Working People

We've got a Working People first! In this special two-part episode, we sit down to chat with not one but two longshore workers: Zack Pattin and Brian Skiffington from Tacoma, WA. Zack and Brian are both members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 23, and organizing leaders with the ILWU Young Workers Committee. In Part I of our expansive, multi-hour conversation with Zack and Brian, we talk about their backstories and the winding paths that brought them to where they are now, working together on the waterfront. We also talk about growing up in union families, their mutual love of punk music, and we talk about the fast pace, precision, adrenaline, danger, and skill of longshore work.

Additional links/info below...

• Zack's Facebook page and Twitter page
• Brian's Facebook page
• ILWU Local 23's website and Facebook page
• ILWU No. 23 Young Workers Committee Facebook page and Twitter page
• Zack Pattin & Brian Skiffington, LaborNotes, "Longshore Young Workers Come to the Aid of Tenants Facing Eviction"
• The Docker Podcast, "EP# 38: Paul Finch (BCGEU) and Brian Skiffington (ILWU 23)"
• The Docker Podcast, "ILWU 37th Convention Portland Part 10: Zack Pattin (ILWU 23)"

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

• Jules Taylor, "Working People theme song"
• Tendinite, "More Whiskey"

We chat with Erek Slater, a bus operator for the Chicago Transit Authority, where he's been working for the past 15 years. Erek is a family man, a father, and a three-term elected shop steward and executive board member of the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 241. We talk about his working life and all that goes into being a bus operator, all the things that passengers never see—even though we depend on workers like Erek every day to live our lives. We also talk about Erek's experience as a shop steward and about his unshakeable commitment to honor, justice, and to empowering the working class. In fact, it was because he stood up for these things that he was unjustly dismissed from his job in May.

Additional links/info below...

• International Campaign to Reinstate Chicago Bus Driver Erek Slater
• PETITION: Drop All Charges and Reinstate Chicago Bus Driver Erek Slater
• Update on Campaign to Reinstate Chicago Bus Driver Erek Slater
• Erek's Facebook page and Twitter page
• ATU Local 241 website page

• Connecticut Workers Crisis Response Facebook page

• Sarah Lazare, Jacobin, "A Chicago Bus Driver Says He Was Retaliated Against for His Opposition to Transporting Police to Protests"
• WorkWeek Radio, ""We May Have To Shut It Down" Fight To Protect Health & Safety For Chicago ATU 241 Members & Public"
• Labor Beat, "São Paulo Is A Union Town: Travel Notes of a Chicago Trade Unionist"
• Labor Beat, "Joint Action in Tokyo and Seoul"

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

• Jules Taylor, "Working People theme song"
• Cletus Got Shot, "Justice Is My Name"

We chat with Michele, a clinical social worker in the Bronx with years of experience working in psychiatric emergency and crisis settings. We talk about Michele's life and the road that led her to being a social worker—we also discuss the history of social work itself, and we dive into the very real struggles and often harsh circumstances that are a daily reality for social workers and the people they serve. (C/W: This conversation does broach topics involving psychiatric distress and suicide.)

Additional links/info below...

• Laura Abrams & Alan Dettlaff, Social Work, "Voices from the Frontlines: Social Workers Confront the COVID-19 Pandemic"
• J. Scott Janssen, Social Work Today, "Moral Distress in Social Work Practice – When Workplace and Conscience Collide"
• Mark Fisher, The Guardian, "Why Mental Health Is a Political Issue"

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

• Jules Taylor, "Working People theme song"
• The Shivers, "Only Mine"

We're back with Season Four of Working People! In this urgent episode, we talk with Dr. Amir Atabeygi, a physician at MultiCare Indigo Urgent Care in Thurston County, Washington. On Monday, November 23, amid a terrifying surge in COVID-19 cases around the country, Dr. Atabeygi will join his fellow physicians, physician assistants, and advanced registered nurse practitioners on the picket line as they strike for the basic safety measures their employer refuses to provide. We talk to Dr. Atabeygi about what he and his coworkers face on the job, the rise of "retail health" companies like MultiCare Health Systems, and the growing labor consciousness of traditionally non-unionized healthcare workers.

Additional links/info below...

• PETITION: Doctors and Patients United for Safer Working Conditions
• Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD) national website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• UAPD Pacific Northwest Twitter page
• Zack Pattin, LaborNotes, "Will Urgent Care Doctors Be Forced to Strike in a Pandemic for the Right to Go Home?"
• Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD), Chinook Observer, "Labor Negotiations Stall Between MultiCare and Indigo Urgent Care Doctors"
• Eric Topol, The New Yorker, "Why Doctors Should Organize"
• Jason Hanna & Daniel Wolfe, CNN, "These Charts Show How Serious This Fall's Covid-19 Surge Is in the US""

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

• Jules Taylor, "Working People theme song"
• Fotos del Otoño, "Doctor McCoy"

The next time you see us, it will be the premier of Season Four of Working People! Until then, we wanted to share this interview Max did with Evan Matthew Papp of Empathy Media Lab about why Max started the show and how it's developed over the years. They also talk about why Working People is a proud member of the Labor Radio / Podcast Network, and about the importance of making labor- and human-centered media. Check it out (and check out all the great shows in LRPN)!

Additional links/info below...

• Evan's Twitter page
• Empathy Media Lab's website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and YouTube channel
• Labor Radio / Podcast Network's website and Twitter page

We'll be back with Season Four of Working People very soon, but in the meantime, here's an interview Max did with Our Calgary, a great new Canadian podcast. Max talks with Lucas about the 2020 election and his hopes and fears for the country, the left, and for alternative media. Check it out (and give Our Calgary a follow!).

Additional links/info below...

• Our Calgary's Twitter page, link tree, and Patreon
• Lucas' Twitter page

We talk to Hamilton Nolan, labor reporter for In These Times, about reporting on the Trump re-election campaign during a pandemic and seeing up close the rotting core of America.

Additional links/info below...

• Hamilton's author page and Twitter page
• Hamilton Nolan, In These Times, "Risking Your Life For a Trump Rally Means There's Nothing Left to Lose"

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

• Edith Frost, "Temporary Loan"

We're back with another installment of our ongoing series Working-Class Politics, where we talk to working-class folks and advocates who are running for office. We sit down with two members of California's Labor Slate, Eduardo Torres (running for Ambrose Recreation and Parks Board) and Gaelan Ash (communications director for Labor Slate).

Additional links/info below...

• Labor Slate's website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• Eduardo's candidate page
• Hamilton Nolan, In These Times, "In California, a "Labor Slate" Aims to Redefine the Relationship Between Unions and Politics"

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

Everyone who is a worker or who cares about workers should pay attention to Prop 22 in California and understand the potentially devastating impact it could have. Professor Veena Dubal joins us on the show to talk about why.

Additional links/info below...

• Veena's faculty page and Twitter page
• Sarah Ashley O'Brien, CNN Business, "The $185 Million Campaign to Keep Uber and Lyft Drivers as Contractors in California"
• Alexander Sammon, The American Prospect, "How Uber and Lyft Are Buying Labor Laws"
• Edward Ongweso Jr., Vice, "Uber, Lyft Give California GOP Millions While Fighting Driver Reclassification"
• Veena Dubal, Dissent, "Digital Piecework"
• Veena Dubal, Berkley Journal of Employment and Labor Law, "The Drive to Precarity: A Political History of Work, Regulation, & Labor Advocacy in San Francisco's Taxi & Uber Economies"

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

We talk with Amanda Yee for this urgent mini-cast on the deliberate and terrifying persecution of leftist organizers and activists by the state, including members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) in Denver.

Additional links/info below...

• Amanda's Twitter page
• PSL website, Twitter page, and Facebook page
• PSL Legal Fund: Donate to the legal and political support campaign for arrested Denver organizers
• PSL Petition: Drop All the Charges on Anti-Racist Organizers in the Denver Area!
• PSL Solidarity Statement: Sign-On Statement: Drop the Charges on Denver Anti-Racist Organizers
• Elise Schmelzer, The Denver Post, "Protesters, Demonstration Leaders Arrested in Connection to Rallies in Aurora"
• Maximillian Alvarez, The Baffler, "The Whimper of Democracy"
• Maximillian Alvarez, The Baffler, "A Show Trial That No One Watched"

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"