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"You can rally around those people and say, “No more killing of people through the slow crucifixions of low wage work, union busting, and lack of healthcare.”

Matt Bernico recently published an article in Sojourners Magazine titled  RECENT UNION WINS MEAN IT’S TIME FOR MORE ORGANIZED RELIGION. On this Easter Weekend, I needed to learn more.

We discuss how

• Jesus belongs to a particular class of people in history called the crucified people;

Matt is an independent researcher and journalist and he has a Ph.D. from the European Graduate School in Media Communication. His research and writing tends to focus on the intersections of media, politics and religion. He also has a podcast called The Magnificast (https://themagnificast.com) exploring Christianity and the political left.

Find solidarity in Matthew’s work:

Twitter - https://twitter.com/matt_bernico 

Website - Mattbernico.com 

Sojourners - https://sojo.net/articles/recent-union-wins-mean-it-s-time-more-organized-religion

Christian Socialism - https://christiansocialism.com/christianity-religious-left-capitalism-labor-strike-episcopal-church/  

About Empathy Media Lab

The Harmony of Interest Book Talk series interviews authors about their work while exploring ideas that positively shape our world. 

Empathy Media Lab is produced by Evan Matthew Papp and we are a proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. Support media, authors, artists, historians, and journalists, who are fighting to improve the prosperity of the working class. 

All Links: https://wlo.link/@empathymedialab 

#LaborRadioPod

#1U

#UnionStrong

In The Future We Need, Erica Smiley and Sarita Gupta bring a novel perspective to building worker power and what labor organizing could look like in the future, suggesting ways to evolve collective bargaining to match the needs of modern people—not only changing their wages and working conditions, but being able to govern over more aspects of their lives.

Weaving together stories of real working people, Smiley and Gupta position the struggle to build collective bargaining power as a central element in the effort to build a healthy democracy and explore both existing levers of power and new ones we must build for workers to have the ability to negotiate in today and tomorrow's contexts. The Future We Need illustrates the necessity of centralizing the fight against white supremacy and gender discrimination, while offering paths forward to harness the power of collective bargaining in every area for a new era.

Buy your copy: https://www.thefutureweneed.com/#buy 

About the Authors

Erica Smiley is the executive director of Jobs With Justice. A long-time organizer and movement leader, Smiley has been spearheading strategic organizing and policy interventions for Jobs With Justice for nearly 15 years. 

For more information, visit https://www.jwj.org/staff-members/erica-smiley. 

Sarita Gupta is director of the Ford Foundation's Future of Work(ers) program, with more than two decades of experience building coalitions and policies that protect, and advance the rights of workers.

For more information, visit https://www.fordfoundation.org/about/people/sarita-gupta/. 

About Empathy Media Lab

The Harmony of Interest Book Talk series interviews authors about their work while exploring ideas that positively shape our world. 

Empathy Media Lab is produced by Evan Matthew Papp and we are a proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. Support media, authors, artists, historians, and journalists, who are fighting to improve the prosperity of the working class. 

All Links: https://wlo.link/@empathymedialab 

#LaborRadioPod

#1U

#UnionStrong

Labor and immigrant rights activist Victor Narro believes there is a spiritual core within social justice activism from which we can deepen our solidarity with each other. The work for justice is filled with the values attributed to spirituality – love, compassion, empathy for those in need, and a lifetime commitment to bring justice into their lives.

His book calls us to integrate that inner spiritual core into our work to make the struggle for justice more compassionate, caring, and sustainable. To be an activist for justice is to love humanity and all of creation. 

Buy your copy: http://hardballpress.com/fiction--poetry.html 

About the Author 

Victor Narro is a nationally known expert on immigrant rights and low-wage workers, Victor Narro has been involved with immigrant rights and labor issues for over 35 years. Currently Project Director for the UCLA Labor Center, Victor’s focus is to provide leadership programs for Los Angeles’ immigrant workers, policy, legal and organizing campaign planning for unions and worker centers, and internship opportunities for UCLA students. 

Victor is Core Faculty for the Labor Studies Program at UCLA and Core Faculty for the Public Interest Law Program and Lecturer in Law for the Critical Race Studies Program at UCLA Law School. Victor was formerly the Co-Executive Director of Sweatshop Watch. Prior to that, he was the Workers’ Rights Project Director for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA). Before his tenure at CHIRLA, Victor worked in the Los Angeles Regional Office of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF). 

For more information, visit https://www.labor.ucla.edu/victor-narro/. 

The Activist Spirit - Toward a Radical Solidarity is published by Hard Ball Press

Tim Sheard is the Executive Editor of Hard Ball Press and is a veteran nurse Timothy Sheard is a writer, publisher, mentor to writers and union organizer with the National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981. After writing 7 mystery novels featuring hospital custodian-shop steward Lenny Moss, he launched Hard Ball Press to help working class people write and publish their stories. Timothy believes that when workers write and tell their stories, they build rank and file solidarity and union power, as well strengthening the fight for social justice solidarity. Their stories help to combat the anti-labor and anti-working class assaults by the One Percent. Hard Ball Press is the premier publisher of working class life.

You can watch EML’s interview with Tim Sheard here: https://www.empathymedialab.com/post/pandemic-nurse-s-diary-a-tribute-to-healthcare-workers-fighting-covid-19 

About Empathy Media Lab

The Harmony of Interest Book Talk series interviews authors about their work while exploring ideas that positively shape our world. 

Empathy Media Lab is produced by Evan Matthew Papp and we are a proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. Support media, authors, artists, historians, and journalists, who are fighting to improve the prosperity of the working class. 

All Links: https://wlo.link/@empathymedialab 

As they stand up, slow down, form unions, leave an abusive relationship or just stir up good trouble, the characters in this multi-generation novel entertain and enlighten, make us laugh and rage, and encourage us to love deeply, that we may continue the fight for justice.

Praise for Standing Up: Tales of Struggle by Ellen Bravo and Larry Miller:

A love story, a tale of parenting, friendship, and solidarity — and a wonderful depiction of stepping into power.

Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, chair, Congressional Progressive Caucus

I felt as if Norma Rae or Studs Turkel had written a novel.

Steven Greenhouse, author of Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor

Wonderful story of class, class struggle and regular people, about change and also joy.

Bill Fletcher, Jr., author of The Man Who Fell Out of the Sky and Solidarity Divided

These powerful tales of struggle will enrich our real and daily lives.

Gloria Steinem, activist and author

An essential novel for any union organizer or labor movement enthusiast.

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler

Great storytelling about standing up to injustice, filled with hope, powered by love and interdependence.

Ai-jen Poo, director of National Domestic Workers Association

Buy your copy: http://hardballpress.com/fiction--poetry.html 

About the Authors 

Ellen Bravo is a lifelong activist, she is the former director of 9to5 (the group that inspired the movie,) and co-founder of Family Values @ Work, a network of state coalitions working for family-friendly policies. Ellen is the award-winning writer of three non-fiction books, including Taking on the Big Boys, or Why Feminism is Good for Families, Business and the Nation. Her first novel, Again and Again, won praise for being a “riveting page-turner that tackles some of the most important issues of our day — campus sexual violence, male privilege, and beltway politics.” Among her commendations is a Ford Foundation Visionary award. 

For more information, visit https://ellenbravo.com/. 

Larry Miller has lived in a number of cities as a union and community activist. Over the years he has been a member of 8 different union locals, including AFSCME, Machinists, Steelworkers, Teamsters, Transportation Workers Union and the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association. After being laid off in his late 30s, Larry got a college degree and then taught high school for Milwaukee Public Schools for 17 years. He loved learning from his students and delighted to see many of them fight for social justice. He also became an editor at Rethinking Schools.

Standing Up: Tales of Struggle is published by Hard Ball Press

Tim Sheard is the Executive Editor of Hard Ball Press

Veteran nurse Timothy Sheard is a writer, publisher, mentor to writers and union organizer with the National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981. After writing 7 mystery novels featuring hospital custodian-shop steward Lenny Moss, he launched Hard Ball Press to help working class people write and publish their stories. Timothy believes that when workers write and tell their stories, they build rank and file solidarity and union power, as well strengthening the fight for social justice solidarity. Their stories help to combat the anti-labor and anti-working class assaults by the One Percent. Hard Ball Press is the premier publisher of working class life.

You can watch EML’s interview with Tim Sheard here: https://www.empathymedialab.com/post/pandemic-nurse-s-diary-a-tribute-to-healthcare-workers-fighting-covid-19 

About Empathy Media Lab

The Harmony of Interest Book Talk series explores ideas that positively shape our world. 

Empathy Media Lab is produced by Evan Matthew Papp and we are a proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. Support media, authors, artists, historians, and journalists, who are fighting to improve the prosperity of the working class. 

All Links: https://wlo.link/@empathymedialab 

Overview

Podcasts are effective tools for marketing ideas and content because they amplify individual voices and brands to engage niche audiences and build communities of interest. Podcasts also create value for listeners when they are informative, educational, and entertaining.

As part of Johns Hopkins University School of Education faculty development, the goal of the workshop is to provide resources to launch a podcast.

About Empathy Media Lab

Empathy Media Lab is an established podcast and video production company with a publishing arm focusing on labor, political economy, art, and culture. EMLab Strategies is part of Empathy Media Lab and offers a suite of communication, education, and media services for government, nonprofits, and businesses. Empathy Media Lab was founded by Evan Matthew Papp who has over a decade of executive level experience consulting, developing, and managing strategic communications for the U.S. government, private industry, multilateral organizations, and nonprofits. 

The surprise ending to this season was a wave of protests by India’s beauty care platform workers.  How did they find each other?  Why did they organize?  And can they hold up in the face of the company’s intimidation tactics?  The season concludes with a look at what we all can do to create a fair care economy.

Guests:  Soumyarendra Barik, Indian journalist; Palak Shah, NDWA Labs

About

The Gig is about the women and men who work in the so-called 'gig economy' worldwide. They find work through online platforms, and will tell us why we all need to be concerned about the real future of work.

Following The Gig Podcast’s successful launch of Season 1, host and executive producer Bama Athreya is back with Season 2 focusing on gig workers in the care economy.

For Season 2, The Gig Podcast is partnering with fellow Labor Radio Podcast Network member Evan Papp of Empathy Media Lab to support the production of the new series.

Learn more at: https://www.empathymedialab.com/thegigpodcast

#LaborRadioPod #EmpathyMediaLab #1U #UnionStrong #Labor #Union

“The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as a liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty…”

President Abraham Lincoln, April 18, 1864

Learn more about the Political Economy Project at:

https://politicaleconomyproject.substack.com 

https://www.empathymedialab.com/politicaleconomy

https://twitter.com/PolEconProject

The surprise ending to this season was a wave of protests by India’s beauty care platform workers.  How did they find each other?  Why did they organize?  And can they hold up in the face of the company’s intimidation tactics?  The season concludes with a look at what we all can do to create a fair care economy.

Guests:  Soumyarendra Barik, Indian journalist; Palak Shah, NDWA Labs

About

The Gig is about the women and men who work in the so-called 'gig economy' worldwide. They find work through online platforms, and will tell us why we all need to be concerned about the real future of work.

Following The Gig Podcast’s successful launch of Season 1, host and executive producer Bama Athreya is back with Season 2 focusing on gig workers in the care economy.

For Season 2, The Gig Podcast is partnering with fellow Labor Radio Podcast Network member Evan Papp of Empathy Media Lab to support the production of the new series.

Learn more at: https://www.empathymedialab.com/thegigpodcast

#LaborRadioPod #EmpathyMediaLab #1U #UnionStrong #Labor #Union

"When I arrived in Thailand, I was an illegal migrant worker. But even though I work in a factory, I read the news every day. I read about the minimum wage. I read about eight hour working hours and how much workers should get paid for overtime."

Aung Kyaw is one of the founders and longtime lead organizers of the Migrant Worker Rights Network, a membership-based organization for migrant workers from Myanmar residing and working mainly in Thailand. Having fled Myanmar in 1988 after the military coup, Aung Kyaw worked in shrimp peeling sheds, studied the Thai labor law, and soon began organizing fellow migrant workers to demand better treatment.  

Founded in 2009, MWRN has pioneered a power-building approach to combatting human trafficking and forced labor, working closely with the Thai trade union movement to advocate for better legal protections for worker organizing and collective bargaining rights in Thailand. Thai labor law does not allow migrant workers to form and lead their own trade unions, but MWRN has persisted by engaging seafood processing companies to gain access to migrant workers, establish welfare committees, and negotiate agreements. 

Follow MWRN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mwrnorg/

About The Labor Link Podcast

The Labor Link Podcast supports workers' rights in global supply chains by sharing personal stories and perspectives of the men and women organizing the workers who make our stuff. The Labor Link Podcast is hosted by Judy Gearhart of American University’s Accountability Research Center and produced by Empathy Media Lab of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. Contact Judy Gearhart for media inquiries at [email protected]. 

About the Host of The Labor Link Podcast

Judy Gearhart is a senior researcher at the Accountability Research Center  and an adjunct professor at Columbia University. Previously she served as the executive director at the International Labor Rights Forum and programs director at Social Accountability International. She also worked in Mexico and Honduras on trade, labor rights, and democratic participation.

About the Accountability Research Center

The Accountability Research Center (ARC) is based in American University’s School of International Service. ARC bridges research and frontline perspectives to learn from ideas, institutions, and actors that advance strategies to improve public accountability.

Through extensive dialogue with partners and collaborators, ARC co-designs exploratory research that is relevant for their strategies and can contribute to international thinking about how change happens.

#1u

#UnionStrong

#LaborRadioPod

#AccountabilityKeyWord

Water, food, and energy are the three necessary components sustaining civilization and are thus a universal value of every human.

This fundamental truth is the first principle of human development.

And if the production, distribution, and consumption of any three is disrupted, social unrest follows.

War and peace are inherently tied to abundance or scarcity of these key elements.

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Political economy is the study of production and trade and their relationship with government, law, national security, and the investment and distribution of national income and wealth.

Politics and economics are fundamentally inseparable.

Unfortunately, political economy was overshadowed by the myopic term “economics,” around 100 years ago, obscuring how power and politics ultimately determine the organization of our economy as the real invisible hand guiding the so-called free marketplace.

Despite this obscurantism, the fact remains that powerful political factions continue to shape the economic policies of the government and set the parameters of currencies, markets, trade, and contracts.

And the organization of our political economy will also determine production, logistics, infrastructure, science, research and development, communications, education, healthcare, and most importantly, whether we have secured our water, food, and energy.

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One goal of the political economy project is to reconnect the causal relationships inherent in economics and politics so we can better understand the dynamics shaping our world and organize around policies that will lead to broad-based human flourishing.

Another distorting relic of the 20th century is a misplaced tension between labor and capital, when both are necessary for civilization. For when the political economy effectively organizes labor and capital, real surplus value is created that can be used to promote human prosperity and peace.

To move beyond the entrenched binary that pits capitalism versus socialism, the political economy project will spotlight the oligarchical structures of entrenched wealth and power expressed in cartels, monopolies, oligopolies, monopsonies, and influence operations that asset strip labor, capital, and surplus value for the malignant gain of a few to the detriment of human freedom and civilization.

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In this darkening age of growing division and impending tragedy, I humbly seek those of good will and magnanimous spirit who are willing to set aside petty squabbles and factional differences and unify our fight for a future where no human goes without water, food, energy, housing, education, healthcare, communication, transportation, and social security, while producing broad based prosperity for today and future generations.

And with this guiding vision, let us begin developing the political economy blueprint that will unify our fellow humans to work together and create a new renaissance of the human spirit.

Learn more at: https://www.empathymedialab.com/politicaleconomy

#PolEconProject

#EmpathyMediaLab

#LaborRadioPod

#1U

#PoliticalEconomy