Belabored Podcast #45: The Meaning of the Chicago Teachers’ Strike, with Micah Uetricht

This week, Belabored examines the history and ongoing impact of the 2012 Chicago teachers’ strike with Micah Uetricht, author of Strike for America: Chicago Teachers Against Austerity. Plus: uprisings by UPS workers in New York and IBM workers in China; labor abuses by the Pentagon overseas; the White House’s plans to expand overtime pay; and more.

Podcast (belabored): Download

Subscribe to the Belabored RSS feed here. Subscribe and rate on iTunes 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.

In 2012, the Chicago Teachers Union took to the streets and jolted the public education system as well as the American labor movement. The strike marked an unprecedented challenge to the dominant education reform agenda; representing powerful grassroots coalitions between educators and the communities they served, the union demanded justice for both students and teachers.

This week, Belabored examines the history and ongoing impact of that movement with Micah Uetricht, author of Strike for America: Chicago Teachers Against Austerity (Verso, 2014). We also discuss more recent uprisings by UPS workers in New York and IBM workers in China, along with labor violations by the Pentagon overseas, the White House’s plans to expand overtime pay, and the failings of neoliberal welfare policy and corporate feminism.

News:

After 12 years of war, labor abuses rampant on US bases in Afghanistan

War Workers: Vulnerable Foreign Laborers Swindled and Exploited to Toil on U.S. Bases in Afghanistan

Obama Will Seek Broad Expansion of Overtime Pay

China Strike Illustrates Shift in Labor Landscape

Michelle: China’s Militant Workers Embrace Collective Action

Support Grows for Maspeth Drivers

UPS Drivers Fired for Protesting?

Conversation with Micah Uetricht:

Strike for America: Chicago Teachers Against Austerity

Strike for America excerpt at Jacobin

Argh, I Wish I’d Written That!