Belabored Podcast #125: Striking to Live in the Age of Trump

Belabored Podcast #125: Striking to Live in the Age of Trump

Organizers and participants in three recent strikes—the Yemeni bodega strike, the taxi workers’ strike at JFK airport, and last year’s Verizon strike—discuss labor under Trump.

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This week we bring you a recording of our Belabored Live panel last week, March 29, at Fordham Law School in New York City. In the wake of Trump’s election, labor and community organizers across the country have rediscovered and expanded on the power of the strike, harking back to an era where strikes were as much against state power as they were against the boss. Our panel, co-hosted by Fordham Law Coalition of Concerned Students and Workers’ Rights Advocates at Fordham Law, featured three organizers and participants in three very different strikes, from the Verizon strike in April and May of 2016, during peak election season and amid hopes for a very different result, to the New York Taxi Workers Alliance strike and Yemeni bodega strikes against Trump’s Muslim ban and anti-immigrant policies.

Joining us were Rabyaah Althaibani, a community organizer and co-organizer of the Yemeni bodega strike, Pam Galpern, a Verizon field technician and mobilization coordinator for CWA Local 1101, and Javaid Tariq, a longtime taxi driver and member of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. Thanks to Karim Hajj of Divided Productions for recording the conversation.

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Conversation: 

Sarah: Why the Verizon Workers’ Victory is a Big Deal (The Progressive)

Yemeni Bodega Owners Strike to Say “We Are America” (The Nation)

Sarah: #DeleteUber is introducing a new generation to the horrors of scabbing (Washington Post)

Michelle: New York’s Immigrants Aren’t Done With Trump (The Nation)

Michelle: Filipino Workers Are Seizing the Means of Communication in the Fight Against Verizon (The Nation)

New York Taxi Workers Alliance