Working People

Part II of our mini-cast series on undocumented workers and the fight to repeal the employers' sanctions provision of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (1986) (in collaboration with the Break the Chains Alliance). We talk to David Tieu, a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 3, about working on the Hudson Yards project in New York City and seeing firsthand how employers exploit undocumented workers and undercut unions.

Additional links/info below...

• Break the Chains website: https://equalrightsforallworkers.org/
• Break the Chains Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/equalrightsforallworkers/
• Maximillian Alvarez & William Lopez, In These Times, "It's Not Just About Deportations: Trump Wants to Create a Permanent Underclass"
• Michael Kimmelman, The New York Times, "Hudson Yards Is Manhattan's Biggest, Newest, Slickest Gated Community"
• Eleanor Gibson, DeZeen, "New York Construction Workers Stage Protest against Hudson Yards Developer"

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

Instacart shoppers walked off the job this Sunday in protest of the company's rampant wage/tip theft and dishonest, exploitative practices. We chat with Vanessa Bain, a full-time gig worker and one of the organizers of the protest.

Additional links/info below...

• Vanessa's Twitter page
• Vanessa Bain, Medium, "Dear Instacart Customers"
• Instacart Workers, Medium, "Dear Apoorva Mehta (Founder and CEO of Instacart)"

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
• Benjamin Banger, "Bobby Drake"

In Part II of our two-part episode on workers in the Maine logging industry, we chat with Dana Garner, a veteran trucker and wood hauler from St. Francis, and an organizer with the Machinists Union. We talk about Dana's days driving his rig all over the United States and about coming back home to Maine to work full-time hauling logs out of the woods. We talk about the strains of working 20-hour shifts and being in the cab all day, and about the obvious dangers of driving heavy loads on mountain roads, and we also talk about the ways landowners in the region exploit workers and pit them against one another to meet deadlines and quotas.

Additional links/info below...

• Staff, Mainebiz, "Maine Loggers and Wood Haulers Gain Right to Bargain Collectively"
• Andy O'Brien, Maine AFL-CIO, "Weekly Update: Labor Lobby Day, Dinner with Jared Golden & The First Strike of Irish Mainers"
• Dan Morgan, The Washington Post, "Company 'Slavery' Ignites Maine Woodsmen's Union (1977)"
• Beth Brogan, News Center Maine, "Maine Loggers Poised to Unionize"

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
• Cletus Got Shot, "Congressman"

Our Working People Halloween special! We talk with Jon and Ash from The Horror Vanguard podcast about horror, the working class, and how there's nothing scarier than capitalism...

Additional links/info below...

• The Horror Vanguard Twitter page and Patreon page
• Jon's Twitter page
• Ash's Twitter page

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

• Joro Gaming, "Free Scary Music"
• Loyalty Freak Music, "Monster Parade"

Part I of our mini-cast series on undocumented workers and the fight to repeal the employers' sanctions provision of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (1986) and secure equal rights for all workers (in collaboration with the Break the Chains Alliance).

Additional links/info below...

• Break the Chains website: https://equalrightsforallworkers.org/
• Break the Chains Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/equalrightsforallworkers/
• Maximillian Alvarez & William Lopez, In These Times, "It's Not Just About Deportations: Trump Wants to Create a Permanent Underclass"

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

In Part I of our two-part episode on workers in the Maine logging industry, we chat with Mark Hardison, a longtime woodcutter from Eastern Maine, near the town of Ellsworth. We talk about Mark's life, getting involved in the woods industry, and about the ways that the industry has changed over the years. We also talk about efforts to organize workers in the woods industry and the long and complicated history between American workers, Canadian workers, and the companies that pit them against each other. We also talk about the serious dangers that workers in this industry face on a daily basis, including Mark himself, who was nearly crushed to death by a hanging tree.

We also check in with our friend Lauren Schandevel for the first installment on her recurring segment, The Bellwether Bitch, where she breaks down media representations of Macomb County, MI, where Lauren grew up.

Working People call-in line #: 734-272-4402

Additional links/info below...

• Dan Morgan, The Washington Post, "Company 'Slavery' Ignites Maine Woodsmen's Union (1977)"
• Steve Fuller, The Ellsworth American, "Bucksport First Responders Help Save Injured Logger's Life"
• Beth Brogan, News Center Maine, "Maine Loggers Poised to Unionize"

The Bellwether Bitch...

• Lauren's Twitter page
• The Lead, CNN, "Voters in Critical Swing State on Impeachment"

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
• November Polaroid, "Silent Ships"

We talk with John Jayne, a GM worker in Philadelphia and member of UAW Local 2177, about the month-long UAW strike and the new tentative contract agreement.

Additional links/info below...

• Jamie L. LaReau, Detroit Free Press, "GM-UAW Deal Calls for 9,000 Jobs, $9,000 Ratification Bonus, E-truck at Detroit-Hamtramck"
• Jamie McCallum, Jacobin, ""They Made That Money off Our Blood, Sweat, and Tears""
• Sean Crawford and Maximillian Alvarez, In These Times, "The Strike Against General Motors Is One Front in a Much Larger Class War"

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
• Pete Seger, "Solidarity Forever"

We talk with Darrow, office coordinator for Portland State University's Women, Sexuality, & Gender Studies Department and member organizer for SEIU Local 503. We talk about Darrow's involvement in the union and about the planned statewide strike that was narrowly averted soon after we recorded this episode. But we also got a chance to talk about Darrow's life as a queer millennial from the Northern Mariana Islands who made their way to being a university staff worker in Oregon and getting involved in union organizing.

Additional links/info below...

• CSEIU 503 website and Twitter page
• Kelly Hayes, Truthout, "Oregon State University Employees Vote to Authorize a Strike Amid Heated Moment"
• Kim Kelly, The New Republic, "The Next Big Labor Strike Hits Oregon"
• Henry Houston, Eugene Weekly, "SEIU, Universities Avoid Strike"

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
• Scott Holmes, "Hotshot"

SPECIAL EPISODE: We chat with the one and only Sarah Smarsh, author of Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard & Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth.

Additional links/info below...

• Sarah's Twitter page and website
• Sarah Smarsh, Scribner Books, Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard & Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth
• The Homecomers (podcast) Twitter page

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

In Part II of our season-opening special on indie professional wrestlers, we talk with Noah (The Sorceress), Chris Hutton (Rob Matter), and Joella (Incogneato/Chronic Pain) about their experiences at different levels of the indie wrestling scene.

Additional links/info below...

• Chris's Twitter Page
• Incogneato's Instagram page
• Noah's Twitter page
• Wrestle Yr Friends Twitter page

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
• Small Tall Order, "Trying"
• Tendinite, "More Whiskey"