The Labor Exchange on KGNU

On today’s episode of the Labor Exchange we hear an interview with pioneering Colorado State Senator and Representative Polly Baca about her impactful career, her links to the labor movement and her hope for the future. This episode features special guest host True Apodaca-Cobell from SEIU 105.

On this episode of the Labor Exchange we talk to Gil Maestas President of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians Local 52 about an organizing effort among workers at Nexstar / Fox 31 and his background in the local broadcasting industry.

On this episode of the Labor Exchange we catch up with Colorado AFL-CIO Executive Director Dennis Dougherty about Governor Polis' veto of three bills passed in Colorado that were designed to help working families.

Colorado's legislative session wrapped up on last Wednesday. We talk with labor lobbyist Kjersten Forseth about this years session including rail safety legislation recently signed into law and those still awaiting Governor Polis' approval. 

Colorado's legislative session wrapped up on last Wednesday. We talk with labor lobbyist Kjersten Forseth about this years session including rail safety legislation recently signed into law and bills still waiting for the Governor's approval. 

On this special May Day episode of the Labor Exchange we get news updates of the latest events in the labor movement and listen to songs old and new about workers, the challenges they face, and what they are doing about it.

On this episode of the Labor Exchange we talk to SEIU Local 105 Political Coordinator and labor organizer Alejo Gonzalez. He discusses challenges workers face forming a union, common tactics employers utilize and a new Colorado state bill HB24-1260 that prohibits employees from being disciplined for not attending certain employer meetings related to unionization and other topics.

On this episode of the Labor Exchange we discuss an upcoming event with UA Local 208 member and pipefitter Kay Holderness. The Women on the Tools event is on Saturday March 9th at 10:00 will be at Plumbers Local Union #3 17100 E. 32nd, Place in Aurora, Colorado. It feature hands on work and demonstrations for women (and everyone) interested in joining a trade. 

Women in Construction Facebook Page

Women on the Tools Facebook Event 

On this episode we hear an interview with University of Colorado Professor Ahmed White on his book Under the Iron Heel about the Industrial Workers of the World and their prosecution at the hands of state and corporate forces.

The book was chosen as the 2022 International Labor History Association Book of the year. Here is a description: 

"A dramatic, deeply researched account of how legal repression and vigilantism brought down the Wobblies—and how the destruction of their union haunts us to this day.

In 1917, the Industrial Workers of the World was rapidly gaining strength and members. Within a decade, this radical union was effectively destroyed, the victim of the most remarkable campaign of legal repression and vigilantism in American history. Under the Iron Heel is the first comprehensive account of this campaign.

Founded in 1905, the IWW offered to the millions of workers aggrieved by industrial capitalism the promise of a better world. But its growth, coinciding with World War I and the Russian Revolution and driven by uncompromising militancy, was seen by powerful capitalists and government officials as an existential threat that had to be eliminated. In Under the Iron Heel, Ahmed White documents the torrent of legal persecution and extralegal, sometimes lethal violence that shattered the IWW. In so doing, he reveals the remarkable courage of those who faced this campaign, lays bare the origins of the profoundly unequal and conflicted nation we know today, and uncovers disturbing truths about the law, political repression, and the limits of free speech and association in class society."

On today's show we talk with participants of the CO AFL-CIO’s Labor Lobby Corps program that brings union members to the Colorado State Capitol.

Our guests are Pat Johnson Gibson with SEIU Local 105, Kiyomi Bolick, with Defenders Union of Colorado CWA Local  7799 and Jon Davis, SMART Local 9 Journeyman Sheet Metal worker and organizer.