Bread + Roses

This episode of Bread + Roses is about Mental Health and Immigration. We talk about what mental health means in the work place and then we discuss how immigration policy is impacting workers. Lastly, we interview a someone who is advocating for both immigrants and mental health in a Chicago non-profit.

And we're back! This episode of Bread + Roses welcomes a new host Ramon to join up with Julia in a new season. This episode is a discussion about how the Trump administration has and will potentially impact workers and worker health. We talk DOGE, Project 2025, unions, and the administration's picks to lead the DOL. Don't worry, we leave you a little bit of hope as we highlight worker rights advocate, Luke Ching @lukechinghk and interview an Epidemiologist working for the state government.

This episode of Bread + Roses is devoted to the Coronavirus.

We are joined by Lorraine Conroy, the Director of the Center for Healthy Work and professor and co-director of the Occupational Safety Program at UIC to discuss how COVID-19 has impacted workers in low-wages and precarious employment. Plus Margaret shares her expertise on respirators and gives recommendations about the current shortage in the medical field.

We are joined by three workers this episode named Ben, Tryn, and Jessica because so many of us are affected. These are workers from across the nation working in various fields that have been impacted by the pandemic. They talk to us about their jobs in general and about how the virus has impacted their work, health, and happiness.

This episode of Bread + Roses is devoted to Amazon!

We are joined by Roberto Clack, the Associate Director of Warehouse Workers for Justice from Chicago, Illinois in our 'Ground up from the Round Up' segment to discuss the history of Amazon, the health and safety issues faced by warehouse workers, and how people are coming together and doing their best to change the system.

We have two workers named Tim and Lupita from Amazon warehouses, join in our 'So, what do you do?' segment to talk about their experiences at Amazon. And as always we end with our 'IH Hot Take' this time from Tom Vroman, CIH of the Ecology Environment from Seattle, Washington, who summarizes the current health and safety issues facing warehouse and fulfillment center workers.

This episode of Bread + Roses is devoted to Immigration!

We are joined by Natalia Cornelio, the Director of Legal Affairs for Harris Country Commissioner Rodney Ellis from Houston, Texas in our 'Ground up from the Round Up' segment to discuss the history of immigrant work in the US, the health and safety issues faced by immigrant workers, and how people are coming together and doing their best to change the system.

We have a Day Labor organizer named Armando from the The Latino Union of Chicago, join in our 'So, what do you do?' segment to talk about the corner community. And as always we end with our 'IH Hot Take' this time from Emily Ahonen of the Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health in Indianapolis, who summarizes the current health and safety issues facing immigrant workers. Look for more of her work at the Oxford Research Encyclopedias of Global Public Health.

**There was an error when describing the fatality rates. The fatality rates for immigrants is 20% higher and 40% higher for Hispanic and Latino workers.

This episode of Bread + Roses is devoted to Farming!

We are joined by Jose Oliva from the Food Chain Workers Alliance in our 'Ground up from the Round Up' segment to discuss where our food comes from, the work that is involved, and most importantly, what is the state of the health and safety of food chain workers and their communities.

We have two farmers, Matt and Joe, from the Midwest and the South join in our 'So, what do you do?' segment to talk about their work in farming. And as always we end with our 'IH Hot Take' this time from Josie Rudolphi of the University of Illinois who summarizes the current health and safety issues facing today's farmers.

This episode of Bread + Roses is devoted to Coal!

We are joined by Dr. Kirsten Almberg from the University of Illinois at Chicago in our 'Ground up from the Round Up' segment to discuss the ins and outs of coal, how we use it, where we mine it, and most importantly, what is the state of the health and safety of coal miners and their communities.

Our friend Steve Smyth, the District President of the CFMEU joins us all the way from Queensland, Australia for our 'So, what do you do?' segment and we end with Kathleen Kennedy who gives us her 'IH Hot Take' on the current health and safety issues facing today's coal miners.

This episode of Bread + Roses is devoted to Wages!

We are joined by Jorge Mujica from Arise Chicago in our 'Ground up from the Round Up' segment to discuss the ins and outs of minimum wage, should we raise it, what are some of the loopholes, and most importantly, what does a worker's wage mean to their health and safety.

We talk to a bartender from Detroit in our 'So, what do you do?' segment and we end with Dr. Lorraine Conroy from the University of Illinois at Chicago who gives us her 'IH Hot Take' on the current health and safety issues involved with the minimum wage.