Power At Work
Sustained and effective worker power arises out of collective action. Our goal at Power At Work is to advance actions that build power to confront power — contributing to a discourse in the United States that puts workers at the center of the conversation.
Latest episodes
Jun 19, 2025 • 34min
The Power Half-Hour Episode #3
Episode #3 of the Power Half-Hour has arrived!The Power Half-Hour is a livestreamed, fast-paced, bi-weekly roundtable with a rotating group of regular guests. Our guests discuss the biggest labor story of the preceding week and the labor story everyone should be talking about over the next two weeks. Joining Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris for this episode are:Aaron Sojourner - labor economist and senior researcher at the W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research;Jacob Morrison - host of The Valley Labor Report and Secretary-Treasurer of the North Alabama Area Labor Council; andPatricia Campos-Medina - the Executive Director of the Worker Institute at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University.Follow us on social media:TikTokInstagramTwitterFacebookLinkedInCatch our next episode live on Power At Work's LinkedIn page on July 3rd and soon after on PowerAtWork.US.
Jun 17, 2025 • 1h 3min
Power At Work Blogcast #95: What Trump’s Tax Cuts Will Mean For Workers and Worker Power
In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Brendan Duke, the Senior Director for Federal Budget Policy at CBPP, and Amy Hanauer, the Executive Director at ITEP, to discuss Trump’s tax-and-spending bill and its impact on workers and worker power. Watch now to hear these tax experts dissect and evaluate the bill, specifically the tax cuts, and how it will disproportionately benefit wealthy individuals and corporations. Also, hear Hanauer and Duke advocate for a more progressive tax system that adequately supports working individuals and families.Follow us on social media:TikTokInstagramTwitterFacebookLinkedInBrendan Duke is the Senior Director for Federal Budget Policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. He previously served as a senior policy adviser at the Biden-Harris White House National Economic Council and as a volunteer on the Biden-Harris transition team.Amy Hanauer is the Executive Director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). Hanauer is also the Executive Director of Citizens for Tax Justice, ITEP’s 501(c)(4) partner organization. Prior to joining ITEP, Amy founded and developed Policy Matters Ohio from a one-person start-up in 2000 to a 14-person operation with offices in Cleveland and Columbus.
Jun 10, 2025 • 60min
Power At Work Blogcast #94: Worldwide Worker Power: Live Dispatch from the International Labour Conference
In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Cathy Feingold, the Director of the International Department at the AFL-CIO, and Jeffrey Vogt, Rule of Law director of the Solidarity Center, live from the International Labour Conference in Geneva. Watch now to learn more about the issues being discussed at the conference, such as the platform economy and informal work, and why they matter to American workers and worker power. Also, listen to Vogt and Feingold discuss the importance of maintaining global labor standards that protect workers' rights.Follow us on social media:TikTokInstagramTwitterFacebookLinkedInCathy Feingold is the Director of the International Department at the ALF-CIO. In 2018, Feingold was elected Deputy President of the International Trade Union Confederation. In 2022, Secretary Blinken appointed Feingold to his Foreign Affairs Policy Board, and in 2020, Speaker Pelosi appointed her to the Independent Mexico Labor Expert Board.Jeffrey Vogt is the Rule of Law director of the Solidarity Center and co-founder of the International Lawyers Assisting Workers Network. In 2022, Vogt was also appointed to the International Labor Organization Governing Body and serves on the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association.
Jun 5, 2025 • 31min
The Power Half-Hour Episode #2
Episode #2 of the Power Half-Hour has arrived!The Power Half-Hour is a livestreamed, fast-paced, bi-weekly roundtable with a rotating group of regular guests. Our guests discuss the biggest labor story of the preceding week and the labor story everyone should be talking about over the next two weeks. Joining Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris for our second episode are:Ruben Garcia - law professor and director of the Workplace Law Program at the UNLV, Boyd School of Law;Bill Samuel - former director of Government Affairs at the AFl-CIO; andMcKenna Schueler - news reporter for Orlando Weekly.Follow us on social media:TikTokInstagramTwitterFacebookLinkedInCatch our next episode live on Power At Work's LinkedIn page on June 19th and soon after on PowerAtWork.US.
Jun 3, 2025 • 1h 2min
Power At Work Blogcast #93: Washington Post Tech Workers' Organizing Success
In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Hazel Court and David Pham from the Washington Post Tech Guild organizing committee. Watch now to hear Court and Pham share the story behind the newly formed union, the challenges to organizing under Jeff Bezos, how they were able to succeed, and what’s next for the union!Follow us on social media:TikTokInstagramTwitterFacebookLinkedInHazel Court is a senior software engineer at the Washington Post. Court is a member of the Washington Post Tech Guild organizing committee.David Pham is a senior data privacy engineer at the Washington Post. Pham is a member of the Washington Post Tech Guild organizing committee.
May 27, 2025 • 54min
Power At Work Blogcast #92: Trump’s Attacks on Universities and Academic Workers
In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Todd Wolfson, the president of the American Association of University Professors, to discuss the attack on college campuses by the Trump administration. Watch now to hear about the efforts to deport academics and students who do not align with the current administration’s policies, strategies on how unions should respond to these attacks, and the threat to academic freedom.Follow us on social media:TikTokInstagramTwitterFacebookLinkedInTodd Wolfson is an Associate Professor of Journalism and Media Studies and Co-Director of the MIC Center at Rutgers University. Wolfson is the elected president of the American Association of University Professors. His book “Digital Rebellion: The Birth of the Cyber Left” examines the impact of new media and communication technologies on the organizational fabric of social movements.
May 20, 2025 • 31min
The Power Half-Hour Episode #1
Power At Work is thrilled to announce the first episode of our new series the Power Half-Hour! The Power Half-Hour is a livestreamed, fast-paced, bi-weekly roundtable with a rotating group of regular guests. Our rotating guests will discuss the biggest labor story of the preceding week and the labor story everyone should be talking about over the next two weeks. Joining Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris for our pilot episode are:Claudia Irizarry Aponte - senior reporter covering labor and work for THE CITY;Elizabeth Wilkins - the president and CEO of Roosevelt Forward; andMark Gevaart - host of the My Labor Radio podcast.Follow us on social media:TikTokInstagramTwitterFacebookLinkedIn – Follow the Power At Work's LinkedIn page now to be notified of all future Power Half-Hour episodes!
May 13, 2025 • 1h 10min
Power At Work Blogcast #91: Federal Employee Unions Fight Back
In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Andres Grajales, AFGE’s Deputy General Counsel for Litigation, and Julie Wilson, NTEU’s General Counsel, to discuss the numerous lawsuits that their unions are having against the Trump administration’s assault on federal employees. Watch now to hear the top lawyers from the two largest federal employee unions update on the lawsuits that they currently have against the Trump administration, most notably Trump’s executive order to end collective bargaining rights for the large majority of federal employees. Grajales and Wilson will also go into their unions’ current legal strategies to defend executive agencies from the Trump-Musk effort to eliminate them along with their effort to radically downsize the workforce. Follow us on social media:TikTokInstagramTwitterFacebookLinkedInAndres Grajales is the Deputy General Counsel for Litigation for the American Federation of Government Employees.Julie Wilson is the General Counsel for the National Treasury Employees Union.
May 6, 2025 • 1h 12min
Power At Work Crossover Blogcast: Lessons for the Trump Era
Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris will be co-hosting this blogcast with Chris Garlock from the Labor Heritage Power Hour and Labor History Today podcasts. To celebrate Labor History Month, they will be joined by Professor Veroníca Martínez-Matsuda from the University of California, San Diego, and Professor Joe McCartin from Georgetown University to discuss the lessons from labor history. Watch now to hear the discussion on the 1981 PATCO strike, migrant farm workers, the National Labor Relations Act, and more!Follow us on social media:TikTokInstagramTwitterFacebookLinkedInChris Garlock is the Executive Director of the Labor Heritage Foundation and the founder-coordinator of the Labor Radio Podcast Network (which Power At Work is a proud member of!). Garlock co-hosts two labor podcasts, the Labor Heritage Power Hour and Labor History Today. He is also the executive director of the DC Labor FilmFest. Veroníca Martínez-Matsuda is an Associate Professor of History at the University of California, San Diego; prior to this, she was an Associate Professor in Cornell University ILR School’s Department of Labor Relations, Law, and History. Martínez-Matsuda has published numerous academic articles on migrant farm workers and labor history, most notably her book “Migrant Citizenship: Race, Rights, and Reform in the U.S. Labor Camp Program.”Joe McCartin is the founding Executive Director of Georgetown's Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor. McCarrtin is currently a Professor of History at Georegtown University. He is the 2024-26 president of the Labor and Working-Class History Association, and a board member of the Catholic Labor Network. He makes regular appearances in Chris Garlock’s podcast Labor History Today.
Apr 29, 2025 • 1h 3min
Power At Work Blogcast #90: The Battle Over the NLRB
In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by former chair of the NLRB, Lauren McFerran, to discuss the current dire state of the NLRB. Watch now to hear McFerran discuss the implications of Gwynne Wilcox’s firing, the efforts by the Trump administration to dismantle and disempower the board, and the significance of the board maintaining its independence from political influences. This discussion will also highlight the big accomplishments that McFerran achieved during her tenure on the board and the positive impact they have had for worker power and the labor movement.Follow us on social media:TikTokInstagramTwitterFacebookLinkedInLauren McFerran is a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, having previously served as chairman of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) during the Biden administration, from 2021 to 2024. She served as a member of the NLRB from December 2014 to December 2019 and from July 2020 to January 2021. Prior to her appointment to the NLRB, McFerran served the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions as deputy staff director to Chairman Tom Harkin and previously as senior labor counsel to Senator Ted Kennedy.
