As the year winds down, the Labor Radio Podcast Weekly takes a step back to celebrate the work coming out of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. Instead of choosing favorites ourselves, we asked Network producers and hosts to select their top five episodes of 2025—and this week, you’ll hear the first batch of those Best of the Year picks.

Highlights include Labor Jawn’s deep dives into Philadelphia labor history; Labor Force’s sharp analysis of power, precarity, and organizing in today’s economy; and selections from the Labor Heritage Power Hour exploring labor culture through music, history, and imagination. We also feature grassroots reporting from Working To Live in Southwest Washington, national political coverage from The Valley Labor Report, and on-the-ground worker stories from My Labor Radio.

Want to hear the full episodes our producers chose as their best of the year? Find them at LaborRadioNetwork.org, and follow @LaborRadioNet on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, and X for links to each episode as we roll them out over the coming weeks.

Thanks to all the producers and hosts who make the Network what it is—and to everyone who listens, shares, and supports labor radio.

This week’s Labor Radio Podcast Weekly takes a wide-angle look at where labor power is showing up right now—on the shop floor, in politics, in culture, and across the media landscape.

We start on The Workers’ Mic, where hosts are joined by The Labor Radio Podcast Network’s Chris Garlock and Harold Phillips to talk about why independent labor media matters and how the Network connects worker struggles across industries and regions.

On Labor Radio from WORT in Madison, it’s a packed labor news roundup—from state worker rallies and dairy workers authorizing a strike to Starbucks organizing wins and fights over school voucher transparency.

We also hear from Heartland Labor Forum, which takes on the often-overlooked issue of mental health in the labor movement, spotlighting union-led programs that support members and their families.

Our unusual pick this week comes from the Power Line Podcast, featuring a tailgate conversation with Austin Carr—known online as “America’s Favorite Lineman”—on life in the trades and how social media is reshaping work and identity.

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@Heartland_Labor#LaborRadioPod #1u #UnionStrong #WorkersVoices #SolidarityMedia @AFLCIO

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Produced by Chris Garlock, edited by Patrick Dixon, social media guru Mr. Harold Phillips.

This week on the Labor Radio/Podcast Weekly, we spotlight powerful stories from across the movement:

We wrap with a lightning-fast Shows You Should Know speed round, featuring James Cameron on AI and acting on The SAG-AFTRA Podcast; David Rovics and labor music on The Labor Heritage Power Hour; on The Heartland Labor Forum, Randi Weingarten on why fascists fear teachers; plus holiday episodes from Economics for the People and Pipe Up; and, from OnWriting, late-night writers on comedy and free speech.

As always, stay tuned, stay active, and stay connected to the Labor Radio/Podcast Network—where the people speak.

👉 Subscribe, listen, and follow us at laborradionetwork.org

Help us build sonic solidarity by clicking on the share button below.

Edited by Patrick Dixon, produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru Mr. Harold Phillips.

This Week on the Labor Radio/Podcast Weekly: From a mass climate-justice blockade in Australia to the hidden labor history of British Columbia’s fruit-packing women, this week’s episode ranges across the movement to bring you standout stories from the Labor Radio Podcast Network.

We kick things off with Solidarity Breakfast, reporting from Newcastle’s Rising Tide camp, where thousands gathered to shut down the world’s largest coal port. Then, Power at Work digs into the escalating fight over Amazon as New Jersey’s attorney general sues the company for violating worker-protection laws, with Teamsters organizer Randy Korgan connecting the legal battle to on-the-ground organizing.

Public media writers join On Writing to break down the growing threats to free speech and funding in public broadcasting, while Tales from the Reuther Library features AFA-CWA President Sara Nelson on why labor history is a critical tool in today’s contract fights. Finally, On The Line brings us the story of the “Apple Box Belles,” the union women who powered BC’s fruit-packing plants for decades.

Plus: our “Shows You Should Know” speed-round segment highlights more excellent episodes across the Network.

👉 Subscribe, listen, and follow us at laborradionetwork.org

This week on the Labor Radio/Podcast Weekly: the crew is taking a well-earned union break for Thanksgiving — but Chris and Harold are here with a special holiday mini-edition; even during the holidays, labor shows across the Network are busy lifting up workers. This week’s highlights include:

• Labor Jawn: How the Starbucks strike kitchen feeds and sustains workers fighting for their first contract.

Edited & produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru Mr. Harold Phillips.

On this week’s Labor Radio Podcast Weekly: Starbucks workers are fed up — and they’re walking out. This week’s show spotlights the escalating Red Cup Rebellion, with frontline stories from baristas, organizers, and labor leaders across the country.

We begin on Working People, where Max Alvarez talks with veteran barista and organizer Michelle Eisen about the urgent new strike wave hitting Starbucks stores nationwide — why workers are walking out, what the company refuses to fix, and what’s at stake for the movement.

Then over on Work Stoppage, the team unpacks Starbucks Workers United’s first open-ended strike — already underway in dozens of stores and growing — and the national call for a full boycott.

On We Rise Fighting, Madison barista Joanna breaks down why Red Cup Day has become a flashpoint for worker action, highlighting the role of community care and solidarity in sustaining the fight.

From the Labor Notes Podcast, baristas describe a workplace defined by speedups, dangerous understaffing, impossible time-standards, and corporate mandates that ignore the crisis on the shop floor — including the now-infamous “cup writing” rules.

And on WBAI’s What’s Going On, Juliana Forlano joins Brooklyn baristas on the picket line, alongside AFT President Randi Weingarten and NY Assemblymember Claire Valdéz, rallying in solidarity with the nationwide rebellion.

Plus: Dave Rovics’ brand-new song No Contract, No Coffee and, on Shows You Should Know, The Wealthy Ironworker on politicians pushing “right-to-work”; From A To Arbitration with cold-weather tips for CCAs; Re:Work Radio on healing, UFCW, and the cannabis industry; Labor History Today on land reform, race, and early labor conflicts; Ted talks about AFT’s organizing at BASIS charter schools on Words and Work; and we salute Concrete Gang’s Gorilla on his retirement.

Listen to all these and 200+ more shows at laborradionetwork.org

Recorded under a SAG-AFTRA collective bargaining agreement. Edited by Patrick Dixon; produced by Chris Garlock; social media by Harold Phillips.

On This Week’s Labor Radio Podcast Weekly:

Shows You Should Know – Tiffany Roman on the federal shutdown (El Cafecito del Día); two new Two Classes of Mail episodes on veterans and discipline; Pipe Up’s Veterans Day special with UA’s Veterans In Piping; Fight Like Hell salutes NALC veterans; We Rise Fighting breaks down labor wins and strikes; and a farewell to APWU’s Mark Dimondstein as he signs off from Communicating With You, The Member.

Recorded under a SAG-AFTRA collective bargaining agreement. Edited by Patrick Dixon; produced by Chris Garlock; social media by Harold Phillips.

This week on the Labor Radio Podcast Weekly:

Plus teasers for more Shows You Should Know: Economics For The People: David Bacon on deported workers in Tijuana; The Powerline Podcast: Steve Kopp turns “safety on paper” into real jobsite innovation; School Me: Jennifer Albert Mann brings labor history to life for teens; Union Or Bust: Kickstarter United’s Dannel Jurado talks 30 days on strike; Labor Force: Mike connects the government shutdown, SNAP cuts, and Eugene Debs’ legacy; Labor Notes Podcast: A spooky look at organizing lessons from They Live, Hill House, and Nosferatu.

Listen to all these and 200+ more shows at laborradionetwork.org

Recorded under a SAG-AFTRA collective bargaining agreement. Edited by Patrick Dixon; produced by Chris Garlock; social media by Harold Phillips.

This week on the Labor Radio Podcast Weekly: it’s all about power — who’s got it, who’s lost it, and how working people are organizing to take it back.

On the Labor Notes Podcast, federal workers push back against executive overreach and call out politicians who pretend they’re powerless. Workers Beat Extra dives into divisions inside the labor movement. The Bipartisan Buzz breaks down what postal workers can and can’t do under the Hatch Act. Union Strong spotlights the WNBA Players Association’s fight for equal pay and better facilities. And from South Africa’s Buwa Basebetsi, the Casual Workers Advice Office tells the story of the Unpaid Benefits Campaign — a fight to reclaim billions owed to workers and families.

We also say farewell — for now — to the Buwa Basebetsi crew, whose final episode marks the end of a great run. Special thanks to Charles Leonard, a regular at our weekly Network meetings, for his solidarity and storytelling.

Plus in Shows You Should Know:

🎧 Listen to all these and 200+ more shows at laborradionetwork.org

Recorded under a SAG-AFTRA collective bargaining agreement. Edited by Patrick Dixon; produced by Chris Garlock; social media by Harold Phillips.

On this week’s Labor Radio Podcast Weekly: The Line on record-breaking membership growth; Talk the TAUC on bridging labor and tech in megaprojects; Work Week Radio covers a protest against Amazon's landlord Prologis's plan to build a massive E-Commerce warehouse in the San Francisco Bayview neighborhood; Boiling Point investigates ICE and its pattern of unlawful and problematic behaviors; The Flight Deck explores how the new United pilot uniform came to life.

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@labormedianow @UnitedPilots #LaborRadioPod @AFLCIO