and 'flexible' scheduling practices that hurt workers and benefit bosses." In this episode, we talk to Sean Orr about growing up in a de-industrializing Milwaukee, his path to becoming a Teamster and working for UPS, why the current contract fight is such a pivotal moment for the Teamsters and the labor movement, and what we can all do to stand in solidarity with all UPS workers.  Additional links/info below... Sean's Twitter page International Brotherhood of Teamsters website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Teamsters for a Democratic Union website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Sean Orr & Elliot Lewis, Jacobin, "UPS Teamsters Are Ready to Strike" Sean Orr & Elliot Lewis, Labor Notes, "UPS Teamsters Start Strike Authorization Vote" Working People, "Teamsters in Boston Have a Message for UPS (w/ Thomas Mari, Jane Fallon, Rob Atkinson, JJ Rodriguez, Fred Zuckerman, Julie, & Sean M. O'Brien)" Working People, ""If You Can't Stand the Heat, Keep Working" (w/ Zakk, Gabriela, & Steve)" The Upsurge podcast Spotify page, Twitter page, and Patreon  Alex Press, Jacobin, "Inside the Teamsters’ Preparations for a UPS Strike" J.J. McCorvey, Adiel Kaplan, & Annie Probert, NBC News, "UPS Drivers on Track to Get Air-Conditioned Trucks for the First Time" 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 May 8-12, the 30th Constitutional Convention of the Canadian Labour Congress took place in Montréal. Reporting for Working People and The Real News Network, Max attended the convention and spoke with a number of rank-and-file workers, organizers, and union officers about the state of the labor movement in Canada. In Part 2 of our two-part dispatch from the CLC, we talk to: Nora Loreto, writer, editor, organizer, podcaster, co-host of Sandy and Nora Talk Politics with Sandy Hudson, and author of numerous books, including Spin Doctors: How Media and Politicians Misdiagnosed the COVID-19 Pandemic, and Take Back The Fight: Organizing Feminism for the Digital Age; Meg Davis, brand director, illustrator, and former member of the organizing committee at Point Blank Creative ad agency, where workers unionized with UFCW Local 1518; Larry Rousseau, current Executive Vice President of the Canadian Labour Congress; and Nicholas Marcus Thompson, Trinidadian-Canadian social justice advocate, union leader, and Executive Director of the Black Class Action Secretariat. Additional links/info below... Canadian Labour Congress website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Nora's website and Twitter page Nora Loreto, Fernwood Publishers, Spin Doctors: How Media and Politicians Misdiagnosed the COVID-19 Pandemic Nora Loreto, Fernwood Publishers, Take Back The Fight: Organizing Feminism for the Digital Age Meg's website Larry's CLC profile page and Twitter page Nicholas's website and Twitter page Black Class Action website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Yes—Canada Has Anti-Black Racism, Too" Justin Crann, Strategy, "Inside Point Blank’s Efforts to Unionize" Gabriela Calugay-Casuga, rabble.ca, "The Black Class Action Secretariat Needs All of Labour to Step Up" Gabriela Calugay-Casuga, rabble.ca, "‘Team Unite’ re-elected to lead Canadian Labour Congress" 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 May 8-12, the 30th Constitutional Convention of the Canadian Labour Congress took place in Montréal. Reporting for Working People and The Real News Network, Max attended the convention and spoke with a number of rank-and-file workers, organizers, and union officers about the state of the labor movement in Canada. In Part 1 of our two-part dispatch from the CLC, we talk to: Emily Leedham, the Prairie Reporter for PressProgress and editor of Shift Work, PressProgress' weekly national labour newsletter; Guy Smith, president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees; Mary Newman, a journalist and producer for the Canadian Broadcast Corporation and member of the Canadian Media Guild; James Russwurm, a quality assurance tester for Keywords Studios, where workers formed the first union in the video gaming industry and affiliated with UFCW Local 401; Liz Ha, 1st Vice President of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) Local 154, chair of the OPSEU provincial human rights committee, and vice-chair of the OPSEU Coalition of Racialized Workers. Additional links/info below... Canadian Labour Congress website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Emily's Twitter page and newsletter  PressProgress's website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Guy's AUPE profile page Alberta Union of Provincial Employees website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Mary's Twitter page UFCW Local 401 website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Liz's Twitter page OPSEU Local 154 Facebook page OPSEU Coalition of Racialized Workers website  Emily Leedham, PressProgress, "Public Servants Forced Federal Government to Improve Deal By Going on Strike, Labour Experts Say" Aminah Sheikh, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, "The Right Wing is Organizing in Canada. Can The Left Learn to Stop Them?" CBC Radio, "Canada's Video Games Industry Is Getting Its 1st Union. Organizers Hope It's Not the Last" 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 2020 protests that took place in the immediate wake of Minneapolis police murdering George Floyd were a historic call for America to reckon with its racist, oppressive system of state-sanctioned police violence. Three years later, rather than a reckoning, that same system, along with the political and business elites propping it up, are giving us "Cop City" (ie, the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, the Atlanta Police Foundation’s 85-acre, $90-million police militarization and training complex where law enforcement from around the US and beyond will, among other things, train for urban warfare scenarios). Plans to build Cop City have been mired in controversy and civil rights violations from the beginning—from the city government's attempts to ignore residents' and activists' objections and force through the construction of Cop City in Atlanta's ecologically vital Weelaunee Forest, to police raiding an encampment of peaceful protestors and murdering one of them, Manuel ("Tortuguita") Esteban Paez Terán, who was shot 57 times, to the truly Orwellian crackdown on protestors and advocates, dozens of whom are being arrested and charged with "domestic terrorism."  As Micah Herskind writes, "The struggle to Stop Cop City is not just a battle over the creation of a $90 million police urban warfare center. It's not just a fight to protect the 381 acres of forest land, known as one of the "four lungs" of Atlanta, currently under threat of destruction. It's not just a conflict over how the city invests the over $30 million it has pledged to the project, to be supplemented by at least $60 million in private funding. The movement is all of those things. But even more fundamentally, the struggle to Stop Cop City is a battle for the future of Atlanta. It's a struggle over who the city is for: the city's corporate and state ruling class actors who have demanded that Cop City be built, or the people of Atlanta who have consistently voiced their opposition and demanded a different vision for the city." Make no mistake, though, the fight to Stop Cop City is all of our fight, and that very much includes the labor movement. In this mini-cast, we speak with Kamau Franklin and Mariah Parker about Cop City, the fight to stop it, and why labor needs to get off the sidelines and join that fight.  Kamau Franklin has been a dedicated community organizer for over thirty years, beginning in New York City and now based in Atlanta. He is also a lawyer, writer, and the founder of Community Movement Builders, Inc. Mariah Parker is labor and community organizer, a rapper (known by the stage name Linqua Franqa), and recently served as District 2 County Commissioner for Athens-Clarke County in Athens, Georgia, from 2018 - 2022. Additional links/info below... Kamau's Twitter page Community Movement Builders website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram  Mariah's Twitter page and LinkTree  Stop Cop City Micah Herskind, Scalawag, "This is the Atlanta Way: A Primer on Cop City" Candace Bernd, Truthout, "Cop City Protesters Face Felonies for Flyering as Police Repress Student Sit-Ins" Candace Bernd, Truthout, "Atlanta Was a Constitution-Free Zone During “Stop Cop City” Week of Action" Stephen Janis & Taya Graham, The Real News Network, "Atlanta's 'Cop City' Is a Blueprint for America's Future" Frances Madeson, Truthout, "Domestic Terrorism Charges Against Cop City Demonstrators Spur Further Protests" Natasha Lennard, The Intercept, "Atlanta Police Arrest Organizers of Bail Fund for Cop City Protestors" Natasha Lennard, The Intercept, "Police Shot Atlanta Cop City Protestor 57 Times, Autopsy Finds" Fair Fight Action Releases Statement Condemning Anti-Democratic Criminalization of Legal Aid Group Ahead of Vote on ‘Cop City’ Funding  Jimmy Williams (General President of IUPAT) statement on Cop City Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Three Years Later, George Floyd’s Family Members Are Still Fighting for Justice" Morgan Simon, Forbes, "The Corporations Funding Cop City In Atlanta" 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 hosted a Working People live show at The Real News Network studio in Baltimore on May 18. In this panel discussion, co-hosted by Max and Baltimore writer and editor Rebekah Kirkman, we speak with a diverse panel of worker-organizers from around the city about their respective struggles to unionize their workplaces, what being in a union means to them and their coworkers, and what all of us can do to support one another and grow the labor movement in our town. Panelists include: Dever Cunningham, MOM’s Workers United (Teamsters); Martin Yepes, Teachers & Researchers United (United Electrical Workers) at Johns Hopkins University; Leila Grothe, Baltimore Museum of Art Union (AFSCME); Andre Elkridge, UNITE HERE Local 7; Rachel Leeds, Walters Workers United Museum of Art.  Additional links/info below... Watch the video version of this live show  Rebekah's website and Twitter page Mom's Workers United Twitter page Teachers & Researchers United website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram  Baltimore Museum of Art Union Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram  UNITE HERE Local 7 website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Walters Workers United website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram  Rebekah Kirkman, The Real News Network, "Walters Art Museum Sends Public Labor Day Email Criticizing Staff for Not Nnionizing Quickly, Yet Refuses to Recognize Union" Rebekah Kirkman, The Real News Network,"MOM’s Organic Market Workers Vote to Unionize Baltimore-Area Store" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Baltimore Museum Workers Are Fighting for a 'Wall-to-Wall' Union"  Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Now or Never: Grad Student-Workers at Johns Hopkins Mobilize Ahead of Union Election" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Workers at Maryland's First Unionized Starbucks Describe Their Fight for Workplace Democracy" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Baltimore's Enoch Pratt Free Library Workers Move to Unionize"  Jaisal Noor, The Real News Network, "Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel Workers Say Managers Pocket Half Their Tips" 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 over 100 days since the catastrophic derailment of a Norfolk Southern train carrying over 100,000 gallons of toxic materials occurred in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb 3. Since then, residents of East Palestine and the surrounding area in Ohio and Pennsylvania have had their lives turned completely upside down. Entire families have been uprooted from their homes, with many having to live in hotels or wherever they can find shelter, unable to return home out of fear of exposure to chemicals that were spilled into the water and soil from the derailment and spewed into the air from Norfolk Southern's "controlled burn" of the vinyl chloride contained within multiple derailed train cars. Even though government and company officials have claimed the air is safe to breathe and the water is safe to drink, residents have continuously reported negative health effects from skin rashes, headaches, and dizzy spells to nausea, diarrhea, shortness of breath, and mouth numbness. Farm animals, pets, and crops have been contaminated, property values have plummeted, local businesses have shuttered or are barely surviving—all the while, frustrated residents report feeling lied to, misled, disregarded, and abandoned by Norfolk Southern and by their state and federal governments, and their ongoing nightmare has been gradually forgotten by the national media. In this urgent episode, we speak with Ashley McCollum, Kayla Miller, and Christina Siceloff—three residents of East Palestine and the surrounding area in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and members of the East Palestine Unity Council—about what they, their families, and their communities are going through, how they are banding together to provide mutual aid for one another, and what we can all do to help. Additional links/info below... Ashley's Twitter page and GoFundMe Christina's TikTok and CashApp: $safekeeper115 Kayla's TikTok and GoFundMe GoFundMe: East Palestine Off The Rails! Unity Council for EP Train Derailment Facebook group Soup Mama Official The Unity Council Presents: Community Demands Created by Community Members of Ohio and Pennsylvania Affected by the Norfolk Southern Train Derailment in East Palestine, Ohio Steve Mellon, Pittsburgh Union Progress, "East Palestine Residents Plead: ‘By the Grace of God, Please Get Our People Out of Here’" Steve Mellon, Pittsburgh Union Progress, "Seven Weeks After Rail Disaster, Residents Struggle with the Unknown" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "East Palestine, Ohio: A Hell of Wall Street's Making" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "'This Was Preventable': Railroad Workers Explain How Wall St. Caused the East Palestine Derailment" Maximillian Alvarez, Breaking Points, "Rail Worker EXPOSES Ohio Disaster COVERUP" Mike L., The Real News Network, "A Carman's Perspective on the East Palestine Derailment and the Railroad Industry as a Whole" Matt Berg, Politico, "DOJ Sues Norfolk Southern over East Palestine Derailment" Campbell Robertson & Emily Cochrane, The New York Times, "In Ohio Town Where Train Derailed, Anxiety and Distrust Are Running Deep" Hiroko Tabuchi, The New York Times, "Texas to New Jersey: Tracking the Toxic Chemicals in the Ohio Train Inferno" Status Coup News, "CHRONIC EXPOSURE to Cancer-Causing Vinyl Chloride Found in East Palestine Residents' Urine Tests" 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

Hollywood writers represented by the Writers Guild of America, East, and the Writers Guild of America, West, are on strike for the first time since 2007-08. As Alex Press writes in Jacobin, "The WGA (West and East) called the strike just before midnight on May 1, with its leadership unanimously voting for a work stoppage after six weeks of negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) over a new three-year contract that covers some 11,500 film and television writers. Announcing its decision, the union said that the bargaining table responses of the AMPTP, which consists of Amazon, Apple, Discovery-Warner, Disney, NBC Universal, Netflix, Paramount, and Sony, had 'been wholly insufficient given the existential crisis writers are facing.'" Even though overall production budgets have risen in the past decade, writer pay has declined, and the rise of streaming services has translated to lower residuals for writers, shorter paid work periods and more precarious employment, etc., with studios even threatening to replace more essential creative labor with AI software. In this mini-cast, we speak about what led to the writers' strike, and get an update from the picket line, with Sasha Stewart, a WGA-East council member and Writers Guild Award nominated TV writer, producer, and creator. With a background in improv and sketch comedy, Sasha has written for, among other productions, The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore (Comedy Central) and The Fix with Jimmy Carr (Netflix), and she contributes to McSweeney's and The New Yorker. She was also the Head Writer on the YA political thriller podcast Daughters of DC (iHeartRadio). Additional links/info below... Sasha's website and Twitter page WGA-East website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram  WGA-West website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram  Entertainment Community Fund  Josh Gondelman, The Nation, "Writers Like Me Have Shut Down Hollywood. Here’s Why" Alex Press, Jacobin, "TV Writers Say They’re Striking to Stop the Destruction of Their Profession" Mandalit del Barco & Becky Sullivan, NPR, "The Best Picket Signs of the Hollywood Writers' Strike" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Hollywood Studios Are Making Billions Off Underpaid Animators" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Entertainment Workers Discuss the Dark Side of Hollywood and Historic IATSE Strike Vote" Matt Pearce, The Los Angeles Times, "AI Deepfakes of Anthony Bourdain’s Voice Are Only a Taste of What’s Coming" 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