Working People

In this pre-pandemic Working People recording that we thought was lost to history, we talk to filmmaker Dominique Rémy about her important full-length documentary on maternal morbidity and mortality rates in Black and Indigenous communities in the U.S.

Additional links/info below...

• Dominique's Twitter page
• Maternal Mortality Documentary Film Fund (please donate!)
• Linda Villarosa, New York Times, "Why America's Black Mothers and Babies Are in a Life-or-Death Crisis"
• Amy Roeder, Harvard Public Health, "America Is Failing Its Black Mothers"
• Elizabeth Chuck, NBC News, "The U.S. Finally Has Better Maternal Mortality Data. Black Mothers Still Fare the Worst"
• Katy B. Kozhimannil, JAMA Health Forum, "Indigenous Maternal Health—A Crisis Demanding Attention"
• Elizabeth Chuck & Haimy Assefa, NBC News, "She Hoped to Shine a Light on Maternal Mortality Among Native Americans. Instead, She Became a Statistic of It"

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"
• Evie Sands, "Shine for Me"

On top of the typical stresses, intense work, and long hours common to the profession, nurses working at smaller hospitals in more remote parts of the country face many unique challenges. With fewer staff and 24-7 services, facilities like the two Lehigh Valley Health Network hospitals in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, rely on nurses, nursing assistants, and other staff to perform many jobs simultaneously with little rest. But when nurses begin to leave for better working conditions and the hospital does not replace them, those who remain are put under even more strain, which endangers them and their patients. For workers with Schuylkill Hospital Nurses United, that's just the tip of the iceberg. In this episode, we talk with two Schuylkill County nurses, Brandee Brown and Chrissy Newton, and Seth Goldstein from the Office and Professional Employees International Union, about the day-to-day grind of working at small-town hospitals while also combatting union-busting and bad-faith bargaining from management at Lehigh Valley Health Network.

Additional links/info below...

• Schuylkill Hospital Nurses United Twitter page
• Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• Seth Goldstein Twitter page
• Lehigh Valley Health Network website and Twitter page
• "Lehigh Valley Health Network violated federal labor law by directing Schuylkill nurses to remove safe staffing stickers"
• Christine Lee, Yahoo! News, "Schuylkill County Nurses Criticize Health Network over Contract Negotiations"

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"

Last Thursday, around 1,100 coal miners at Warrior Met Coal in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, went on strike. According to the union, the United Mine Workers of America, a tentative bargaining agreement has now been reached with the company, but workers must still vote on whether or not to ratify it. In order to cover this important strike and spread these workers' stories, we've teamed up with our brothers-in-arms Jacob Morrison, a union organizer and cohost of the outstanding Valley Labor Report, Alabama's only weekly labor radio talk show, and the incredible musician Lee Bains III of The Glory Fires. Jacob and Lee went down to the Warrior Met Coal picket line this weekend to talk with striking miners, play some music, and show solidarity. In this special episode, we've compiled clips from Lee's live performance as well as Jacob's interviews on the picket line and at the local UMWA union hall.

Additional links/info below...

• United Mine Workers of America website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• Jacob's Twitter page
• The Valley Labor Report YouTube channel, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Patreon
• Lee's Twitter page
• The Glory Fires' website, Facebook page, Instagram, and Twitter page
• William Thornton, com, "1,100 West Alabama Mine Workers Announce Plan to Go on Strike"
• Jason Morton, The Tuscaloosa News, "Union Announces Strike for Brookwood Miners at Warrior Met Coal"
• Jason Morton, The Tuscaloosa News, "Union Announces Tentative Deal to End Brookwood Coal Mine Strike"
• UMWA Press Release: "Tentative Agreement Reached at Warrior Met"

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"
• Lee Bains III, live performance at Warrior Met Coal strike (April 2021)
• Jules Taylor, "Cradle to the Grave"

COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the world of higher education: forced campus re-openings have pushed many directly into harm's way; colleges and universities have suffered massive budget shortfalls; some institutions have closed permanently; the academic job market has been blown up; etc. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, "the U.S. Labor Department has estimated that American academic institutions have shed a net total of at least 650,000 workers." This week, we talk to Aaron Major, Associate Professor of Sociology at the State University of New York (SUNY), Albany, and president of the Albany chapter of United University Professions, the nation's largest higher education union. We talk about Aaron's path to higher ed and the academic labor movement, and we discuss how COVID-19 has revealed the brokenness of our higher education system, as well as the need to reinvest in higher ed as a public good and to raise the floor for all campus workers.

Additional links/info below...

• Aaron's faculty page
• United University Professions (national) website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• United University Professions - Albany Chapter website and Twitter page
• Aaron Major, Times Union, "Commentary: State Must Restore Meaningful Funding to SUNY System"
• Aaron Major, Stanford University Press, Architects of Austerity: International Finance and the Politics of Growth
• Dan Bauman, The Chronicle of Higher Education, "A Brutal Tally: Higher Ed Lost 650,000 Jobs Last Year"
• Ed Burmila, The Chronicle Review, "First They Came for Adjuncts, Now They'll Come for Tenure (And Who Will Be Left to Stop Them?)"
• Rebecca Kolins Givan, The Chronicle Review, "Will the University That Survives Have Been Worth Saving?"
• Maximillian Alvarez, The Chronicle Review, "On a Knife's Edge: Four Professors Debate the Erosion of Faculty Power and the Fight for the Future of Higher Education"

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"
• Laurie Johnson - "Happy Go Lively " - Voicemail Song
• Man Bites Dog, "College Rock"

In the middle of a deadly pandemic that has shaken the world of higher education to its core, graduate workers at Columbia University are heading into their third week on strike, braving both physical and digital picket lines. We talk with three grad workers and members of GWC-UAW Local 2110 and the Columbia Academic Workers for a Democratic Union (C-AWDU) caucus about the strike, the workers' demands, and what listeners can do to show support. Guests: Joanna Lee, Harlan Chambers, and Cameron Foltz.

Additional links/info below...

• GWC-UAW Local 2110 website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• C-AWDU website and Twitter page
• GoFundMe: Solidarity with Columbia Academic Student Workers
• Joanna's Twitter page
• Harlan's Twitter page
• Cameron's Twitter page
• Sophia Chang, Gothamist, "Columbia Grad Students On Strike Over Wages And Harassment Policies, NYU Counterparts Voting On Similar Actions"

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 sit down and chat with (former) Philly sanitation worker and Instagram sensation Terrill Haigler—or, as listeners may know him, "Ya Fav Trashman." Terrill's incredible and inspiring story took an interesting turn during the COVID-19 pandemic when he was working for the Philly sanitation department and started an Instagram account where he would post updates from the job and answer residents' questions about trash pickup. With his platform, Terrill has helped spread awareness of the hard work sanitation workers do, the conditions they face, and what residents can do to clean up their neighborhoods.

Additional links/info below...

• Ya Fav Trashman website, Instagram, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• Ya Fav Trashman, Essential Talks (podcast)
• Stephanie Farr, The Philadelphia Inquirer, "'Ya Fav Trashman' Gives an Inside Look at Philly Trash Pickup on Instagram, and the City Is Listening"
• Stephanie Farr, The Philadelphia Inquirer, "'Ya Fav Trashman' raised $32,000 for PPE for his Philly sanitation colleagues, and his work is gaining national attention"

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 Relatives, "Your Love Is Real"

In this special episode, we chat with the one and only Rick Perlstein. Rick is an internationally acclaimed and bestselling author and historian who has published perhaps the most singularly definitive series of books on late twentieth-century American politics, culture, and the rise of the modern conservative movement. In past interviews, Rick has discussed the origins of his books and the influences that shaped his writing career. We wanted to sit down with Rick and retell that story in a way that people haven't heard before ... We wanted to retell that story through the lens of class.

Additional links/info below...

• Rick's website and Twitter page
• Jason Saltoun-Ebin, HuffPost, "'The Invisible Bridge': 10 or So Questions with Rick Perlstein"

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

• Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song"
• Carroll, "Billionaire"

HAVE WE GOT A TREAT FOR YOU... Working People will be taking a much-needed break next week, but never fear—we've got something special to hold you over. Last week, Max drove 14 hours from Baltimore to Bessemer, Alabama, to report on the historic Amazon union drive for The Real News Network. While he was down there, Max was fortunate enough to snag an interview with world-renowned actor, activist, and TRNN Board member Danny Glover, who came to Bessemer to show solidarity with Amazon workers. Max and Danny talk about why this union drive is so significant, and about the long history of labor struggle in the South.

We are excited to announce that we got permission from TRNN to publish this special interview on the Working People feed and share it with our listeners! Follow TRNN and subscribe to their YouTube and podcast channels for more of their upcoming coverage on the workers' struggle in Bessemer.

Additional links/info below...

• Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Hammer and Hope: Danny Glover on the Amazon Union Drive in Bessemer, Alabama"
• William Thornton, AL.com, "Actor Danny Glover Comes to Bessemer to Show Support for Amazon Union Push"

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"
• Vanessa Williams, "Work to do"

At this very moment, one of the most historic union drives of our era is taking place at the Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama. Around 5,800 workers at the facility, the majority of whom are Black, are currently voting on whether or not to unionize with the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU). If they are successful, the workers in Bessemer would become the first unionized Amazon workforce in the United States, and Amazon is pulling out all the stops to keep that from happening. We got to sit down with Jennifer Bates, one of the fulfillment center workers in Bessemer, to talk about her working conditions and about why this union vote is so important.

Additional links/info below...

• Jennifer's Twitter page
• BAmazonUnion website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram
• RWDSU website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• Democracy Now!, ""David vs. Goliath": Warehouse Workers in Alabama Fight Amazon for the Right to Unionize"
• Alex Press, Jacobin, "The Alabama Amazon Union Drive Could Be the Most Important Labor Fight in the South in Decades (An Interview with Michael Goldfield)"
• The Valley Labor Report, "February 6th 2021, Full Episode RWDSU Amazon Campaign Live"
• Steven Greenhouse, The Guardian, "'We Deserve More': An Amazon Warehouse's High-Stakes Union Drive"
• Luis Feliz Leon, The American Prospect, "Union Solidarity on Eve of Historic Amazon Warehouse Election"
• Kris LaGrange, UCOMM Blog, "Meet Amazon's Union Busters"
• Jay Greene, The Washington Post, "Amazon's Anti-Union Blitz Stalks Alabama Warehouse Workers Everywhere, Even the Bathroom"
• Lauren Kaori Gurley, Vice, "Amazon Sends 'Vote NO' Instructions to Unionizing Employees, Tells Them to Use New Mailbox"

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

• Jules Taylor, "Working People theme song"
• Benjamin Banger, "June"

In this episode, we talk to Rev. Lindsey Joyce of the United Church of Rogers Park in Chicago and the Institute for Christian Socialism. We talk about Pastor Joyce's life and path to being a full-time pastor and about the community she serves. We also discuss the work of ministry: What is it like to be a worker who works in the church? What is the relationship between the higher calling—the vocation of being a pastor—and the daily labor that goes into fulfilling that role in the church and the community?

Additional links/info below...

• Lindsey's Twitter page
• United Church of Rogers Park website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• The Institute for Christian Socialism website and Twitter page

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

• Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song"
• The Trumpeteers, "Little Wooden Church"