Episodes

Monday Oct 02, 2023
Ep 176 - A Perfectly Scripted Victory
Monday Oct 02, 2023
Monday Oct 02, 2023
Strike Support Toolkit: https://uaw.org/standwithus/dealershipcanvass/
Another huge week in labor as the militancy of workers has become contagious across the country. We start out discussing the move to shutter Moog Music in North Carolina following a union drive. Then, we cover the new anti-trust complaint filed against Amazon by the FTC. Also this week, Gavin Newsom vetoed a very popular bill to keep people safe from driverless trucks. 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers may launch the largest healthcare workers strike in history this week after years of understaffing. Culinary Union workers in Las Vegas may join them as well, as they are also fighting for a new contract. Of course the biggest story this week was the stunning victory of the WGA over the Hollywood studios this week. We break down the tentative agreement reached this week and discuss the wins the studios said were impossible just a few weeks ago. Finally, we cover developments in the UAW Stand Up strike against the Big 3. We discuss new plants on strike, tactics in the plants still operating, and how the union is responding to violence against picketers.
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Thursday Sep 28, 2023
Movie Time 7 PREVIEW - On The Waterfront
Thursday Sep 28, 2023
Thursday Sep 28, 2023
If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.
After wrapping up our series on the history of allegations of mafia involvement in the International Longshoremen's Association, we'd be remiss not to discuss likely the single biggest cultural touchstone related to the issue, the film On The Waterfront. Elia Kazan's 1954 crime drama is considered an all time classic film, buoyed by an iconic performance from Marlon Brando. But the film's attacks on unions as an institution, and its obsession with individual rather than collective solutions make it hard to really consider it part of the canon of "Labor Cinema." We discuss the film's merits, it's flaws, and how it fits into the history of the ILA .
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Sunday Sep 24, 2023
Ep 175 - No Pay? No Parts!
Sunday Sep 24, 2023
Sunday Sep 24, 2023
UAW Strike Support FAQ: https://labornotes.org/2023/09/when-auto-workers-stand-heres-how-stand-them
Lina is away this week, so we're joined by longtime friend of the show Ethan to help us discuss all the week's big labor news. The strike by UAW workers at the Big 3 has seized the public consciousness in its first week as workers around the country have been inspired by the thousands of auto workers standing up and fighting back against corporate greed. On Friday, with GM and Stellantis refusing to agree to better working conditions, the UAW expanded the strike to 38 parts centers across the country. We discuss the strike, the response from the press, how politicians have tried to co-opt it, and the very real solidarity coming in from workers around the world. Also this week, we congratulate the grad student workers of Northeastern, winning their union after an 8 year battle. We also discuss the latest NYT expose on the explosion of illegal child labor in the US, as well as a new story on prison labor and clickwork in Finland.
Intro clips credit: Status Coup News, UAW
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Thursday Sep 21, 2023
Overtime Episode 50 PREVIEW - Unions and The Mob: The ILA - Pt 7
Thursday Sep 21, 2023
Thursday Sep 21, 2023
If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.
Episode 7 - Where Do We Go From Here?
Wrapping up our series on the history of allegations of mafia involvement with the ILA, we reach the 21st century. Today, the workforce on the docks is a shadow of earlier years. Decimated by automation, the union continued to be hounded by federal prosecutors, but was never ordered to make itself more democratic. We discuss various corruption trials of the last 20 years, the end of the BiState Waterfront Commission, and sum up where the union stands today. Finally, we examine the entire history of allegations of corruption in the ILA, the impact on the workers, and the vital importance of rank and file democracy to any future attempts to put the membership in the driver's seat.
Main sources for this series include: Reds or Rackets by Howard Kimeldorf, Strife on the Waterfront by Vernon Jensen, New York Longshoremen: Class and Power on the Docks by William Mello, and Mobsters, Unions, and Feds by James Jacobs. Clips from YouTube.
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Sunday Sep 17, 2023
Ep 174 - The UAW Stands Up
Sunday Sep 17, 2023
Sunday Sep 17, 2023
UAW Strike Support FAQ: https://labornotes.org/2023/09/when-auto-workers-stand-heres-how-stand-them
It's a monumental week for labor, but before we can get to the strike everyone is excited about, we've got a ton of stories to cover. First we discuss Starbucks Workers United's latest day of action. Next we discuss the successful union elections by VFX workers at Marvel and writers at MTV's Ridiculousness. Unfortunately, we have some stories of high profile scabs this week as Drew Barrymore and Bill Maher announced their intention to cross the WGA picket line. We could see a huge shift in college athletics, as this week the Dartmouth Men's Basketball team filed for union representation with the SEIU. Rail companies in the US continue to defy safety regulations as warned by the workers for years. Meanwhile, Korean rail workers launch a 4 day nationwide strike against privatization. And in the UK, the union movement announced plans to defy the new Tory anti-strike law. In addition to the autoworkers, over 1000 UAW members at Blue Cross Blue Shield also went on strike in Michigan this week. Finally, we discuss the launch of the UAW's "Stand Up Strike" against all of the Big 3 automakers at once. We discuss how the strike began, what this somewhat unique strike strategy hopes to maintain, and how workers everywhere can support the UAW workers as they fight for our entire class.
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Thursday Sep 14, 2023
Overtime Episode 49 PREVIEW - Unions and The Mob: The ILA - Pt 6
Thursday Sep 14, 2023
Thursday Sep 14, 2023
If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.
Episode 6 - Things Fall Apart
Following the deal to allow unrestricted automation of longshore work in exchange for higher salaries and benefits, the ILA entered a period of a long decline. As containerization ate away at the number of jobs on the docks, the union was also encircled by another force, the FBI. The FBI's UNIRAC investigation into the ILA was its largest racketeering trial ever at the time. But by refusing to go after the core problem of a total lack of accountability of union leaders to membership, and instead going for a career-making trial of a few individuals, government prosecutors made little progress in their professed goal of "cleaning up the waterfront."
Main sources for this series include: Reds or Rackets by Howard Kimeldorf, Strife on the Waterfront by Vernon Jensen, New York Longshoremen: Class and Power on the Docks by William Mello, and Mobsters, Unions, and Feds by James Jacobs. Clips from YouTube.
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Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Monday Sep 11, 2023
Ep 173 - Big 3 Showdown
Monday Sep 11, 2023
Monday Sep 11, 2023
It's deadline time for the negotiations between the Big 3 automakers and the UAW this week, our main story breaks down where things stand, what the companies have offered, and debunks some of the common anti-worker arguments rolled out against the UAW's demands. But before all that, we follow up with Grindr, where half of the company's staff have been forced out in retaliation for organizing. At Rutgers, a strike by nurses for safe staffing continues after a month of abuse from bosses. Starbucks announced this week they're closing the city of Vancouver's only unionized store. Cornell grad student workers are building off forcing Starbucks off their campus and forming a union of their own. Cracks have appeared in the unity of the bosses in the Writers and Actors strike, potentially showing an endgame. We also discuss the Naujawan Support Network's fight against wage theft and abuse of migrant workers in Ontario. Finally, we prepare for the strike at the Big 3 with our UAW update.
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Thursday Sep 07, 2023
Overtime Episode 48 PREVIEW - Unions and The Mob: The ILA - Pt 5
Thursday Sep 07, 2023
Thursday Sep 07, 2023
If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.
Episode 5 - Automation and Attrition
Emerging from the 1950s having survived government crackdowns, receivership, and attempted raids by the AFL, the ILA was immediately confronted with a new existential threat: automation. The introduction of containerized cargo posed a greater threat to the profession of longshoring than any previously faced. Organizing on the Port of New York in the 1960s was dominated by the fight to keep the shipping companies from slashing the workforce to the bone. While the union still did not implement more democratic measures, the rank and file forced their voices to be heard loud and clear in some of the biggest strikes in the history of the US waterfront.
Main sources for this series include: Reds or Rackets by Howard Kimeldorf, Strife on the Waterfront by Vernon Jensen, New York Longshoremen: Class and Power on the Docks by William Mello, and Mobsters, Unions, and Feds by James Jacobs. Clips from YouTube.
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Sunday Sep 03, 2023
Ep 172 - Throwing Bosses In The Bin
Sunday Sep 03, 2023
Sunday Sep 03, 2023

Friday Sep 01, 2023
Overtime Episode 47 PREVIEW - Unions and The Mob: The ILA - Pt 4
Friday Sep 01, 2023
Friday Sep 01, 2023
If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.
Episode 4 - 1953
Following World War 2, longshoremen in the Port of New York refused to accept the traditional company friendly deals that ILA President Joe Ryan arranged during the war. A wildcat strike movement shook the ILA, and alongside an investigation into his corruption, Ryan finally lost his grip on the union. 1953, the same year "King" Joe Ryan stepped down as President of the ILA was a momentous year for the organization. In this episode we discuss Ryan's departure, the expulsion of the union from the AFL, the government stepping in to control hiring on the docks, and even a civil war in the house of labor. The end of Ryan's tenure and the massive changes put in place in 1953 would reshape the union for decades.
Main sources for this series include: Reds or Rackets by Howard Kimeldorf, Strife on the Waterfront by Vernon Jensen, New York Longshoremen: Class and Power on the Docks by William Mello, and Mobsters, Unions, and Feds by James Jacobs. Clips from YouTube.
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Tuesday Aug 29, 2023
Ep 171 - Farm Workers Fight Back
Tuesday Aug 29, 2023
Tuesday Aug 29, 2023
We start this week following up on several major stories, first and foremost the ratification of the hard fought new contract at UPS. We also discuss the victory of grad student workers at the University of Michigan after a nearly five month struggle. There was major news out of the NLRB this week, we break down the Cemex decision and what the new restrictions on election union busting could mean for the labor movement. Also this week, farm workers in New York were attacked by farm owners who raided and broke up a UFW organizing meeting. The New School continues to hate its workers, trying this week to block student workers from organizing a wall to wall student union. Finally, the fight for a fair deal at the Big 3 automakers is heating up, as the UAW voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike.
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Friday Aug 25, 2023
Overtime Episode 46 PREVIEW - Unions and The Mob: The ILA - Pt 3
Friday Aug 25, 2023
Friday Aug 25, 2023
If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.
Episode 3 - Operation Underworld
Joe Ryan's two and a half decades of leadership of the International Longshoremen's Association could be most charitably described as "stable." His focus on labor peace at nearly any cost and his cozy relationship with the shipping companies, gangsters, and the federal government created a series of strange relationships as the country entered World War 2. Finding mobsters useful in keeping radical organizers off the docks, the federal government struck a deal with the same criminal forces they would later condemn union officials for working with. However, even with strongarm goons and redbaiting as his go-to tactics, Ryan could not totally keep a lid on post-war discontent by workers returning to find low wages and inhuman treatment while shipping bosses made millions. The Rank and File made their voice heard, by whatever means they could find.
Main sources for this series include: Reds or Rackets by Howard Kimeldorf, Strife on the Waterfront by Vernon Jensen, New York Longshoremen: Class and Power on the Docks by William Mello, and Mobsters, Unions, and Feds by James Jacobs. Clips from YouTube.
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Tuesday Aug 22, 2023
Ep 170 - Exploitation Should Be a Crime
Tuesday Aug 22, 2023
Tuesday Aug 22, 2023
REI Pledge: www.ourrei.com/pledge
As with any week in the labor movement, this week we've got a mixture of good news and less good news. We start on the happier end, with students at Cornell forcing Starbucks off campus after its retaliation against workers. The first massage studio in Florida has unionized, following success by the UFCW in Colorado. Workers at Jacksonville State University are forming a wall to wall union to fight for better than their current $8.25/hr. In less good news, we heard more this week from workers at Tesla and Amazon about the horrific working conditions at both and the way Amazon weaponizes their company "doctors" against workers. Wage theft remains rampant in the US, and a new report shows how much impunity bosses in Texas have. Finally, we discuss a recent LA Times report about the impacts of climate change on the workers who put food on our tables every day.
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Friday Aug 18, 2023
Overtime Episode 45 PREVIEW - Unions and The Mob: The ILA - Pt 2
Friday Aug 18, 2023
Friday Aug 18, 2023
If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.
Episode 2 - Shape Up or Ship Out
To start our examination of the history of the International Longshoremen's Association, we go back to the birth of labor organizing on the docks in the late 19th century. We discuss the awful labor conditions faced by workers, forced to beg, plead, or pay for work in the hated daily shape up. We discuss the birth of the ILA on the Great Lakes, the rise of New York City as the center of US overseas trade, and the start of the long reign of "King" Joe Ryan as union president. We also talk about the earliest movements for democracy and reform within the union, and the brutal, sometimes deadly consequences faced by those who stood up for their rights on the docks.
Main sources for this series include: Reds or Rackets by Howard Kimeldorf, Strife on the Waterfront by Vernon Jensen, New York Longshoremen: Class and Power on the Docks by William Mello, and Mobsters, Unions, and Feds by James Jacobs.
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Tuesday Aug 15, 2023
Ep 169 - Union Busting is Organized Crime
Tuesday Aug 15, 2023
Tuesday Aug 15, 2023
After saluting the continued organizing prowess of the workers of Hadley, MA, we start this week's show discussing the NLRB shooting down eBay's appeal of the union victory at TCGPlayer. Next we check in on strikes at Wabtec and the University of Michigan, both of which have seen management escalate attacks on workers. Google is back for a second week in a row, this time for firing most of the Google Help team in retaliation for unionizing. City workers in LA staged a huge one day strike to fight for fair raises and an end to overwork, with workers in San Jose joining them this week. The American Political Science Association have decided to cross the picket line of striking LA hotel workers, to the outrage of many members. Rounding out some new unions: Visual effects workers at Marvel are unionizing with IATSE, workers at the NIH are joining the UAW, and Yellowstone workers have voted to join the National Federation of Federal Employees.
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Friday Aug 11, 2023
Overtime Episode 44 PREVIEW - Unions and The Mob: The ILA - Pt 1
Friday Aug 11, 2023
Friday Aug 11, 2023
If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.
Episode 1 - Communism vs. Corruption
One of the peculiarities of the US labor movement is the existence of two different unions for longshore workers, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) on the West Coast, and the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) on the East Coast. Originally, the ILA represented members on both coasts, bringing all longshore workers in the country under one union. But after the refusal of the national leadership to support the 1934 San Francisco General Strike or to support the move to expand the union to warehouse workers, the West Coast workers seceded and formed their own union.
In this series we will examine the history of the ILA and dig into why West Coast longshore workers felt they had no choice but to form their own union. We will examine the key factors that have prevented the rise of a democratic reform movement within the ILA, and how collusion between shipping companies, the federal government, and the mafia played a critical role in suppressing reform. We will discuss the long fight by the rank and file for reform, and how the federal government time and time again stepped in to squash it.
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Tuesday Aug 08, 2023
Ep 168 - The War on Remote Work
Tuesday Aug 08, 2023
Tuesday Aug 08, 2023
Burgerville Workers Support Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/defend-burgerville-workers-from-retaliation-fund
We start this week's episode with a couple stories about Grindr and Google weaponizing Return to the Office policies against their workers who have been working remotely. We also follow up with the TCGPlayer union, as eBay has refused to recognize their election win. Workers at Burgerville have been locked out after management adopted a radically anti-union posture. This past weekend 30,000 teachers protested horrific working conditions in South Korea. Doctors have struck across Nigeria after criminal neglect of the country's healthcare system by the capitalist government and its imperialist backers. Grocery workers at Metro in Toronto have been on strike for over a week fighting sub-poverty wages to just be able to afford the food they stock on shelves every day. The Teamsters still have to vote on the deal at UPS, but wins are already inspiring Amazon workers to demand more. Finally, grad workers have made big wins towards forming their union at the University of Maine.
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Friday Aug 04, 2023
Shop Floor Discussion 8 PREVIEW - UAW vs the Big 3
Friday Aug 04, 2023
Friday Aug 04, 2023
If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.
2023 has already been a monumental year for labor, with over 300,000 workers striking in just the first 7 months. Now, in just six weeks, we could see tens of thousands of UAW autoworkers on strike at any one or all of the Big 3 US automaking companies, Ford, GM, and Stellantis. This is another critical contract fight for the entire labor movement as the upsurge in union support continues to grow. So we decided that doing this story justice would take a whole episode. We sat down to talk about the history of the UAW, the concessions given up during the 2008 bailout, and what workers are fighting for in this new master agreement.
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Tuesday Aug 01, 2023
Ep 167 - Teamster Power
Tuesday Aug 01, 2023
Tuesday Aug 01, 2023
We know everyone wants to talk about the biggest labor news this week but first: Union Pizza! Workers at Barboncino Pizzeria in Brooklyn became the first union pizza shop in NYC this week. Also we have a quick update on the ILWU Canada strike, with workers voting on a new TA after rejecting an earlier one. In a sad story, Yellow Freight's bosses have so mismanaged the company that it is shutting down, costing 30,000 jobs. Also this week, Rutgers is trying to get medical students to scab against striking nurses. A new report this week shows Amazon continuously refuses to make accommodations for disabled workers. Then of course the big news this week is the tentative agreement reached between the Teamsters and management at UPS. We go over some of the contracts historic wins, and discuss areas workers have identified where it could be improved. We talk about the impact this contract could have in spurring others to unionize, and how it affects the drive by the Teamsters to organize workers at Amazon. Finally, we close out celebrating one of the largest new bargaining units of the year, with 5000 TV commercial workers joining IATSE.
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Friday Jul 28, 2023
Overtime Episode 43 PREVIEW - The General Strike in US History Pt 3
Friday Jul 28, 2023
Friday Jul 28, 2023
If you're not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.
We're diving back into labor history with a return to our short series on the history of general strikes in the US. On this episode, we round out the strikes of 1934 by discussing the Toledo Auto-Lite and Minneapolis general strikes. The pitched battles fought by workers across the country terrified the ruling class into accepting some of the most pivotal labor reforms in US history. Fighting scabs, company thugs, police, and even the National Guard, workers with nothing to lose in the midst of the Great Depression struck back against their exploiters and won victories that echoed for decades. Organizing such massive endeavors is never easy or quick, but there are so many lessons we can take from our comrades of the past to help improve our efforts today.
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