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A weekly labor news podcast covering workers‘ struggles around the world from a revolutionary left perspective.
Episodes
4 days ago
4 days ago
Headlines this week from: St Mary's in Chicago, Stanford University, the UAW Convention, Labor Notes, the Rochester Minnesota bus system, TF Green Airport, Embassy Suites Seattle, Salon 1884, and Safeway. The uprising in Bolivia reached a new pitch this week as an agreement was signed with the central union body to roll back privatizations and reforms, but simultaneously the state declared martial law against them. The Labor Notes conference was just held, and we break down some of the hot button issues and organizing lessons that were discussed by the organizers in attendance. Finally, in response to the working class victory in Minneapolis in January against ICE, the FBI this week charged 15 community defenders with a series of trumped up conspiracy charges, but the labor movement has vowed to defend them and continue the fight against ICE terror.
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Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee
Tuesday Jun 16, 2026
Tuesday Jun 16, 2026
We start this week's episode with headlines from St Mary's hospital (Chicago and Madison), Uber, Starbucks, Amazon, Target Field, Hyundai, the Durham Miners Association, and Walmart. Our first main story follows up on the strike by UAW workers at American Axle, who have won a major new contract. Pro-Palestine student protestors at the University of Michigan were arrested in FBI raids, we discuss the escalating attacks on the movement. The World Cup kicked off this week, and in addition to the sportswashing of Empire, there's a whole lot of exploitation, but thankfully workers are fighting back. Finally, we do a deep dive into the wide range of attacks on higher education, both the workers themselves and the institutional structure as a whole.
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Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee
Tuesday Jun 09, 2026
Tuesday Jun 09, 2026
https://theconversation.com/when-ice-ramped-up-enforcement-us-born-workers-didnt-see-any-economic-gains-283011
We start with headlines checking in on the workers of Bolivia, the American Axle strike, union doctors in Providence, electrolysis workers in Washington, and the broader problems of the US economy. For our first main story this week, a recent investigation by Bloomberg exposed some truly incredible levels of control Amazon exerts over the delivery drivers it claims are "independent contractors." Finally, we discuss the crisis of union busting enabled by public funds in the nursing home industry.
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee
Tuesday Jun 02, 2026
Tuesday Jun 02, 2026
We've got a big show this week, starting with headlines from American Axle, Spring Glass, Starbucks Korea, REI, Ball State University, Harvard, Hearst Newspapers, Rockstar Games, and the Brazilian working class. Our main story this week is discussing the struggle by workers inside and outside to free the detainees at the Delaney Hall ICE concentration camp in New Jersey, where union workers and detained workers alike have clashed with fascist police. Samsung workers recently poised to shut down the global chip boom have won a historic victory, with life changing profit sharing gains that could ignite a new wave of struggle in the South Korean working class. Finally, we discuss the massive new union win by rideshare drivers in Massachusetts, where 70,000 drivers have formed the first sectoral rideshare drivers union in the US.
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee
Tuesday May 26, 2026
Tuesday May 26, 2026
Smaller show this week with the holiday and an illness among the hosts, but we persevere and have the news for you as always. We start with headlines from American Axle, Nexteer, Allison, Amazon, the LIRR, REI, Starbucks, Delaney Hall Detention Center, and the working classes of Italy and Argentina. Just two main stories this week: First, we check in on the rapidly developing situation in Bolivia, where the people are staring down brutal military repression. Lastly, we close with another look into the broader state of the economy, the war on workers, and why unions are critical nodes of struggle even in times of lower union density.
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee
Thursday May 21, 2026
Thursday May 21, 2026
In this new series we aim to talk about topics that are a little deeper than we can get into on a main feed episode based on some of the things that we are reading outside what we use for our main feed episodes. Each one will be self-contained and Patron Exclusive! There will still be previews in our main feed but to get the whole thing become a patron at http://patreon.com/workstoppage
This first episode's discussion focuses around the compatibility of slavery with capitalism, how slavery was a major factor in fueling the industrial revolution, and many aspects of colonialism, including primary accumulation/expropriation. This longer view of history allows us to more accurately orient ourselves as working class internationalists so we are not fooled by the historical revisionism of the ruling capitalist class.
Main Texts Discussed:
Subscribe to Monthly Review - https://monthlyreview.org/subscribe/
https://monthlyreview.org/articles/the-slave-trade-and-the-industrial-revolution-debate-a-look-at-the-numbers/
https://monthlyreview.org/articles/could-capitalism-have-thrived-without-colonialism/
Other Media mentioned:
Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano - https://monthlyreview.org/9780853459910/
Magellan (Movie Trailer) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h7rriQD1qc
The Counter-Revolution of 1776 by Gerald Horne - https://1804books.com/products/look-inside-the-counter-revolution-of-1776-slave-resistance-and-the-origins-of-the-united-states-of-america
River of Dark Dreams by Walter Johnson - https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674975385
Dark Work: The Business of Slavery in Rhode Island - https://nyupress.org/9781479870424/dark-work/
Prabhat and Utsa Patnaik - https://monthlyreview.org/article-author/utsa-patnaik/
US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau denying development to India clip - https://x.com/i/status/2030647228285825405
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Tuesday May 19, 2026
Tuesday May 19, 2026
A week of major strike action as well as victories. We start with headlines from UC, American Axle, Belgian trade unions, Texas State University, Penn State University, Starbucks, and the government of Virginia. Samsung workers could shut down one of the largest and richest corporations of the world as the bosses refuse to share even a portion of the massive profits they are making. Workers and Indigenous groups in Bolivia have risen up against attacks on their living conditions. Finally, we discuss the first strike on the Long Island Railroad in over 30 years.
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee
Tuesday May 12, 2026
Tuesday May 12, 2026
The US war on Iran and resulting war on the rest of the world is a constant theme in this week's headlines. We've got stories from World Cup workers, Spirit Airlines, German and Italian students, DeepMind, the University of California, SAG-AFTRA, Indiana University, Stanford, and Cornell. For our first main story, we discuss a recent Labor Notes piece on the deadly nature of working with engineered stone. Immigrant workers incarcerated at a privately run concentration camp in Michigan have gone on strike for nearly a month in protest of their mistreatment. Finally, we actually have a labor story about someone we never thought we'd discuss on the show: Mr. Beast.
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee
Wednesday May 06, 2026
Wednesday May 06, 2026
Text of the episode: https://tinyurl.com/WSSI2TXT
Matteo brings us another wonderful report from Italy and the Mediterranean region on the days leading up to May Day, as well as what happened on the day itself. He tells the story of Liberation Day, the defense of the flotilla to Palestine, and May Day and the inspirational actions of workers fighting against imperialism, genocide, and for a better world. We also learn about what a CSA (Centro Sociale Autogestito) is in Italy and its importance to the workers' struggle.
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee
Tuesday May 05, 2026
Tuesday May 05, 2026
PAPER: https://ourpapernow.org/
Boycott REI! https://boycottrei.com/
May Day was the biggest it's been in years, and we spend much of the episode discussing the major protests in the US and around the world for International Workers Day. Workers in South Carolina spent their May Day picketing Elbit Systems in an effort to end their community's role in US-Israeli genocide. Bozeman mobile home residents have launched the state's first rent strike in half a century after their absentee landlords have left their communities to rot. We also have headlines from ISU, UIC, the Woodburn School District, the former Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, REI, Hachette, and Amazon.
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee
Tuesday Apr 28, 2026
Tuesday Apr 28, 2026
May Day is this week! Nationwide shutdown, bring your community together and hit the ruling class where it hurts, the bottom line!
Getting to our regular headlines, we have stories from Starbucks, Harvard, REI, the University of California, Samsung, Bangladeshi gig workers, Portuguese nurses, and the workers of Brazil. For our main stories, first we discuss a strike by workers at Illinois State University, who are fighting just to afford to live where they work. A recently launched initiative, Union Now, aims to harness the energy workers have to support organizing, we discuss the possible implications. Finally, we do a deep dive into the countrywide assault on speech on university campuses, and the ongoing war by the ruling class to silence any voice but their own.
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee
Tuesday Apr 21, 2026
Tuesday Apr 21, 2026
Headlines on this 20th of April start with the breaking news of the change in Labor Secretary. Then we've got stories from Amazon, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Texas Tech University, Columbia University, Long Island Concrete, Florida's hospitality industry, and NASA. Over 30,000 building workers in NYC nearly went on strike, we discuss what the strike threat won in their new contracts. We discuss more of the ever increasing indicators that our economy just...doesn't work. Finally, educators and school staff in LA just won massive contract gains after nearly following their fellow workers in San Francisco on strike.
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee
Tuesday Apr 14, 2026
Tuesday Apr 14, 2026
This week's headlines include: Chicago nurses, Starbucks, Philz Coffee, Apple, the University of Alaska Anchorage, the University of Illinois Springfield, ProPublica, and the California Faculty Association. We start our main stories discussing the recent victorious strike at JBS in Colorado and break down what workers won. St John's University recently became the latest Catholic university in the US to try and dissolve its faculty union, but workers are fighting back. Finally, we discuss the impacts workers around the world are facing from the unprovoked US-Israeli war on Iran.
Suggested Reading: https://inthesetimes.com/article/permanent-war-state-iran-workers-struggle
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee
Friday Apr 10, 2026
Friday Apr 10, 2026
This week we are excited to bring listeners an interview that brings together two of our most urgent areas of discussion on our show: union democracy and the fight against ICE terror. We're honored to be joined by Leo and Kevin, two organizers with CREW, the Caucus of Rank and File Electrical Workers, an internal reform caucus in the IBEW. Not only are the folks in CREW working hard to make the IBEW a democratic, fighting union, as workers in the construction industry they are on the front lines of ICE's war against the working class. We discuss their goals of internal union reform, strategies for talking to coworkers who might have absorbed right wing talking points, and how the fight against ICE terror and the fight for our rights at work can't be separated.
Contact CREW: https://www.rankandfilecrew.org/
Email: rankandfilecrew@gmail.com
Maine Solidarity Fund: https://www.mainesolidarity.org/
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee
Tuesday Apr 07, 2026
Tuesday Apr 07, 2026
We've got a long one this week with so much going on. We start with an extra long headlines section checking in with Portland Community College, the University of Washington, the University of Illinois, Microsoft, the Daily Wire, Waffle House, Webasto, DHL, Grubhub, and the NFL. Following an update on the status of the strike at JBS in Colorado, we discuss a recent strike at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the refusal of even publicly funded broadcasters to pay their workers. Resident doctors in the UK have been forced to strike yet again, for the fifteenth time, in their struggle to restore their pay just to where it was 18 years ago. Finally, the union struggle at Amazon has been going on for half a decade and this week workers gained two important victories in advancing the fight.
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee
Thursday Apr 02, 2026
Thursday Apr 02, 2026
This week we are excited to bring listeners an interview that brings together two of our most urgent areas of discussion on our show: union democracy and the fight against ICE terror. We're honored to be joined by Leo and Kevin, two organizers with CREW, the Caucus of Rank and File Electrical Workers, an internal reform caucus in the IBEW. Not only are the folks in CREW working hard to make the IBEW a democratic, fighting union, as workers in the construction industry they are on the front lines of ICE's war against the working class. We discuss their goals of internal union reform, strategies for talking to coworkers who might have absorbed right wing talking points, and how the fight against ICE terror and the fight for our rights at work can't be separated.
Contact CREW: https://www.rankandfilecrew.org/
Email: rankandfilecrew@gmail.com
Maine Solidarity Fund: https://www.mainesolidarity.org/
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee
Tuesday Mar 31, 2026
Tuesday Mar 31, 2026
We start out with a reportback from Dan and Lina who went to their local No Kings protests and discuss the energy behind the call for a May Day general strike. We've got headlines this week from Canada Post, AirTrain, United Airlines, TSA, Western Washington University, Starbucks, Amazon, and Patagonia. The major strike by meatpackers at JBS in Colorado has been extended as workers continue to fight for a fair deal. Non-tenure track faculty have been deeply exploited by US universities in recent years, but this week those educators won a historic contract at NYU that could set a new standard. Finally, we discuss a recent piece in the Guardian on the wave of attacks on child labor laws across the country, and how ill it bodes for our whole economy.
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee
Thursday Mar 26, 2026
Thursday Mar 26, 2026
Late last year, teachers at the Highlander Charter School in Providence, Rhode Island launched the state's first ever strike at a charter school. We have covered a lot of teachers strikes on our show, but strikes at charters have been few and far between. Just as with teachers at traditional public schools, teachers at charters are on the front lines of the struggle not only for their own working conditions, but for their students' learning conditions. So we were super excited to speak with the teachers at Highlander about their struggle, the lessons they've learned, and how teacher organizing can help build stronger communities!
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee
Tuesday Mar 24, 2026
Tuesday Mar 24, 2026
We start this week's episode with headlines from CBS, ProPublica, Portland Community College, REI, Starbucks, Corewell Health, the WNBA, Atlassian Software, and the Tornel Rubber Company. Our first story checks in on the strike by Colorado meatpackers at JBS in a fight for safety and dignity on the job. Workers at Kaiser Permanente both ended a major strike with a win AND started a new strike in the same week. Horrific revelations of abuse by UFW co-founder Cesar Chavez rocked the labor world this week, we discuss the impact and lessons for the future of the movement. Finally, a recent interview in Jacobin discussed the way workers in Australia are fighting a similar issue we have here in the US, the disconnect between struggle on the shop floor and political action for the working class.
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee
Tuesday Mar 17, 2026
Tuesday Mar 17, 2026
Somehow it's been 300 whole episodes since we started this show. But as long as work continues stopping, we will keep discussing it! We've got headlines from the MST, Belgian trade unions, Portland Community College, REI, Starbucks, Amazon, American Axle, and AFGE. JBS workers in Colorado are on strike, the biggest in meatpacking in decades. Oakland workers in logistics are trying to navigate how best they can do their part in gumming up the war machine when the boxes they move aren't even labeled. Student Workers of Columbia are poised once again to strike as their bosses in admin keep trying to drive student unions from existence. Finally, we discuss the Mamdani Administration in NYC and several stories about how policies are affecting workers in these first couple months.
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee