Class Matters

In Episode 17, Adolph Reed Jr., Bob Wages, and Mark Dudzic look back at the Labor Party experiment – 30 years after its founding convention. These key players reflect on what unions were facing after a decade of Reaganism, a resurgence of militancy in the labor movement, and how those forces made organizing a labor party a strategic possibility.

In Episode 16, a post-2024 election episode, Class Matters asks Mark Dimondstein, President of the American Postal Workers and Adolph Reed Jr., "Where do we go from here?" Join us for a lively and compelling conversation on changing the way Labor does politics, including building an issue-based politics independent of the two parties, organizing to change the terms of political debate, and the role of political education.

In Episode 15 of Class Matters, Adolph Reed Jr. and Mark Dudzic take on the 40+ years of anti-worker compromises that have led to worker frustration with both political parties and distrust in our government. They examine how the Labor Party effort of the 1990s/2000s aimed to channel that anger into an independent working-class politics.

In Episode 14 of Class Matters, Adolph Reed Jr. talks with labor educator Les Leopold about his new book, Wall Street's War on Workers: How Mass Layoffs and Greed Are Destroying the Working Class and What to Do About It.

In Episode 13 of Class Matters, we're talking with labor activists Marianne Pizzitola, Rose Roach, and Mark Dudzic about Medicare Advantage (Disadvantage?) health plans and what they mean for union retirees, for collective bargaining, and for the future of traditional Medicare. And we get the scoop on how retirees in New York City are fighting back against efforts to force them onto Advantage plans.

In Episode 12 of Class Matters, we're talking with labor organizer Jane McAlevey about how to democratize union negotiations and build significant worker power by practicing transparent, big, and open negotiations. That's the focus of McAlevey's latest book, Rules to Win By: Power and Participation in Union Negotiations. McAlevey talks with Gordon Lafer and Adolph Reed Jr. about the impact of negotiations as political education, for building strong unions and for rebuilding democracy.

With public approval of unions at its highest since 1965, organizing drives bringing in 200,000 new union members, union election petitions to the NLRB up 51 percent, 60 million workers who want a union, and low unemployment spurring strike actions and gains in wages and benefits, many have declared that labor is on the rise. Yet in 2022, the overall share of workers who are union members declined from 10.3 to 10.1 percent. And the Supreme Court stands ready to significantly curtail workers' right to strike. Ep 11 takes a close look at the obstacles and opportunities for Labor as we head into 2023.

Can a union-backed "Millionaires Tax" win at the ballot box in Massachusetts? It would raise $2 billion/year for quality public education, for repair and maintenance of roads and bridges and for public transportation. In Episode Ten, Adolph Reed Jr. talks with union leaders Eve Weinbaum and Dean Robinson on state-wide organizing for the amendment and its potential as a model for an electoral strategy that appeals to and unites working people.

Inflation and the fight against it is on the public agenda today in a way not seen since the 1970s. In Episode Nine, Professor Adolph Reed Jr. leads a discussion with Sam Gindin and Samir Sonti, on what inflation means for the working class, and why anti-inflation policies have often come at the expense of workers. We also look at how this round of inflation is different, how we should fight it and what inflation means for bargaining union contracts.

In Part 2 of 2, Adolph Reed Jr discusses his new book, The South: Jim Crow and Its Afterlives, with Toure Reed. The Reeds explore how tendencies to romanticize Jim Crow undercuts our ability to address the root causes of racial inequality today. They also tackle questions from our listeners about race and about the labor movement.