In this sixth episode of Black Work Talk, host Steven Pitts welcomes William A. Lucy. Bill retired in 2010 after over 50 years in the leadership of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Union (AFSCME). Bill talked about his beginnings in the labor movement organizing government workers in Contra Costa County (CA). He later represented the national staff of AFSCME during the…

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In the fifth episode of Black Work Talk, host Steven Pitts welcomes April Sims, Secretary-Treasurer of the Washington State Labor Council. April told us a bit about her background, in particular, how the experiences of her mother led April to understand the importance of unions to working people’s lives. She also talked about the work of the State Labor Council in developing and rolling out an…

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In the fourth episode of Black Work Talk, host Steven Pitts welcomes Greg Kelley, President of SEIU Health Care Illinois. Greg gave us a sense of how he got into labor organizing. We moved to get a sense of how COVID has impacted union members and their resolve to use the power of their union to protect their quality of life on the job. Greg relayed stories of how efforts to build racial…

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In this third episode of Black Work Talk, host Steven Pitts welcomes Tanya Wallace Gobern, Executive Director of the National Black Worker Center. Tanya spoke of how growing up in Chicago shaped her passion for social justice and worker organizing. She continued to share lessons from her years of organizing Black workers especially to need to build a “joyous militancy”. We talked about the recent…

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In this first episode of Black Work Talk, host Steven Pitts welcomes Bill Fletcher, long-time racial justice and labor activist. Bill talks about key takeaways from the 2020 Election and steps needed to build a progressive governing majority. Also, we discuss why it is important to build Black worker power and how to go about doing this.

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Guest Bill Fletcher sits down with Steven and previews for us the big questions he will address in our first real episode, dropping November 11th, one week after the election. Bill tells us what he thinks Black workers and organizers should be paying attention to as election day approaches. This is an important glimpse into the most important challenges and opportunities facing all of us in this…

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