Our episode begins with some silliness, but we do get to labor headlines. We've got stories from Ubisoft, Taco Bell, Kaiser Permanente, Ford, Starbucks, and big protests in Argentina and India. The nurses strike in New York *almost* came to an end this week, but nurses at NY Presbyterian are staying out. San Francisco teachers won their first strike since 1979, we break down how last week went. Meatpacking workers with JBS are on the front lines of the joint struggle for immigrant workers specifically and the working class broadly and are ready to strike despite threats of deportation. Finally, we discuss how the class struggle in Minnesota has forced the government to back down, and why more action is needed to win the struggle against ICE terror.

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In our newest series led by our Italian reporter Matteo we get to hear from a worker organizer, Romeo, of the Feb 6, 2026 international strike of Mediterranean dockworkers against war and for Palestine. CALP or the Autonomous Collective of Port Workers is a militant collective of workers who have had enough of the ruling imperialist class trying to force them into complicity with international crimes against humanity so they have become sand in the machine, shutting down weapons shipments coming through their ports. 

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We start with headlines from Waymo, Kaiser Permanente, San Francisco teachers, Los Angeles teachers, REI, Seven Stars Bakery, Starbucks, and the state of Nebraska. New York nurses have been on strike for over a month, we discuss the state of their strike and the possible deals announced on Monday. VW workers in Chattanooga won a historic victory for organizing in the South with their recent contract win, we break down the gains. Workers across Europe blocked ports for Palestine this week, even as Western governments and media outlets try to ignore it.  Finally, we discuss the targeted attacks on workers organizers by ICE and the way students and rank and file union members are organizing to stop it.

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Once again our main focus this week is the struggle against ICE's reign of terror. Beyond Minneapolis, the working class outrage at the crimes of DHS exploded into a nationwide shutdown. In our main story we discuss the implications of this growing movement for trade unionism and the broader struggle for working class political power. Before we get to that however, we start with headlines from CUNY, Ubisoft, Trader Joe's, PAME and Starbucks. Beyond the nationwide political struggle this week were two major stories we also wanted to cover. First we check in on the fight to preserve the gains of the last two decades by the working class in Bolivia. And we also check in on the largest *economic* strike in the country, as 31,000 healthcare workers walked out once again at Kaiser Permanente.

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The eyes of the nation have been on Minneapolis all week, and our main story this week is on Friday's general strike and the need to expand it. Before that, we start with headlines from the Louvre, Cayuga Medical Center, TikTok, Wafler Farms, and the AAUP. For our main regular labor stories, we start with a roundup of recent stories on attempts to replace workers with AI (and their failures). Spanish Amazon workers have been more successful than most in winning union recognition, and a recent piece in Truthout documents how they've done it. Just a few weeks into his term, new NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani has already started trying to leverage the power of city government for pro worker reforms. We close of course discussing the historic citywide general strike in Minneapolis and the critical importance of growing the movement against fascism across the entire country.

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In light of the Jan 23, 2026 Twin City general strike we are unlocking this episode so people can look at another general strike in Twin City history. We start this episode off in Toledo but in the second half we look at Minneapolis.

Folks are rising up across the country outraged by ICE's reign of terror. Our main story is on the popular fightback in Minnesota, but first we have headlines from ArcelorMittal, Ford, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Portland State University, Blinkit, Barnes and Noble, and Kaiser Permanente. We follow up on last week's historic strike by 15,000 nurses in NYC. A recent piece in Dissent Magazine details the surge in the use of robots at Amazon and the harms born by workers. Also this week, we discuss the corrosive impact on working people of having a far right government using Nazi slogans in power.

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Our labor news is somewhat overshadowed this week by the horrific murder of Renee Good in Minneapolis and the subsequent eruption of popular outrage nationwide. When we do get to our headlines, we've got stories from North Carolina Public Schools, the National Institutes of Health, NYC Hospitals, Telluride Colorado, Starbucks, Half Price Books, and The Animation Guild. After finally losing the epic three year long strike with journalists, the owners of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette announced plans to close the paper out of spite. The VA has been under attack since Trump came into office and a recent piece in the American Prospect reveals how the country's mental health system for veterans is being dismantled at the worst possible time. Finally, we discuss the response of organized labor to Renee Good's murder and the need for a nationwide movement to end ICE terror.

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Professor Schuhrke joins us once again to discuss his newest book No Neutrals There: US Labor, Zionism, and the Struggle for Palestine. We discuss the history of the Zionist project and how US labor leadership guided a huge amount of support for the settler colonial project, but also ways that the seeds of resistance in the imperial core were there as early as the Nakba. The book gives us a real view of the scope of what we are fighting against when it comes to the history of US labor support for Israel and provides hope in that the free Palestine movement has never been stronger than it is today. We have a long way to go to repair the harms done by people in the past but we know better than any other time in history that victory is possible.

Check out our previous interview with Jeff on his book Blue Collar Empire: https://www.patreon.com/posts/114816687

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Lexington Community Relief Fund: https://www.lexfoundation.org/?give=59EKZZDK

Our first episode of the year and the US is already committing new insane war crimes. After a lengthy discussion of the recent attacks on Venezuela and the urgent need for US labor to materially oppose it, we start our regular labor news. We've got headlines from Tyson, Canada Post, Petrobras, the ECHL, Aramark, Seven Stars Bakery, and Chicago Public Schools. It wouldn't be another year in labor news if we didn't start with a story of yet more abuses by Amazon, this time against pregnant workers. We have an update on the strike by waste collectors in Birmingham over in the UK that has stretched on for nearly a year. Workers in Bolivia have launched a nationwide uprising against the right wing government's attacks on the poor. Finally, next week may see the first major strike of 2026 in the US, as thousands of nurses at a dozen hospitals in the NYC area are poised to walk out for safe staffing.

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Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee