Belabored Podcast #52: Fast Food Local, with Tsedeye Gebreselassie

Belabored Podcast #52: Fast Food Local, with Tsedeye Gebreselassie

In the latest escalation of the low-wage workers’ movement, fast food workers went out on strike this week in hundreds of cities around the globe. Sarah and Michelle speak with Tsedeye Gebreselassie of the National Employment Law Project about the importance of local victories in this global struggle, and why workers must lead the way. Plus: miners’ deaths abroad and at home, teachers’ ongoing resistance to high-stakes testing, Thomas Piketty, and more.

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In the latest escalation of the low-wage workers’ movement, fast food workers went out on strike around the world this week, staging actions in a reported 230 cities in thirty-three countries. But though their problems may be global, the solutions often come locally. On that note, Sarah and Michelle speak with Tsedeye Gebreselassie, a staff attorney at the National Employment Law Project, about her research on low-wage work, local minimum wage ordinances, and why it’s important for workers to lead this struggle. 

We also report on miners’ deaths abroad and at home, teachers’ continuing resistance to the high-stakes testing regime, and unionizing workers at JFK airport. Finally, for “Argh,” we take a look at the responses to Thomas Piketty’s best-selling book on inequality and think about women, art, and domestic work. 

News

West Virginia Mine Had History of Safety Problems

Mineworkers’ Fight against Peabody Energy

At Least 274 Die in Turkish Mine Disaster

United: NY Area Airport Workers Join Union

Sarah: Brooklyn Teachers Strike a Blow Against Excessive Testing with May Day Boycott

Sarah: Reform Candidate Wins Massachusetts Teachers Association Presidency in Election Upset

Michelle: #FastFoodGlobal: How the International Struggle Against McDonald’s Could Bring a $15 Minimum Wage to New York City

Conversation with Tsedeye Gebreselassie

Tsedeye Gebreselassie at the National Employment Law Project

Tsedeye Gebreselassie on New York’s Minimum Wage Holdups

Argh, I Wish I’d Written That!

Michelle: Thomas Frank, “The Problem with Thomas Piketty” (Salon) and Robert Kuttner, “What Piketty Leaves Out”(The American Prospect)

Sarah: Rose Lichter-Marck, “Vivian Maier and the Problem of Difficult Women” (The New Yorker)