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A weekly labor news podcast covering workers‘ struggles around the world from a revolutionary left perspective.
Episodes
Thursday Apr 29, 2021
Thursday Apr 29, 2021
Sign the Trader Joe's Employee Petition here: https://www.coworker.org/petitions/trader-joe-s-crew-members-demand-no-cuts-to-wages-and-healthcare-coverage-be-returned?fbclid=IwAR1swxthYfSMbaVrigvusuRZEK2-Yql0QHscE-9xqFp49Rm05Xf1HBMRMuU
This week’s episode starts with an update on the ongoing United Steelworkers strike against ATI in multiple states. Then John, Lina and Dan discuss a petition by Trader Joe’s workers aimed at making benefits gained during the pandemic permanent, Joe Biden raising the minimum wage for federal contractors and starting a labor task force, and several major unions threatening to withhold funds from Democrats who don’t support the PRO Act. In our main story, we cover the awful working conditions of drivers for Walmart’s gig service, Spark, and how it seems to combine all the worst aspects of the various gig companies into one. Finally, we close out with an update on the Indian Farmers’ Movement, staying strong five months on.
Subscribe to get twice as many episodes per month at patreon.com/workstoppage
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow John @facebookvillain, Lina @solidaritybee and find Dan in the discord as Kelbaenor.
Friday Apr 23, 2021
Friday Apr 23, 2021
If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting www.patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.
We start this week’s episode with a brief follow-up to our deep dive on the BAmazon election and then get right back into our regularly scheduled labor news. We cover a strike by 2900 UAW members at a Volvo Truck manufacturing plant in Virginia, a Teamsters strike at the Port of Los Angeles with the ILWU walking out in solidarity, and a couple stories of union members resisting the police and national guard repression of protestors in the Twin Cities. Finally, we wrap up the episode discussing the longest ongoing strike in the country, which has gone on so long the striking workers have formed their own co-operative ISP.
Join the discord: http://discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow John @facebookvillain, Lina @solidaritybee and find Dan in the discord as Kelbaenor.
Thursday Apr 15, 2021
Thursday Apr 15, 2021
It’s the BAmazon episode of Work Stoppage this week, as John, Lina, and Dan dedicate the entire episode to covering Amazon in the aftermath of the workers’ loss in the recent union election in Bessemer, Alabama. We recap the run-up to the union drive, summarize Amazon’s ferocious and underhanded anti-union campaign, and try and draw out what lessons we can take from the BAmazon union drive to improve future unionizing efforts. We also cover a ruling that Amazon illegally fired two white collar workers for speaking out against the company’s practices, and a walkout at an Amazon facility in Chicago as part of the burgeoning Amazonians United movement.
Subscribe to get twice as many episodes per month at patreon.com/workstoppage
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow John @facebookvillain, Lina @solidaritybee and find Dan in the discord as Kelbaenor.
Friday Apr 09, 2021
Friday Apr 09, 2021
If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting www.patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.
This week’s episode starts with some more labor history as John, Lina, and Dan discuss a selection from Detroit: I Do Mind Dying, on working conditions in the auto industry in Detroit in the 1970s. We then get into the week’s labor news discussing a medical marijuana dispensary unionizing in Rhode Island and the proliferation of “Labor Peace Agreements”, a federal judge throwing out a USDA rule allowing meatpacking plants to remove speed limits on pork processing lines, and another protest from inmates at the St Louis County Jail over inhumane conditions and trial delays. Finally we cover two major strikes, one by 1100 UMWA coal miners in Alabama, the other by 1300 Steelworkers across five states in the Northeast.
Join the discord: http://discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow John @facebookvillain, Lina @solidaritybee and find Dan in the discord as Kelbaenor.
Thursday Apr 01, 2021
Thursday Apr 01, 2021
John, Lina, and Dan start this week’s episode with a look back at some labor history, discussing child labor and child labor unions in Pennsylvania coal country in the early 20th century. Then we turn to Amazon, covering the end of voting for the BAmazon union, some of Amazon’s recent aggressive social media activity, the “coincidental” unveiling of Boston Dynamics’ new warehouse robot during one of the most consequential union drives in recent memory, and discuss an interview with a worker at the Bessemer facility describing the conditions in their own words. We also cover a lack of enforcement of covid safety protocols on the jobsite during the construction of a vaccine bottling plant, a campaign by garment workers around the world to stop the fashion industry from stealing $40 billion in already completed labor, and a 24 hour general strike in Belgium.
Subscribe to get twice as many episodes per month at patreon.com/workstoppage
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow John @facebookvillain, Lina @solidaritybee and find Dan in the discord as Kelbaenor.
Thursday Mar 25, 2021
Thursday Mar 25, 2021
If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting www.patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.
This week, John, Lina, and Dan are joined by Sam Knight, cofounder of The District Sentinel Co-op, correspondent with Means Morning News and freelance journalist, to discuss his recent piece for Truthout on a case before the Supreme Court with potentially huge consequences for workers across the country. We also cover the NLRB ruling that Amazon violated labor law when they harassed workers for leading walkouts, a one day strike by Amazon workers across Italy, and the Teamsters’ push to organize Amazon drivers, even if that means militant action outside the confines of the NLRA. Finally, we discuss the effort to create the largest unionized coffee shop in the US, and Spain’s proposed trial of the four day work week.
Join the discord: http://discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow John @facebookvillain, Lina @solidaritybee and find Dan in the discord as Kelbaenor.
You can follow Sam @ these links:
twitter.com/thedcsentinel
patreon.com/districtsentinel
districtsentinel.substack.com
Thursday Mar 18, 2021
Thursday Mar 18, 2021
This week, John, Lina, and Dan follow up on the results of the UK Supreme Court’s ruling against Uber, the House passing the PRO Act because they know it has no chance in the Senate, and Amazon’s nightmarish use of ‘Gamification’ in their warehouses. We also discuss attacks on undocumented workers attempting to unionize at a bake shop in Long Island, Elon Musk getting hundreds of Tesla workers infected with covid, a walkout by Teamsters at a Coca-Cola plant in Calgary, and cover the use of “Bonded Labor”, AKA indentured servitude, in the silk industry in India.
Subscribe to get twice as many episodes per month at patreon.com/workstoppage
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow John @facebookvillain, Lina @solidaritybee and find Dan in the discord as Kelbaenor.
Thursday Mar 11, 2021
Thursday Mar 11, 2021
If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting www.patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.
John, Lina, and Dan cover an attempt to pass a Prop 22 clone in Massachusetts and the efforts of local gig workers to oppose it, workers alleging that Google forced them out of the company after they reported instances of sexism or racism, and Panda Express’ use of bizarre abusive “self-improvement seminars”. We also discuss PepsiCo locking out workers at a Topeka Frito-Lay plant, the recent surge in unionization and “labor peace agreements” in the legal cannabis industry, and Myanmar’s unions leading the general strike movement against their recent military coup.
Join the discord: http://discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow John @facebookvillain, Lina @solidaritybee and find Dan in the discord as Kelbaenor.
Thursday Mar 04, 2021
Thursday Mar 04, 2021
John, Lina, and Dan cover Biden’s mild comments on the BAmazon union drive, Danny Glover’s actual material support for said union, and the way Amazon has used calls for a $15/hr minimum wage as a PR move to hide how they drive wages down. We also cover McDonald’s spying on their workers involved in Fight for $15, and a series of lawsuits accusing the company of tolerating pervasive sexual harassment. Continuing our series on modern slavery, we cover the superexploitation of migrant domestic workers, especially from the Phillipines, and then close out the episode with an entire taproom workstaff finally having enough and quitting en masse.
Subscribe to get twice as many episodes per month at patreon.com/workstoppage
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow John @facebookvillain, Lina @solidaritybee and find Dan in the discord as Kelbaenor.
Thursday Feb 25, 2021
Thursday Feb 25, 2021
If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting www.patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.
Continuing the series on modern slavery we started last week, John, Lina, and Dan follow a recent story on the horrifying working conditions for migrant workers on construction work for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and how they are emblematic of a widespread use of indentured and slave labor in the region. We also follow up on Uber’s attempts to (mis)classify workers as independent contractors facing a rare defeat in the UK, several stories about Amazon’s attempts to undermine the union election at their Bessemer Alabama facility, employer retaliation against organizing janitorial workers in Florida and a hunger strike by inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary protesting long term use of solitary confinement.
The hunger-strikers are asking concerned people to call Warden Nettles LSP at 225-655-4411 to demand they be moved from solitary confinement to appropriate, safe conditions.
Join the discord: http://discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow John @facebookvillain, Lina @solidaritybee and find Dan in the discord as Kelbaenor.
Thursday Feb 18, 2021
Thursday Feb 18, 2021
John, Lina, and Dan cover Amazon hiring former FBI employees as “Intelligence Analysts”, teachers in Texas forming a minority union in the face of horrible Covid working conditions, a West Virginia bill aiming to ban teachers’ strikes,and taxi drivers in New York blocking the Brooklyn Bridge demanding pandemic debt relief. In our main story, we cover a recent lawsuit over the practice of child slavery in the cocoa industry in West Africa, in which all of the world’s major chocolate producers are complicit, and how the practice of forced labor is used in the US prison system to produce superprofits for major US corporations.
Subscribe to get twice as many episodes per month at patreon.com/workstoppage
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow John @facebookvillain, Lina @solidaritybee and find Dan in the discord as Kelbaenor.
Thursday Feb 11, 2021
Thursday Feb 11, 2021
If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting www.patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.
There are so many work stoppages by teachers this week that John, Lina, and Dan do a whirlwind roundup to cover the actions around the country, including Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco. We also follow up on the Alphabet Workers Union and their first legal action, a union drive at a Pennsylvania marijuana grower being nipped in the bud by the NLRB, a brief update on the union drive at the Bessemer, Alabama Amazon facility, and a dive into Amazon’s new horrific “Megacycle” shifts being forced on warehouse workers.
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow John @facebookvillain, Lina @solidaritybee and find Dan in the discord as Kelbaenor.
Thursday Feb 04, 2021
Thursday Feb 04, 2021
John, Lina, and Dan discuss a union drive at the largest hospital in Maine, a horrific workplace accident in Georgia and why OSHA is no substitute for a union, and a change to how wage theft is reported. We also cover a massive general strike in Haiti, Amazon being fined for stealing up to a third of the tips their Flex drivers were supposed to be earning, and how lockouts have spiked during the pandemic as an anti-union measure.
Subscribe to get twice as many episodes per month at patreon.com/workstoppage
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow John @facebookvillain, Lina @solidaritybee and find Dan in the discord as Kelbaenor.
Monday Feb 01, 2021
Monday Feb 01, 2021
If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting www.patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.
John, Lina, and Dan follow up on some recent communication problems between the CWA and AWU, cover a teachers strike in Bellevue, WA and the attempted union busting by the school district, as well as striking care workers at Sage Nursing Home in North London. We also cover a corruption scandal in the UAW and the potential for democratization of the union as a result of the fallout, and discuss some critiques of co-ops vs industrial unionism.
Check out the Sage Care Workers video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCvDQZqHvC4
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow John @facebookvillain, Lina @solidaritybee and find Dan in the discord as Kelbaenor.
Thursday Jan 28, 2021
Thursday Jan 28, 2021
It’s a follow up heavy episode this week as John, Lina, and Dan cover victory for the Teamsters in the Hunts Point Market strike, the NFLPA coming out in support of the Amazon workers union drive in Alabama, the Indian farmers storming the Red Fort in New Delhi, the Chicago Teachers Union refusing to work in unsafe conditions, proposed anti-union legislation in Montana, and new dystopian practices taken by Lyft.
Subscribe to get twice as many episodes per month at patreon.com/workstoppage
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow John @facebookvillain, Lina @solidaritybee and find Dan in the discord as Kelbaenor.
Thursday Jan 21, 2021
Thursday Jan 21, 2021
If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting www.patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.
John, Lina, and Dan follow up on the major Amazon workers union vote in Alabama, look into the conditions in the trucking industry that have made strikes more difficult, cover strikes by the Teamsters in New York and fast food workers across California. We get into why the Fight For $15 doesn’t go nearly far enough, discuss the roadblocks Democrats in Virginia have put up to stop attempts to repeal Right to Work, and go over the potential outcome of Donald Trump being kicked out of SAG-AFTRA.
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow John @facebookvillain, Lina @solidaritybee and find Dan in the discord as Kelbaenor.
Thursday Jan 14, 2021
Thursday Jan 14, 2021
John, Lina, and Dan cover the latest updates in the major farmers strike in India, new wildcat actions by the Chicago Teachers Union, and an overview of the recent history of the repression of the labor movement in Colombia. We also go over the anti-worker leadership of the AFL-CIO, attempted crackdowns on organizing by Google in the wake of the Alphabet Workers Union announcement, and Taylor Guitars becoming “Employee-Owned”…sort of?
Subscribe to get twice as many episodes per month at patreon.com/workstoppage
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow John @facebookvillain, Lina @solidaritybee and find Dan in the discord as Kelbaenor.
Thursday Jan 07, 2021
Thursday Jan 07, 2021
If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting www.patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.
John, Lina, and Dan cover the fallout from Prop 22 already hitting delivery drivers in California, huge strikes by agro-export workers in Argentina and Peru, and the biggest labor story of the very new year, the Alphabet Workers Union, and the possibilities it presents for organizing in Tech.
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow John @facebookvillain, Lina @solidaritybee and find Dan in the discord as Kelbaenor.
Friday Jan 01, 2021
Friday Jan 01, 2021
John and Lina discuss some of the most egregious crimes against logistics workers, Uber getting BTFO'd by some Australian judges, and are joined by a suprise third mic Dan to discuss what labor and leftist outreach can look like in the present day
Subscribe to get twice as many episodes per month at patreon.com/workstoppage
Join the discord: https://discord.gg/tDvmNzX
follow John @facebookvillain and Lina @solidaritybee and find Dan in the discord as Kelbaenor
Thursday Dec 24, 2020
Thursday Dec 24, 2020
If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting www.patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.
Lina fills John in on the details of the PRO Act, and they talk about several strikes across Alabama as well as a new Trump administration DOL regulation that steals money from tipped workers
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX