296 episodes

Working People: A podcast by, for, and about the working class today (now in partnership with In These Times magazine and The Real News Network).

Working People is a podcast about working-class lives in 21st-century America. In every episode, you'll hear interviews with workers from around the country, from all walks of life. We'll talk about their life stories, their jobs, politics, and families, their joys and hopes and frustrations. Overall, Working People aims to share and celebrate the diverse stories of working-class people, to remind ourselves that our stories matter, and to build a sense of shared struggle and solidarity between workers around the country.

Working People Working People

    • Society & Culture
    • 4.9 • 248 Ratings

Working People: A podcast by, for, and about the working class today (now in partnership with In These Times magazine and The Real News Network).

Working People is a podcast about working-class lives in 21st-century America. In every episode, you'll hear interviews with workers from around the country, from all walks of life. We'll talk about their life stories, their jobs, politics, and families, their joys and hopes and frustrations. Overall, Working People aims to share and celebrate the diverse stories of working-class people, to remind ourselves that our stories matter, and to build a sense of shared struggle and solidarity between workers around the country.

    Labor, Community, & Environmental Organizations Are Mobilizing to Get East Palestine Healthcare (w/ Justice for East Palestine Residents & Workers)

    Labor, Community, & Environmental Organizations Are Mobilizing to Get East Palestine Healthcare (w/ Justice for East Palestine Residents & Workers)

    This Saturday, March 23, unionists and labor leaders, environmental justice groups, community organizers, community members from other “sacrifice zones,” and supporters from around the country are coming to East Palestine to join residents as part of the newly formed Justice for East Palestine Residents and Workers coalition. The coalition has come together in recent months and mobilized around the core objective of pressuring President Biden to invoke the Stafford Act and issue a major disaster declaration for East Palestine. If Biden does this, organizers say, it will immediately unlock a whole suite of federal resources that residents desperately need and have been demanding for a year, and it will also immediately guarantee every resident emergency healthcare. For residents like Chris Albright—a former pipeline worker and LIUNA member who has been disabled by the toxic fallout from the derailment, is now experiencing severe heart failure, can’t work, and has subsequently lost his health benefits—this is a matter of life and death, and we are racing against the clock.
     
    This episode is a compilation of voices from across the growing Justice for East Palestine Residents and Workers coalition. Speeches in the first half are from a panel cohosted by Steve Zeltzer and Penny Logsdon and recorded by the Labor Video Project on Feb. 3, 2024, the one-year anniversary of the derailment; speeches in the second half are from another panel cohosted by Steve Zeltzer and Penny Logsdon and recorded by the Labor Video Project on March 9, 2024. Speakers include: Steve Zeltzer (Labortech); Penny Logsdon (Lee County Labor Chapter); Chris Albright (East Palestine resident, LIUNA member); Jami Wallace (East Palestine Unity Council); Steve Mellon (Pittsburgh Union Progress); Jeff Kurtz (Lee County Labor Chapter); Maximillian Alvarez (The Real News Network); Mike Stout (protest musician); Charlie Wishman (Iowa AFL-CIO); John Palmer (Teamsters, San Antonio); Bob Anspach (BLET-IBT 391); Vina Colley (Portsmouth Pikeston Residents for Environmental Justice). 
     
    From the Justice for East Palestine Residents and Workers organizing committee: "We will be hosting a National Conference for the people of East Palestine along with supporters in Ohio and throughout the country to build this campaign for healthcare on Saturday, March 23, 2024, where we will bring community members, labor, environmentalist and allies together in our urgent campaign. This Conference will be held from 12-5pm ET at the East Palestine Park.  To contact the Justice for East Palestine Residents and Workers organizing committee, reach out to 
    Steve Zeltzer: labormedia[at]gmail[dot]com
    Penny Logsdon: onecent7921[at]gmail[dot]com
    In solidarity."
    Additional links/info below…
    Steve Mellon, Pittsburgh Union Progress, "‘Where are you, President Biden?’ Union organizers, residents demand health care for East Palestine" Maximillian Alvarez, Breaking Points, "East Palestine DEMANDS Biden Visit More Than 'PHOTO OP'" Permanent links below...
    Working People Patreon page Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music...
    Jules Taylor, "Working People" Theme Song

    • 1 hr 46 min
    Brett Cross, Uzi's Dad

    Brett Cross, Uzi's Dad

    Brett Cross is a small-town kid who grew up in Western Texas, among the oil fields, near Odessa. He worked in the oil fields, worked his way up to doing pipeline work, eventually moving to green energy work. He even became a foreman, working hard to provide for his family. And Brett was at work when he got the call from his wife Nikki that changed their lives forever. It was May 24, 2022,  Nikki was at their sons’ school, Robb Elementary, in Uvalde, Texas. “This is not a f*****g joke,” she said, “there’s a shooter at the boys’ school.” We talk to Brett about his life before, about living in a small town, working and making your own fun, we talk about some of the family memories he cherishes most. We remember Brett and Nikki's son Uziyah "Uzi" Garcia, we talk about the day Uzi was taken from them, along with 18 of his classmates and two of his teachers, and we talk about the unimaginable fight for justice and real change that Brett and Nikki have been fighting ever since. 
     
    C/W: This episode discusses school shootings and the murdering of children. 
    Additional links/info below…
    Brett's Twitter/X page  Sneha Dey, Erin Douglas, Andrew Zhang, Brooke Park, & Jessica Priest, The Texas Tribune / ProPublica, "21 Lives Lost: Uvalde Victims Were a Cross-Section of a Small, Mostly Latino Town in South Texas" Edgar Sandoval, The New York Times, "A Year After the Uvalde Massacre: Did Anything Change?" Gus Bova, Texas Observer, "The Uvalde Parents Won't Back Down"  Elissa Jorgensen, American Statesman, "'There Are no Good Days': Uziyah's Family Won't Stop Fighting Until Gun Laws Change" Danielle Campoamor, Today, "A Father's Fury: Uvalde Dad Brett Cross Is Mad as Hell and Wants You to Know It" Kayla Padilla, Texas Public Radio, "Arrested Uvalde Father Says Police More Upset With Him Using Expletive Than Children Dying" Yvette Benavides, David Martin Davies, & Julián Aguilar, Texas Public Radio, "'We Did It!' — Uvalde's Entire School Police Department Suspended Following Activism from Families" Lomi Kriel, Alejandro Serrano, & Lexi Churchill, The Texas Tribune / ProPublica, "'Cascading Failures': Justice Department Blasts Law Enforcement’s Botched Response to Uvalde School Shooting" John Woodrow Cox, Steven Rich, Linda Chong, Lucas Trevor, John Muyskens, & Monica Ulmanu, The Washington Post, "More Than 360,000 Students Have Experienced Gun Violence at School Since Columbine" Permanent links below...
    Working People Patreon page Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music...
    Jules Taylor, "Working People" Theme Song Jules Taylor, "John L. Handcox Remix" Follow Jules on Twitter and Facebook

    • 1 hr 21 min
    **'The Upsurge' is Dead. Long Live 'The Upsurge'! (w/ Teddy Ostrow)**

    **'The Upsurge' is Dead. Long Live 'The Upsurge'! (w/ Teddy Ostrow)**

    This is an excerpt from our most recent bonus episode featuring Teddy Ostrow.  To access the entire conversation, and numerous bonus episodes we have released throughout seven seasons of Working People, please visit our Patreon to unlock this content. 
    The Upsurge was an invaluable show that documented two of the most pivotal labor union struggles in recent years as they were happening: the 2023 Teamsters contract fight at UPS, and the UAW's 2023 stand-up strike at the Big Three automakers. Even though The Upsurge has closed shop and Teddy Ostrow, Ruby Walsh, and the gang are moving on to new projects, we sat down with Teddy to take a moment to celebrate what they accomplished and talk about what we've learned from the last year in worker struggle. 

    Additional links/info below…
    The Upsurge podcast  Teddy Ostrow Twitter/X profile Teddy Ostrow, The Real News Network, "New York's Tenant Unions Are Playing the Long Game" Mel Buer & Teddy Ostrow, The Real News Network, "The UAW Won Big in 2023—And They’re Not Done Yet" Permanent links below...
    Working People Patreon page Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)
    Jules Taylor, "Working People" Theme Song

    • 12 min
    Why Do Railroad Workers Keep Dying on the Job? (w/ Nick Wurst, Matt Weaver, Mark Burrows, & Ross Grooters)

    Why Do Railroad Workers Keep Dying on the Job? (w/ Nick Wurst, Matt Weaver, Mark Burrows, & Ross Grooters)

    "Last Wednesday, a fellow rail worker was gravely injured on the job and lost his life," a Feb 6 email from Railroad Workers United reads. "Our brother Chris Wilson, who worked for Norfolk Southern, was critically injured in its Decatur rail yard Wednesday and died Thursday at Huntsville Hospital." Another email from Feb. 9 reads, "On January 15th, a fellow rail worker was killed on the job in Ohio." Then, on Feb 17, another email: "On February 13th, a fellow rail worker was killed on the job in North Carolina. Brother Randall M. Howell, 41, of Allied Federation Lodge 563, died following a road crossing incident in Roanoke Rapids, N.C." Why are railroad workers all over the country dying on the job? And what can be done to stop these needless deaths? We talk with four railroad workers and members of Railroad Workers United (RWU). 
    Panelists include: Nick Wurst, a freight conductor in Massachusetts, legislative rep for his union local, and currently serving on the RWU international steering committee; Matt Weaver, a member of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division-International Brotherhood of Teamsters  (BMWED-IBT) for nearly 30 years, legislative director for his union in Ohio, and a founding member of RWU: Mark Burrows, a retired locomotive engineer with 37 years in the industry, and the editor of "The Highball," RWU's quarterly newsletter: and Ross Grooters, RWU co-chair, member of Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), also serving on the BLET-IBT Iowa state legislative board, with over 20 years in the industry. 
    Additional links/info below…
    Railroad Workers United website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Ross's Twitter page Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "They Were Just Another East Palestine Family—Until Norfolk Southern Set Off a Bomb in Their Lives" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "East Palestine Residents Still Need Help—the Labor Movement Should Be an Ally" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "He Tried to Raise the Alarm about Railroad Safety. Then He Got Fired" Mike L, The Real News Network, "A Carman's Perspective on the East Palestine Derailment and the Railroad Industry as a Whole" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "US Freight Workers Say It's Time to Nationalize the Railroads" Maximillian Alvarez, Breaking Points, "Rail Worker EXPOSES Ohio Disaster COVERUP" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "“This Was Preventable”: Railroad Workers Explain How Wall St Caused the East Palestine Derailment" Working People, "East Palestine, Ohio: A Hell of Wall Street's Making (w/ Matt Weaver)" Kari Lydersen, In These Times, "The Case for Nationalizing the Railroads" Permanent links below...
    Working People Patreon page Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music...
    Jules Taylor, "Working People" Theme Song Jules Taylor, "John L. Handcox Remix" Jules Taylor, "Her Water" 

    • 56 min
    "Shut It Down!": On the Ground at Johns Hopkins Grad Union's Practice Picket

    "Shut It Down!": On the Ground at Johns Hopkins Grad Union's Practice Picket

    One year ago, graduate student-workers at Johns Hopkins University overwhelmingly voted to unionize under the banner of Teachers and Researchers United (TRU-UE), which is affiliated with United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers. While workers had much to celebrate with their historic union election victory, bargaining a first contract with the university administration has been another story. On February 20, fed up with what workers say have been disrespectful and insufficient offers from the university administration, TRU-UE members held practice pickets on campus to show the administration what's in store if more progress is not made at the bargaining table soon. In this on-the-ground episode, we take you straight to the picket line to hear from worker-organizers about what they're fighting for and what they're asking supporters to do to help. 
    Additional links/info below…
    Teachers and Researchers United (TRU-UE) website, Facebook page, Twitter/X page, and Instagram  Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Now or never: Grad Student-Workers at Johns Hopkins Mobilize Ahead of Union Election" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "These Workers Are Making Baltimore a Union Town Again" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Johns Hopkins University Graduate Students Are Organizing for a Living Wage" Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, "Johns Hopkins Grad Students Successfully Unionize" Permanent links below...
    Working People Patreon page Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music...
    Jules Taylor, "Working People" Theme Song Jules Taylor, "John L. Handcox Remix" 

    • 36 min
    Baltimore's Co-Ops Show There's Another Way to Work (at the Baltimore Museum of Industry)

    Baltimore's Co-Ops Show There's Another Way to Work (at the Baltimore Museum of Industry)

    Baltimore has become what many consider to be ground zero in the emerging “solidarity economy” and the formation of  worker-owned, cooperatively run businesses. There’s something important going on here, and there’s a lot that we can all learn from our fellow workers who are in the cooperative space—people who are living, breathing proof that there’s another way to run a business, that there's another way to run our economy, and that there are other ways we can treat work and workers. At a recent event hosted by the Baltimore Museum of Industry titled "Work Matters: Building a Worker-Owned Co-op," Max moderated a panel including workers and representatives from Common Ground Bakery Café, Taharka Bros Ice Cream, A Few Cool Hardware Stores, and the Baltimore Roundtable for Economic Democracy (BRED). He talked to them about how they came to work at these different co-ops, how their businesses transitioned to more cooperative models, and they dig into the nitty gritty of what working at a co-op looks like, what it takes for workers to democratically run a business, and the real challenges, limitations, and rewards that come with this kind of work. Panelists include: Vince Green (Taharka Bros Ice Cream); David Evans (A Few Cool Hardware Stores); Craig Smith (A Few Cool Hardware Stores); Sierra Allen (Common Ground Bakery Café); Christa Daring (BRED). 
    Additional links/info below…
    Baltimore Museum of Industry website, Facebook page, and Instagram  Jaisal Noor, The Real News Network, "Worker Co-ops vs. COVID"  Jaisal Noor, The Real News Network, "Taharka Bros: Ice Cream with a Side of Worker Ownership" Working People, "Your Job Doesn't Have to Suck (w/ Jaisal Noor)" Lisa Elaine Held, The Washington Post, "Amid Food-Industry Upheaval, Baltimore Businesses Are Handing Workers the Keys" Rebekah Kirkman, The Real News Network, "After Beloved Baltimore Coffee Shop Abruptly Closed, Workers Reopen as Co-op" Permanent links below...
    Working People Patreon page Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music...
    Jules Taylor, "Working People" Theme Song Jules Taylor, "Working People Live Show" Theme Song Jules Taylor, "John L. Handcox I Live On Remix"  Follow Jules Taylor on Twitter and Facebook

    • 1 hr 12 min

Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5
248 Ratings

248 Ratings

fantographicsprwss ,

I look forward to each one

I love how Max gives everyone a voice. The small imperfections in the long discussions put me at ease and inspire trust. The Oil and Gas episode was spot-on accurate in the portrayal of the culture. I loved the Dollar General ones among others. This is important work. Thank you.

Lorin P ,

Hmmm

I started listening to this pod wanting to know more about the railroad and the interworkind of it. But, after listening to a few episodes it’s clear this is just another political podcast only willing to shed light on one side of the issue.

Union brother1 ,

Solidarity

Solidarity is what we need in these times and this pod has it in spades!

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