Making ends meet in today's economy is difficult enough, but with so many societal crises affecting working people's lives on and off the shop floor—from mass layoffs to untenable costs of living, from an authoritarian federal government to AI and the climate crisis—it can feel all but impossible. What does it mean to have a union job, to be a union member, and to be part of the labor movement in these overwhelming times? What role do unions and other labor organizations have to play, not just in the fight for economic justice, but in the fight for democracy, civil rights, the rule of law, and a livable planet? We posed these questions to a range of emerging labor leaders from different unions and worker centers enrolled in the 2025-26 Minnesota Union Leadership Program (MULP). Here's what they told us…

Additional links/info:

• Minnesota Union Leadership Program website

• Workday Magazine website

• Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, "What good is a union in Hell?"

Featured Music:

• Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

Credits:

• Audio Post-Production: Alina Nehlich

Four years after the first Starbucks store in the US unionized in 2021, workers across the country are still facing rampant union busting and still fighting for a first contract with the coffee giant. That is why a supermajority of unionized baristas with Starbucks Workers United recently voted to authorize an Unfair Labor Practice strike, which is set to begin on Thursday, Nov. 13, on "Red Cup Day," in over 25 cities around the US. "Union baristas mean business and are ready to do whatever it takes to win a fair contract and end Starbucks' unfair labor practices," says Michelle Eisen, Starbucks Workers United spokesperson and 15-year veteran barista. "If Starbucks keeps stonewalling, they should expect to see their business grind to a halt. The ball is in Starbucks' court." In this urgent episode, we speak with Eisen about the impending strike and the state of the yearslong union struggle at Starbucks. Additional links/info:

• "No Contract, No Coffee!" website
• Starbucks Workers United website, Facebook page, Bluesky page, Instagram, and TikTok
• Starbucks Workers United press release: "With 92% 'Yes' vote, union Starbucks baristas overwhelmingly authorize ULP strike"
• Dee-Ann Durbin, Associated Press, "Starbucks' union workers plan strike next week unless company agrees to a contract"
• Alina Selyukh, NPR, "Starbucks is closing more stores and laying off 900 workers"
• Michael Sainato, The Guardian, "A year under CEO Niccol: Starbucks workers' long fight for a union contract"

Featured Music:

• Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

Credits:

• Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor

Life on college campuses has changed dramatically in the last 10 months. While institutions of higher education continue to reel from the Trump administration's top-down attacks and scramble to adjust, workers on campus say that their universities are simultaneously expanding their own internal repression and surveillance apparatuses to squash dissent. In this episode, we speak with a panel of graduate student workers and union members from Columbia University and the University of Michigan about the chilling new reality on their campuses and what it's like to live, learn, and work there today. Panelists include; Vayne, a PhD candidate in history at Columbia University and a member of the bargaining committee for Student Workers of Columbia; Conlan Olson, a PhD student in computer science at Columbia University and a member of the bargaining committee for Student Workers of Columbia; Jared Eno, a grad worker in sociology and public policy at the University of Michigan and a rank-and-file member of the Graduate Employees Organization. Additional links/info:

• Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) website, Instagram, Facebook page, and X page
• Student Workers of Columbia-UAW Local 2710 website, Instagram, Facebook page, and X page
• Email zap info: "Reject UMPD's attack on anti-genocide activists!"
• Glenn Hedin & Barrett Dolata, The Michigan Daily, "Three pro-Palestine activists arrested for protesting speech given by former Israeli soldiers"
• Student Workers of Columbia press release: "Columbia threatens discipline for union picket, extends repression to labor action"
• Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, "'The raids happened Wednesday, finals started Thursday': FBI agents raid homes of pro-Palestine students at University of Michigan"
• Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "'Worse' than McCarthyism: Trump's war on higher education, free speech, and political dissent"
• Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, "'A tremendous chilling effect': Columbia students describe dystopian reality on campus amid Trump attacks"
• Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, "'People are hiding in their apartments': Inside Trump's assault on universities"

Credits:

• Featured Music: Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song
• Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor

In September, before the current ceasefire deal was announced, we spoke with two Palestinians in Gaza—Mohamed Abu Tawila (a former English teacher) and his nephew Abdul Rahman (a would-be college student)—about surviving 700 days of genocidal destruction at the hands of Israel's military and with the full backing of the United States. In this critical follow-up episode, we speak once again with Mohamed Abu Tawila from Gaza to get an on-the-ground account of life for Palestinians after the shaky implementation of the ceasefire began on Oct. 10.

Additional links/info:

• Mohamed's Instagram account
• Living Water Mutual Aid in Gaza Chuffed fundraiser page and Instagram account
• GoFundMe campaign to support Mohamed's water delivery operation and his family
• Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, "'Hearts are crying and bodies are bleeding': Gazans describe their daily struggle to survive"
• Tareq S. Hajjaj, Mondoweiss, "Israel's repeated ceasefire violations are part of its strategy to keep waging war on Gaza"
• DropSite News, "Israel kills over 100 Palestinians in overnight bombardment of Gaza; thousands killed in Sudan's El-Fasher"

Featured Music:

• Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

Credits:

• Audio Post-Production: Alina Nehlich

In this special crossover edition of Working People and The Marc Steiner Show, hosts Maximillian Alvarez and Marc Steiner examine how the "artificial intelligence" (AI) boom is shaping the economy and the impact it is already having—and will continue to have—on working people's lives, livelihoods, and jobs. Alvarez and Steiner speak with two members of a new mutual aid and advocacy group called Stop Gen AI, which formed this year out of the critical need to provide material support for creatives, knowledge workers, and anyone else impacted by generative AI.

Guests:

• Kim Crawley is a former cybersecurity professor and co-author of The Pentester Blueprint. She founded Stop Gen AI in May 2025 in response to the immense socioeconomic harm generative AI has done to her and her peers, and to the vast environmental, cultural, scientific, psychological, and economic harm it does to the world. Stop Gen AI is unique for its anticapitalist focus and commitment to raising survival funds for people who are struggling.

• Emmi is an information security expert with experience across many niches of the industry, including application security across a number of verticals, and she is a specialist in insider threat and cyber threat intelligence. She joined the efforts of Stop Gen AI in 2025 due to the overwhelming amount of friends she has seen lose their entire lives and careers due to the out-of-control AI bubble. She also has nearly two decades of experience with boots-on-the-ground union organizing, protesting, and activism.

Additional links/info:

• Stop Gen AI website and Mastodon page

• Stop Gen AI Twitch Fest information

• Khiree Stewart, WBALTV 11, "'Just holding a Doritos bag': Student handcuffed after AI system mistook bag of chips for weapon"

• Marc Steiner & Maximillian Alvarez, The Marc Steiner Show, "Trump and Silicon Valley's plan to rule the world with AI weapons"

Featured Music:

• Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

• Stephen Frank, Marc Steiner Show Theme Song

Credits:

• Studio Production: David Hebden

• Audio Post-Production: Alina Nehlich

The federal government shutdown is now in its fourth week. Over 700,000 federal employees have been furloughed, with nearly as many continuing to work without pay, yet there are still no signs that an end to the shutdown is near. "Unlike past presidents, Mr. Trump appears to feel little urgency to strike a deal to reopen the government," Luke Broadwater writes at The New York Times. "Instead, he has used the shutdown, which began Oct. 1, as an opportunity to further remake the federal bureaucracy and jettison programs he does not like, seizing on unorthodox budgetary maneuvers that some have called illegal." In this episode, we speak with three furloughed federal employees about the harm government shutdowns cause working people, and we discuss why this shutdown is different.

Guests:

• Adam is a furloughed federal employee who works in recreation for the US Forest Service, managing hiking, biking, and equestrian trails in central Idaho. He serves as chapter president of National Federation of Federal Employees Local 1753, and he is an organizer with the Federal Unionists Network.
• Ellen is a furloughed federal employee who works in SNAP oversight and administration at the USDA Food and Nutrition Service. She serves as chapter president of National Treasury Employees Union Local 255, representing FNS employees at the Northeast regional office, and she is an organizer with the Federal Unionists Network in Boston.
• April is a furloughed federal employee who works in the office of Head Start at the Administration for Children and Families HQ in Washington, DC. She serves as chapter president of the National Treasury Employees Union Local 250.

Additional links/info:

• Federal Unionists Network website, BlueSky, and Instagram
• Federal Unionists Network: "Join Us To Defend Public Services!"
• Luke Broadwater, The New York Times, "The Shutdown Is Stretching On. Trump Doesn't Seem to Mind."
• Democracy Now!, "Shadow president: Project 2025 architect Russell Vought is using shutdown to gut federal agencies"

Featured Music:

• Jules Taylor, "Working People" Theme Song

Credits:

• Featured music: Jules Taylor, "Working People" Theme Song
• Audio Post-Production: Alina Nehlich

"In Texas, a socialist professor is now in the fight of his life against MAGA's New McCarthyism," scholar and author Bill V. Mullen writes in Jacobin. "Tom Alter, a labor historian and tenured professor of history at Texas State University, was fired from his job on September 10 after a far-right troll doctored a videotape of Alter speaking at a virtual Revolutionary Socialism conference. After viewing the video, university president Kelly Damphousse fired Alter on September 10 with what Alter and his supporters say was no due process." While Alter was provisionally reinstated on Sept. 26, he and his family remain in limbo as they wait for a final decision from Texas State University regarding his firing. In this urgent episode of Working People, we speak with Professor Alter himself about the sequence of events that have made his case a flashpoint in the MAGA right's all-out assault on free speech, higher education, and the people who live, work, and study there. Editor's Note (10/14/25): On Monday, Oct. 13, Professor Tom Alter was notified by Texas State University President Kelly Damphousse that "his employment at Texas State University is terminated, effective immediately." "I stand in opposition to Texas State University's attack on democratic rights that are protected by the Texas and United States Constitutions as well as the academic freedom that was once the hallmark of Texas higher education," Professor Alter said in a public statement. "To be clear, my termination is part of a broader political attack being carried out by the authoritarian far-right to crush democracy and democratic institutions in the United States in general and Texas in particular. But the charges leveled against me by the Texas State University administration do not stand up to the facts; I have truth on my side and I look forward to my day in court." Additional links/info:

• Texas State Employees Union - CWA Local 6186: "Reinstate Dr. Tom Alter | Defend Free Speech"
• Bill V. Mullen, Jacobin, "MAGA McCarthyism comes to Texas State"
• Russell Payne, Salon, "Fox News "expert" says Hitler went to heaven"
• Full video of Professor Alter's Revolutionary Socialism conference speech
• Edward Helmore, The Guardian, "US anti-fascism expert leaves country day after being blocked from flying to Spain"

Featured Music:

• Jules Taylor, "Working People" Theme Song

Credits:

• Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor

In a stunning and massive development, tech giant Microsoft has announced that it is terminating parts of the Israeli military's access to proprietary technology that it was using to conduct mass surveillance and targeting of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. "Microsoft told Israeli officials late last week that Unit 8200, the military's elite spy agency, had violated the company's terms of service by storing the vast trove of surveillance data in its Azure cloud platform," the Guardian reports. "The termination is the first known case of a US technology company withdrawing services provided to the Israeli military since the beginning of its war on Gaza." This major development would not have happened without the joint-investigative work of reporters at The Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call exposing Microsoft's complicity with Unit 8200's mass-surveillance campaign, but it also would not have happened without the disruptive protests by tech workers within Microsoft. In this panel discussion, we speak with three fired Microsoft tech workers and members of the "No Azure for Apartheid" campaign—Nisreen Jaradat, Julius Shan, and Anna Hattle—about the role workers have played in pressuring Microsoft to end its complicity in Israel's war crimes.

Additional Links/Info:

• No Azure for Apartheid Instagram and Linktree
• Maximillian Alvarez, The Nation, "How Microsoft workers helped halt a major contract with the Israeli military"
• Harry Davies & Yuval Abraham, The Guardian, "Microsoft blocks Israel's use of its technology in mass surveillance of Palestinians"
• Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, "The biggest labor story in the US right now is happening at Microsoft"
• Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, "'Microsoft is an active partner in the genocide!': Inside the tech worker revolt for Palestine"
• Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Cops violently dismantle Palestine encampment at Microsoft HQ, arrest protestors"
• Harry Davies & Yuval Abraham, The Guardian, "'A million calls an hour': Israel relying on Microsoft cloud for expansive surveillance of Palestinians"

Credits:

• Studio Production: David Hebden
• Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor

Last week, The Real News Network published a bombshell interview with two federal whistleblowers working in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Max spoke with Paul Osadebe and Palmer Heenan, two attorneys in HUD's Office of Fair Housing, about the "chaos" that has upended HUD under the new Trump administration, and the vulnerable Americans who are being systematically abandoned as a result. Then, on Monday, Sept. 29, exactly one week after going public, Osadebe and Heenan were fired in what the Federal Unionist Network describes as "a stunning act of illegal retaliation." In this urgent followup interview, we speak once again with Osadebe and Heenan about the conditions of their firing, and what this attack on whistleblowers means for the future of government transparency and the future of HUD itself.

Guests:

• Paul Osadebe is a shop steward for the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) – Local 476, a member of the Federal Unionists Network, and, until recently, an attorney working in the federal government. Osadebe is one of the four employees within HUD who have filed formal whistleblower complaints through the office of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D – Massachusetts). Osadebe was fired for his whistleblowing on Sept. 29.
• Palmer Heenan is a rank-and-file member of AFGE – Local 476, a member of the Federal Unionists Network, and, until recently, an attorney working in the federal government. Heenan is one of the four employees within the Department of Housing and Urban Development who have filed formal whistleblower complaints through the office of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D – Massachusetts). Heenan was fired for his whistleblowing on Sept. 29.

Additional resources:

• Debra Kamin, The New York Times, "Trump appointees roll back enforcement of Fair Housing laws"
• Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "EXCLUSIVE: Federal whistleblowers expose how Trump's HUD is abandoning vulnerable Americans"
• Federal Unionists Network: "BREAKING: HUD whistleblowers fired after exposing civil rights violations"
• Federal Unionists Network website, BlueSky, and Instagram
• AFGE – Local 476 website

Credits:

• Studio Production / Post-Production: Cameron Granadino

Federal whistleblowers are going public with an emergency message from within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). According to their formal complaint, under President Trump's administration, "HUD leadership has already violated the law" and taken actions that "will result in legal violations, gross mismanagement, gross waste of funds, and present a specific danger to public health and safety." The complaints were filed by four attorneys and staff workers at HUD'S Office of General Counsel and Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. In their first on-air appearance since going public with their allegations, Max speaks with attorneys and federal employees Paul Osadebe and Palmer Heenan about their whistleblower complaints and the "chaos" at Trump's HUD.

Guests:

• Paul Osadebe is an attorney working in the federal government, a shop steward for the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) – Local 476, and a member of the Federal Unionists Network. Osadebe is one of the four employees within the Department of Housing and Urban Development who have filed formal whistleblower complaints through the office of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D – Massachusetts).
• Palmer Heenan is an attorney working in the federal government, a rank-and-file member of AFGE – Local 476, and a member of the Federal Unionists Network. Heenan is one of the four employees within the Department of Housing and Urban Development who have filed formal whistleblower complaints through the office of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D – Massachusetts).

Additional resources:

• Debra Kamin, The New York Times, "Trump appointees roll back enforcement of Fair Housing laws"
• Federal Unionists Network website, BlueSky, and Instagram
• AFGE – Local 476 website
• Federal Unionists Network: HUD Whistleblowers Sound Alarm on Civil Rights (Report)
• Federal Unionists Network: Join Us To Defend Public Services!

Credits

• Studio Production: David Hebden
• Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor