What Does It Profit Podcast

This episode explores the resurgence of black lung disease among coal miners, particularly due to toxic silica dust exposure. We revisit the Season 3 story of Joe and Elizabeth Opyoke, highlighting the dangers miners face. Cecil Roberts, President of the United Mine Workers of America, discusses the preventability of black lung disease and the need for stricter regulations on silica dust. Recent federal regulations aim to limit silica exposure, but enforcement remains a challenge. The episode emphasizes the importance of prioritizing miners' health over profit and the ongoing fight for their safety in the coal mining industry.

This episode we take listeners back to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911. This was one of the deadliest industrial tragedies in U.S. history, claiming 147 lives due to locked exit doors and inadequate safety measures. This tragedy sparked significant reforms, including the establishment of OSHA and mandatory safety regulations. Historian Hasia Diner shares that the fire changed public perception about workers' rights, leading to increased support for unions. Journalist Kim Kelly emphasizes that the fire's legacy continues to inspire workers to organize and advocate for safer working conditions. The event remains a powerful reminder of the importance of worker safety.

In the Season 5 premiere of What Does It Profit, we explore the pressing issue of worker safety at Dollar General. Our journey begins with a bus trip to Nashville, where employees from nine states rally for fair pay and improved safety conditions. The episode highlights alarming safety violations, including blocked fire exits and inadequate staffing, which have led to numerous injuries and fatalities. We hear from workers and experts advocating for change, emphasizing the need for accountability in a company that continues to expand despite these issues. Join us as we uncover the realities of workplace safety in retail.

To our long-time listeners... welcome back. To those who have just found us, we are the podcast that examines the social and moral value of business.

In the 5th season of What Does It Profit, we grapple with what it means to feel safe at work. We talk to historians and workforce safety experts, but most importantly we talk to workers themselves. From the surviving family members of those who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire in NYC to the brave Thomas Cook Airlines pilot who refused to fly fatigued... we learn what it means to be safe at work. Subscribe now so you don't miss what we learn from sex workers, costumed theme park characters, mine workers, retail sales workers and warehouse workers at some of the country's most well-known companies. 

In the final episode of the fourth season of the What Does It Profit? Podcast, Dr. Dawn explores the impacts of artificial intelligence on religion . 

Dr. Dawn speaks to Josh Franklin, a rabbi at the Jewish Center of the Hamptons in New York, who used the chatbot ChatGPT to help write one of his sermons. Rabbi Franklin tells us his thoughts on how he hopes AI can be used as a tool for people to become more spiritual.

We also hear from Mark Graves, a researcher and director with the organization AI and Faith, and Dr. Damien Patrick Williams, an assistant professor of philosophy and data science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Both Graves and Williams see AI as a tool that can alter the way people engage with faith. 

As we navigate this new frontier brought on by the rise of AI, we should continue to ask: In the work that we do, and the investments that we make, what does it profit?

WDIP is powered by the Solidarity Economy Workshop at Georgetown University. Engage with us on LinkedIn. We'd love to get to know you. Thanks for listening!

On this episode of the What Does It Profit? podcast, hitch a ride along with Dr. Dawn as she explores the potential impacts of artificial intelligence on public transportation in the U.S. 

In this episode, we hear first from Bill Domanico, a retired New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) driver, who talks about the ways technology changed during his career. 

We then turn to Barry Wilson and Anthony Garland with the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, which represents DC’s Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) employees. Wilson and Garland explain how the union is trying to rein in AI and protect jobs. 

WDIP is powered by the Solidarity Economy Workshop at Georgetown University. Engage with us on LinkedIn. We'd love to get to know you. Thanks for listening!

This Thanksgiving week on the What Does It Profit? podcast we’re taking a break from this season’s AI theme to extend some thank you-s. Listen in for a re-air of our award-winning Season 3 episode, “Brewing Change: Labor Organizing at Starbucks.”

Loyal listeners know that in this episode we left off with the story of the triumph of unionizing efforts in Buffalo, New York, which is where Starbucks Workers United got started. We also left off anticipating the annual shareholder meeting where concerned shareholders were seeking an independent analysis of the company’s labor practices. Then just two weeks later, we were anticipating a U.S. Senate hearing to call to task the ex-CEO Howard Shultz for the company’s alleged labor law violations.

Eight months later, this story isn’t over. Since the original release of this episode, the Starbucks labor campaign has gained strength. Now, over 360 Starbucks locations have voted for a union and Starbucks Workers United claims over 9,000 union partners. But, even still, there is no contract. But that’s not stopping the baristas. As of last Friday, we saw the Red Cup Rebellion -- a strike on the company’s biggest sales event of the season.

So now, we want to say thank you to all those brave baristas who have inspired striking workers from a variety of industries this year. 

We also want to thank those concerned investors who value the socially-conscious Starbucks brand.

And we want to thank those in the U.S. Senate working on labor policy oversight and for holding corporations accountable.  

Should listeners want to engage, you can (1) offer your support for the Starbucks Worker United campaign, and/or (2) join the Twitter (X) support network using #NoContractNoCoffee, #StarbucksSolidarity, #WorkersUnited, and #wdip.”

WDIP is powered by the Solidarity Economy Workshop at Georgetown University. Engage with us on LinkedIn. We'd love to get to know you. Thanks for listening!

In this unexpected mini-episode, Dr. Dawn pivots from our regular programming to reflect on President Biden’s sweeping executive order on AI. The executive order, passed on October 30, 2023, is the Biden Administration’s attempt to reconcile tech companies’ demand for profit and unchecked innovation while ensuring the public trust of Americans given the rapid rise of AI in just the past year.

To better understand the executive order, Dr. Dawn speaks to Ben Winters, the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s (EPIC) Senior Counsel, who also leads EPIC’s AI and Human Rights Project. Winters delves into the details of the executive order, ultimately reaching the conclusion that while the order is overall promising, its effectiveness depends on how well it will be enforced by individual government agencies.

Dr. Dawn then turns to former Congressman Jerry McNerney, who guided several congressional actions that brought to bear the rising importance of AI. With regard to Biden’s executive order, McNerney believes that the executive order’s emphasis on establishing standards on the use of AI will encourage good behavior in the tech industry. McNerney then discusses some of his work after leaving Congress, work which is primarily focused on understanding the challenges AI could pose in next year’s presidential election. 

While the Biden Administration has begun to set precedents on AI regulation, the government alone cannot do all of this work. As you listen along to what this executive order means for the future, we encourage you to ask yourself: In the work we do, in the things we buy, in the investments we make, what does it profit?  

WDIP is powered by the Solidarity Economy Workshop at Georgetown University. Engage with us on LinkedIn. We'd love to get to know you. Thanks for listening!

In this episode, Dr. Dawn examines the newest addition to the construction industry’s toolbox: AI technology. In this episode, we learn that AI is like a double-edged sword: While AI technology certainly threatens jobs in the construction industry, it’s also ushering in a new era of efficiency and safety.

We begin this episode in conversation with Bella McCann, the president of the woman-owned and Washington, D.C.-based construction company, Cann Construction. McCann takes us to a renovation site to provide a look at how new technologies make on-site work more efficient and safer for workers.

We also hear from Jim Urtz, the national apprenticeship director with the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA), on what the adoption of AI means for the future of jobs in construction. While Urtz has concerns about the potential of technology to replace people, he also details how AI technology can improve working conditions in a high-risk industry and widen the scope of employment opportunities for younger generations in an industry traditionally viewed as one only for the strongest of men.

The adoption of AI technology in the construction industry encourages us to ask the question: In the work we do, in the things we buy, in the investments we make, what does it profit?  

WDIP is powered by the Solidarity Economy Workshop at Georgetown University. Engage with us on LinkedIn. We'd love to get to know you. Thanks for listening!

In this episode, Dr. Dawn heads straight into the scene of the action, Paramount Studios in Hollywood, where writers and actors are fighting an existential battle that stems in large part from AI. We look beyond the glitzy Hollywood sets to learn more about how AI threatens the livelihoods of creatives in an industry where most struggle to even make ends meet. 

We set the stage for what feels like a David and Goliath story as we spotlight the battles writers and actors have been fighting against studio executives and producers in conjunction with the rise of disruptive technologies, like AI. We spotlight what those battles are as we delve into the fears various members of the entertainment industry have about AI, and why those fears helped catalyze a historic Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) double strike.

We begin this episode with the WGA. After nearly 150 days of striking, some writers have returned to work. In late September, the WGA reached a tentative deal with studio executives, a deal which imposes guardrails on AI’s ability to create written content and be used as source material. 

Actors, though, haven’t had the same success yet. We speak to Towanda Underdue, an actor, writer, and producer, as well as a lead negotiator for SAG-AFTRA, to learn why. Underdue details the myriad of ways AI can further disrupt the art of acting in light of the role streaming services have had undervaluing actors. We also hear from set designer Blair Barnet who shares her concerns about how AI will alter the fabric of what entertainment is built on: the creative human experience. 

While we outline these various battles, these battles are inextricably intertwined. This episode brings to light how creatives are fighting to protect the humans who work in entertainment, and the humanity of the entertainment industry itself.

WDIP is powered by the Solidarity Economy Workshop at Georgetown University. Engage with us on LinkedIn. We'd love to get to know you. Thanks for listening!