Belabored Podcast #109: Forum for Change, with Nathalie Guay

Belabored Podcast #109: Forum for Change, with Nathalie Guay

A sneak preview of the labor events happening at the World Social Forum next week in Montreal.

Subscribe to the Belabored RSS feed here. Subscribe and rate on iTunes here or on Stitcher here. Check out the full Belabored archive here. Tweet at @dissentmag with #belabored to share your thoughts, or join the conversation on Facebook. Belabored is produced by Natasha Lewis.

The World Social Forum grew out of the alter-globalization movement of the 1990s and 2000s, a regular gathering of thousands from civil society organizations around the world committed to challenging neoliberalism under the banner “another world is possible!” Labor groups have made up a huge part of both the movement the Forum sprang from and the Forums themselves, and this year the Forum is in Montreal, Quebec. Nathalie Guay is Advisor to the Executive Committee of the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) in Quebec, and joins us to talk about what we will see at this year’s Social Forum and the international labor movement’s role in bringing it about.

We also check in on unionizing retail workers in New York and the progress of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, on the potential for equal pay for equal work in Massachusetts, and Ronan Burtenshaw gives us an update on the dustup in the Labour Party in the UK post-Brexit. For Argh, we look at the organizing ups and downs of digital media workers, and consider what works and what doesn’t to make people happy at work.

Belabored invites our listeners to join us as supporting members. Sign up to support us with a monthly donation and we’ll send you a tote bag. Please help keep us going for the next 100 episodes!

News

How Labour Can Win (Jacobin)

Stand With Jeremy Corbyn (Jacobin)

Massachusetts Nearing Enactment of Sweeping Pay Equity Legislation (ThinkProgress)

Zara workers unionize for the first time in the US (Buzzfeed)

With Conventions, Anti-TPP Forces Send Message (Newsweek)

Obama: I’m still president and I support TPP (CNN)

Michelle: Free Trade is Killing Colombian Labor Activists (The Nation)

Conversation

The World Social Forum 2016 in Montreal

Nathalie Guay, CSN Advisor and WSF 2016 Coordinator

Sarah: The People’s LRAD (Dissent)

Michelle: Tar Sands Protest Shows Unity, Tension in Green-Labor Alliance (In These Times)

Argh, I Wish I’d Written That!

Sarah: E. Tammy Kim, Unionizing the Digital Newsroom (Dissent)

Michelle: Maria Konnikova, What Makes People Feel Upbeat at Work (The New Yorker)