Working People

We kick off Season 3 with news from Andy O'Brien (AFL-CIO) about a unionization push in the Maine logging industry and we talk with indie professional wrestler Angel Blue. We talk about how Angel first got into wrestling when she was still in high school, all the work and the physical and mental stress that goes into being a professional wrestler, and what it's like when you walk through the curtain before a match... And we talk about how Angel has seen and been a part of the explosion of kick-ass women wrestlers in the past two decades. We also talk about the neck injury Angel suffered in the ring earlier this year and the incredibly tough road she has traveled since it happened, including struggling with doctors who treat her like shit because she needs a surgery she can't afford (please consider donating to Angel's GoFundMe fundraiser to help her pay her medical bills).

Additional links/info below...

• Angel's Twitter page
• GoFundMe fundraiser for Angel's medical bills

News from Maine ...

• Andy O'Brien's Twitter page
• O'Chang Comics
• 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"
• Return to Normal, Celestial"

Directed by the Trump administration, the US Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed changes to apprenticeship programs that could spell disaster for union workers in the building trades, giving businesses the ability to create their own apprenticeship programs (IRAPs), underpay workers, and undercut unions. We recorded this PSA to let listeners know what is going on, why it's bad, and what you can do about it. The period to file a public comment in opposition to these proposed changes ends this Monday, August 26: follow the links below to tell the DOL to keep IRAPs out of construction.

Links for filing public comments...

• Federal Register - Apprenticeship Programs, Labor Standards for Registration, Amendment of Regulations
• International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers - Public Comment Form (Friends/Family)

Additional links/info below...

• Michael Prebil & Lul Tesfai, New America, "In Proposed Apprenticeship Amendment, Congress Might Join DOL in Putting the Cart before the Horse"
• Michigan Building & Construction Trades Council - Tell the DOL: Hands off building trades apprenticeships
• NW Labor Press, "Building Trades Sounds Alarm on DOL Apprenticeship Proposal"
• Ian Kullgren, Politico, "Construction Workers Prepare to Battle Former Ally Trump"

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

We talk with Josh Holbrook, one of the Kentucky coal miners currently protesting coal companies Black Jewel, Black Hawk, and Revelation for stiffing him and his coworkers on backpay after going bankrupt.

Additional links/info below...

• GoFundMe - Letcher County BlackJewel Coal Miners
• Action Network - Fund for Former Revelation, Black Hawk, and Black Jewel Miners Demonstrating in Harlan County
• Brittany Patterson & Sydney Boles, Ohio Valley Resource, " Laid-Off Employees Of Bankrupt Blackjewel Mining Seek Pay, Answers"
• Oakley Fugate & Shaylan Clark, "Black Jewel Protest in Cumberland"
• Curren Sheldon, 100 Days in Appalachia, "The Protesting Kentucky Coal Miners Who Stood Up and Stopped a Train"

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

A section from our chat with Astra Taylor, writer, filmmaker, organizer, and co-founder of the Debt Collective. We talk about Astra's new documentary, What Is Democracy?, and her companion book, Democracy May Not Exist, But We'll Miss It When It's Gone.

Additional links/info below...

• Astra's Twitter page
• Debt Collective website and Twitter page
• Astra Taylor, Zeitgeist Films, What Is Democracy?
• Astra Taylor, Metropolitan Books, Democracy May Not Exist, but We'll Miss It When It's Gone
• Maximillian Alvarez, The Baffler, "Wrestling with the Demo(n)s"

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

We chat with journalist Emily Guendelsberger about her new book, On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane.

Additional links/info below...

• Emily's Twitter page
• Emily Guendelsberger, Little, Brown, On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

Last Monday, Representatives Ilhan Omar, Pramila Jayapal, and Senator Bernie Sanders unveiled the Student Debt Cancellation Act of 2019, which includes a plan to wipe out the $1.6 trillion in student debt held by 45 million Americans. In this this special episode, we talk to Ami Schneider and Sanders Fabares, two debt holders and graduates from the for-profit Art Institute college chain who decided to fight back and get involved in anti-debt organizing through the Debt Collective.

Additional links/info below...

• The Debt Collective website, Facebook page, and Twitterpage
• Lucy Diavolo, Teen Vogue, "Bernie Sanders Teamed Up With Ilhan Omar and Pramila Jayapal on a Plan to Cancel All Student Loan Debt"
• Astra Taylor, The Guardian, "Free College and Debt Forgiveness Are Within Our Grasp. Don't Settle for Less"
• Sarah Jaffe, The Washington Post, "The People Power Behind Sanders's Debt Cancellation Plan"
• Marshall Steinbaum, Current Affairs, "Is Student Debt Cancellation Regressive? NO"
• Sparky Abraham, Current Affairs, "How Student Debt Is Worsening Gender and Racial Injustice"
• Casey Quinlan, ThinkProgress, "Why Graduates Of For-Profit Colleges Are Struggling To Pay Back Student Loans"
• Tressie McMillan Cottom, The New Press, Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy
• Alex Shebanow, Fail State (documentary)

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

In this urgent special episode, we talk with Diana Marin, Supervising Attorney at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, and Professor Bill Lopez about what to do if ICE raids your workplace. We discuss what precautions individuals, families, and communities must take in anticipation of a possible raid, what you should do if a raid occurs at your work, and what the impacts of these raids are.

NOTE: We are working to get this episode transcribed and translated into multiple languages. If you can assist us with this, please reach out (we will pay for your work, of course)

Additional links/info below...

• Diana's staff page at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center
• Michigan Immigrant Rights Center website, Resources page, and Twitter page
• Bill's faculty page and Twitter page
• Bill Lopez, Johns Hopkins University Press, Separated: Family and Community in the Aftermath of an Immigration Raid
• Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights
• Immigration Advocates Network
• ICE Raid Resources
• Sarah Mervosh, The New York Times, "Immigration Authorities Arrest More Than 280 in Texas in Largest Workplace Raid in a Decade"
• Nick Miroff, Washington Post, "ICE Raids Targeting Migrant Families Slated to Start Sunday in Major U.S. Cities"

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

We chat with Current Affairs Amusements and Managing Editor, Lyta Gold, about her latest viral tweet and about why upper-middle-class liberals get so mad when you talk about class.

Additional links/info below...

• Lyta's Twitter page
• THE tweet
• Current Affairs website, Facebook page, and Twitter page

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

We wrap up Season Two by chatting with Erin Fristad. Erin is currently an adjunct professor at a community college and she works with combat veterans as an equine therapy specialist. She is also a writer and she worked in the commercial fishing industry around Alaska for many years. We talk about her time as a commercial fisherwoman, how she ended up there, what sort of jobs she did, and what sort of people she worked with. We also talk about the FisherPoets Gathering, where members of the commercial fishing community come together once a year to share their stories. And we talk about what it's meant for Erin to find and express her own voice as a writer and a worker, and about what it's meant for her to be able to teach others to do the same.

Additional links/info below...

• Erin's website
• The FisherPoets Gathering website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• Chris Collision, Pacific Standard, "When Commercial Fishermen Get Together to Recite Poetry"

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
• Ayla Nereo, "Waves"

Our friend David Parsons from The Nostalgia Trap podcast comes back on the show to talk about their exciting new video project, left media, and about the importance of telling history a different way.

Additional links/info below...

• The Nostalgia Trap website, Twitter page, and Patreon page
• David's Twitter page

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"