Heartland Labor Forum

By KKFI 90.1 FM Kansas City Community Radio

Heartland Labor Forum is Kansas City's only program about the workplace. It is produced by and for our working people. We have been agitating on the air since 1989. Find out who is busting unions and ... more

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FAQs about Heartland Labor Forum:

How many episodes does Heartland Labor Forum have?

The podcast currently has 869 episodes available.

Heartland Labor Forum episodes:

March 30, 2026 Celebrating 50 Years of Free Agency in Baseball
It’s baseball season, and it’s the 50th anniversary of free agency. This week on the Heartland Labor Forum, we’ll look at one of the most successful unions in American labor history – the Major League Baseball Players Association. We’ll talk with Michael Haupert, economics professor and expert on the business of baseball, about the union and the union’s biggest win – free agency for players. Our feature is Safety First with Mary Erio.
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1h 1min
March 24, 2026 Singing No Kings and Hunger Is a Union Issue
The KC Indivisible Social Justice Chorus will raise their voices in song in a preview of their appearance at the Mill Creek NO Kings rally next Saturday. Then, six of every ten food workers in Great Britain make wages that are insufficient to meet their basic needs for food and energy. Now British unions are exposing the causes of declining wages and making hunger a union issue in their campaign: Uniting Against Hunger. Our feature is Washington Window with Mark Gruenberg.
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1h 1min
March 18, 2026 Jeff City Misery – A Legislative Update
This year’s legislative session may leave working people in a state of Misery, their rights assaulted, with fewer public services and less funding for public schools, and their pockets fleeced as the legislature substitutes high sales taxes for the state income tax. This week on the Heartland Labor we’ll get the latest on what the legislature is doing from Missouri House Representatives Mark Sharp and Kemp Strickler and from Senate Minority Leader Doug Beck. Our feature is Know Your Rights with Michael Amash.
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March 11, 2026 Kansas Legislative Update and ATU’s Nic Miller in Our Labor Leader Series
The Kansas legislature has a month to go and there’s good news and bad for working families. We’ll find out more this week on the Heartland Labor Forum from Jake Lowen, the new Executive Secretary of the Kansas AFL-CIO. Then many Kansas Citians rely on city buses for work. shopping, and doctor visits, while city bus drivers face threatened layoffs and assaults on the job. Our feature is Labor Song of the Month.
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1h 1min
March 03, 2026 CoreCivic in Leavenworth: Reformed or Human Rights Abuser? We’ll Talk to Prison Guards and Residents
On March 10, the Leavenworth City Commission is about to give permission for the Core Civic private prison there to reopen as an ICE jail, giving the government over 1000 beds to fill. This week on the Heartland Labor Forum we’ll talk about Core Civic’s shameful record of both prisoner and guard abuse when the prison operated before 2022. We’ll talk to former guards and a former detainee or two and with Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation. Our features is Safety First with Mary Erio. It’s still PLEDGE DRIVE and we sure could use your support please call or text “winter 26” to 50155 or go to kkfi.org and DONATE.
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1h 1min
February 23, 2026 Whose Got the Power? By Dave Kamper and Parents for KC Kids
PLEDGE DRIVE! – PLEDGE DRIVE! – PLEDGE DRIVE!
Organizer and historian Dave Kamper gives an overview of the recent labor upsurge in his new book Whose Got the Power? Then Missouri legislators are shaping the future of education and thus our communities. If we’re not informed, we won’t be able to protect and strengthen our public schools. We’ll talk with local advocacy group Parents for KC Kids about Missouri's schools and get an update on recent legislation.
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1h 1min
February 19, 2026 From the Greensboro Lunch Counter Sit-ins to Minneapolis Some News and Lessons from other Labor Shows
We’re going to introduce our listeners to a couple of shows from the Labor Radio Podcast Network. The Green and Red podcast did a show about the Greensboro Sit-Ins sixty-four years ago and the power of direct action linking lessons to the resistance to ICE in Minneapolis. Then, we’ll here a few minutes from the podcast The Power at Work asking three labor observers about recent news. Our feature is Know Your Rights with Michael Amash.
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1h 1min
February 11, 2026 The AI Bubble??? and Challenges of Social Work in a Shrinking Welfare State
Whether AI will be a glorious revolution for humanity or a dystopian nightmare remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: Big Tech is all in. We'll ask the American Prospect’s David Dayen if we’re in an AI bubble that could wreck the economy. Then, since 1976, El Centro has helped the Latino community thrive. We’ll talk with social worker Maryely Cadena-Zarate about how her work is changed under Trump as families fear being disappeared by ICE. Our feature is Labor Song of the Month.
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1h
February 04, 2026 Peter Cole on Dockworker Resistance to Arms Shipments and John Miller: Health Insurance for 20 Million is at Risk
Dockworkers have long been on the progressive forefront supporting racial equality and fighting fascism. This week on the Heartland Labor Forum we’ll talk with Professor Peter Cole about the history of longshore workers and how they’re dealing with creeping fascism in today’s America. Then, Congress has disappeared the Affordable Care Act tax credits. We’ll ask economist John Miller about the millions of Americans losing their health coverage and what’s the impact on the rest of us? Our feature is Safety First with Mary Erio.
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1h 1min
January 26, 2026 Half Price Book Workers Win a Union and Union Buster Supreme: The Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Last fall workers at two Half Priced Books stores organized a union. Now workers at the Westport store have won a first contract. We’ll celebrate with them this week on the Heartland Labor Forum . Then, one of the longest strikes in recent history ended with a judge’s order and a big win for the union. Then management fired everyone and shutdown operations. Yes it’s the Pittsburg Post Gazette, and we’ll talk to the President of the News Guild CWA’s John Schleuss. Thursday at 6pm, rebroadcast Friday at 5am. Our feature is Voices from Labor History with Christina Dismang.
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1h

FAQs about Heartland Labor Forum:

How many episodes does Heartland Labor Forum have?

The podcast currently has 869 episodes available.