In news: United Auto Workers’ defeat in Chattanooga, Tennessee, port truckers and wage theft, minor league ballplayers suing over wage violations, the U.S. government’s reliance on sweatshops, the strike by University of Illinois faculty, and why the Congressional Budget Office is wrong about the minimum wage. And Portland teacher Elizabeth Thiel on militant teacher unionism in Oregon.
Could banking at the post office be a boon to low-income communities and a major challenge to Wall Street? Sarah and Michelle discuss with Dave Dayen. Plus the latest news on teachers and nurses organizing for workplace rights, how Wal-Mart’s anti-labor actions may be undermining its bottom line, a legal victory for immigrant guestworkers, and the crowdsourced sweatshop.
Joanne Barkan has spent years researching and writing about the ideology of billionaire ed reformers. She joins Michelle and Sarah to talk about her work. And in labor news, London’s public transit workers go on strike; Tennessee may yet see a unionized auto plant; NFL cheerleaders rise up against wage theft; and workers rise up against the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.
Special guest Heather McGhee of Demos responds to the President’s address with policy solutions that could alleviate income inequality and joblessness. Meanwhile, working people take action against inequality at the grassroots level.
This week, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Harris v. Quinn, a case that could break public-sector unions around the country. Sarah and Michelle talk to Eileen Boris and Jennifer Klein, the authors of Caring for America: Home Health Workers in the Shadow of the Welfare State, about the case, the formation of home care workers’ unions, and the potential ramifications for all public sector workers.
Sarah and Michelle talk with Max Fraser about new tactics in labor militancy, which he explores in his new article in Dissent. Plus: standoff over unemployment benefits in Congress, changes in the ranks of the Chicago teachers’ union, expanded pre-Kindergarten in New York, and worker uprisings in Cambodia.
This week, a special discussion of Sarah’s investigation into temping in manufacturing. Plus, SeaTac’s fight for $15 an hour, Portland teachers’ fight for a fair contract, and Congress’s fight over whether the unemployed should get their benefits, and a labor uprising in South Korea.
Sarah and Michelle look back over the year in labor: the good news and the grim, the under-the-radar stories and the big wins. They also look forward to next year and make some (hopeful) predictions. Sarah and Michelle also bring you up to date on the latest labor news, including unexpected unions gaining a toehold in fast food.
Sarah and Michelle talk about Washington’s epic fail on unemployment benefits, rampant labor violations by companies operating on federal contracts, Chris Hayes and the union drive at an NBC subsidiary, and a recap of last week’s #LowPayisNotOkay protests. Plus voices from 32BJ and the Alliance for Quality Education.
Justin Timberlake is “bringing unions back,” sushi workers win a settlement for wage theft, France may be cracking down on sex work, and last week’s strikes. Sarah and Michelle discuss discuss this and more, featuring interviews with Walmart worker organizer Colby Harris and Greg Jones of the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers.
This week, Michelle and Sarah share some good and bad news, including suggestions from listeners and a look forward to the Black Friday actions at Walmart next week. Journalist Liza Featherstone joins them to talk about Walmart’s corporate culture and the challenges it poses to organizing. They conclude with thoughts on Seattle’s new socialist city council member and the value of solidarity.
This week, Sarah and Michelle consider tough questions about academic labor, free speech, technology, and incarceration. Plus an interview with Bonnie Castillo on the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan and the role of labor in disaster relief.
This week on Belabored: looking forward after the elections, Walmart workers on strike again, and the dangers of trading tax breaks for “job creation.” Then, an in-depth look at the world of outsourcing: labor struggles in China and Bangladesh, the shady world of global temp agencies, and outsourcing right here at home. Featuring an interview with Bangladeshi labor organizer Kalpona Akter
This week on Belabored, Sarah Jaffe and Michelle Chen look at New York after Superstorm Sandy. Who did the work of the recovery and how has it affected them, who’s out of a job, what did Sandy teach us about what a union can do? Featuring NYSNA president Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez, with her thoughts on how Sandy made people look at their union–and the world–differently. They also look at some scary stuff for Halloween: a candy factory explosion, inside an anti-union captive audience meeting, and more.
This week, Sarah Jaffe and guest host Michelle Chen discuss retail organizing, the fallout of government shutdown, standardized test insanity, and solidarity in higher education.
