Working People

In October of last year, over 100 workers represented by five labor unions—including production, distribution, advertising, and accounts receivable staff—walked off the job on an unfair labor practice strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The strike began after the newspaper's management, Block Communications, which is owned by the Block family, cut off health insurance for employees on Oct. 1. As Michael Sainato reports at The Guardian, "The strike is unfolding in a US media industry that has seen widespread layoffs over the past decade with newspapers hit especially hard. Workers at the Post-Gazette have been working without a union contract since March 2017, claiming they haven't received any pay raises in 16 years."

Workers are approaching their sixth month on strike, and it has been a long, ugly fight. This past weekend, according to a press release from The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, "A Pittsburgh Post-Gazette scab truck driver assaulted two striking workers at a South Side picket line late Saturday night. The unprovoked assault sent one striker to the hospital with a broken jaw, which required surgery. Both workers were stripped of their health insurance by actions of the PG." In this episode, we talk with Steve Mellon, a veteran multimedia journalist and staff photographer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, whose work has been featured in The New York Times, Fortune, Forbes, Time, and USA Today. We talk with Steve about his career in journalism, how the industry has changed over the past 30 years, what it's been like to be on strike for the past five months, and what we can all do to help.

Additional links/info below...

• Steve's Twitter and Website
• Donate to Support Striking Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Workers
• The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram
• The Pittsburgh Union Progress website, Twitter page, and Instagram
• Steve Mellon, University of Pittsburgh Press, After the Smoke Clears: Struggling to Get By in Rustbelt America
• Michael Sainato, The Guardian, "Pittsburgh Newspaper Workers Go on Strike Over Unfair Labor Practice"
• Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Striking Workers Need Our Help to Keep Fighting in 2023"
• Jamie Wiggan, Pittsburgh City Paper, "Striking Worker Struck in the Face as Post-Gazette Labor Angst Spills Over"
• Jordana Rosenfeld, Pittsburgh City Paper, "Judge Finds Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Management Violated Workers' Rights"

Permanent links below...

• Working People Patreon page
• Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
• Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

• Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song

While there are some stronger and broader laws in particular states, there is currently no federal standard defining, let alone outlawing, workplace bullying if the case does not involve harassment or discrimination of a member of a "protected status group" based on their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability. And yet, according to a 2021 survey commissioned by the Workplace Bullying Institute, 30% of adult Americans say they are currently being bullied or have experienced bullying at work, and that number jumps up to 39% for the currently employed Americans who were surveyed. That's not a small, insignificant problem. That's a lot of the working population. And the results also show that instances of bullying have actually increased in recent years with the expansion of remote work. But advocates are pushing legislators in different states to strengthen laws to protect workers from bullying in the workplace, and there are signs of hope concerning a bill in Oregon that would do just that. In this mini-cast, we speak with Misty Orlando, who has been the primary grassroots lobbyist for the bill, as well as Dr. Jennifer Fraser, author of The Bullied Brain, and Jerry Carbo, president of the National Workplace Bullying Coalition and professor of management at the Grove College of Business at Shippensburg University.

Additional links/info below...

• Misty's Twitter page
• Jennifer's website and Twitter page
• National Workplace Bullying Coalition website, Twitter page, and Facebook page
• Dr. Jennifer Fraser, Rowman & Littlefield, The Bullied Brain: Heal Your Scars and Restore Your Health
• KMUZ, Willamette Wake Up, "Workplace Psychological Safety Act: Combating Bullying in the WorkPlace"
• Jefferson Public Radio, "Oregon Legislators Urged to Support Workplace Psychological Safety Act"
• Maximillian Alvarez, Breaking Points, "Max Alvarez: A DEADLY, Silent Epidemic of Workplace Abuse is Growing"
• Working People, "Happy Birthday, Evan (w/ Amy Chamberlin & Jana Murphy)"

Permanent links below...

• Working People Patreon page
• Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
• Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

• Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song

We hosted another Working People live show on Feb. 22 in New York City, in collaboration with the Action Builder / Action Network team and The People's Forum. In this panel discussion, introduced by Amazon Labor Union president Chris Smalls, Max speaks with worker-organizers from around the country about why they and their coworkers decided not to quit their jobs but to commit to improving their workplaces, what the day-to-day work of organizing looks like, and how you—yes, you—can get involved and help grow the labor movement. Panelists include: Vince Quiles of Home Depot Workers United in Philadelphia; Tafadar Sourov of Laborers Local 79 in NYC; Sarah Beth Ryther of Trader Joe's United in Minneapolis; and Riley Fell of Starbucks Workers United in Baltimore.

Additional links/info below...

• Vince's Twitter page and TikTok
• Home Depot Workers United Twitter page
• Laborers Local 79 website, Twitter page, and Facebook page
• Trader Joe's United website, Twitter page, and Instagram
• Trader Joe's United Solidarity Fund
• Riley's Instagram
• Starbucks Workers United website, Twitter page, and Instagram
• Action Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• Action Builder website
• The People's Forum website, Twitter page, and Facebook page
• Amazon Labor Union website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram
• Working People, "Vince Quiles"
• Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "He Tried to Organize Home Depot's First Union. Now He's Unemployed"
• Jeff Schuhrke & Sarah Beth Ryther, Jacobin, "Trader Joe's Workers Have Won Their First Unions in America"
• Working People, "Alex P."
• Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "This NYC Construction Union Is Reaching Out to Undocumented and Non-Union Workers. The Bosses Don't Like It"
• Working People, "New York Is a Union Town (w/ Chaz Rynkiewicz)"
• Ashley Bishop, The Nation, "Immigrant Construction Workers Fight Back Against Exploitation"
• Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "The Historic, Youthful, Rank-and-File Movement to Unionize Starbucks"
• Maximillian Alvarez, Breaking Points, "Starbucks Leads Corporate CRIME WAVE To Crush Union Workers"

Permanent links below...

• Working People Patreon page
• Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
• Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

• Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song

The historic union election victory at the JFK8 Amazon warehouse on Staten Island sent shockwaves throughout the US and beyond, but New York is not the only place Amazon workers are organizing. In Moreno Valley, California, workers at the ONT8 warehouse have been doing the painstaking work of organizing for years, and now they are attempting to unionize with the independent Amazon Labor Union, facing the same union-busting playbook from Amazon management that workers in Staten Island, Bessemer, Chicago, etc. have faced. We talk with Nannette Plascencia, who has worked at Amazon since 2015 and has led the unionization effort at ONT8, and Ivan Baez, a member of the union organizing committee and a former ONT8 employee who was recently fired in a suspected act of retaliation for his organizing activity.

Additional links/info below...

• Amazon Workers United4Change (ONT8) Instagram
• GoFundMe: Amazon Workers United4Change (ONT8)
• Amazon Labor Union website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram
• Christopher Salazar, The Frontline Observer, "Anti-Union Campaign at Amazon ONT 8 Aims to Silence and Interrogate Amazon Workers, Says United 4 Change Leader"
• Noam Scheiber & Karen Weise, The New York Times, "Amazon Labor Union, With Renewed Momentum, Faces Next Test"
• Suhauna Hussain, The Los Angeles Times, "Amazon Union Push at Moreno Valley Warehouse Stalls"
• Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "The NLRB Ruled in Favor of Amazon Union Organizers. What's Next?"
• Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Fired Amazon Union Organizer: 'We're Not Able to Feed Ourselves"
• Working People, "Amazon Labor Union"
• Working People, "Alicia Johnson"
• Working People, "Amazon Keeps Firing Union Organizers (w/ Matt Littrell)"

Permanent links below...

• Working People Patreon page
• Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
• Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

• Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song

From unions in the United States fighting to save our supply chain from the destruction wrought by corporate tycoons, Wall Street vampires, and bought-off politicians, to the National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers (RMT) leading the fight against austerity politics and ruling-class union busting in the United Kingdom, to rail workers with the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) in France joining their compatriots in the streets in a general strike against President Emmanuel Macron's neoliberal attack on the country's beloved pension system, rail workers around the world are fighting different battles in the same war: the class war. In this special international episode, we bring together a panel of rail workers from the US, UK, and France to talk about what they are up against, what the struggle looks like in their corners of the world, and what we can all do to connect those struggles and build international worker solidarity. Panelists include: Ross Grooters of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and Railroad Workers United in the US; Cat Cray and Clayton Clive of the RMT in the UK; Matthieu Bolle-Reddat of the CGT Cheminots Versailles in France.

Additional links/info below...

• Railroad Workers United website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• Ross's Twitter page
• Maximillian Alvarez, Breaking Points, "Rail Worker EXPOSES Ohio Disaster COVERUP"
• Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, ""This Was Preventable": Railroad Workers Explain How Wall St Caused the East Palestine Derailment"
• Working People, "East Palestine, Ohio: A Hell of Wall Street's Making (w/ Matt Weaver)"
• Mel Buer, The Nation, "The Ohio Derailment Catastrophe Is a Case Study in Disaster Capitalism"
• Kari Lydersen, In These Times, "The Case for Nationalizing the Railroads"
• RMT Union National Dispute Fund
• Mel Buer, The Real News Network, "Corporate Billionaires Are Wrecking the Supply Chain. Just Look at the Railroads"
• Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "The Supreme Court Is About to Drag Workers' Rights Back by Centuries"
• RMT Union website, Facebook page, and Twitter page,
• Clayton's Twitter page
• Manchester South RMT Twitter page
• Cat's Twitter page
• Working People, "RMT Strike (w/ Mel Mullings, Clayton Clive, Cat Cray, & Gaz Jackson)"
• Rupert Pickering, Tribune, "Defend the RMT"
• Karl Hansen, Jacobin, "Britain's Rail Workers Are Poised to Strike Against Austerity"
• Venda Premkumar, Maia Khan, & Rita Mahli, Tribune, "Why We're On Strike"
• Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "New Anti-Union Law in UK Takes Aim at Strike Wave"
• General Confederation of Labour website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• Maximillian Alvarez, Breaking Points, "French Workers STRIKE Against Neoliberal Pension Reforms"
• Tomek Skomski & Marion Beauvalet, Tribune, "Workers Against Macron"
• Working People, "The French General Strike (2019-2020)"

Permanent links below...

• Working People Patreon page
• Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
• Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

• Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song

It's been nearly two weeks since the catastrophic derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in northeast Ohio thrust the residents of East Palestine and the surrounding area into a non-stop waking nightmare. It will take weeks, months, if not years to appraise the damage of this train derailment on the population, on the rail workers and first responders, and on the environment, but while corporate spokespeople and many in the media try to paint this tragedy as some freak accident, we know better... We know better because we have been listening to railroad workers. In this urgent mini-cast, we discuss the nightmare in East Palestine with Matt Weaver, who has worked on the railroad since 1994, is a member of BMWED-IBT 2624, and was recently chosen to serve as legislative director for his state.

Additional links/info below...

• Matt's Twitter page
• Railroad Workers United website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• Mel Buer, The Nation, "The Ohio Derailment Catastrophe Is a Case Study in Disaster Capitalism"
• Watch Matt on The Problem with Jon Stewart: "The Ohio Train Disaster: Corporate Greed & Regulatory Failure"
• Michael Kaplan, CBS News, "Excess Size Caused Train to Break Down in Days Before It Derailed in Ohio, Employees Say"
• Mass for Shut Ins podcast, "037 - Workin' on the Railroad with Matt Weaver and Maximillian Alvarez"
• Working People, "Jay"
• Working People, "Countdown to Midnight (w/ Jay & Joe)"
• Working People, "Where Do Railroad Workers Go from Here? (w/ Jay, Marilee Taylor, John Tormey, & Matt Parker)"

Permanent links below...

• Working People Patreon page
• Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
• Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

• Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song

We kick off Season Six of the show with a very special episode that is dedicated to Evan Seyfried, his family, and his loved ones. As listeners know from our previous conversations with Evan's family members and their supporters in the Justice for Evan coalition, Evan was a loving son, brother, boyfriend, friend, and a dedicated worker. For 19 years, with a virtually spotless record, Evan worked at a local Kroger grocery store in Milford, Ohio, where he eventually became the dairy department manager. From October 2020 to March 2021, however, according to a lawsuit filed by the Seyfried family, Evan suffered a torturous litany of bullying, harassment, and sabotage at the hands of numerous actors, including management-level supervisors Shannon Frazee and Joseph Pigg, which caused Evan to eventually suffer a "transient episodic break" and take his own life.

We have done our best over the past year and a half to help the Seyfrieds get the justice they deserve, to hold Kroger accountable, and to keep Evan's story from fading from public view. But we also want to make sure that people remember Evan for the whole, beautiful person he was, for the joy and light he brought into the world, and for the love he showed to those who knew him. February 11 is Evan's birthday, and we want to take this opportunity to give some of that love back. With Evan's beloved girlfriend Amy Chamberlin and dear friend of the Seyfried family and cofounder of the Justice for Evan coalition Jana Murphy, we pay tribute to Evan by celebrating his life and the beautiful mark he left on this world.

Additional links/info below...

• Justice for Evan Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram
• Justice for Evan Billboard Campaign
• Justice for Evan: Kroger Associates Stories (Facebook group)
• Kroger Employees (Facebook group)
• Working People, "Evan Seyfried (w/ Ken, Linda, & Eric Seyfried)"
• Working People, "For Evan (w/ Ken Seyfried, Eric Seyfried, Amy Chamberlin, Erica Erskine, Jana Murphy, & Austin LiPuma)"
• Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "'Justice for Evan': Supporters Demand Accountability from Kroger after 19-Year Employee Allegedly Bullied by Management to Suicide"
• Maximillian Alvarez, Breaking Points, "Max Alvarez: A DEADLY, Silent Epidemic of Workplace Abuse is Growing"
• Maximillian Alvarez, Breaking Points, "Lawsuit Says Kroger Management Bullied Worker Into Taking His Own Life"

Permanent links below...

• Working People Patreon page
• Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
• Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

• Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song

PLEASE SIGN THIS LETTER TO URGE THE TEXAS CAMPAIGN FOR THE ENVIRONMENT TO RECOGNIZE OUR UNION In this urgent and special episode, Jules sits down with Brandon Marks and Chloe Torres for an in-person interview about the struggle Texas Environmental Workers Union members are facing in their workplace. After 5 months of the Texas Campaign for the Environment (TCE) not recognizing their union, members of the Texas Environmental Workers Union unanimously agreed to a one-day strike, happening February 6th, 2023. Union members are requesting that listeners sign on their letter urging the TCE to recognize their union, and consider donating to their strike fund. The Texas Environmental Workers Union is proudly represented by the Communications Workers of America. Additional links/info below… · Brandon Marks – Twitter, Facebook · Chloe Torres - Facebook · Updog – South Texas Emo/Ska Bandcamp, Twitter · Texas Environmental Workers Union – Twitter, Website · Communications Workers of America - Website · Texas Campaign for the Environment · DONATE TO THE TEXAS ENVIRONMENTAL WORKERS UNION STRIKE FUND · Video for this episode Permanent Links Below…

• Working People Patreon page
• Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
• Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

• Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song"
• Updog – "Burned Out"

Earlier this month Working People hit a new milestone: We recorded our first live episode in front of an audience! Organized by the Action Builder / Action Network team and hosted by Busboys & Poets in Washington, DC, we got to speak with Michelle Valentin Nieves of the Amazon Labor Union and Harry Marino of the Major League Baseball Players Association about the incredible worker organizing victories for Amazon workers and minor league baseball players, and about lessons we have learned from an intense year of grassroots struggle that we will be carrying into 2023.

Michelle Valentin Nieves is the Executive Secretary and a founding member of the Amazon Labor Union. Harry Marino is an assistant general counsel at the Major League Baseball Players Association. He is formerly the Executive Director of Advocates for Minor Leaguers, the nonprofit organization that joined with the MLBPA to unionize Minor League players. Harry pitched in the Minor League systems of the Baltimore Orioles and Arizona Diamondbacks.

Since launching in 2012, Action Network tools have helped the Women's March mobilize huge rallies across the globe, helped the DNC raise millions for candidates and organizations, and more. The Action Builder toolset, launched in 2019, helps dozens of unions and progressive organizations empower leaders and build strong organizing campaigns.

Additional links/info below...

• Michelle's Twitter page
• Harry's Twitter page
• Amazon Labor Union website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• Major League Baseball Players Association website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• Action Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• Action Builder website
• Advocates for Minor Leaguers website
• Working People, "Amazon Labor Union"
• Eric Blanc, Jacobin, "The Workers Behind Amazon's Historic First Union Explain How They Did It (An Interview with Christian Smalls, Angelika Maldonado, & Michelle Valentin Nieves)"
• Evan Drellich, The Athletic, "'Hit the Go Button': The Six Years that Made Baseball's Minor League Union"
• Tipping Pitches, "The Gang Forms a Union (feat. Trevor Hildenberger)"

Permanent links below...

• Working People Patreon page
• Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
• Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

• Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song

The planet we share, the only home we've ever known, has its limits. Its resources, its ability to sustain all life, are not infinite—and every day we are bearing witness to the disastrous consequences of mortgaging our collective future on the false belief that they are. The path we are on now is untenable, something's going to give. Whether it comes from us or for us, change is coming nonetheless.

As an ecologically and civilizationally sustainable alternative to an unsustainable global system driven by the economic necessity of infinite growth, "degrowth" can mean many things and could take many practical forms. But "degrowth" is perhaps less useful as a prescribed solution, a blueprint for the future, than as a frame for thinking and acting differently in the present. "What does degrowth look like in practice? How are different people, in different parts of the world, already embodying and enacting degrowth in their daily lives?" These questions have no single answer, but posing the questions in the first place, and searching for the numerous potential answers, is an essential process that can help us better diagnose what is off balance in our world and what it would take to heal. For the past year, Max has had the honor of participating in a fellowship program for The Maintainers, "a global research network interested in the concepts of maintenance, infrastructure, repair, and the myriad forms of labor and expertise that sustain our human-built world." In Part II of our special two-part episode produced in collaboration with The Maintainers, we meet some of the other members of The Maintainers team as well as the 2022 Maintainers Movement Fellows, and we take a deep dive into their cornerstone group project, "Embodying Degrowth."

Featuring: Andy Russell, Co-Founder and Co-Director of The Maintainers; Lauren Dapena Fraiz, Project Manager for The Maintainers; Liliana Coelho, Community Outreach and Events Coordinator at The Maintainers; Rheanna Chen, 2022 Maintainers Movement Fellow; Tona Rodriguez-Nikl, 2022 Maintainers Movement Fellow; Sam Bennett, 2022 Maintainers Movement Fellow; Leila D. Behjat, 2022 Maintainers Movement Fellow; Maximillian Alvarez, 2022 Maintainers Movement Fellow.

Additional links/info below...

• The Maintainers website and Twitter page
• Dec. 15: Embodying Degrowth: An Event with The Maintainers Movement Fellows
• Working People, "What Could a Worker-Focused Just Transition Look Like? (w/ Megan Milliken Biven, James Hiatt, & Clarke)"
• The Maintainers: Andy Russell
• The Maintainers: Lauren Dapena Fraiz
• The Maintainers: Liliana Coehlo
• The Maintainers: Rheanna Chen
• The Maintainers: Tona Rodriguez-Nikl
• The Maintainers: Sam Bennett
• The Maintainers: Leila D. Behjat
• The Maintainers: Maximillian Alvarez

Permanent links below...

• Working People Patreon page
• Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
• Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

• Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song