

Labor History Today
laborhistorytoday
Gripping stories of the historic battles for worker rights and how they fuel today’s struggles. Part of the Labor Radio/Podcast Network: #LaborRadioPod
Episodes
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Mar 31, 2024 • 22min
Connecting the ACLU, NRA and IWW
Labor historian Joe McCartin on the labor connection to National Rifle Association v. Vullo.
On this week’s Labor History in Two: Remembering ILWU leader Harry Bridges.
Read more: New York's Coercion of Private Companies to Blacklist the NRA Has a Long and Dark History
Questions, comments, or suggestions are welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us at LaborHistoryToday@gmail.com
Labor History Today is produced by the Labor Heritage Foundation and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.
@ACLU #LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @wrkclasshistory

Mar 24, 2024 • 32min
“Changing Lives, Changing L.A.”
Today’s show comes to us from Re:Work, a woman-led radio show and podcast from the UCLA Labor Center, spotlighting the voices of workers, immigrants, and people of color.
“Changing Lives, Changing L.A.” is a play created from transcripts from the UNITE HERE Local 11 Oral History Project and originally performed before a live audience at Loyola Marymount University and UCLA. Portrayed by professional actors, four members of Local 11 share their stories of becoming leaders in their union,
and fighting for a better life while helping transform Los Angeles.
These are important voices to hear, especially this year.
On this week’s Labor History in Two: The year was 1972. That was the day the Equal Rights Amendment passed the Senate and moved to the states for ratification.
Questions, comments, or suggestions are welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us at LaborHistoryToday@gmail.com
Labor History Today is produced by the Labor Heritage Foundation and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.
@rework_radio #LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @wrkclasshistory

Mar 17, 2024 • 44min
B.C.’s Tough and Fearless Truck-Driving Woman
From On The Line, the story of Diana Kilmury, the bold and fearless truck driver who took on both sexist attitudes on the job and a corrupt union.
On this week’s Labor History in Two: Big Bill Haywood Talks General Strike.
Questions, comments, or suggestions are welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us at LaborHistoryToday@gmail.com
Labor History Today is produced by the Labor Heritage Foundation and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.
@BC_LHC #LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @wrkclasshistory

Mar 10, 2024 • 32min
The 2024 Labor Oscar winners!
The Power at Work podcast’s Joseph Brant reveals the winners of their Labor Oscars, all of which are classics of the genre.
On this week’s Labor History in Two: The Slovak Strike.
Questions, comments, or suggestions are welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us at LaborHistoryToday@gmail.com
Labor History Today is produced by the Labor Heritage Foundation and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.
@BurnesCenter @MrSethHarris @sagaftra @AndreaLyman10 @haroldPDX @AWFJ @aboutdocsguide @PowerAtWorkBlog #Oscars #LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @wrkclasshistory

Mar 8, 2024 • 45min
When Mother Jones teamed up with a U.S. Senator to battle West Virginia feudalism
David Corn, Washington D.C. Bureau Chief for Mother Jones, brings us “A Story of Mother Jones (the Labor Organizer) That’s Relevant a Century Later”.
Questions, comments, or suggestions are welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us at LaborHistoryToday@gmail.com
Labor History Today is produced by the Labor Heritage Foundation and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.
@DavidCornDC @MotherJones #LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @wrkclasshistory

Mar 3, 2024 • 30min
We Were There
The history of Women's History Month, and Women in the U.S. Labor Movement, a special report from the Work Stoppage podcast, plus “We Were There” by Bev Grant and the New York City Labor Chorus, and, on Labor History in Two, the year was 1990; that was the day 9,300 workers walked out at Greyhound bus lines.
NOTE: Bev Grant and the DC Labor Chorus perform “We Were There” on Tuesday, March 12 at the Takoma Busboys and Poets; tickets are free but you must RSVP here.
Questions, comments, or suggestions are welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us at LaborHistoryToday@gmail.com
Labor History Today is produced by the Labor Heritage Foundation and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.
@WorkStoppagePod #LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @wrkclasshistory

Feb 25, 2024 • 45min
Life and Times of a Black Wobbly (Encore)
Ben Fletcher was one of the most important black labor leaders in American history. Yet he’s almost entirely unknown. In today’s show, from the Working Class History podcast, and in honor of Black History Month, we learn about this little-known dock worker and labor organizer, who helped organize thousands of workers on the Philadelphia docks into the most powerful multiracial union in the country. (Originally released 7/23/23)
Questions, comments, or suggestions are welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us at LaborHistoryToday@gmail.com
Labor History Today is produced by Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.
#LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @wrkclasshistory @ProfPeterCole

Feb 18, 2024 • 33min
Mingo, Matewan and the Coal Wars of West Virginia
Jeff Barnes was born and raised in Tazewell, Virginia, in the heart of coal country. He lives, writes, and practices law in Richmond. His novel “Mingo”, published in 2021, was inspired by his childhood fascination with the 1919 Matewan Massacre, which occurred during the bitter, brutal Coal Mine Wars and the stories his father told of growing up in Pocahontas, Virginia in the 1920’s with friends who were first generation Americans of Hungarian and Italian descent. Last month Jeff gave a talk on Mingo, Matewan and the Coal Wars of West Virginia to the Virginia chapter of the Labor and Employment Relations Association; today’s show features an excerpt from that talk.
On this week’s Labor History in Two: the year was 1936. That was the day more rubber workers sat down in Akron, Ohio.
Questions, comments, or suggestions are welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us at LaborHistoryToday@gmail.com
Labor History Today is produced by the Labor Heritage Foundation and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.
@WarsWV #LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @wrkclasshistory

Feb 13, 2024 • 2min
The myth of “highly paid” Alabama auto workers
The Valley Labor Report reports.
Today’s labor history: Striking Hollywood writers return to work.
Today’s labor quote: Bill Fletcher Jr.
@LaborReporters @BillFletcherJr @wpfwdc @AFLCIO #1u #UnionStrong #LaborRadioPod
Proud founding member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network

Feb 11, 2024 • 27min
Art Shields: The People’s Scribe
Art Shields covered it all, as a reporter for the Daily Worker on the front lines in Spain, as a labor journalist, and organizer himself.
He covered many key events for the left including the defense of Sacco & Vanzetti, the Battle of Blair Mountain, the organizing drives in Harlan County, the sit-down strike in Flint, Michigan, and many more.
Art believed that strong unions were one of the best defenses against fascism, and covered the defense of those trade union leaders under attack during McCarthyism.
Today’s show is an excerpt from a talk last month presented by the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives; you’ll find the whole talk here.
On this week’s Labor History in Two: The year was 1926; on this day, labor leader Benjamin Gold began what became a general strike of all furriers in New York City.
photo: Art Shields, right, interviewing young people for an article in the Daily Worker in 1949. | Daily Worker / People’s World Archives | Tamiment Library
Questions, comments, or suggestions are welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us at LaborHistoryToday@gmail.com
Labor History Today is produced by the Labor Heritage Foundation and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.
@brigade_lincoln #LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @wrkclasshistory