Belabored Podcast #83: Austerity and Solidarity in Greece, with Sarah Leonard

What’s happening in Greece? Sarah Leonard, who just returned from a reporting trip to the country, joins us to explain what just happened and what’s next for the working people of Greece and the rest of austerity-ridden Europe.

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When the trio of European institutions known as the Troika forced another austerity deal on Greece earlier this month, despite the massive “no” vote from the Greek people in a referendum just days earlier, the hashtag #ThisIsACoup trended on Twitter as Greeks and supporters voiced their outrage. The deal requires privatization of industry, pension cuts, tax increases that will fall on everyday Greeks, and “modernization” of collective bargaining and other labor market reforms—all of which are pretty much the opposite of the platform on which Alexis Tsipras, the prime minister, and the Syriza party were elected.

So what’s happening now? Sarah Leonard, senior editor at The Nation, contributing editor to Dissent and co-founder of Belabored is just back from Greece and she joins us for an in-depth explanation of what just happened, what it means for the people on the ground, and what is next for the working people of Greece and the rest of austerity-ridden Europe.

We also talk about child care workers’ fight for $15, update you on the union at Salon and yet another digital media outlet’s union win, look at what Obama’s new climate plan means for workers, and hear about one union local’s demand that the AFL-CIO disaffiliate from police unions. For “Argh,” we look at the politics (and feelings) around the office, women, and sex work.

News

Salon.com Recognizes Union, Ending Monthlong Standoff With Editorial Staff (International Business Times)

Guardian US Votes Unanimously To Unionize (Huffington Post)

Michelle: How Childcare Actually Causes Poverty in America (The Nation)

Univ. of California Academic Workers’ Union Calls on AFL-CIO To Terminate Police Union’s Membership (In These Times)

Sarah and Michelle: Belabored Podcast #68: Good Cop, Bad Cop, with Joshua Freeman (Dissent)

Michelle: Could Obama’s Clean Energy Plan Be Good For Coal Country? (The Nation)

Conversation:

Sarah Leonard: How Greece Put an Anti-Austerity, Anti-Capitalist Party in Power (The Nation)

Sarah Leonard: Austerity Has Been Discredited. So Why Won’t It Die? (The Nation)

More coverage of Greece at The Nation

Killing the European Project (New York Times)