Working People

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 II, we talk to Lilly and Sean, Tier 2 and Tier 3 workers at the GM plant in Hamtramck, and we talk to Beau, a salaried worker at the GM Metal Center in Pontiac, about the announced closure of the historic Hamtramck plant and the ripple effects this announcement is having for workers across Michigan.

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"
• Norb Franz, Macomb Daily, "GM to Shutter Warren Transmission and Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plants, Cut 14,700 Jobs"
• John Gallagher, Detroit Free Press, "GM Hamtramck Plant Closing Reopens Old Controversy in Detroit"
• Detroit News, "The GM Strike that Changed the U.S. Workplace"
• Heather Ann Thompson, Whose Detroit?: Politics, Labor, and Race in a Modern American City
• Thomas J. Sugrue, The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit
• Daniel J. Clark, Disruption in Detroit: Autoworkers and the Elusive Postwar Boom
• 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"
• Evie Sands, "Shine for Me"
• Great White Buffalo, "Detroit"
• The Tall Pines, "Fire in my Bones"

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 I, we talk to Rochelle Carlisle, Tommy Wolikow, and Nanette Senters, three GM workers from the iconic GM plant in Lordstown, OH.

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"
• Jamie L. LaReau, Detroit Free Press, "UAW Fights to Save Detroit, Ohio Plants, Braces for Tough Contract Talks"
• Tim Rudell, WOSU Radio, "Workers, Neighbors and Friends Gather for GM Lordstown Vigil"
• 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'"
• 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"
• Breath Before the Plunge, "Black & Blue"
• Derek Clegg, "The Mountains Will Collide"
• Cletus Got Shot, "Charlie Jones"

In this episode, we talk to Em, an Alaskan native who is now living and working in Jackson, Wyoming. Em is a fellow Millennial, and we talk about some of the funny and awful things that so many people in our generation have in common, like student debt, working multiple crappy jobs at once, and being stressed out from the time we're in elementary school because we're told we have to pile on more classes and extracurriculars and whatever to make ourselves stand out. But Em has also had so many unique experiences, and her life has taken so many twists and turns. We talk about growing up in Alaska, and we talk about dealing with the kids and teachers at school who always singled her out for being Native. We talk about her home in the city, and about the village where her Inupiaq relatives live. We talk about cheerleading and boyfriends. And we talk about all the jobs Em has had, from serving customers and cleaning and singing at a Cold Stone creamery to working all-day shifts in the Alaskan mines. We talk about the sexist crap she and other women had to put up with at the mine. And we talk about her move to Wyoming and her path to getting more involved in leftist politics and organizing, which ultimately led to her joining the Wyoming Red Star Coalition. The Red Star Coalition is a Marxist organization with chapters in four cities around the sparsely populated state of Wyoming, and they are doing really interesting and important work, pushing for workplace and tenant unions, talking with and addressing the needs of working-class folks in Wyoming who, like so many of us, have been left behind.

Additional links/info below...

• Wyoming Red Star Coalition Facebook page and Twitter page

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
• Handmade Moments, "Junkie"
• Cletus Got Shot, "Singin' Just the Same"
• Cletus Got Shot, "Mountain Top"

In this episode, we round off our special two-week series on sex work by talking to Kai, a sex worker and DJ in Atlanta, Georgia. Kai is a wonderful, funny person and, in our chat, he shares some really important insights about different kinds of sex work, how sex workers take care of themselves and each other, and about the disastrous real-life implications the SESTA-FOSTA bills have for sex workers. We also talk to Kai about his life story. We talk about having to move from coast to coast as a kid and make new friends in completely different kinds of cities. We talk about finding friends in different groups, and about being a total band kid. We talk about his time at college, we talk about his job delivering weed on his bike all over the city, and we talk about the time Kai met his first client as a sex worker. And we talk about the crucial need for non-sex-worker ("civilian") allies to speak up in support of sex workers, and to be as loud as possible.

Additional links/info below...

• Aja Romano, Vox, "A New Law Intended to Curb Sex Trafficking Threatens the Future of the Internet as We Know It"
• Emily McCombs, HuffPost, "'This Bill Is Killing Us': 9 Sex Workers on Their Lives in the wake of FOSTA"
• Kitty Stryker, Teen Vogue, "What the FOSTA/SESTA Anti-Sex-Trafficking Bill Means"
• Fabian Luis Fernandez, Yale University EliScholar, "Hands Up: A Systematized Review of Policing Sex Workers in the U.S."
• Sirin Kale, Broadly-VICE, "Police Are Allegedly Sleeping with Sex Workers Before Arresting Them"
• STOP SESTA-FOSTA: stopsesta.org

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
• FRANKIE WAH, "Friday Is Not a Day to Have Fun"
• Krackatoa, "Running with Wise Fools"
• Visager, "Overgrown Labyrinth"

In Part II of our bonus episode in this special Working People series on sex work, we chat to the amazing Alex Andrews, an organizer, former sex worker, and co-founder of SWOP Behind Bars, part of the Sex Workers Outreach Project. SWOP Behind Bars "is a national social justice network dedicated to the fundamental human rights of people who face discrimination from the criminal justice system due to the stigma associated with the sex trade." We talk to Alex about what led her to get involved with SWOP Behind Bars and about the vital work they and other sex worker rights groups are doing to protect and advocate for sex workers around the country. And we talk about what allies can do to support sex workers in the era of SESTA-FOSTA.

Additional links/info below...

• SWOP Behind Bars website and Twitter account
• Caty Simon & Alex Andrews, Tits and Ass, "Activist Spotlight: Alex Andrews on SWOP Behind Bars and Service Work"
• Aja Romano, Vox, "A New Law Intended to Curb Sex Trafficking Threatens the Future of the Internet as We Know It"
• Emily McCombs, HuffPost, "'This Bill Is Killing Us': 9 Sex Workers on Their Lives in the wake of FOSTA"
• Kitty Stryker, Teen Vogue, "What the FOSTA/SESTA Anti-Sex-Trafficking Bill Means"
• Fabian Luis Fernandez, Yale University EliScholar, "Hands Up: A Systematized Review of Policing Sex Workers in the U.S."
• Sirin Kale, Broadly-VICE, "Police Are Allegedly Sleeping with Sex Workers Before Arresting Them"
• STOP SESTA-FOSTA: stopsesta.org

More Sex Worker Groups/Organizations…

• GLITS (Gays & Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society)
• SWOP USA (Sex Workers Outreach Project)
• Sex Workers Project
• Desiree Alliance
• SOAR Institute (Sharmus Outlaw Advocacy & Rights)
• DECRIMNOW (A Campaign to Decriminalize Sex Work in DC)
• Students 4 Decrim
• Respect Sex Workers
• Red Light Legal

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
• Coolzey, "Terrorist"
• The Womb, "You'll Never Work in this Town Again"
• The Gays, "The Community"
• Brakhag, "The Strike"

In Part I of our two-part bonus episode on sex work, we chat to the wonderful Kaytlin Bailey, comedian, writer, activist, sex worker, and host of The Oldest Profession, a fantastic, funny, and unapologetic podcast about the lives of sex workers throughout history. Ever since she was in elementary school, Kaytlin has spoken her mind and questioned the validity of social norms, and we talk about how that has shaped her politics, her career in comedy, and her entry into sex work. We talk about Kaytlin's life, her work, the misconceptions people have about sex work, and about fighting back against misogyny.

Additional links/info below...

• Kaytlin's Twitter page
• The Oldest Profession podcast website and Twitter page

Information about Sound Education conference (Harvard, Nov 1-3)…

• Speaker List
• Schedule

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
• Coolzey, "Terrorist"
• Ludwigs Steirische Gaudi, "Flower Polka"
• Thorn & Shout, "Name & Noise"
• Whore Paint, "This Body"

In this episode, we begin our special two-week series on sex work by talking to the fabulous Ceyenne Doroshow. No description can really do Ceyenne justice, but she is, among other things, a performer, an activist and organizer, a community-based researcher, and a powerful public figure in the trans and sex workers rights' movements. She is the author of the book Cooking in Heels, and the Founder and Executive Director of G.L.I.T.S. (Gays & Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society). We talk about Ceyenne's life, about growing up as a trans woman in a world that was so often unwilling to accept or nurture her. We talk about finding mentors and community in New York City, and about eventually becoming a mentor for others. We talk about the first job where Ceyenne could finally be herself. We talk about being arrested for sex work, and we talk about the countless obstacles that black trans women and trans sex workers face today. And we talk about fighting back against systems of oppression and about the need to build communities out of love and humanity.

Additional links/info below...

• G.L.I.T.S. (Gays & Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society) website
• Ceyenne's book, Cooking in Heels: A Memoir Cookbook
• Amy Zimmerman, The Daily Beast, "The New Law that Puts Transgender Sex Workers in Danger"
• StopTransMurders.org
• Serena Sonoma, Bustle, "5 Black Trans Women in History Who Paved the Way for Me"

Information about Sound Education conference (Harvard, Nov 1-3)…

• Speaker List
• Schedule

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
• Handmade Moments, "Fighting a Mountain"
• The Relatives, "What's Wrong with America?"
• Mindseye & Dr. Rinkel, "Ignorance Is Bliss"
• Miami Slice, "Solid Gold"

In Part I of our special two-part BONUS EPISODE on labor, class, and higher education, we chat to Trevor Griffey, writer, historian, and Labor Studies lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles and California State University, Dominguez Hills. Trevor breaks down the insidious, decades-long effort to devalue academic labor at the administrative, legislative, and cultural level, and we talk about the resulting crisis academic workers are facing today and what to do about it.

Additional links/info below...

• Link to Trevor's author page at the Labor and Working-Class History Association
• Maximillian Alvarez, The Baffler, "Contingent No More"
• Maximillian Alvarez, The Baffler, "Laboring Academia"
• Eric Anthony Grollman, Conditionally Accepted, "Invisible Labor: Exploitation of Scholars of Color in Academia"
• Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, "Dancing Backwards in High Heels"
• Marc Bousquet, How the University Works
• Louise Morley, Times Higher Education, "Working-Class Academics Still Face Discrimination"
• Kevin Birmingham, The Chronicle of Higher Education, "The Great Shame of Our Profession"
• Alison Mountz, Anne Bonds, Becky Mansfield, Jenna Loyd, Jennifer Hyndman, Margaret Walton-Roberts, Ranu Basu, Risa Whitson, Roberta Hawkins, Trina Hamilton, Winifred Curran, ACME, "For Slow Scholarship: A Feminist Politics of Resistance through Collective Action in the Neoliberal University"
• Christopher Newfield, American Association of University Professors, "Avoiding the Coming Higher Ed Wars"

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
• Coolzey, "Terrorist"
• Phillip Gross, "Cámping"
• The Gays, "Funk Friend"

In this episode, we talk to John Buckley, a lecturer in the English Department at the University of Michigan. John is a member of the lecturer's union at U of M, the Lecturers' Employee Organization (LEO), and was on the bargaining team throughout the effort to negotiate a better contract with the University in 2017/18. We talk about the precarious situation of so many academic workers and what it tells us about the state of higher education today. We also talk about John's family history and about growing up in Michigan always feeling, as he puts it, "on the bubble." We talk about our religious upbringings and we talk about being a theater geek and almost joining the military. We also talk about the winding road that took him to the West coast, teaching in different kinds of schools and programs, and that eventually led him back to his alma mater in Michigan.

Additional links/info below...

• University of Michigan Lecturers' Union website
• Phil Christman, Inside Higher Ed, "A Season of Strikes"
• Heather Ann Thompson, Detroit Free Press, "A Sad State of Affairs for Lecturers at the University of Michigan"
• Grace Kay, Michigan Daily, "LEO Members Ratify New Contract after Months of Bargaining"

Working People goes to Harvard…

• Sound Education conference website (https://www.soundeducation.fm/)
• Ministry of Ideas podcast (https://www.ministryofideas.org/)

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall" The Prefab Messiahs, "College Radio"
• Snake Oil Salesmen, "Sierra Nevada Torpedo"
• The Mint Chicks, "Life Will Get Better Someday"

In this episode, which is a little longer than our typical episodes, we talk to Vickie Shannon Allen, a native Texan and a warehouse worker at an Amazon fulfillment center, where she sustained an injury on the job. Vickie's struggle with Amazon to get the medical treatment she deserves is ongoing. As we discuss in the interview, it has been hell for her, and we are asking listeners to help us share her story and hold Amazon accountable. We talk with Vickie about her experience working for Amazon, but we talk about a lot more, too. We talk about growing up working class in Texas, about going to school hungry, and about the horrific, dehumanizing treatment she and her siblings got from their stepmother. We talk about falling in love for the first time, and we talk about heartbreak. We talk about working as a single mother and raising two boys. We talk about what it really means to fight for your future.

Additional links/info below...

• Link to Vickie's GoFundMe fundraiser
• Link to Vickie's YouTube channel
• International Amazon Workers Voice Facebook page
• Michael Sainato, The Guardian, "Accidents at Amazon: Workers Left to Suffer after Warehouse Injuries"
• Alex Press, Medium, "$15 Isn't Enough to Empower Amazon's Workers"
• Louise Matsakis, WIRED, "Why Amazon Really Raised Its Minimum Wage to $15"
• Bryan Menegus, Gizmodo, "Amazon's Aggressive Anti-Union Tactics Revealed in Leaked 45-Minute Video"
• Russell Brandom, The Verge, "Amazon Is Selling Police Departments a Real-Time Facial Recognition System"

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
• Les Hayden, "Need"
• Brother Timothy Clark, "Are You Ready?"
• Silicon Transmitter, "Downfall"
• Thorn & Shout, "Farewell"