Working People

We talk with Jared Sacks and Buka Okoye, two members of the Columbia grad union (GWC-UAW Local 2110 Graduate Workers of Columbia) about graduate student-workers' fight for more transparent, democratic representation.

Additional links/info below...

• Jared Sacks, Columbia Spectator, "What Is "Open Bargaining" and How Will it Transform Columbia?"
• Graduate Workers of Columbia website, Twitter, and Facebook page
• Columbia Academic Workers for a Democratic Union website, Twitter, and Facebook page

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

We chat with Evan Montgomery, a third-generation grain farmer on the North Dakota side of the Red River Valley. Evan is also a trained musician--he has a degree in music, he sings classical music--and we talk all about his life growing up on the farm, getting into music, and finding a way to strike a balance and pursue both of those passions at once. We also talk about this year's "harvest from hell" and about the serious challenges facing family farmers today—from changing climate, to giant agribusiness conglomerates, to the dire struggle to find and train the next generation of farmers. And we talk about why Evan does what he does and why he wouldn't have it any other way.

Additional links/info below...

• Evan's Twitter and Instagram pages
• Jones Boat Facebook page (the Fargo-based choir Evan sings in)
• Stetson Payne, Tulsa World, "State of Farming": Number of Family Farms Decreasing, While Average Farmer Is Aging"
• Andrea Stone, National Geographic, "Family Farmers Hold Keys to Agriculture in a Warming World"
• Elizabeth Kucinich, Huffington Post, "Monsanto: The Enemy of Family Farmers"

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
• NDSU Concert Choir, "There Is Sweet Music"
• NDSU Concert Choir, "Avinu Malkeinu"

Carl Slone is a coal miner who lives in Whitesburg, Kentucky, a town of about 1,200 people. He's never protested before. But when he saw a local establishment publicly shaming poor people in his community, he decided to do something about it.

Additional links/info below...

• Tweet about Carl's protest

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

We talk with DSA member and Jacobin staff writer Meagan Day about her recent article "The 'Skills Gap' Was a Lie"

Additional links/info below...

• Meagan Day's Jacobin author page

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

Faculty have been on strike at Wright State University for over two weeks now, and things are coming to a head. In this special episode, we check in with Doctor Noeleen McIlvenna, a professor of early American history at Wright State and Executive Committee member of the AAUP-WSU. We talk about the strike and how the university's underhanded attempts to undercut the union fit into the larger history of the corporatization of higher education. We also talk about the incredible show of support faculty have received from students, the community, and others from around the state.

Additional links/info below...

• AAUP-WSU website, Facebook, and Twitter
• Working People Bonus Episode w/ Trevor Griffey
• Max Filby, Dayton Daily News, "WSU Fails to Reach Faculty Union Contract Deal, Board Implements Last Best Offer"
• Max Filby, Dayton Daily News, "Wright State Students Protest in Support of Faculty on Strike"
• Emma Pettit, The Chronicle of Higher Education, "'Talking Is Over': Hundreds of Professors Strike at Wright State U."
• Emma Pettit, The Chronicle of Higher Education, "As Faculty Strike Wears On, Wright State Seeks 'Long Term' Adjuncts in More than 80 Fields"
• John Warner, Inside Higher Ed, "WTF Is Going On at Wright State?"

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
• Guinea Worms, "Hello from Ohio"

We talk to journalist Ross Barkan about his recent article in Gothamist, "Amazon's NYC Campus, Donald Trump's Rise, & NY's Prison Boom All Share A Common Ancestor"

Additional links/info below...

• Ross Barkan's Twitter

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"

Represented by UNITE HERE Local 11, workers at hotels in Southern California have been taking bold and necessary actions to secure a contract that addresses workers' serious concerns: from receiving fairer wages that can actually allow workers to keep up with high costs of living, to mitigating the constant threat of sexual harassment and abuse workers in these hotels face every day, especially considering that the vast majority of hotel and hospitality workers are women, many of whom have to work on their own, isolated. Thanks to our friend Glynndana Shevlin (Season 1, Episode 2), we were able to talk about all of this with Maria Isabel, a hotel maid, and Ada Tamayo, an organizer for UNITE HERE Local 11. The four of us sat down and had an important chat about the struggles hotel workers face in Anaheim and elsewhere.

Additional links/info below...

• UNITE HERE Local 11 website, Twitter, and Facebook
• Gabriel San Román, OC Weekly, "Hotel Wars: Lawsuits, Protests, and Raises Turn Up Heat in OC, LBC"
• Michael Sainato, The Guardian, "California Hotel Workers 'On the Brink' of Joining Wave of Strikes"
• Michael Sainato, The Guardian, "'It Was Like Hell': California Hotel Workers Break Their Silence on Abuse"
• Beige Lucianao-Adams, LA Weekly, "California's Labor Resistance"
• Jeong Park, The Orange County Register, "Anaheim Councilman Arrested in Civil Disobedience with Protesting Hotel Workers"
• Margot Roosevelt, The Orange County Register, "Orange County Portrait: Low Wages, Child Poverty, Costly Housing"
• Alex N. Press, Jacobin, "Sexual Harassment is Everybody's Problem"
• Shalayne Pulia, InStyle, "6 Women Making Sure Workplace Equality Isn't Just for the C-Suite"

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
• Cordero, "Heart in Me"

Working People is back for Season Two! In this #RedForEd special, we talk to Trevor, Jesenia, and Danielle, three teachers and members of United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) who are currently joining their brothers and sisters in a historic strike across the LA Unified School District.

Additional links/info below...

• UTLA Twitter and Facebook
• UTLA website
• WeArePublicSchools.Org
• Sarah Jaffe, The Nation, "The Radical Organizing That Paved the Way for LA's Teachers' Strike"
• Jared Sacks, ROAR, "The Radical Worker Politics of the Los Angeles Teacher Strike"
• Meagan Day & Micah Uetricht, Jacobin, "A Mighty Wind"
• Lois Weiner, Jacobin, "What LA Teachers Have Already Won"
• Lisa Ryan, The Cut, "Why 32,000 Teachers Are on Strike in Los Angeles"
• David Dayen, In These Times, "'Welcome to the Revolution': LA Teachers Strike Pits Working-Class Power Against Privatization"
• Max Rivlin-Nadler & Scott Heins, Splinter, "On the Picket Line With the LA Substitute Teachers Who Refused to Scab"
• Cesar Hernandez, LA Taco, " 'Tacos for Teachers' Seeks to Feed Teachers if They Hit the Picket Lines"

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
• Benjamin Banger, "June"
• Mindseye, "Up and Go"
• Benjamin Banger, "New Horizons"

2018: On the Monday after Thanksgiving, General Motors workers in the U.S. and Canada learned of the company's announcement that it would be idling five plants and cutting around 14,000 jobs. In this urgent, multi-episode series, we will be talking to workers at plants in Ohio, Michigan, and Canada. In the fourth and final part of this series, we speak with activists, workers, scholars, and writers to get a range of perspectives on the GM layoffs, the plight of workers in the U.S. and beyond, and what we need to do--all of us--to collectively fight back against exploitation and to build a better world.

Guests: Will Bunch, Sherry Linkon, Dnitra Landon, Abdul El-Sayed, Herman Rosenfeld, Cynthia Thornton

We are sending a huge, heartfelt thanks to all the workers, organizers, and activists who helped us put this series together. Special thanks to: Steve Maher, Cheryl J, and Kyle Minton.

Additional links/info below...

• Neal E. Boudette, New York Times, "G.M. to Idle Plants and Cut Thousands of Jobs as Sales Slow"
• CBS News, "GM Layoff Announcement Sparks Outrage - and Stock Increase"
• Leyland Cecco & Mike Elk, The Guardian, "'No Jobs on the Horizon': Workers Respond to General Motors' Decision to Close Plant"
• Ron Jacobs, CounterPunch, "The Legacy of Lordstown"
• Will Bunch, The Inquirer, "In 1970s, Workers at this GM Plant Tried to Reinvent the American Dream. Instead, They Watched It Fade Away"
• Sherry Linkon & John Russo, CityLab, "With GM Job Cuts, Youngstown Faces a New 'Black Monday'"
• Sam Gindin, The Bullet, "The Auto Crisis: Placing Our Own Alternative on the Table"
• Kim Scipes (ed), Building Global Labor Solidarity in a Time of Accelerating Globalization
• Leslie Barrett, WFMJ, "'Drive It Home' Campaign Continuing to Help Save GM Lordstown Plant"
• Good Jobs Nation website
• #Shame Campaign website
• Southpaw Michigan website

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
• Menhirs of Er Grah, "Some Days"
• Marissa Anderson, "Cloud Corner"
• Cletus Got Shot, "Work These Hands"
• Tan Low, "Road Song"
• Rachel Mason, "Rebel Angels"
• Scott Holmes, "Together We Stand"

2018: On the Monday after Thanksgiving, General Motors workers in the U.S. and Canada learned of the company's announcement that it would be idling five plants and cutting around 14,000 jobs. In this urgent, multi-episode series, we will be talking to workers at plants in Ohio, Michigan, and Canada. In Part IIII, we talk to Cory Weir and Rebecca Keetch, two workers at the award-winning GM plant in Oshawa, Ontario. We talk about the pivotal role Oshawa has played in Canadian labor history and about what workers there (and everywhere) need to do to fight back against this system of corporate-assured destruction.

Additional links/info below...

• Neal E. Boudette, New York Times, "G.M. to Idle Plants and Cut Thousands of Jobs as Sales Slow"
• CBS News, "GM Layoff Announcement Sparks Outrage - and Stock Increase"
• Amara McLaughlin, CBC News, "'They Are Not Closing Our Damn Plant': Union Vows Fight as GM Plans Oshawa Closing"
• Leyland Cecco & Mike Elk, The Guardian, "'No Jobs on the Horizon': Workers Respond to General Motors' Decision to Close Plant"
• The Globe & Mail, "History of General Motors in Oshawa"
• Robert Collison & Sturla Gunnarsson (directors), Final Offer
• Sam Gindin, The Canadian Auto Workers: The Birth and Transformation of a Union
• Sam Gindin, The Bullet, "Big Three Bargaining: Different Ways of Making History"
• Sam Gindin, The Bullet, "The Auto Crisis: Placing Our Own Alternative on the Table"
• Leslie Barrett, WFMJ, "'Drive It Home' Campaign Continuing to Help Save GM Lordstown Plant"
• Good Jobs Nation website
• #Shame Campaign website

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
• Wasaru, "Blurred Foam"
• Marwood Williams, "All Hail the Corporation"