Belabored

This May Day, we bring you voices from the streets of Baltimore and Long Beach—where unions are helping mobilize their communities against police terror and for economic justice—and from a West Coast Walmart, where activist Venanzi Luna has been leading the fight against union-busting. Plus: Whatever happened to the eight-hour day?

The post Belabored Podcast #76: May Day Special! Labor Shuts It Down From Baltimore to Long Beach appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Following Wednesday's nationwide protests for a living wage, Sarah and Michelle spoke with workers in New York and Atlanta about why they joined the Fight for $15 movement and what they hope it will achieve.

The post Belabored Podcast #75: What’s Next in the Fight for $15? appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Following last week's Supreme Court decision that UPS had unfairly denied a pregnant worker reasonable accommodations on the job, Belabored talked with Melissa Josephs, from Women Employed, an Illinois-based organization that successfully campaigned for a new state law to protect pregnant worker’s rights, and Latavia Johnson, a Walmart worker in Illinois.

The post Belabored #74: Labor Pains, with Melissa Josephs and Latavia Johnson appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

What is the Trans-Pacific Partnership? It's hard to know since the deal is being negotiated almost entirely in secret. Belabored talks with Celeste Drake, Trade & Globalization Policy Specialist at the AFL-CIO, about the ramifications of the trade deal for workers around the globe.

The post Belabored Podcast #73: Shedding Light on TPP Secrets, with Celeste Drake appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Lawmakers across the country are racing to pass so-called "right-to-work" legislation, the euphemistically named union-busting policy that restricts the collection of fees from all workers covered by a union contract. Belabored spoke with historian Elizabeth Shermer about the politics and history of right-to-work policies, and what labor can do to fight back.

The post Belabored Podcast #72: The Right to Work for Less, with Elizabeth Shermer appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Belabored talked with Ai-jen Poo talk about her new book, The Age of Dignity, her work organizing domestic workers, how care work is undervalued, and how racism and sexism contributed to the crisis in caring labor.

The post Belabored Podcast #71: Building Care, with Ai-jen Poo appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

U.S. oil workers are are on strike, in the largest walkout since 1980. Belabored talked with Steve Garey, president of United Steelworkers local 12-591 in Mount Vernon, WA, about worker safety, the decision to strike, and what's at stake.

The post Belabored Podcast #70: Striking Oil, with Steve Garey appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

What does the decline of stable working-class jobs mean for the working-class family? Belabored asks Andrew Cherlin, author of a new book, Labor's Love Lost, on the rise and fall of the nuclear family in America, and how the workplace shapes our family life.

The post Belabored Podcast #69: Laborers and Lovers, with Andrew Cherlin appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Belabored talked to historian Joshua Freeman about how police and their unions fit within the labor movement, and the political contradictions of uniformed officers getting organized.

The post Belabored Podcast #68: Good Cop, Bad Cop, with Joshua Freeman appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

As protests continue to grow nationwide under the banner "Black Lives Matter," Belabored talks to two workers about how their struggle connects to today's racial justice movement. We also talk to three graduate student organizers and discuss a new retail workers' bill of rights, bad news from the Supreme Court, the secret lives of airport workers, and more.

The post Belabored Podcast #67: Bodies On the Gears appeared first on Dissent Magazine.