Belabored

Subscribe to the Belabored RSS feed here. Support the podcast on Patreon. Subscribe and rate on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify. Tweet at @DissentMag with #Belabored to share your thoughts, or join the conversation on Facebook. Check out the full archive here. Belabored is produced by Casey Stone. Migration is almost always connected to work, and is usually the product of some combination of aspiration and desperation, ambition and escape. Saket Soni’s new book, The Great Escape, recounts the journey of a group of Indian migrant workers who came to the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, on the promise of jobs that would help rebuild the region. Instead, they were roped into a convoluted transnational labor trafficking enterprise. Written as a nonfiction thriller/memoir from the point of view of Soni, who organized the workers to hold their captors accountable, The Great Escape tells the story of how they collaborated with local activists to free themselves from bondage and advocate for their rights. But the narrative of escape intersects with the workers’ stories at multiple angles: not only did they have to escape physical captivity, they were also on a much longer quest to escape poverty and social pressures in their homeland; the hierarchies of race, citizenship and culture that ensnared them in the United States; the talons of immigration enforcement; and their own self doubt. Soni now heads Resilience Force, which aims to change the way the country responds to disasters by supporting the workers who help communities cope with the rebuilding, healthcare, and social needs that emerge after disaster. In other news, we look at Dollar General workers organizing in Louisiana, with NOLA Dollar General worker David Williams; an Amazon workers’ opera in St. Louis; the impact of the debt ceiling deal on older people and student debtors; and hardships facing aging workers. Thank you for listening to our 267th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org. This season of Belabored is supported in part by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. News Gabrielle Fonrouge, Activist firms call on Dollar General, Dollar Tree to improve worker safety, wages, CNBC Michael Corkery, Dollar General Is Deemed a ‘Severe Violator’ by the Labor Dept., New York Times Sarah Fenske, New ‘Workers Opera’ Is About How Much Working for Amazon Sucks, Riverfront Times Alex Fees, St. Peters warehouse worker takes safety message to Amazon shareholders, KSDK 5 On Your Side Matt Bruenig, The Debt Ceiling Deal Is an “F You” to Poor People, Jacobin Kamaron McNair, ‘This bill does end the payment pause’: What the debt ceiling deal means for student loan borrowers, CNBC Monique Morrissey, Many older workers have difficult jobs that put them at risk: Working longer is not a viable solution to the retirement crisis, Economic Policy Institute Conversation Saket Soni, The Great Escape: A True Story of Forced Labor and Immigrant Dreams in America, Algonquin Books Farah Stockman, When $20,000 Gets You Exploited in America, New York Times Sarah and Michelle: Belabored Podcast #50: The Future of Work, with Saket Soni, Dissent Resilience Force The post Belabored: How Workers Escape, with Saket Soni appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Subscribe to the Belabored RSS feed here. Support the podcast on Patreon. Subscribe and rate on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify. Tweet at @DissentMag with #Belabored to share your thoughts, or join the conversation on Facebook. Check out the full archive here. Belabored is produced by Casey Stone. The miners’ strike in the early 1980s was a turning point for British labor. The defeat of the powerful National Union of Mineworkers at the hands of Margaret Thatcher signaled open season on organized workers, and it was accomplished in part through the use of new and brutal police tactics. These days, the strike is back across Britain, with workers fighting for and in many cases winning inflation-busting wage hikes and improved conditions, driving out bad bosses, and demanding recognition for all that “essential” work during the pandemic. Today’s Conservative government is attempting to take a page from Thatcher’s book to crush the unions any way they can, including with new legislation designed to drastically curtail the right to strike. This week, we take a step back and consider the strike wave in the context of that history, with longtime organizer Joe Rollin with Unite the Union, and journalist, author, and filmmaker Morag Livingstone, co-author of Charged: How the Police try to Suppress Protest. We also hear about some new rights for workers thanks to the Minnesota state legislature, what the Rutgers unions won, the latest on the struggles of Starbucks workers with Evan Sunshine of Starbucks Workers United, and warehouse workers’ fight for safe conditions. Thank you for listening to our 266th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org. This season of Belabored is supported in part by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. News Matt Dougherty, Cornell Students Organize to Kick Starbucks off Campus, Ithaca.com Irene Tung, Fighting for Safe Work: Injury Data Show Urgent Need for Intervention in NY State’s Warehouses, National Employment Law Project P. Kenneth Burns, ‘We have to continue to teach this university a lesson’: 3 Rutgers faculty unions vote to ratify contract, but say ‘unfinished business’ remains, WHYY Mary Ann Koruth, Here are the raises, new benefits included in Rutgers union contracts approved today, Northjersey.com Abdirahman Muse, Emma Greenman, and Erin Murphy, Minnesota Enacts Landmark Protections for Amazon Warehouse Workers, The Nation Max Nesterak, Minnesota lawmakers approve 9 major worker-friendly changes, Minnesota Reformer Matt Butler, Starbucks closing last two Ithaca locations, union fight brewing, The Ithaca Voice Conversation Unite the Union Charged: How the Police try to Suppress Protest Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign Protect the Right to Strike The post Belabored: Reviving the Strike in Britain, with Morag Livingstone and Joe Rollin appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Subscribe to the Belabored RSS feed here. Support the podcast on Patreon. Subscribe and rate on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify. Tweet at @DissentMag with #Belabored to share your thoughts, or join the conversation on Facebook. Check out the full archive here. Belabored is produced by Casey Stone. Almost exactly thirty-one years ago, Los Angeles was burning as several days of civil unrest erupted in the wake of the acquittal of the police officers who had brutally beaten Rodney King. It was not just an impulsive uprising fueled by rage at police brutality but a reflection of many years, if not decades, of a simmering urban crisis in which social disinvestment, deindustrialization, and deep segregation turned the city into an economically and racially polarized landscape, with the police serving as chief enforcers of a brutal social hierarchy. In this episode, we talk about working-class Los Angeles before and after the civil unrest of 1992—and how the city’s labor movement reflects and grapples with the scars of historical injustice. The late Mike Davis examined the racial, cultural, and political divisions of Los Angeles in his seminal work on the city, City of Quartz. We revisit that text and the events of 1992 with Tobias Higbie, associate director of UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, and Kent Wong, director of the UCLA Labor Center, to discuss how the city’s structural inequities continue to shape its labor struggles in sectors from the classrooms to the docks. In other news, we look at the Hollywood writers’ strike, teachers’ strikes across England with Vik Chechi-Ribeiro of NEU Manchester, African tech workers organizing, and South Asian Americans mobilizing against caste discrimination with Karthikeyan Shanmugam of the Ambedkar King Study Circle. Thank you for listening to our 265th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org. This season of Belabored is supported in part by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. News John Koblin, Brooks Barnes, and Nicole Sperling, Hollywood, Both Frantic and Calm, Braces for Writers’ Strike, New York Times Daniel Arkin, Hollywood writers go on strike after contract negotiations fail, NBC Sakshi Venkatraman, California is one step closer to banning caste-based discrimination, NBC Richard Adams, Schools across England close as teachers vow to continue strikes, Guardian Vik Chechi-Ribeiro, The NEU strike – Winning a rank-and-file led union, Notes From Below Billy Perrigo, 150 African Workers for ChatGPT, TikTok and Facebook Vote to Unionize at Landmark Nairobi Meeting, Time OpenAI Used Kenyan Workers on Less Than $2 Per Hour, Time Conversation Kent Wong, Director, UCLA Labor Center Tobias Higbie, Associate Director, UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment Mike Davis, Realities of the Rebellion, Against the Current Cindi Katz, Neil Smith, and Mike Davis, L. A. Intifada: Interview with Mike Davis, Social Text Ruth Milkman, Immigrant Organizing and the New Labor Movement in Los Angeles, Critical Sociology Corina Knoll, Adeel Hassan, and Shawn Hubler, Los Angeles Schools and 30,000 Workers Reach Tentative Deal After Strike, New York Times Sarah and Michelle, Belabored: L.A. Teachers Shut It Down, with Alex Caputo-Pearl, Dissent Sarah Jaffe, What Rydell High School Can Teach Us about the LA Teachers Strike, Nation Michelle Chen, Warehouse Workers of Los Angeles, Unite!, Nation City on the Edge, HERE Local 11 The post Belabored: Los Angeles, 1992, Revisited with Tobias Higbie and Kent Wong appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Subscribe to the Belabored RSS feed here. Support the podcast on Patreon. Subscribe and rate on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify. Tweet at @DissentMag with #Belabored to share your thoughts, or join the conversation on Facebook. Check out the full archive here. Belabored is produced by Casey Stone. The wave of unionization continues apace across the United States and elsewhere in the world, but there’s often much less attention paid to the part of the process that comes after the winning of a union election: the bargaining of a contract. It can seem like the hard part is over when the votes are counted, but our guest this week reminds us that the hard part is just beginning. If that sounds daunting, well, Jane McAlevey is here to share her knowledge of how to make that hard part, if not easier, at least to help you succeed. McAlevey is a longtime organizer and organizing theorist, the founder of the massively popular online trainings, Organizing for Power, supported by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, and the author and co-author of several books and many reports and articles on the art of worker organizing. Her newest book, with Abby Lawlor, is titled Rules to Win By: Power and Participation in Union Negotiations, and she joins us to talk about using big, open, democratic bargaining tactics to win major gains at the table and in the contract. We also check in with Donna Murch of Rutgers AAUP-AFT on the multi-union, 9,000-worker strike at Rutgers University in New Jersey, and hear from Katie Wells on a new report on the conditions of Doordash drivers. And we hear about the firing of a union leader (and former Belabored guest) at Planned Parenthood North Central States, and the junior doctors and nurses’ strikes fighting to save the British National Health Service. Thank you for listening to our 264th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org. This season of Belabored is supported in part by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. News Daniel Han, ‘Pissed off’: Rutgers unions mull resuming strike amid mounting frustration over finalizing contract, Politico Noah Lanard, Why Rutgers Faculty Are Striking for the First Time in 257 Years, Mother Jones Sarah, “Injury to All” at Rutgers University, Dissent Katie Wells and Isabella Stratta, The Instant Delivery Workplace in D.C., Beeck Center Michelle, Transcript: Courier Class War, with Antonio Solis, Dissent Anne Rumberger, Abortion Rights Are Workers’ Rights, Jacobin Sarah and Michelle, Belabored: Game Workers Unite and Win, with Emma Kinema, Dissent Sarah and Michelle, Belabored: Reproductive Justice Is Labor Justice, Dissent Dan Zahedi, Junior Doctors Will Fight as Long as It Takes, Tribune George Walker, Nurses Tell of Disappointment With Latest NHS Pay Offer, Novara Aubrey Allegretti, Denis Campbell, Kiran Stacey, and Jamie Grierson, Nurses will strike again in England after voting to reject government pay deal, Guardian Conversation Jane McAlevey Organizing for Power Jane McAlevey, Getting to Contract: Negotiating and Winning Against the Odds, The Nation Sarah, After a Union Election Victory Comes the Hard Part, The Progressive The post Belabored: How to Bargain for Power, with Jane McAlevey appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Subscribe to the Belabored RSS feed here. Support the podcast on Patreon. Subscribe and rate on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify. Tweet at @DissentMag with #Belabored to share your thoughts, or join the conversation on Facebook. Check out the full archive here. Belabored is produced by Casey Stone. When you hear the words “child labor,” your mind may go to the turn-of-the-century photographs taken by Jacob Riis and Lewis Hine of the grim lives of tiny laborers toiling in mines and urban sweatshops. Or you may think about the children in Africa or South Asia who dig for precious metals or harvest crops on plantations; their exploitation is the target of many international human-rights campaigns and condemnations from various Global North governments. But recent news reports have revealed that child labor is alive and well in the United States in 2023. Fueled in large part by the influx of migrants from Central America, many “unaccompanied minors,” or children living with relatives, have to work to support families back home. Meanwhile, some politicians are actively working to undermine existing child labor restrictions—as weak as they already are—under the pretext that giving businesses the flexibility to employ child workers for longer hours and with less oversight is actually beneficial for society. Jack Hodgson, a visiting professor in history at the University of Roehampton, joins the podcast to discuss child labor throughout U.S. history and in the context of labor and civil rights struggles that continue to this day. In other news, we look at Brandon Johnson’s victory in the Chicago mayoral race and the legacy of the Chicago Teachers Union; a new union drive by New York University contract faculty with Hannah Gurman; the school service workers’ strike in Los Angeles; and why France is on fire over pension policies. Thank you for listening to our 263rd episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org. Belabored’s tenth season is supported in part by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. News Micah Uetricht, The Movement That Made Brandon Johnson Mayor of Chicago, The Nation Kari Lydersen, Brandon Johnson Won the Race for Chicago’s Mayor By Loving and Fighting for the City, In These Times Sara Wexler, Full-Time Contingent Faculty at New York University Are Trying to Unionize, Jacobin Angelique Chrisafis, Hundreds of thousands of people take to French streets amid fears of violence, Guardian Ellen Francis and Claire Parker, Why French workers are fighting to retire at 62, Washington Post Jon Peltz, In Los Angeles, 60,000 Education Workers Just Went on Strike and Won Big, Jacobin Megan Giovannetti and Jasmin Joseph, “If They Strike, We Won’t Cross the Picket Line”: LA Teachers And Service Workers Unite, In These Times Conversation Jack Hodgson, Child labor remains a problem in the United States, Washington Post Hannah Dreier, Alone and Exploited, Migrant Children Work Brutal Jobs Across the U.S., New York Times The post Belabored: Child Labor, Child Strikes, with Jack Hodgson appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] As we wind 2022 and our COVID-19 series to a close, our struggles around pandemic work are anything but over. We’re seeing upticks in unionization, strikes, and other forms of workplace resistance. We’re also seeing workers quitting so-called “essential” jobs at record rates, leaving their former coworkers in the unenviable position of picking up the slack while also battling to improve their conditions—and those of the people they care for. Teachers and nurses have been at the heart of all these struggles, on top of pre-pandemic labor shortages and constant admonitions to “do more with less,” so to wrap up our year and our in-depth COVID-19 reporting, we invited two rank-and-file leaders from those fields to join us for a live episode, recorded December 15 via Zoom. Elizabeth Lalasz is a registered nurse, union steward, and professional practice committee member with National Nurses United. She has worked three times on COVID-19 units over the course of the pandemic. Jia Lee has been a special education teacher for over twenty years in the New York City Department of Education and has served as a union chapter leader since 2005. She is a steering member of the Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE), a caucus within the United Federation of Teachers, and a steering member of Black Lives Matter at Schools, NYC. Thank you for listening to our 262nd episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org Conversation Elizabeth Lalasz Jia Lee Sarah Jaffe and Michelle Chen, Belabored: Is it Safe to Go Back to School? Dissent Sarah Jaffe, What If Nurses Ran the Healthcare System? Dissent Sarah Jaffe, How the New York City School System Failed the Test of Covid-19, The Nation Michelle Chen, For Some Workers, Schools Never Closed, The Nation Sarah Jaffe, The Great Ungrieving, The New York Review of Books Michelle Chen, Educators March to Get NYPD out of NYC Schools, Dissent Sarah Jaffe, Schools Reopen — and Teachers Fight for Their Lives, Their Students, and the Future of Public Education, Rethinking Schools Michelle Chen, Teachers’ Aides Adjust to the COVID Classroom, Dissent Sarah Jaffe, How the Attack on Teachers Threatens the Future of Public Schools, Rethinking Schools Michelle Chen, Deregulated Under Trump, Nursing Homes Are Becoming COVID Morgues, Truthout Sarah Jaffe, First, Nurses Saved Our Lives—Now They’re Saving Our Health Care, The Nation Michelle Chen, The Bereavement of Elder Care, Dissent Sarah Jaffe and C.M. Lewis, Nurses Are Striking Across the Country Over Patient Safety, The Nation Thanks to the Ford Foundation of Social Justice for sponsoring this series. The post Belabored: Essential Workers in Crisis, with Elizabeth Lalasz and Jia Lee appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] You may not see many signs in everyday life that the pandemic is still ongoing these days; mask mandates have been removed, social gatherings have resumed, and employers are pushing workers to return to in-person work. But for several million people across the United States, the pandemic is still assaulting their bodies and minds—with chronic pain, respiratory problems, cognitive issues, fatigue, and other hard-to-treat symptoms. For more than two years, people living with “long COVID,” or “longhaulers,” have largely had to struggle on their own to access medical treatment, disability benefits, and workplace accommodations, and have often faced discrimination and disbelief when trying to advocate for their rights as patients and workers. While there is still much scientists do not understand about the illness, long COVID is profoundly changing the way people work, often intersecting with other forms of discrimination, income inequality, and systemic barriers to healthcare and leave time. We spoke with Rebecca L. Jacobs, Director of Community Support for the COVID-19 Longhauler Advocacy Project, and Kimberly Knackstedt, Co-Director of the Disability Economic Justice Collaborative at The Century Foundation, about long COVID as an issue of labor rights and disability justice, and how our systems of worker protection and disability support need to change. In other news, we look at a win for British Telecom workers, Congress blocking railroad workers from striking and denying them sick days, and New School and University of California academic workers and Twitter janitors on strike. To wrap up our in-depth series on the ongoing pandemic’s effect on workers, we’re going to be doing a special end-of-year live show on December 15, 7 p.m. (EST). We’ll be joined by two rank-and-file leaders in nursing and public school teaching: Elizabeth Lalasz and Jia Lee. Register here. Thank you for listening to our 261st episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Katy Stech Ferek and Esther Fung, Senate Votes 80-15 to Pass Bill Blocking Nationwide Railroad Strike, Wall Street Journal Ross Grooters and Jonah Furman, Railroad Engineer on the Imposed Contract: “It Really Fell Short of Railroad Workers’ Needs,” Jacobin Dani Anguiano, Closed labs, cancelled classes: inside the largest strike to hit US higher education, The Guardian Claudia Irizarry Aponte, The New School and Part-Time Faculty Go Into Mediation as Strike Enters Third Week, The City Miles Hamberg, The New School Staff Are Still Striking for a Fair Deal, The Progressive Ryan Mancini, Twitter lays off janitors on strike weeks before Christmas holiday, MassLive Sergio Quintana, Janitors Locked Out of Twitter Headquarters Without Warning, Join Picket Line, NBC Bay Area ‘Bank the money and our collective strength,’ BT Group members urged, as ballot begins on company’s ‘final’ pay offer, Communication Workers Union Mark Sweney, BT awards tens of thousands of staff £1,500 as strikes end, The Guardian Conversation Rebecca L. Jacobs, Director of Community Support for the COVID-19 Longhauler Advocacy Project Kimberly Knackstedt, Co-Director of the Disability Economic Justice Collaborative at the Century Foundation Kimberly Knackstedt, Why the COVID-19 Pandemic Isn’t Over, The Century Foundation Patient-Led Research Collaborative Ryan Prior, Rebecca Vallas, and Kimberly Knackstedt, The Long Haul: Q&A About Long COVID and the Future of Disability Policy, The Century Foundation Natalie Shure, We Might Have Long Covid All Wrong, The New Republic Thanks to the Ford Foundation of Social Justice for sponsoring this series. The post Belabored: When COVID Never Ends appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] This podcast is coming to you the week of Thanksgiving in the United States, and while many of you might be listening after a relaxing meal and day off work, for retail and grocery store workers, the holiday just means extra stress, crowded stores, long lines, and Black Friday sales. Continuing our series on the workers who have borne the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, we talk to a couple of the people who make holidays go smoothly: Cynthia Murray, a longtime Walmart worker and founder of United 4 Respect, and Lisa Harris, longtime Kroger worker and member of UFCW Local 400. They talk to us about the lack of respect given to so-called “essential” workers, the added stress of the holidays, and why workers need a seat at the table in determining sick policies. We also learn about a new union for service workers in the South and the latest on the possibility of a rail strike in the United States, the conditions of the workers who built the World Cup, and a big win for some of our recent guests, the Liverpool dockworkers. Thank you for listening to our 260th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Lena Geller, Service Workers in NC, Other Southern States Launch a Union, INDY Week Union of Southern Service Workers Hundreds of dock workers in Liverpool return to work after dispute ends following pay offer, ITV News Liverpool dockers celebrate major victory after Unite secures pay deal worth between 14.3% and 18.5%, Unite the Union Astha Rajvanshi, Why U.K. Nurses Voted to Strike for the First Time Ever—and What That Means for Hospitals, TIME Holly Turner, I’ve been an NHS nurse for 15 years. Here’s why I’m going on strike, openDemocracy “If we complain, we are fired”: Discrimination and Exploitation of Migrant Construction Workers on FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Stadium Sites, Equidem Chris Isidore and Vanessa Yurkevich, America faces a possible rail strike in two weeks after largest union rejects labor deal, CNN Conversation Walmart 2021 Pandemic Workforce Advisory Council Proposal, United 4 Respect Siddharth Cavale and Richa Naidu, Walmart halves paid leave for COVID-positive workers, Reuters Albert Samaha, They Fed America During Lockdown. Nearly Two Years Later, Many Grocery Workers Can’t Make Ends Meet, BuzzFeed News Sarah Jaffe, What Happened to Kroger’s “Hero Pay”? Dissent Thanks to the Ford Foundation of Social Justice for sponsoring this series. The post Belabored: Pandemic Black Fridays are Twice as Tiring, with Cynthia Murray and Lisa Harris appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] While the pandemic brought turmoil and massive job losses to many sectors of the economy, some industries flourished during the many months of lockdowns, quarantines, and remote work and schooling. We came to rely on Zoom and Amazon as basic means of communication and consumption, and when it came to staying fed, many of us turned to food platforms like Grubhub, DoorDash, or Uber Eats. Food couriers became part of the essential workforce of the pandemic, toiling for long hours on the streets and often putting their own health at risk to serve the public. With many people seeking work after restaurants and other businesses shuttered, the ranks of delivery workers expanded massively, as did the health and safety risks endemic to their trade. Many began organizing to improve their pay and seek more protections at work. The transnational struggles of couriers sparked innovative ways of networking and mobilizing, as workers discovered they could use their phones not just to pick up gigs but also to connect with fellow couriers. To learn more about organizing food delivery labor during the pandemic, we spoke with Antonio Solis, a member of Los Deliveristas Unidos—an organization of app-based delivery workers in New York City—and with Ahmed Hafezi and John Kirk, Deliveroo couriers and organizers with the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain. Read a transcript of Michelle’s interview with Antonio Solis here. In other news, we look at allegations of worker abuse in the House of Bezos, the Gannett newsroom strikes, Chinese iPhone workers struggling under a COVID-19 lockdown, and labor ballot measures. Thank you for listening to our 259th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News David K. Li and Diana Dasrath, Housekeeper’s claims that Jeff Bezos made staff go ‘without rest or meal breaks’ are without merit, his lawyer says, NBC News Josh Eidelson, Lawyer Suing Twitter Over Layoffs Says Musk Trying to Comply, Bloomberg News Sam Hancock, Apple: Chinese workers flee Covid lockdown at iPhone factory, BBC News New York rally in solidarity with Foxconn workers; Apple’s new statement hides the truth, change.org Aaron Morrison, Slavery, involuntary servitude rejected by 4 states’ voters, AP News Daniel Wiessner, Voters in Illinois, Tennessee approve dueling measures on union membership, Reuters Pittsburgh Union Progress Gannett Union Press Conversation Los Deliveristas Unidos Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain Michelle Chen, Los Deliveristas Unidos Demand Justice, Dissent Michelle Chen, Your Rent or Your Life, The Nation Sarah Jaffe and Michelle Chen, Belabored: Riding for Deliveroo, with Callum Cant, Dissent Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura, Food Delivery Apps Are Booming. Their Workers Are Often Struggling, New York Times The Transnational Courier Federation, Notes From Below Thanks to the Ford Foundation of Social Justice for sponsoring this series. The post Belabored: Courier Class War appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] This week begins our new series on workers and the pandemic. While politicians and many people would like to pretend that COVID-19 is over, for so many workers the damage done by the virus and the inadequate response continues to compound. For the rest of the year, we’ll be talking in depth with people who work in industries that have borne the brunt of the risk, the pain, and the grief of the pandemic in America. And we’ll be wrapping the series up with a virtual live event! This week, we spoke with Kellie Benson, senior mental health coordinator at Allina Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis and a member of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa. Healthcare workers are, of course, the first people we think of when we think of the impact of COVID-19, but the mental health pandemic that has come alongside the virus is less often discussed, and for mental healthcare workers, the two issues are deeply intertwined. Benson tells us about how her work has changed, and the ongoing struggle of mental health workers for fair pay, safe staffing, and support on the job. In the news, we look at a general strike in Palestine and the victory of Oklahoma City Apple Store workers, a nationwide strike vote for British university workers and a union drive at Netflix. Thank you for listening to our 258th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Netflix Music Supervisors File for Unionization Election at Labor Board, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Jazz Tangcay, Netflix Music Supervisors Seek Unionization Vote, Variety Noam Scheiber, Apple Store in Oklahoma City Becomes Second to Unionize, New York Times University staff vote for UK-wide strike action in historic ballot, University and College Union Sally Weale, UK university staff vote for strike action over pay, conditions and pensions, The Guardian Mariam Barghouti and Yumna Patel, What is happening in the West Bank right now: a full breakdown, Mondoweiss Palestinians strike in West Bank, Jerusalem over Israel killings, Al Jazeera Sarah and Michelle: Belabored: General Strike in Palestine, Dissent Conversation SEIU Healthcare Minnesota & Iowa Kiya Edwards, Mental health workers announce one-day walkout strike, KARE 11 Max Nesterak, Mental health workers launch 3-day strike at Allina hospitals in Twin Cities, Minnesota Reformer Thanks to the Ford Foundation of Social Justice for sponsoring this series. The post Belabored: Mental Health Workers’ Double Pandemic, with Kellie Benson appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] The ongoing strike wave in Britain has come with a wave of media coverage that ranges from mediocre to downright embarrassing. What happened to labor journalism, anyway? Sarah joined a panel of labor reporters at The World Transformed festival in Liverpool recently to discuss, and today we bring you that conversation, with Emiliano Mellino of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Nicholas Jones, former BBC industrial and political correspondent, and Polly Smythe, Novara Media’s labor movement reporter. We look at how coverage has changed, what happened to the Fleet Street industrial reporters, the decline of media jobs writ large—in Britain, and across the world. We also check in on the Philadelphia Museum of Art strike (after we recorded this episode, the Philadelphia Museum of Art Union reached a tentative agreement with the museum, and called off this weekend’s pickets while members consider and vote on the agreement). And we hear about a win for hotel workers in Scotland from Julie Nixon of Unite the Union, get an update from the Starbucks organizing campaign with Roastery union activist Key Lido, and look at the horrific conditions of labor in migrant detention centers. For Argh, we consider the role of unions in the Iranian women’s uprising, and working conditions in the world of professional wrestling. Thank you for listening to our 257th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Beverly Banks, Starbucks Entity, Union Settle NLRB Complaint At NYC Shop, Law360 Katy Scott, Cameron House accused of withholding tips from staff, BBC News Unite Hospitality on Twitter Daniel Wiessner, GEO Group says low immigrant detainee pay backed by ruling on Calif. prison ban, Reuters Tascha Shahriari-Parsa, Today’s News & Commentary–Oct 6, OnLabor Peter Crimmins, After 17 days, the Philadelphia Art Museum director acknowledges striking workers, WHYY Elaine Velie, Beleaguered Philadelphia Museum of Art Disables Social Media Comments, Hyperallergic Sarah Jaffe and Michelle Chen, Belabored: Shutting Down the Ports, with Steve Gerrard and Liverpool Dockworkers, Dissent Conversation The death of labour journalism, and how we bring it back, The World Transformed Emiliano Mellino, The Week In Work, Substack Polly Smythe, Novara Media Nicholas Jones, Emerging signs of more informed reporting of workers’ grievances and industrial disputes Argh, I wish I’d written that! Sarah: Alborz Ghandehari, Teachers and Other Unionists Are Joining Iran’s Gender Justice Uprising, In These Times and Bobby Ghosh, Oil and Gas Workers Add Fuel to Iranian Protesters’ Fire, Washington Post) Michelle: Tim Gill, In the WWE, Wrestlers Say Labor Abuses Are Everywhere, Jacobin The post Belabored: The Death and Life of Labor Journalism appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] Congressional staff have for decades been denied the right to unionize and collectively bargain, but that changed earlier this year with the enactment of key legislation enabling legislative staff to form unions. For months, the Congressional Workers Union has been campaigning to secure union rights for legislative aides and others on Capitol Hill, and have organized staffers of representatives Cori Bush, Chuy Garcia, Ro Khanna, Andy Levin, Ted Lieu, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Melanie Stansbury. The CWU has already negotiated for higher wage floors for congressional staffers and hopes to change the organizing landscape for government workers in Washington and beyond. On the heels of the first CWU election at the Levin’s office, we spoke to two congressional staffers and organizers, Janae Washington and Taylor Doggett, about the political and cultural ramifications of the union drive on the Hill. In other news, we look at the perils of hybrid work for women, a new farmworker bill for California, rideshare drivers under California’s controversial independent-contractor law, and the UK’s Labour Party conference. With recommended reading on working through Hurricane Ian and industrial policy without labor. Thank you for listening to our 256th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Rachel Hall, Hybrid working may hold back women’s careers, say managers, Guardian Eliza McCullough, Brian Dolber, Justin Scoggins, Edward-Michael Muña, and Sarah Treuhaft, Prop 22 Depresses Wages and Deepens Inequities for California Workers, National Equity Atlas Sarah Jaffe and Michelle Chen, Belabored: Stopping the Spread of Prop 22, Dissent Michelle Chen, A Blow for Labor Rights in California, Dissent Labour disputes, UK: July 2022 update and future work, Office for National Statistics Ruby Lott-Lavigna, Drivers’ anger as Labour hosts Deliveroo ‘PR event’ at annual conference, openDemocracy Jessica Garrison, Newsom signs UFW bill aimed at helping California farmworkers organize, Los Angeles Times Solcyre Burga, California Farmworkers March 335 Miles for Labor Rights, Time Conversation Congressional Workers Union Li Zhou, The House will allow staffers to unionize. Here’s how it will work, Vox Argh, I wish I’d written that! Sarah: Paul Blest, Company Asked Employees to Bring Family, Pets to Office to Work Through Hurricane Ian, Vice Michelle: Lee Harris, Industrial Policy Without Industrial Unions, American Prospect The post Belabored: The Union on the Hill, with Janae Washington and Taylor Doggett appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] Summer is over, but strike season is continuing in Great Britain, under not only a new prime minister but a new monarch. This week’s episode combines our ongoing coverage of British worker unrest with our intermittent series on logistics workers, as we discuss port strikes with Steve Gerrard, national coordinator for Unite the Union, and worker leaders from the port of Liverpool: John Lynch, Tommy Jennings, Ryan Healey, and Des Prescott. We discuss working through the COVID-19 pandemic, the combined port strikes at Felixstowe and Liverpool, the Tory plan to create “freeports” to lower labor standards in port areas, and the ongoing cost of living crisis. We also hear from Hugh Sawyer of Railroad Workers United about the narrowly averted (for now) railroad workers’ strike, and Adam Rizzo of the Philadelphia Museum of Art workers, on today’s one-day strike. And we check in on the historic collective bargaining agreement signed by the U.S. women’s soccer team, and the 15,000 nurses on strike in Minnesota. For Argh, we consider the legal status of franchisees and independent contractors, and the people still working while their coworkers are quitting. Thank you for listening to our 255th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Barry Svrluga, The USWNT won Tuesday night, then celebrated a much greater victory, Washington Post Workers at storied Philadelphia Museum of Art authorize a strike, AFSCME Taylor Dafoe, Union Workers at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Are Going on a One-Day ‘Warning’ Strike, Artnet News Josh Eidelson and Augusta Saraiva, Rail-Strike Deadline Carries Economic and Political Risks for Biden, Bloomberg Jim Tankersley, Railroad Unions and Companies Reach a Tentative Deal to Avoid a Strike, New York Times Chris Isidore and Adrienne Broaddus, Massive health care strike: 15,000 Minnesota nurses walk off the job, CNN Business Conversation Fresh strike dates announced in Felixstowe dispute as workers reject imposed pay deal, Unite Liverpool docks braced for disruption after MDHC port operatives overwhelming strike vote, Unite Margherita Bruno, Liverpool port strike goes ahead as parties fail to reach agreement, Port Technology Workers at two big British ports to strike later this month, CNN Paul Seddon, Freeports: What are they and will they help the economy? BBC News Dominic McGrath, Liz Truss promises ‘full-fat freeports’ with vow to cut red-tape for business, Independent Argh, I wish I’d written that! Sarah: Brian Callaci and Sandeep Vaheesan, Uber Drivers and McDonald’s Franchise Owners Have a Common Enemy, Slate Michelle: Emily Stewart, Work sucks when you’re the only one left, Vox The post Belabored: Shutting Down the Ports, with Steve Gerrard and Liverpool Dockworkers appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] Sometimes the hardest jobs are the ones that require you to look like you’re always having a great time. For strippers, that can mean dancing and performing through annoying, uncomfortable, and sometimes outrageous circumstances. A group of strippers at Star Garden Topless Dive Bar in North Hollywood has decided to stand up for their rights at work and filed for a union election. Though they are not the first strippers to unionize, the Star Garden workers hope to break new ground in organizing their field nationwide as part of the Actors’ Equity Association. They’re also campaigning with Strippers United, which is pushing for fair, decent work for strippers of all backgrounds and shining a spotlight on systemic labor issues in an industry that is often overlooked. We speak with Velveeta, a Strippers United activist, organizer with Actors’ Equity, and dancer at the Star Garden, about the movement to turn strip clubs into union shops. In other news, we bring you updates on workers on strike at Britain’s largest port, Chipotle’s first union store in Michigan with Samantha Smith, a Google worker’s protest of the company’s contract with the Israeli military, and the Amazon workers worried about overheating in the wake of a coworker’s death. With recommended reading on journalists on strike and the dysfunction of the disability benefits system. Thank you for listening to our 254th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Polly Smythe, Port Workers in Felixstowe Are Striking at the Heart of the UK’s Supply Chains, Novara Media Will Dunn, The government ignores the Felixstowe port strike at its peril, New Statesman Beth Timmins, Royal Mail and BT strikes see 150,000 workers walk out, BBC News Nico Grant, Google Employee Who Played Key Role in Protest of Contract With Israel Quits, New York Times Ariel Koren, Google’s Complicity in Israeli Apartheid: How Google Weaponizes “Diversity” to Silence Palestinians and Palestinian Human Rights Supporters, Medium Nick Visser, Workers At Michigan Chipotle Vote To Unionize In Win For Fast Food Employees, HuffPost Bettina Makalintal, Michigan Chipotle Location Becomes the Chain’s First to Unionize, Eater Michelle Chen, Chipotle Workers Protest “Black Lives Matter Hypocrisy,” Dissent Mitchell Clark, Amazon is fixing the AC at a warehouse where a worker died on Prime Day, Verge Kate Briquelet and Josh Fiallo, Amazon Employee Who Died on Prime Day Was Hardworking Dad, Daily Beast Conversation Chris Isidore, Strippers at LA strip club want to join actors’ union, CNN Strippers United Argh, I wish I’d written that! Sarah: Conrad Landin, Let’s hope the strike by Reach journalists reshapes our media landscape for the better, Guardian Michelle: Mark Betancourt, Inside the Kafkaesque Process for Determining Who Gets Federal Disability Benefits, Mother Jones The post Belabored: Strippers Seek Justice at Work, with Velveeta appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] Last week, workers at the Grangemouth oil refinery in Scotland walked off the job in a wildcat strike over pay. These subcontracted workers, as well as others at oil industry sites around Britain, are just the latest critical infrastructure workers to realize their power after two years of pandemic, when they were deemed essential—and watched industry profits spike—while they accepted pay freezes. This is all happening against a backdrop of swelling anger across Britain as prices, particularly energy prices, spike and are predicted to go even higher this winter. Unions are calling strikes and organizing protests with community groups to demand action. Ewan Gibbs, a historian of energy, industry, work, and protest, a lecturer in global inequalities at the University of Glasgow, and the author of Coal Country: The Meaning and Memory of Deindustrialization in Postwar Scotland, joins the podcast to talk about the strikes, the history of energy workers’ organizing, new organizing, and renationalizing energy. We also look at the launch of the Enough is Enough campaign, the return of rail strikes across Britain, the ongoing union drives at Starbucks with Starbucks union activists Ben South and Stephanie Heslop, a new bill in California that could move fast food workers toward sectoral bargaining, and wildcat strikes at Amazon. For Argh, we consider the rise of workplace productivity surveillance, and the labor of the crossword-puzzle industry. Thank you for listening to our 253rd episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Evie Breese, Amazon wildcat strikes enter second week as UK workers protest over pay, Big Issue Simon Childs & Polly Smythe, Hundreds of Amazon Workers Stage Wildcat Strike Over ‘Kick in the Teeth’ Pay Offer, Novara Media London bus drivers set to strike on same days as Underground and rail workers, ITV India Lawrence, Everything you need to know about the tube strike in August, TimeOut Megan Camponovo, Fast food workers demand FAST recovery act passage at state capitol, FOX40 Benjamin Sachs, California’s FAST Act: A Promising Move Toward Sectoral Regulation, OnLabor Danielle Wiener-Bronner, Starbucks asks labor board to halt mail-in union ballots, CNN Abraham Kenmore, Augusta Starbucks union organizer fired for ‘March on Boss’ prior to strike, Augusta Chronicle Jake Johnson, Store Walkout Over Firing of Starbucks Union Organizer Racks Up 20 Million Views on TikTok, Common Dreams Itzel Luna, Two more California Starbucks stores go on strike, joining Santa Cruz workers at the picket line, Los Angeles Times Conversation Ewan Gibbs, University of Glasgow @EwanGibbs on Twitter Coal Country: The Meaning and Memory of Deindustrialization in Postwar Scotland (Open Access) Simon Childs, Workers Stage Wildcat Strike at Major Oil Refinery, Novara Media Joanna Partridge, Workers block road at Ineos Grangemouth oil refinery in pay dispute, Guardian Andrew Fisher, What nationalising energy companies would cost – and how to do it, openDemocracy Enough is Enough campaign Argh, I wish I’d written that! Sarah: Jodi Kantor and Arya Sundaram, The Rise of the Worker Productivity Score, New York Times Michelle: Matt Hartman, Inside the Elite, Underpaid, and Weird World of Crossword Writers, The New Republic The post Belabored: Wildcat Oil Strikes and the Energy Crisis, with Ewan Gibbs appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] As climate change accelerates and temperatures reach into the triple digits, you might want to do all of your shopping online so that you don’t have to go outside. But somebody’s got to deliver those packages, and often it’s a UPS driver, chugging through the heat in that signature brown truck. You might be surprised to learn that those trucks are not air conditioned. UPS workers have taken to social media to post pictures of thermometers—sometimes reading well over 110 degrees Fahrenheit—from inside their vehicles. According to the Teamsters, who represent some 350,000 UPS workers nationwide, workers have been getting sick and hospitalized from heat-related illnesses at an alarming rate. We speak with Basil Darling, a UPS driver with Teamsters Local 804 in New York City, about the job’s safety risks and upcoming contract talks. In other news, we discuss the union drive at Trader Joe’s stores with worker-organizer Sarah Beth Ryther, a walkout by Reuters workers, strike plans among Kaiser Permanente’s mental health workers, and a strike at British Telecom with Dave Ward of the Communication Workers Union. With recommended reading on Black farmers seeking justice in Arkansas and misery in Amy’s Kitchen. Thank you for listening to our 252nd episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Noam Scheiber, Trader Joe’s Workers at a Massachusetts Store Form a Union, New York Times Jocelyn Wiener, Kaiser mental health workers signal open-ended strike in Northern California, CalMatters Michael Race, Thousands of BT staff walk out in strike over pay, BBC Moya Lothian-McLean and Strike Map UK, Everything You Need to Know About Hot Strike Summer, Novara Media Josh Eidelson, Reuters US Journalists Plan to Strike For First Time In Decades, Bloomberg Conversation Adiel Kaplan, ‘Sending drivers out to die’: UPS workers demand heat safety amid record temps, NBC A Local 886 Teamster, A truck full of sensors, Tempest Argh, I wish I’d written that! Sarah: Erik Baker, All in the Family: Amy’s Kitchen and America’s Shadow Workforce, The Drift Michelle: Wesley Brown, Black Farmers in Arkansas Still Seek Justice a Century After the Elaine Massacre, Civil Eats The post Belabored: Delivery Workers Stuck in Searing Heat appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] There’s been a lot of talk about a “hot strike summer” in Britain, and that’s mainly because of the excitement around the rail workers’ strikes. In June, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) went on strike for three days over pay and proposed cuts to the train system. Though people around the country rallied to the cause of the strikers, the dispute remains unresolved and there are more strikes coming up, with other rail unions joining the RMT on the picket lines. I met up with Alex Gordon, the president of the RMT, to talk about the state of the unions, the prospects for a revival of class consciousness, the privatization and financialization of rail travel, the looming climate breakdown and transport workers’ role in fighting it, and so much more. We also talk to Laura Hancock of the Yoga Teachers Union-IWGB about their campaign against sexual harassment, and Matt Cole of Fairwork about the leaked Uber files. With updates on the Medieval Times union and what happens when “hot labor summer” means workers are laboring in temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. For Argh, we consider nurses’ battle against “moral injury” and the hell that is working in chain-owned pet hospitals. Thank you for listening to our 251st episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Harry Davies, Simon Goodley, Felicity Lawrence, Paul Lewis and Lisa O’Carroll, Uber broke laws, duped police and secretly lobbied governments, leak reveals, The Guardian Kelle Howson, Callum Cant, Alessio Bertolini, Matthew Cole and Mark Graham, Protecting workers in the UK platform economy, Fairwork Julia Jacobs, The Knights of Medieval Times Will Carry Union Cards With Their Lances, The New York Times Medieval Times Performers United on Twitter Oxford yoga teachers call for stricter regulation, BBC Yoga Teachers Union-IWGB Polly Smythe, Britain’s Workplaces Are Not Ready for Extreme Heat, Novara Media Zia Weise and Karl Mathiesen, The frontline workers at risk in Europe’s heat wave, Politico Conversation National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) James Meadway, This could be the labour movement’s summer of glory, The New Statesman Alex Finnis, What dates are the train strikes next week? When RMT strikes are planned and how rail services are affected, i News Cat Hobbs, The government’s ‘Great British Railways’ is privatisation rebranded, openDemocracy Yves Smith, Matt Stoller: The Liquidation of Society versus the Global Labor Revival, Naked Capitalism Argh, I wish I’d written that! Sarah: Kari Lydersen, Nurses in the U.S. Are Suffering ‘Moral Injury”, In These Times Michelle: Jarod Facundo and Brian Osgood, “Welcome to Hell”, The American Prospect The post Belabored: Train Strikes Revive British Unions, with Alex Gordon appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] After the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court, the connection between abortion rights and labor rights is acutely clear—both are under attack by right-wing activists, who see abortions and unions as threats to the patriarchy. In response to the ruling, a number of states have rushed to pass legislation to shore up access to abortion care. But should we be having a more comprehensive discussion about the economic effects of abortion bans? We spoke with Asha Banerjee of the Economic Policy Institute about what the fall of Roe means for workers. In other news, we look at abuses against independent contractors in New York with Lina Moe of the Center for New York City Affairs at the New School, a parallel struggle to organize delivery workers in China with organizer Eric Chen, the state of labor rights and freedom of association around the world, and brewing labor unrest this summer across the UK. With recommended reading on the plight of delivery app workers in Britain and the struggle to unionize Planned Parenthood in Texas. Thank you for listening to our 250th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News James Parrott and L.K. Moe, For one in 10 New York Workers: ‘Independent Contractor’ Means Underpaid and Unprotected, Center for New York City Affairs Emily Feng, He Tried To Organize Workers In China’s Gig Economy. Now He Faces 5 Years In Jail, NPR 2021 ITUC Global Rights Index: COVID-19 pandemic puts spotlight on workers’ rights, International Trade Union Confederation Archie Bland, What are the UK rail strikes about and how long will they go on?, The Guardian Peter Walker, UK summer of unrest? Strikes in the air from barristers to NHS, The Guardian Mark Sweney, BT staff vote for first national strike in 35 years, The Guardian Conversation Asha Banerjee, Abortion rights are economic rights: Overturning Roe v. Wade would be an economic catastrophe for millions of women, Economic Policy Institute Sheelah Kolhatkar, The Devastating Economic Impacts of an Abortion Ban, The New Yorker Argh, I wish I’d written that! Sarah: Eve Livingston, Food delivery drivers fired after ‘cut-price’ GPS app sent them on ‘impossible’ routes, The Observer Michelle: Amy Littlefield, The Struggle to Unionize Planned Parenthood in Texas, Lux The post Belabored: Reproductive Justice Is Labor Justice appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] The pandemic has drawn renewed attention to the issue of working time. The boundaries between home and work have blurred. The spread of the virus has made forced overtime more common as workers subbed in for their sick colleagues. But even before COVID-19, working time was a key issue for workers organizing in many sectors; not long ago, the demand for shorter working hours was a central focus of the labor movement. Controlling our time at work is not just a matter of getting paid fairly for time on the clock. In our globalized, technology- and automation-driven economy, work tends to consume more and more of our lives, exposing us to intensifying stress, draining our energy for other social needs and pursuits in life, and coming at the expense of our families, communities, and civic institutions. The pandemic has put those issues into even sharper relief, as we increasingly question whether the time we spend at work is worth what we’re being paid, worth the physical and psychological stress, and worth risking our lives. In a live episode of Belabored recorded at Labor Notes, we asked workers from several sectors about the fight to control their time and whether labor should renew its focus on “reclaiming our time” as a strategy. Our guests are: Donna Jo Marks, a member of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union at Nabisco, helped get legislation passed in Oregon that restricts employers from imposing overtime on workers without five days notice. Carlos Perez, a teacher in Durham, North Carolina, organized for “Falcon Wednesdays”: days with lightened teaching and learning loads for teachers and students. Jessica Wender-Shubow is president of the Brookline Educators Union, a local of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. Brookline teachers went on strike recently over issues including class and prep time for teachers. Thank you for listening to our 249th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org Conversation Dan DiMaggio, Nabisco Workers Hope Strike Inspires Others: ‘There’s More of Us than There Are of Them’, Labor Notes Stephen Franklin, “We Are Emptying Out Their Shelves”: Nabisco Workers’ 5-Week Strike Won by Shutting Down Business as Usual, In These Times Mark A. Crabtree, Oregon Revises Overtime Laws for Bakers and Farmworkers, National Law Review Rebecca Schneid, With Wellness Wednesdays, Durham schools tune into student health, 9th Street Journal Meg Woolhouse, Brookline teachers’ strike ends after one day, GPH Michelle Chen, Amazon Expects Its Employees to Operate Like Fast-Moving Machines. This Amazon Picker Is Fighting Back., In These Times Spring Break’s Cleanup Crew, Slate The Fight for $15 Is Starting to Fight for Fair Schedules, The Nation Sarah Jaffe, The Four-Day Work Week—Not Just a Daydream, The Progressive The big idea: should we work less?, The Guardian The post Belabored: Working Time Struggles, Live from Labor Notes appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] Last week, workers at Raven Software, a division of major video game production company Activision Blizzard, voted to unionize, forming one of the first collective bargaining units in the games industry in the United States. The small group of quality assurance testers shocked the industry, but not our guest Emma Kinema, a former game worker turned senior campaign lead at the Campaign to Organize Digital Employees-Communications Workers of America (CODE-CWA). She joins us to talk Raven, Activision, and games and tech-industry organizing more broadly. We also hear from Grace, a member of the latest union drive at a Planned Parenthood affiliate under the looming repeal of Roe v. Wade, and about a settlement for Victoria’s Secret garment workers in Thailand from the Solidarity Center’s David Welsh. We look in on the latest conditions for gig workers around the country (spoiler alert: they’re bad) and Seattle’s attempt to improve them. And for Argh, we consider what longtime organizers could learn from unexpected victories at Amazon and Starbucks, and a report on employers holding workers’ past sex work against them. Catch up with Belabored at Labor Notes June 17-19! We’ll be hosting Belabored LIVE from the conference on Friday 6/17 at 5pm, and you can find us on several other panels throughout the weekend, talking China, labor radio, and essential workers. For more details check out the conference schedule here. Thank you for listening to our 248th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Anne D’Innocenzio, Thai garment workers win $8.3M in back pay after layoffs, ABC News Matt Nesterak, Planned Parenthood workers in five states announce intent to unionize, Minnesota Reformer National survey of gig workers paints a picture of poor working conditions, low pay, Economic Policy Institute Seattle’s PayUp Policy, Working Washington Sarah Grace Taylor, Seattle City Council passes ‘Pay Up’ bill, raising wages for certain gig workers, Seattle Times Conversation CODE-CWA Kari Paul, Activision Blizzard’s Raven Software workers vote to form industry’s first union, Guardian Kellen Browning, A Vote by Activision Workers Could Give Unions a Foothold in Gaming, New York Times Sarah Jaffe, Organizing Big Tech, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Sarah Jaffe, Tech’s new labor movement is harnessing lessons learned a century ago, Technology Review Argh, I wish I’d written that! Michelle: J. Edward Moreno, Prior Sex Work Haunts Employees Returning to Traditional Job, Bloomberg Law Sarah: Chris Brooks, How Amazon and Starbucks Workers Are Upending the Organizing Rules, In These Times The post Belabored: Game Workers Unite and Win, with Emma Kinema appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] One of the upshots of the turmoil of the last two years is that the chaos and dangers of working during the pandemic have spurred people to take action to protect their rights at work and to organize their fellow workers. In recent months we’ve seen a rising tide of union drives, many of them clustered in industries that have historically been quite successful at keeping unions out, like food, retail, and logistics. In this episode, Belabored presents a panel discussion with some of the women who are at the helm of this movement, to talk about how their experiences as women have shaped their perspective as workers and organizers. We’ll hear from Nozlee Samadzadeh of the New York Times Tech Guild, Maddie VanHook, worker-organizer with Starbucks Workers United, and Jennifer Bates, worker-organizer at Amazon’s BHM1 fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama. The panel was sponsored by The Century Foundation and WILL Empower, a joint initiative of Georgetown University’s Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor and Rutgers University’s Center for Innovation in Worker Organization. In other news, we check in with child-care workers organizing for better pay, revisit inflation with J.W. Mason, and examine the impact of Long COVID and abortion rights for workers in a post-Roe world. With recommended reading on the exploitation of formerly incarcerated workers and a clash between police and delivery couriers in the UK. Thank you for listening to our 247th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Ximena Conde, More than 20 Philly child-care centers go on strike, Philadelphia Inquirer A Day Without Child Care, Community Change Action Jenny Gross, ‘Another Unequal Burden’: Working With Long Covid, New York Times Long Covid Impact on American Adults, Solve Long Covid Initiative Jeff Cox, Powell says the Fed will not hesitate to keep raising rates until inflation comes down, CNBC Dominic Rushe, Federal Reserve announces biggest interest rate hike since 2000, Guardian Abortion rights are economic rights: Overturning Roe v. Wade would be an economic catastrophe for millions of women, Economic Policy Institute Emma Goldberg, How Roe Shaped the World of Work for Women, New York Times Sarah Jaffe, Why Harris and Hobby Lobby Spell Disaster for Working Women, In These Times Silent no more: overworked tugboat workers are reaching breaking point, International Transport Workers’ Federation Conversation Women Leading the Labor Movement Surge Jennifer Bates, worker-organizer and leader of the BAmazonUnion (RWDSU) organizing effort Nozlee Samadzadeh, New York Times software engineer and New York Times Tech Guild organizing committee member Maddie VanHook, Starbucks shift supervisor and leader with Starbucks Workers United Michelle Chen, Workers Fight for Their Lives, In These Times Jordan Zakarin, NLRB Files National Lawsuit Against Starbucks Over Anti-Worker Rules, More Perfect Union Starbucks Workers United New York Times Tech Guild Sarah Jaffe and Michelle Chen, Belabored: Black Against Amazon, with Steven Pitts and Robin D.G. Kelley, Dissent Argh, I wish I’d written that! Michelle: Katie Jane Fernelius, How the Construction Industry Preys on Workers Newly Released From Prison, In These Times Sarah: Rivkah Brown, Couriers Stunt Dalston’s Gentrification. The Police and Council Want Them Gone, Novara Media The post Belabored: Women Leading the Labor Movement appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] Everyone’s talking about inflation following the Federal Reserve’s announcement of the biggest interest rate increase in twenty years. But what actually is inflation? What causes it, how does it affect workers, and how should unions think about it? We asked economist J.W. Mason to explain it all to us and answer some listener questions about how to organize around price increases. We also check in on the National Day Laborer Organizing Network for Workers’ Memorial Day, hear about a huge May Day strike put on by Voces De La Frontera, look at the latest Starbucks union election results, and discuss the situation of tugboat workers. For Argh, we consider the “Amazonification” of the workforce and how the impending repeal of Roe V. Wade might affect abortion clinic workers. Thank you for listening to our 246th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Sarah Jaffe, Tug Life, American Prospect Silent no more: overworked tugboat workers are reaching breaking point, International Transport Workers’ Federation Amelia Lucas, Starbucks to hike wages, double training for workers as CEO Schultz tries to head off union push, CNBC Tallahassee Starbucks becomes 1st unionized store in Florida, WCTV Colin Staub, Workers at five Oregon Starbucks are now unionized, Northwest Labor Press Nik Theodore, Recovering From Climate Disasters: Immigrant Day Laborers as “Second Responders,” National Labor Day Organizing Network Hannah Kirby, Thousands of people marched in Milwaukee to demand Biden pass protections for immigrant workers, their families, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Conversation J.W. Mason, associate professor of economics at John Jay College, CUNY Tim Barker and J.W. Mason, Is There an Alternative? The Macroeconomics of the Biden Administration, Dissent David Stein, “In a Good Economy Homelessness Goes Up”: Inflation and the Housing Question, Law and Political Economy Project Dominic Rushe, Federal Reserve announces biggest interest rate hike since 2000, Guardian Argh, I wish I’d written that! Michelle: Laura C. Morel, Abortion’s Last Stand in the South: A Post-Roe Future Is Already Happening in Florida, Reveal Sarah: Jason Del Rey, The Amazonification of the American workforce, Vox The post Belabored: What’s Up With Inflation, with J.W. Mason appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] More than 45 million people across the United States are shackled to roughly $1.75 trillion in student debt, which many will be paying off for the rest of their lives. While student loans are often associated with college-educated professionals, education debt disproportionately burdens Black students and women, potentially sinking their prospects for home ownership, starting a family, or saving for retirement. Two years into the pandemic, there is a growing call for the total cancellation of student debt. The Biden administration has offered reforms to give limited relief to some student borrowers, but debt abolitionists say it’s not enough. The Debt Collective—which has been organizing for the abolition of all forms of financial debt for over a decade—is stepping up its campaign on student loans, urging Washington to not only wipe out all student debt through executive action, but also make college free for all so that future students won’t need to get indebted to get educated. We spoke with two organizers with the Debt Collective, Ami Schneider, who is also a debt striker, and Eleni Schirmer, a research associate with the University of California-Los Angeles. In other news, we check in on Stanford nurses preparing to strike, Kenyon students already on strike, organizing Apple store workers, and the National Labor Relations Board taking aim at “captive audience meetings.” With recommended reading on train conductors battling exhaustion and emergency room doctors fighting privatization. Thank you for listening to our 245th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Laura Clawson, NLRB official moves to ban captive audience meetings, Daily Kos Kenyon Student Worker Organizing Committee, We are on strike over unfair labor practices. Indefinitely. Adam Margolis, CAs and ATs go on indefinite Unfair Labor Practice strike, Kenyon Collegian Emily Hofstaedter, Stanford Threatens to Cut Health Care for Nurses Who Go on Strike, Mother Jones CRONA Nurses, Negotiations 2022 Conversation Ami Schneider, organizer with the Debt Collective and debt striker Eleni Schirmer, organizer with the Debt Collective and research associate with UCLA Debt Collective, Our History and Victories Stacy Cowley, Millions move closer to student loan forgiveness with one-time government waivers, New York Times Michelle Chen, Women owe two-thirds of student loan debt. This points to a slow-burning crisis, Guardian Argh, I wish I’d written that! Aaron Gordon, ‘What Choice Do I Have?’ Freight Train Conductors Are Forced to Work Tired, Sick, and Stressed, Vice Maureen Tkacik, Out Of The ER, Into The Street, The Lever The post Belabored: Abolish Student Debt, with the Debt Collective appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] Today, we bring you a two-part episode on logistics labor. First, we speak with Michelle Valentin Nieves, a member of the workers’ committee of the independent Amazon Labor Union. The ALU shocked the world and became the first stateside union to win an election at Amazon last Friday, and we—like everyone—have lots of questions about how they did it. We then move up the supply chain, continuing our discussion with Laleh Khalili, Professor of International Politics at Queen Mary University of London and the author of Sinews of War and Trade: Shipping and Capitalism in the Arabian Peninsula. We talk about the way colonialism left us with not only the shipping routes and ports that we still use today, but also the racialized labor hierarchy on board ship and at port. We also check in with Philadelphia Museum of Art workers, who continue to fight for a contract nearly two years after winning their union election, and for “Argh! I wish I’d written that!” we look at the hard work and low pay of touring musicians, and a personal story of deindustrialization hitting home. With this episode we also celebrate our nine-year anniversary as a podcast. On April 12, 2013, our show was born with an interview with Karen Lewis of the Chicago Teachers Union, and Michelle became a permanent partner in crime shortly thereafter. In that time, we’ve brought you nearly 250 episodes of interviews with workers, organizers, historians, and authors on work and the labor movement. In that time we’ve watched a new generation of young people take up the cause of labor, and win some groundbreaking victories like the one at Amazon last week. Bringing you this level of journalism has been rewarding, but it isn’t cheap and it isn’t easy. If you’ve ever been considering becoming a Patreon supporter, our ninth anniversary would be a great time to do so. Thanks for all you’ve done since we started: supporting us, sharing us with your friends, and telling us your stories. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Luis Feliz Leon, Amazon Workers in Staten Island Clinch a Historic Victory, Labor Notes Sarah Lazare, How Workers Used Amazon’s Captive Audience Meetings Against the Company, In These Times Philadelphia Museum of Art, @pma_union (Instagram) and @PMA_union (Twitter) AFSCME Cultural Workers United, @cwuafscme Conversation Laleh Khalili, Professor of International Politics at Queen Mary University of London Sinews of War and Trade: Shipping and Capitalism in the Arabian Peninsula, Verso Big ships were created to avoid relying on the Suez Canal. Ironically, a big ship is now blocking it., Washington Post Karen Gilchrist, Britain’s P&O Ferries broke the law in laying off 800 staff, boss admits, CNBC Argh, I wish I’d written that! Michelle: Lauren Celenza, How Deindustrialization Shaped My Working-Class Family, In These Times Sarah: Zach Schonfeld, Why Are Musicians Expected To Be Miserable On Tour Just To Break Even?, Stereogum The post Belabored: Winning in Logistics Work, with Michelle Valentin Nieves and Laleh Khalili appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] Retail has historically been one of the hardest sectors to organize, with its high turnover, precarious workforce, and big employers that can invest time and money in crushing union drives. The workers at REI, a retail chain and consumer co-op that specializes in outdoor gear and sportswear, have been bucking that trend. Earlier this month, they voted overwhelmingly to form a union at one of the brand’s flagship stores in Downtown Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood. During their campaign, they cited concerns about training, safety and scheduling issues, and a lack of worker input in workplace decision-making. Just as Starbucks, Amazon, and other large companies have done when with faced unionization efforts in recent months, REI tried to deter workers from organizing with heaps of anti-union propaganda, while also trying to frame itself as a friendly, progressive employer that didn’t want a union interfering with its special relationship with its workforce. We spoke with Steven Buckley, a retail sales specialist and member of the REI SoHo Organizing Committee (now a member of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, or RWDSU), about how the store’s workers dealt with anti-union resistance, and how they managed to turn the crisis of the pandemic into an organizing opportunity. In other news, we look at the ongoing Minnesota teachers’ strike, the struggles of maritime workers off the British coast (with Laleh Khalili, professor of international politics at Queen Mary University of London), new legislation to decriminalize massage workers in New York City (with Esther Kao of Red Canary Song and Jared Trujillo of the NYCLU), and research on which workers are still making less than $15 an hour, with recommended reading on the unappreciated labor of paraeducators and the corporate exploitation of the cost of living crisis. Thank you for listening to our 243rd episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Akičita Šuŋka-Wakaŋ Ska and Niko Georgiades, Students Occupy Minneapolis Public Schools Admin Building in Solidarity with Teachers Strike, Unicorn Riot Mara Klecker and Kim Hyatt, Minneapolis teachers strike standoff intensifies as talks stall, Star Tribune Jem Bartholomew, ‘It wasn’t just a sacking, it was an eviction’: a P&O seafarer tells his story, Guardian Jennifer Meierhans & Katy Austin, New P&O crew on less than £2 an hour, union claims, BBC News Information on Massage License Decriminalization Act, Red Canary Song Leslie Albrecht, ‘It’s shameful’: Nearly one-third of US workers make less than $15 an hour, MarketWatch Amid record inflation, new Oxfam research finds more than 50 million US workers earn less than $15 per hour, Oxfam Conversation Steven Buckley (Retail Sales Specialist, member of the REI Union Soho Organizing Committee, RWDSU member) @reiunionsoho Noam Scheiber, REI Workers in New York Vote to Unionize, New York Times Argh, I wish I’d written that! Sarah: Christine Berry, Who’s profiting from the cost of living crisis? Right now, it’s big business owners, Guardian Michelle: Nora De La Cour, Paraeducators Are Critical to the Classroom — and They Make Poverty Wages, Jacobin The post Belabored: Retail Organizing at REI appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] Teachers and their labor have been one of the most contentious subjects of the COVID era, as the nation’s papers of record (and even some supposedly progressive publications) scolded teachers to get back into the physical classroom and blamed them for everything that could possibly go wrong with children. Around the country, teachers have been quitting, retiring, and finding ways to resist, and now we have a strike in a big urban school district⁠—the first teachers’ and education workers strike in Minneapolis in fifty years, as the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers and Education Support Professionals hits the picket lines. We speak with Minneapolis teacher Maria White and special education assistant Ben Polk about the strike, and also check in with Leah VanDassor of the St. Paul Federation of Educators, which also came within hours of a simultaneous strike. We also hear from New York Times digital engineer Benjamin Harnett, who is part of the tech workers union that scored a big victory this week, and talk about a surprising victory for the postal service⁠—in the Senate, no less. For Argh, we consider the struggles of childless women in the workplace, and the way at-will employment enables discrimination. Thank you for listening to our 242nd episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Alexandra Bruell, Hundreds of New York Times Tech Staffers Vote to Unionize, Wall Street Journal Times Tech Guild The Associated Press, Congress passes bill to shore up the Postal Service without cutting back on delivery, NPR David Dayen, Oshkosh Corporation Seeks Non-Union Labor to Build Postal Trucks, American Prospect Conversation Minneapolis Federation of Teachers and Education Support Professionals St. Paul Federation of Educators Mara Klecker and Ryan Faircloth, Minneapolis teachers walk picket lines as strike begins, Star Tribune Tim Nelson, Jon Collins and Andrew Krueger, Talks set to resume as Minneapolis teachers’ strike extends into third day, MPR News Argh, I wish I’d written that! Sarah: Kelli Maria Korducki, It’s the End of the World As We Know It. And We’re Still At Work., Elle Michelle: Sharon Johnson, ‘That Was What Hurt the Most,’ Progressive The post Belabored: Teacher Strikes in the Age of COVID-19 appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] In this episode, we’re returning to the supply chain story, this time looking in on the warehouse. Amazon warehouse workers in Staten Island and Bessemer continue their push toward union votes, and warehouse workers around the country have been registering unrest in a variety of ways. But what is really going on inside the warehouse, how does it connect to shipping, trucking, and retail, and how close are we to fully automated robot logistics? Beth Gutelius, research director of the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois Chicago, joins us to discuss. We also check in on the strike votes in Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools with Ma-Riah Roberson Moody, an education-support professional in Minneapolis, and the union drive among Apple store workers. We talk about a victory for the U.S. women’s soccer players in their fight for equal pay, and legislation that would end forced arbitration for workplace sexual harassment and assault. For Argh, we consider the life of an ER doctor during the pandemic’s latest wave and what the Black Plague tells us about labor struggles today. Thank you for listening to our 241st episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News M. Isabelle Caudry and Jamillah Bowman Williams, Banning workers from suing their employer hurts people of color and women most, The Hill Andrew Das, U.S. Soccer and Women’s Players Agree to Settle Equal Pay Lawsuit, New York Times Beau Dure, The USWNT got $24m in their equal pay battle. Now comes the hard part, Guardian Sarah Roach, Some Apple Store employees are starting to unionize, Protocol Mara Klecker, Teachers unions in Minneapolis, St. Paul set 10-day strike warning, Star Tribune Minneapolis, St. Paul teachers and support staff authorize strike, Star Tribune Conversation Beth Gutelius Amazon unionization vote was a referendum on automation — and it’s not over yet, Philadelphia Inquirer What Will New Technology Mean for the Future of Warehouse Work?, The Startup The Future of Warehouse Work: Technological Change in the U.S. Logistics Industry Sarah Jaffe, It’ll Take a Movement: Organizing at Amazon after Bessemer, New Labor Forum Organizing Big Tech, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Argh, I wish I’d written that! Sarah: M.T. Anderson, In Medieval Europe, a Pandemic Changed Work Forever. Can It Happen Again?, New York Times Michelle: Yoojin Na, My life as an ER doctor during Covid: “People walk in, throw their garbage at you, and walk out,” Guardian The post Belabored: Cyborg Taylorism in the Warehouse, with Beth Gutelius appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] Over the past several decades, we have witnessed an extraordinary transfer of wealth and power from public ownership into private hands. The shift of public goods—such as public lands, transportation and utility infrastructure, healthcare services, prisons, and schools—into the control of corporations has paralleled a conservative turn in American politics, in which “free markets” are championed as the most efficient and effective means of managing social services and distributing public resources. But privatization has taken a toll on both the quality of the goods and services on which the public relies, and on democracy as a whole. We talk to Donald Cohen, co-author of The Privatization of Everything and executive director of In the Public Interest, about how the privatization of public services and institutions has undermined civil rights, deepened inequality, and made government less accountable—and how the public can restore its ownership of the commons. In other news, we look at Starbucks workers organizing across the country (with Owen Burnham), rideshare and delivery workers organizing in New York, a Brazilian labor caravan mobilizing to protect the Amazon (with Claudia Horn), and congressional staff talking union. With recommended reading on the cost of unsustainable containers and surveillance capitalism of the pandemic era. Thank you for listening to our 240th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Claudia Horn, Brazil labor caravan Emily Wilkins and Ian Kullgren, Hill Staff Trying to Unionize Need Bosses’ Approval First, Bloomberg Law Congressional Workers Union Alex N. Press, Starbucks Has Fired Several Union Leaders in Memphis, Jacobin Map: Where Are Starbucks Workers Unionizing?, More Perfect Union Bobby Caina Calvan, Food delivery workers, ride-share drivers demand more rights, Associated Press Justice For App Workers — Transforming Our Industry Conversation Donald Cohen and Allen Mikaelian, The Privatization of Everything: How the Plunder of Public Goods Transformed America and How We Can Fight Back In the Public Interest Argh, I wish I’d written that! Sarah: Amir Khafagy, The Hidden Costs of Containerization, American Prospect Michelle: Jamie Woodcock, Fighting workplace surveillance, Red Pepper The post Belabored: Public Goods, Private Harms with Donald Cohen appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] The holidays are over, the Omicron wave is beginning to subside, but the “supply chain crisis” continues, and so this week we’re returning to our ongoing occasional series on the workers who make up that thing called the “supply chain.” We’re joined by Steve Viscelli, a sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania who studies freight transportation—in other words, trucking. His book, The Big Rig: Trucking and the Decline of the American Dream, explains how long-haul trucking went from being one of the best blue-collar jobs to one of the toughest, and his current research looks into the future of driverless trucks as well as energy-efficient trucking. We talk about trucking, deregulation, the so-called driver shortage, and much more. We also look into the latest numbers on union membership in America with Margaret Poydock of the Economic Policy Institute (spoiler: it’s not good), the battle over gig work in Massachusetts, the end of the King Soopers strike, and more moves toward a four-day work week. For Argh, we consider nursing home workers’ striking for union recognition, and what happens when experimental art collectives unionize. Thank you for listening to our 239th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Matt Stout and John Hilliard, Lyft makes largest one-time political donation in Massachusetts history, fueling gig worker ballot fight, Boston Globe Whitney Kimball, Rideshare Drivers Could Make as Little as $4.82 Per Hour if Uber Gets Its Labor Law in Massachusetts, Study Finds, Gizmodo Hannah Finnie, Bureau of Labor Statistics releases annual data on union membership in the United States, On Labor Latest data release on unionization is a wake-up call to lawmakers: We must fix our broken system of labor law, Economic Policy Institute Lanie Lee Cook, King Soopers workers ratify new ‘industry-leading’ contract, KDVR Alex N. Press, Kroger Employees in Colorado Have Had Enough — Thousands Are Now on Strike, Jacobin Peter Flanagan, Four-Day Work Week Pilot Launches in U.K. With At Least 30 Companies Taking Part, Bloomberg Jasper Jolly, Canon’s UK arm to become latest company to trial four-day week, Guardian Conversation Steve Viscelli, Faculty Fellow at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy and Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania Urban Truck Ports, Kleinman Center for Energy Policy Driverless Report, UC Berkeley Labor Center Steve Viscelli, Will Robotic Trucks Be “Sweatshops on Wheels”?, Issues in Science and Technology Ryan Haney, Review: The Big Rig: Trucking and the Decline of the American Dream, Labor Notes Eric Miller, California Trucking Association Takes AB 5 Case to Supreme Court, Transport Topics Argh, I wish I’d written that! Sarah: Vanessa Veselka, I’m a Longtime Union Organizer. But I Had Never Seen Anything Like This, New York Times Michelle: Adele Oliveira, What Happened When a Trippy Art Collective Hit It Big—Then Unionized, New Republic The post Belabored: Trucker Supply Crisis? With Steve Viscelli appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] A new year, a new wave of the pandemic. Workers are being asked, once again, to keep working despite a fresh surge in COVID-19 infections, and the Biden administration’s relaxation of guidelines on testing and isolation has sowed fear and confusion. Meanwhile, other federal safety standards are facing court challenges, as pro-business groups claim that the government cannot legally mandate vaccination or testing for workplaces with more than 100 workers. So as we enter year three of the pandemic, and corporations continue to push for a return to “normal,” what role should occupational safety regulators be playing in response to the ongoing public health crisis, and, now that much of the workforce is evidently being left to fend for itself, how should workers and communities deal with the risks of returning to work? We spoke with Debbie Berkowitz, a former senior official at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, about the government’s failure to safeguard workers’ health. And we also talked to Xian Barrett, a special education teacher in Chicago, about the recent standoff between the Chicago Teachers Union and Mayor Lori Lightfoot over returning to in-person schooling. In other news, we look at the end of the student worker strike at Columbia, the end of a nurse’s strike (with Marie Ritacco and Marlena Pellegrino, Massachusetts Nurses Association/Saint Vincent Hospital), the struggles of supermarket workers (with Dan Flaming, Economic Roundtable), and the start of a comics industry union. With recommended reading on travel nurses seeking justice and restaurant workers working sick. Thank you for listening to our 238th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Hungry at the Table, Economic Roundtable Ashley Wong, Student Workers at Columbia End 10-Week Strike After Reaching a Deal, New York Times Rachel Himes, Why Columbia Graduate Workers Like Me Are on Strike, Jacobin Aparna Gopalan, Massachusetts Nurses Just Won an Epic 10-Month Strike, New Republic Bill Shaner, Something sketchy this way comes, Worcester Sucks and I Love It James Whitbrook, Comic Book Workers United Union Officially Certified, Gizmodo Gita Jackson, The Image Union Is the Future of Comics, Vice Conversation Debbie Berkowitz, Practitioner Fellow with the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor. Georgetown University Katherine J. Wu, Can You Leave COVID Isolation After Five Days? – The Atlantic, The Atlantic Debbie Berkowitz, Can OSHA Keep Workers Safe? The Court Hears the Case Tomorrow, The American Prospect Carmel Shachar and I. Glenn Cohen, The Danger of the Supreme Court Undercutting Biden’s Vaccination Rules, Time Jeff Schuhrke, Chicago Teachers Voted to Teach Remotely Amid Omicron Wave—And Now They’re Locked Out, In These Times Nader Issa, Chicago teachers approve deal to end walkout over COVID safety protocols, The Chicago Sun-Times Argh, I wish I’d written that! Sarah: Chris Crowley, The Restaurant Industry Has Always Treated Sick Workers With No Remorse, Grub Street Excess mortality associated with the COVID-19 pandemic among Californians 18–65 years of age, by occupational sector and occupation: March through November 2020, PLOS One Cory Stieg, Line cooks have the highest risk of dying during pandemic, plus other riskiest jobs, CNBC Michelle: Alice Herman, The Big Business Behind Travel Nursing, In These Times The post Belabored: Dangerous Work, with Debbie Berkowitz and Xian Barrett appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] Last night Belabored hosted a discussion on the so-called Great Resignation, Striketober, and other developments in the labor movement in the pandemic era. We were joined by two friends of the podcast: Rebecca Kolins Givan, an associate professor of Labor Studies and Employment Relations in the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and an expert on employment relations in health care and education, comparative welfare states and labor studies; and C.M. Lewis, writer and editor of the labor publication Strikewave and a union staffer in Central Pennsylvania. We are on Patreon! If you liked the show this year, please sign up to support us with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, you can email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org Further Reading Rebecca Kolins Givan (@rkgwork) C.M. Lewis (@thehousered) Strikewave Michelle, Workers Fight for Their Lives, In These Times Sarah and C.M. Lewis, Nurses Are Striking Across the Country Over Patient Safety, The Nation Marianne Garneau, “Striketober”: Hopes and Realities, The Brooklyn Rail James Meadway, When Will the ‘Great Resignation’ Turn Into the Great Strike? Novara Media Deon J. Hampton, Factory workers threatened with firing if they left before tornado, employees say, NBC News C.M. Lewis, The Buffalo Hospital Strike Is the Latest in a New Wave of Labor Unrest, The Nation Sarah, A Transformative Time for Workers, The Progressive Rebecca Kolins Givan and Pamela Whitefield, Women’s Work? Voices of Vermont Educators, Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations Michelle, Jeff Bezos Praises Amazon’s COVID-19 Response. Workers Tell Another Story. Dissent Michelle and Molly Crabapple, This Amazon Grocery Runner Has Risked Her Job to Fight for Better Safety Measures, In These Times The post Belabored: The Great Resignation appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] The news these days is full of stories about the supposed supply chain crisis. But those stories come with little to no explanation of what that actually means, and of course the thing generally known as “the supply chain” isn’t a thing at all, but an impossibly complex web of workers and technology that stretches around the world. Today we’re beginning an intermittent series on supply chains, starting with Charmaine Chua, an assistant professor in the University of California Santa Barbara’s Department of Global Studies and a scholar of global logistics systems at work on a book titled Logistics Leviathan: Circulation, Empire, and the TransPacific Supply Chain. She joined us to discuss global shipping, just-in-time manufacturing, and why there’s no normal to get back to. We also check in on the latest from Bessemer, Alabama, as an NLRB director orders a new union election, and a Board decision that workers have the right to wear “Black Lives Matter” swag on the job. We hear from Zenei Triunfo-Cortez of National Nurses United and Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla of Progressive International about a push from nurses’ unions for global vaccine equity and the latest on the Burgerville workers’ union. For Argh, we consider whether we really need 24-7 shopping, and whether we should be panicking about high wages causing inflation. We’re going to be doing a special end-of-year virtual live show on December 16, 7 p.m. (EST). We’ll be joined by Rutgers University professor and union leader Rebecca Givan and Strikewave’s C.M. Lewis to talk all things Great Resignation and “Striketober,” plus we’ll take your questions! Register here. Thank you for listening to our 236th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla, Carers of the World vs. Covid-19 Criminals, Progressive International Nurses from 28 countries file UN complaint alleging human rights violations by EU and four countries for ‘the loss of countless lives’ in the pandemic, Global Nurses United Noam Scheiber, Union Vote at Amazon Warehouse in Alabama Is Overturned by Regional Labor Office, New York Times Sarah Jaffe, It’ll Take a Movement: Organizing at Amazon After Bessemer, New Labor Forum Jaffe, ‘Horror Story After Horror Story’: A Frontline Nurse Discusses the Crisis, Nation Nick Bowman, Labor board: Fred Meyer, QFC ban on Black Lives Matter buttons violated law, MYNorthwest Conversation Charmaine Chua Chua, Organizing Against Amazon Requires Strategizing Across Global Supply Chains, Jacobin Chua, The Ever Given and the Monstrosity of Maritime Capitalism, Boston Review E. Tammy Kim, The Supply-Chain Crisis Is Creating a Rare Opportunity for Truck Drivers, New York Times Grace Kay, Why the supply chain is in crisis, spurring an ‘everything shortage’, Business Insider Chris Stokel-Walker, Good Luck Trying to Fix the Supply Chain Crisis, Wired Argh, I wish I’d written that! Michelle: Rebecca Gordon, Why Do We Need a 24/7 Economy?, TomDispatch Sarah: Matthew Boesler, Joe Deaux, and Katia Dmitrieva with Josh Eidelson, Fattest Profits Since 1950 Debunk Wage-Inflation Story of CEOs, Bloomberg The post Belabored: Supply Chain Chaos, with Charmaine Chua appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] The Build Back Better bill, also known as the “human infrastructure” package, was just passed by the House. The bill, which still needs to pass the Senate, includes significant investments in home and community-based care—these are the home health aides and other direct care workers who tend to seniors and people with disabilities. As we’ve reported before on Belabored, this has long been an undervalued and overlooked component of the healthcare workforce, and for decades, homecare workers—the vast majority low-income women and women of color—were excluded from key federal labor protections, including the federal minimum wage. Although there have been incremental improvements in the industry’s working conditions over the years as more homecare workers have organized and even unionized, homecare workers today are typically still earning poverty wages. The latest version of the Build Back Better bill, the House of Representatives just passed, would put some $150 billion into Medicaid-supported homecare services as part of a broader investment in social programs from affordable housing to preschool. In turn, labor advocates hope that additional investment in the workforce will help lift up pay scales and provide for more training. To put BBB in context, we spoke with Sadé Dozan, Senior Director of Development at Caring Across Generations—a labor and community advocacy group for homecare workers and families that is also linked to the National Domestic Workers Alliance. In other news, we look at the IATSE vote on a new agreement, a crackdown on organized labor in Thailand with organizer David Welsh, France 24 on strike, and a new deal for Kaiser workers. With recommended reading on the trucking supply chain and nonprofit union hypocrisy. Thank you for listening to our 235th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Tula Connell, Thai Public Employees Campaign to Save Jobs, Union Rights,Solidarity Center Gene Maddaus, Autoworkers at John Deere will remain on strike after voting down another tentative deal, CNN Business Tyler Jett, IATSE Members Vote to Ratify Contract, Ending Strike Threat, Variety SUPPORT FOR FRANCE 24 EMPLOYEES ON STRIKE Conversation Daniella Silva, Home care advocates, those needing services say Build Back Better funding ‘critically important’ for industry, NBC Build Back Better Reconciliation Framework Represents Historic Progress for Home Care Workers, Women of Color, Aging Adults, and People With Disabilities, National Domestic Workers Alliance Michelle: Why We Need to Take Care of the Workers Behind Home Health Care, The Nation Michelle: With Medicaid and Health Care Under Attack, Home Care for the Aging Faces Crisis, Truthout Michelle: Crying Before Work, but Still Showing Up, Dissent Argh, I wish I’d written that! Hamilton Nolan, The ACLU of Illinois Seeks a Playbook for Acceptable Progressive Union Busting, In These Times E. Tammy Kim, All Eyes Are on the Nation’s Ports. Can Truck Drivers Make the Most of It? New York Times The post Belabored: Our Neglected Human Infrastructure, with Sadé Dozan appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] Around the country (and parts of the world), we’ve been hearing about big strikes and dramatic strike votes. But how do you take industrial action when your workplace is your computer, and your “job” consists of hundreds or even thousands of little tasks for pennies at a time? That’s the challenge for a growing legion of “microworkers” around the world, laboring at the behest of platforms that, as today’s guest Phil Jones points out in his new book Work Without The Worker, would be classified as some of the world’s largest employers if they had to classify the workers using them as employees. It’s a problem, he notes, of a changing global capitalism, and is finding new niches around the world, from developing cities to refugee camps. We also check in on the John Deere strike, the Glasgow sanitation workers strike, the New York taxi workers’ struggle for debt relief with Mohamadou Aliyu of the NYTWA, and organizing at Amazon. For Argh, we consider the strike from the point of view of strikers’ children, and call for workers to be allowed to sit down on the job. Thank you for listening to our 234th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Rory Scothorne, “Why climate activists should support the bin strikes marring Cop26’s elite spectacle” New Statesman Chris Isidore, “Autoworkers at John Deere will remain on strike after voting down another tentative deal” CNN Business Tyler Jett “John Deere doubles wage increases, boosts retirement benefits in second offer to striking UAW workers” Des Moines Register Alina Selyukh “Amazon warehouse workers in New York file for a union vote” NPR All Things Considered Brian M. Rosenthal “N.Y.C. Cabbies Win Millions More in Aid After Hunger Strike” New York Times Conversation Work Without the Worker: Labour in the Age of Platform Capitalism, Verso Books Phil Jones, Refugees help power machine learning advances at Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon, rest of world Phil Jones, Big tech’s push for automation hides the grim reality of ‘microwork’ The Guardian Autonomy.work Argh, I wish I’d written that! Sarah: Jacqui Germain, “St. Vincent’s Nurses Are on Strike — This Is What It’s Like for Their Kids” Teen Vogue Michelle: Alex N. Press, Jacobin, “Stop Forcing Workers to Stand on the Job” Jacobin The post Belabored: Work Without the Workers, with Phil Jones appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] For decades, the United Auto Workers (UAW) has been controlled by a tight-knit group of insiders known for its opacity and corrupt tendencies, leading many rank-and-file members to criticize the leadership for its arrogance, lack of accountability, and failure to address the needs of a workforce that is increasingly precarious and alienated. All that might start to change in the coming weeks as UAW members vote on a historic referendum to change the way it elects its central leadership: members can decide whether to replace the current system of indirect elections through a small, exclusive group of delegates, with direct elections, known as “one member, one vote.” That might seem like a pretty basic change, but pro-reform members say that this is the first step toward breaking the monopoly on power held by the current leadership, and could help this storied union become more progressive and address endemic corruption. And it only took a huge embezzlement scandal to get here. To learn more about how the current turmoil among UAW’s top brass could create an opportunity for grassroots change, I talked with Justin Mayhugh of Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD), which describes itself as “a grassroots movement of UAW members, active and retired, united in the common goal of creating a more democratic and accountable union.” In other news, we’ve got updates on the narrowly averted strike of craft film and television workers, and their new pending agreement, the ongoing strikes of John Deere workers and Saint Vincent nurses, and Glasgow bin workers planning to strike during the upcoming climate talks. With recommended reading on striking Big Bourbon and making sex work safer. Thank you for listening to our 233rd episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Jazz Tangcay, Crew Members React to IATSE Agreement, Variety Jonah Furman, ‘Let’s Put a Wrench in Things Now’: Deere Workers Strike as Company Rakes in Record Profits, Labor Notes Libby Brooks, Glasgow bin workers to strike during Cop26 climate summit, The Guardian Drew Sandelands, Bin workers planning strike during COP26 urged to ‘think again’, GlasgowLive Conversation Unite All Workers for Democracy Democratizing the UAW Justin Mayhugh, Can Auto Workers Win the Right to Vote? Here’s How Teamsters Did It, Labor Notes Argh, I wish I’d written that! Sarah: Alex Press, Workers at One of the Country’s Biggest Bourbon Producers Have Been on Strike for a Month, Jacobin Michelle: Cecilia Gentili, This Is What Will Make Sex Work in New York Safer, New York Times The post Belabored: Can the United Auto Workers Be Democratized? With Justin Mayhugh appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] Work continues to get worse, on both sides of the Atlantic, and indeed we’re beginning to see signs of a new militancy from unionized workers, from manufacturing to healthcare. Yet many young people still don’t know how to begin organizing their workplace, or even that there are unions that could help. This week, we’re joined by Scottish labor journalist Eve Livingston, the author of a new book, Make Bosses Pay, which aims both to get young people connected to unions and to push unions to engage more with the working class as it is today: diverse, precarious, and perhaps on the brink of rebellion. We also check in with Marissa Nuncio, director of the Garment Workers Center of Los Angeles, as California’s garment workers finally break the piece rate system and start to hold fashion brands accountable; healthcare workers on the picket lines in Buffalo, New York; the third strike at an iconic American food manufacturer this year; and look forward to a potential strike of film crew workers around the country. For Argh, we consider gig workers’ strikes in Berlin, and Americans’ endless appetite for “feel-good” poverty stories. Thank you for listening to our 232nd episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News California to require garment industry to pay hourly wages to workers, Reuters David Robb, IATSE & AMPTP Return To Bargaining For Day 2 Of Last-Ditch Efforts To Avert A Strike, Deadline C. M. Lewis, The Buffalo Hospital Strike Is the Latest in a New Wave of Labor, The Nation Michael Sainato, Wave of US labor unrest could see tens of thousands on strike within weeks, Guardian Nick Buckley, ‘Fighting for our future’: Kellogg’s workers at all US cereal plants strike after contract with the cereal maker expires, Yahoo Finance Workers go on strike against Kellogg’s U.S. cereal plants, NPR Conversation Eve Livingston Eve Livingston, Make Bosses Pay: Why We Need Unions, Pluto Press Argh, I wish I’d written that! Michelle: Kali Holloway, “Feel-Good” News Story or Poverty Propaganda?, The Nation Sarah: Asiya Ahmed, How migrant riders for the Gorillas delivery start-up are re-igniting the fight for labour rights in Germany, Gal-Dem The post Belabored: Toward a Liberatory Unionism, with Eve Livingston appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] When Occupy Wall Street emerged a decade ago in a tiny park in the Financial District of New York City, it was met with skepticism among some activists. But as the occupation persisted and eventually spiraled into a global protest movement, that cynicism began to yield to inspiration, even for seasoned activists and organizers. Though Occupy didn’t last very long, its enduring afterglow has shaped many subsequent campaigns and movements, including some leaders in the labor movement. In this second installment of our two-part series on Occupy, we discuss the movement’s ramifications for organizing and class consciousness in New York and beyond, with Ruth Milkman, labor scholar at the City University of New York’s School of Labor and Urban Studies and co-author of a landmark study on the participants of Occupy Wall Street, and Nastaran Mohit, Organizing Director of the NewsGuild of New York. In addition to our in-depth interview, we cover the latest developments in the campaign to unionize meal-kit giant HelloFresh, and the conclusion of the Nabisco strike. This episode of Belabored is part of a collective of podcasts brought together to explore the legacy of Occupy, in light of its ten-year anniversary. The producing partners for this project are the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation’s New York office and The New School’s Milano program. You can also hear analysis on Occupy’s impact from The Dig and more of your favorite podcasts. We encourage you to learn more and listen to the other episodes at RosaLux.NYC/Occupy. Thank you for listening to our 231st episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Sophie Peel, Nabisco Strike Ends After Majority of Bakers’ Union Members Across US Approve New Contract, Williamette Week Alex Press, Nabisco Workers Are on Strike in Three States, Jacobin Jaya Saxena, The Largest Meal Kit Company in America Could Be the First to Unionize, Eater Lauren Kaori Gurley, HelloFresh Workers Unionize to Improve Brutal Working Conditions, VICE Conversation Ruth Milkman, Stephanie Luce, and Penny Lewis, Changing the Subject The Hand That Feeds Ruth Milkman, Stephanie Luce, and Penny Lewis, Did Occupy Wall Street Make a Difference?, The Nation Michelle Chen, Labor Movement Rolls Into Wall Street Occupation, In These Times Chen, Immigrants Occupy! Broadening a Movement Culture, Common Dreams Chen, Imagining a Just Recovery from Superstorm Sandy, In These Times Chen, Occupying the Big Screen, The Progressive Magazine Sarah Jaffe, What Sandy Wrought, Part 1, Rewire The post Belabored: The Legacy of Occupy Wall Street, with Ruth Milkman and Nastaran Mohit appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] September 17 will mark ten years since Occupy Wall Street kicked off in Lower Manhattan, changing the way we talk about inequality, politics, and capitalism. What effect, though, did it have on the labor movement? This week, we’re exploring Occupy’s legacy with Stephen Lerner, organizer and fellow at Georgetown University’s Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor, and Jonathan Westin, director of New York Communities for Change. Both tried to organize around the financial crisis before Occupy and were active during the movement. Now, they consider its tactics, its language, its class makeup, and what lessons it holds for a labor movement still struggling to find its footing in an increasingly crisis-prone world. On this episode and the next one, we’re featuring an extra-long conversation, but we also look at a nurses’ walkout in Alabama, the ongoing strike at St. Vincent Hospital, and Starbucks workers unionizing. This episode of Belabored is part of a collective of podcasts brought together to explore the legacy of Occupy, in light of its ten-year anniversary. The producing partners for this project are the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation’s New York office and The New School’s Milano program. You can also hear analysis on Occupy’s impact from The Dig and more of your favorite podcasts. We encourage you to learn more and listen to some of the other episodes by visiting RosaLux.NYC/Occupy. And tune in for our next episode with Ruth Milkman and Nastaran Mohit. Thank you for listening to our 230th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Noam Scheiber, Starbucks Faces Rare Union Challenge as Buffalo Workers Seek Vote, New York Times Lauren Kaori Gurley, ‘It’s Almost Comical:’ Starbucks Is Blatantly Trying to Crush Its Union, VICE Cyrus Moulton, St. Vincent Strike Hits Six-Month Mark, Telegram Connor Sheets, UAB nurses protest as COVID pandemic rages on: ‘We are extremely overwhelmed’, AL.com Conversation Stephen Lerner New York Communities for Change Stephen Lerner, Organize and Occupy!, The Nation (2011) Sarah Jaffe, The 99% Versus Wall Street: Stephen Lerner on How We Can Mobilize To Be the Greedy 1%’s Worst Nightmare, Alternet (2011) Jaffe, The McJobs Strike Back: Will Fast-Food Workers Ever Get a Living Wage?, The Atlantic (2012) Jaffe, This Group Pioneered the Fight for $15. Can They Transform the Fight for Affordable Housing Too?, The Nation (2016) Emily Stewart, We Are (Still) the 99 Percent, Vox The post Belabored: Occupy’s Ten-Year Anniversary, with Stephen Lerner and Jonathan Westin appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] Joe Biden campaigned for the presidency with promises of dealing comprehensively with climate change and expanding job opportunities through initiatives like strengthening the renewables industry to create millions of clean energy jobs. But now that he’s well into his first year in office, environmental groups fear the Biden administration is neglecting these earlier assurances, and hope for the Green New Deal—the climate justice plan that progressives in Congress have outlined—is withering on the vine. The “bipartisan” infrastructure bill that has advanced through Congress is devoid of many of the core climate measures in Biden’s initial infrastructure plan. The pending reconciliation bill will likely contain more dramatic climate provisions, but the prospects remain unclear. We talked to Joe Uehlein, Founding President of the Labor Network for Sustainability, about how the administration and Congress are falling short in moving to decarbonize the economy while protecting the workers who have the most to gain, or lose, in the transition from fossil fuels. In other news, we look at the court ruling that could be a game changer for California rideshare drivers with Nicole Moore of Rideshare Drivers United, the window cleaners and Nabisco workers on strike, and the new left leadership in one of the UK’s biggest unions. With recommended reading on a community takeover of McDonald’s and deadly exploitation in coal mines. Thank you for listening to our 229th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Kim Lyons, Judge rules California Prop 22 gig workers law is unconstitutional, The Verge Eliza McCullough and Brian Dolber, Most California Rideshare Drivers Are Not Receiving Health-Care Benefits under Proposition 22, National Equity Atlas Rideshare Drivers United Filiberto Nolasco Gomez, High Rise Window Cleaner Strike is Over, Workday Minnesota Alex Press, A Striking Nabisco Worker Explains Why She and 300 Coworkers Are on Strike in Chicago, Jacobin Aaron Gregg, Nabisco workers on strike in 5 states over pensions, outsourcing, Washington Post Alex Maguire, Sharon Graham’s Unite election victory should not come as a surprise, New Statesman What’s at stake for the left in Unite’s General Secretary election? An interview with Steve Turner and Sharon Graham, Red Pepper Conversation Just Transition Listening Project Report: Workers and Communities in Transition Ella Nilsen, Climate measures in reconciliation, infrastructure bills will mostly meet Biden’s emissions goals, Schumer says, CNN Kate Aronoff, The Democrats Responded to the Latest U.N. Climate Report With Business as Usual, The New Republic Argh, I wish I’d written that! Sarah: Hanna Bechiche, Lovin it: How a group of Marseille workers seized a McDonald’s and turned it into a foodbank, Gal-Dem Michelle: Kari Lydersen, In the Coal Mines, Workers Are Dying to Make a Living, In These Times The post Belabored: Washington Retreats from a Just Transition, with Joe Uehlein appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] What is work, actually? The question is surprisingly hard to answer once you start to dig into it. But in order to challenge the conditions under which we work, it’s worth actually thinking about why work is the way it is, and what makes it—for lack of a better word—suck. Amelia Horgan’s new book Lost in Work: Escaping Capitalism looks at these questions and asks how we can rearrange work to better suit workers. She sat down with Belabored this week to talk about it. We look at the NLRB ruling that the Bessemer Amazon workers can have a new union election, the ongoing nurses’ strike at St. Vincent Hospital, and the questions surrounding pandemic unemployment expansion with Andy Stettner of The Century Foundation. We also remember Richard Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO, who we lost last week age seventy-two. For Argh, we consider the Activision Blizzard workers walkout, and the working-class gaze of the Ashcan School. Thank you for listening to our 228th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Alina Selyukh, Amazon Warehouse Workers In Alabama May Get To Vote Again On Union, NPR Jennifer Liu, Could pandemic unemployment be extended beyond Labor Day? What experts are saying, CNBC Andrew Stettner, 7.5 Million Workers Face Devastating Unemployment Benefits Cliff This Labor Day, The Century Foundation Erik Loomis remembers Trumka C.M. Lewis, Richard Trumka’s legacy will be the AFL-CIO’s future, Strikewave John H. Richardson, Richard Trumka Knows Exactly What He’s After, Esquire (2011) Marin Wolf, Tenet Healthcare CEO to Step Aside, Dallas Morning News Michelle Williams, Massachusetts Nurses Association calls Saint Vincent Hospital’s final offer to resolve Worcester strike an ‘unsatisfactory ultimatum’, MassLive Conversation Amelia Horgan, Lost in Work: Escaping Capitalism, Pluto Books Amelia Horgan, The politics of everyday life: rest, New Statesman Amelia Horgan, Sarah Jaffe, Lois McCallum of Sheffield Needs a Pay Rise and Tam Wilson of BetterThanZero discuss organizing Argh, I wish I’d written that! Sarah: Cecilia D’Anastasio, Activision Blizzard Employees Walk Out After Allegations of Rampant Sexism, Wired Michelle: Billy Anania, The Ashcan School Painted the American Working Class, Jacobin The post Belabored: Lost in Work, with Amelia Horgan appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] Over the last few months, big brands have gone out of their way to signal their supposed virtues, from Coca Cola’s Black Lives Matter ads, to the special-edition rainbow Lego set made especially for Pride Month, to the Ben & Jerry’s (aka Unilever’s) announcement that it would stop selling its ice cream in the occupied Palestinian territories following pressure from the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. These moves reflect the concept of “corporate social responsibility,” or “corporate citizenship.” In many cases, brands attempt to demonstrate this ethos through schemes like fair-trade certification or “ethical sourcing” initiatives. And programs known as “Multi-stakeholder Initiatives” (MSIs) aim to check human rights and labor abuses in global supply chains. But labor-rights groups say these initiatives are essentially designed as top-down protocols, largely controlled by the corporations or by business-friendly auditing systems that act as little more than a rubber stamp. We speak with Anna Canning, campaigns manager of the Fair World Project, and Tyler Giannini, board member of MSI Integrity, about voluntary corporate self-policing schemes, why “fair trade” often amounts to “fairwashing” products, and how worker-led alternatives to MSIs can provide real accountability across the supply chain. In other news, we look at Scabby the Rat’s comeback, California garment workers and New York City essential workers demanding labor protections and government relief (with Silvia Gaston of Make the Road NY), and the collateral consequences of workplace sexual harassment. With recommended reading on Frito-Lay strikers and the fight to save a generic drugs factory in West Virginia. Special thanks to Yatziri Tovar of Make the Road NY for providing translation. Thank you for listening to our 227th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Eyewitness News, Immigrant Essential Workers Rally in Manhattan for Pathway to Citizenship, ABC Michelle Chen, You Can Work but Not Stay, Progressive Institute for Women’s Policy Research and the TIME’S UP Foundation, Paying Today and Tomorrow: Charting the Financial Costs of Workplace Sexual Harassment – IWPR 2020 Rebekah K. Herman and Ronald Meisburg, Scabby the Rat, Coming to a Business Near You? It’s Possible, National Law Review Sarah Jaffe, The History of Scabby the Rat, Vice Conversation: Corporate “fair washing” and workers’ rights, with Tyler Giannini, board member of MSI Integrity, and Anna Canning, Campaigns Manager, Fair World Project Fair Trade USA and Chobani’s launch of “Fair Trade Dairy” is Opposed by Labor & Human Rights Groups, Fair World Project For a Better World podcast, Fair World Project Not Fit-for-Purpose, MSI Integrity Beyond Corporations, MSI Integrity Michelle Chen, Why ‘Corporate Responsibility’ Campaigns Fail, The Nation Michelle Chen, 6 Years After Rana Plaza Collapse, an Accord to Improve Bangladesh’s Worker Safety Is in Jeopardy, In These Times) Michelle Chen, China’s Workers and the Emerging Intern Class, The Asia-Pacific Journal Michelle Chen, This Will Make You Think Twice About Downing That Pint of Ben & Jerry’s in One Sitting, The Nation Argh, I wish I’d written that! Sarah: Alex Press, Frito-Lay Workers Are on Strike for Their Lives, Jacobin Michelle: Hamilton Nolan, As Devastating Plant Shutdown Looms in West Virginia, National Outrage Is Hard to Find, In These Times and also Big Pharma vs The People: The Fight to Save America’s Largest Generic Drug Manufacturer, The Laura Flanders Show The post Belabored: Why “Corporate Social Responsibility” Fails Workers appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] Teachers around the country are under pressure⁠—not just the continued stress of teaching in a pandemic, but now a new right-wing campaign to ban “critical race theory” in schools aims to crack down on teachers who teach honestly about racism. Jesse Hagopian, a Seattle teacher, writer, and editor of books including Black Lives Matter at School, joins us to discuss this latest backlash, and what teachers and their unions can do to protect themselves and their students. We also look at the new just cause provisions in New York City, the conditions for union—and nonunion—retail workers, the potential inclusion of PRO Act provisions in the budget, the end of a major Steelworker strike, and fast food workers who went viral with a sign of frustration. For Argh, we consider the union movement in journalism, and how work from home is sometimes more work for women. Thank you for listening to our 226th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Josh Eidelson, Most Americans Can Be Fired for No Reason at Any Time, But a New Law in New York Could Change That, Bloomberg Richa Naidu, Retail workers in unions reap higher wages even as U.S. organizers suffer setbacks, Reuters Sharon Zhang, Sanders Confirms Inclusion of Provisions of PRO Act in Reconciliation Bill, Truthout C.M. Lewis, Citing Unfair Labor Practices, 1,300 Steelworkers Strike in Five States, In These Times Peter Knowlton, Striking ATI Steelworkers Hold the Line for Premium-Free Health Insurance, Labor Notes Conversation Right-wing Legislators are Trying to Stop Us From Teaching for Racial Justice. We Refuse, Rethinking Schools Sarah Jones, How to Manufacture a Moral Panic, New York Magazine Jesse Hagopian: I Am An Educator Jesse Hagopian and Denisha Jones, Black Lives Matter At School, Haymarket Books Argh, I wish I’d written that! Sarah: Angela Fu, Not just a wave, but a movement: Journalists unionize at record numbers, Poynter Michelle: Rani Molla, For women, remote work is a blessing and a curse, Vox The post Belabored: Critical Race Panic in Schools, with Jesse Hagopian appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] Over the course of the Trump era, China became a favorite target of the right, on issues ranging from trade policy to human rights to COVID-19, with some dangerous implications in terms of anti-Asian violence and xenophobia in the United States. But what does this mean for workers and for the labor movement both here and in China? In addition to being a massive authoritarian capitalist state, China is also home to arguably the world’s biggest working class. And for all the talk about so-called American jobs being offshored to China, where do the plights of workers in both countries intersect? Is global labor solidarity possible? To figure out how labor and the left should be thinking about China, we talked to Tobita Chow, director of Justice is Global, and Kevin Lin, a Hong Kong based labor activist and researcher. In other news, we spoke with Harvard Law Professor Benjamin Sachs on a recent Supreme Court ruling that puts property rights above farmworkers’ rights and Elizabeth Lalasz about the Chicago nurses strike last week. And we discuss Black TikTok withholding their labor and a bill to protect workers from ageism, with recommended reading on a radical union on the high seas and socialism at Buffalo’s grassroots. Thank you for listening to our 225th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Adam Liptak, Supreme Court Rules Against Union Recruiting on California Farms, New York Times Ross Slaughter, Property Owners Win Big in Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, OnLabor Carmen Reinicke, House of Representatives passes bill to protect older Americans in the workplace, CNBC Sarah Jaffe, Belabored Stories: What If Nurses Ran the Healthcare System?, Dissent Jeff Schuhrke, Chicago Nurses Are Going on Strike—And Management Is Bringing in Scabs Through a Text Blast, In These Times Kari Paul, ‘They can’t do it without us’: Black TikTokers strike to protest dance appropriation, Guardian Taylor Hatmaker, On TikTok, Black creators’ dance strike calls out creative exploitation, TechCrunch Conversation Tobita Chow, director of Justice Is Global Kevin Lin, labor activist and researcher on China, editorial board of Made In China Journal Kevin Lin and Ashley Smith, China and the United States: A New Cold War, New Politics Tobita Chow and Jake Werner, Trump Is Trying to Put Us on War Footing with China. It’s Up to the Left to Stop It, In These Times Tobita Chow, How China Threat Narratives Feed Anti-Asian Racism and How to Fight Back, Justice Is Global Michelle Chen, Hong Kong Protesters and Militant Chinese Workers Point the Way to a New Kind of Internationalism, In These Times Michelle Chen, China’s Workers Aren’t Fighting a Trade War—They’re Fighting a Labor War, The Nation Argh, I wish I’d written that! Michelle: Jonathan Kissam, ‘We Took Care of Each Other’: A Maritime Union’s Hidden History of Gay-Straight and Interracial Solidarity, Labor Notes Sarah: C.M. Lewis, Gilded Rust: The Making of Buffalo’s Socialist Upset, Protean The post Belabored: Labor Solidarity in China, with Tobita Chow and Kevin Lin appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] After two and a half years of bargaining, virtual picket lines, and a credible down-to-the-wire strike threat, the workers at the New Yorker—and Pitchfork and Ars Technica—have an agreement for a union contract. The last couple of months have seen heightened tensions and a very-much-not-virtual picket at the home of Anna Wintour, the Global Chief Content Officer of Condé Nast, the company that owns the publications in question. The workers are very pleased with the contract they won, which includes substantial raises and improvements to working conditions. In this episode, we speak with Gili Ostfield, a member of The New Yorker Union’s bargaining team, about what the union won, how they did it, and what other workers in media—and outside of it—can learn from their victory. We also speak with North Carolina care worker Samantha McLeod about good care jobs and the American Jobs Plan, and with Ligia Guallpa of the Workers Justice Project about organizing delivery workers in New York. Then we look at legal weed and labor peace in Connecticut and “lying flat,” a perhaps-new resistance movement to always-on work culture in China. For Argh, we continue to consider rest—and the culture war’s invasion of the classroom. Thank you for listening to our 224th episode! If you like the show, you can support us on Patreon with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Lily Kuo, Young Chinese take a stand against pressures of modern life — by lying down, Washington Post Cheryl Teh, More and more Chinese 20-somethings are rejecting the rat race and ‘lying flat’ after watching their friends work themselves to death, Insider Clayton Guse, Restaurants would be required to allow NYC’s 80,000 food delivery workers to use restrooms under proposed legislation, NY Daily News Mark Pazniokas and Keith M. Phaneuf, Senate narrowly votes to legalize marijuana in Connecticut, CT Mirror AFL-CIO & UFCW Urges Legislature to Include Labor Peace in Legal Cannabis Bill Cannabis Economy Peace Laws Spread, Fertilizing Union Growth, Bloomberg Law Dignity In Healthcare Petition Rebekah Barber, Low-wage care workers rally for the American Jobs Plan, Facing South Conversation Elahe Izadi, New Yorker union averts a strike, reaches agreement with bosses, Washington Post Dave Jamieson and Marina Fang, New Yorker Workers Hold Significant Leverage In Strike Threat: A Weekly Print Product, HuffPost Jada Yuan and Elahe Izadi, The New Yorker’s labor dispute reaches Anna Wintour’s doorstep, Washington Post Argh, I wish I’d written that! Sarah: Amelia Horgan, The politics of everyday life: rest, The New Statesman Michelle: Jennifer C. Berkshire, Culture War in the K-12 Classroom, The Nation The post Belabored: Strike Averted at the <i>New Yorker</i>, with Gili Ostfield appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] After over a year of lockdowns and mass death, this past Memorial Day weekend seemed to mark a turning point in our so-called recovery. As we move toward vaccinating a majority of the nation’s adults, people are beginning to travel and gather in groups again, and millions are returning to their workplaces and rejoining the labor force. And now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a new guidance on mask wearing, dramatically loosening both indoor and outdoor guidelines for people who are vaccinated. So how are you feeling about going back to work? If you’re a bit nervous, you’re not the only one. Unions and labor advocates have decried the new guidelines for failing to take into account occupational safety, and have called on the Biden administration to issue a workplace-safety standard specifically for COVID-19. For our 223rd episode, we spoke to workers and labor advocates about what the lifting of pandemic-related restrictions might mean for workplace safety and labor rights. We talked to two members of the New York-based Worker’s Justice Project, Mercedes Aguilar and Gustavo Ajche; and Debbie Berkowitz, Worker Health and Safety Program Director, National Employment Law Project. In other news, we look at Naomi Osaka refusing to play ball at the French Open; a “right to return” bill for laid-off workers in Nevada with Geoconda Argüello-Kline; a labor trafficking case linked to a Hindu sect; and research on bad jobs in the gig economy and what to make of Uber’s much-hyped deal with a UK union with Matt Cole of Fairwork and the Oxford Internet Institute. With recommended reading on organizing college athletes and a historic cartoonists’ strike. We are now on Patreon! You can sign up to support us with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Hindu Sect Is Accused of Using Forced Labor to Build N.J. Temple (New York Times) GLJ-ILRF Stands in Solidarity With New Jersey Workers Who Exposed Forced Labor and are Demanding Transnational Labor Justice Across the BAPS Global Supply Chain Fairwork UK Ratings 2021: Labour Standards in the Gig Economy Uber’s union deal doesn’t mean its battles are over (Wired) We’re not the good guys: Osaka shows up problems of press conferences (The Guardian) Sarah: Don’t Call It a Boycott: NBA Players Are Inspiring a Strike Wave (Progressive) Culinary Union applauds the Nevada Legislature for standing with hospitality workers and for the passage of Senate Bill 386 Right to Return Gaming and labor leaders reach a compromise on ‘Right to Return’ legislation (The Nevada Independent) Conversation Workplace safety and the post-pandemic “recovery,” with: Mercedes Aguilar, Worker’s Justice Project Gustavo Ajche, Worker’s Justice Project Debbie Berkowitz, Worker Health and Safety Program Director, National Employment Law Project Unions are horrified at the mask mandate rollback — and fear workers’ lives are at risk again (Salon) CDC’s Mask Guidance Ignores Workers’ COVID-19 Risk (Time) NELP Decries New CDC Mask Guidance for Failing to Address Workplace Exposure Which States and Cities Have Adopted Comprehensive COVID-19 Worker Protections? Michelle: Essential Workers Fight for Their Lives (In These Times) Michelle: This Amazon Grocery Runner Has Risked Her Job to Fight for Better Safety Measures, (In These Times) Argh, I wish I’d written that! Sarah: Nathan Kalman-Lamb, Derek Silva and Johanna Mellis, There’s never been a better time for US college athletes to unionize (The Guardian) Michelle: Paul Prescod, 80 Years Ago Today, Disney Animation Workers Went on Strike (Jacobin) The post Belabored: Back to Work appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] As the bombs continued to fall in Gaza this week, Palestinians across Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza came together for a historic general strike against occupation, state violence, and a regime that exploits their labor while denying them basic rights. The “general strike for dignity and hope” brought together workers in a wide variety of industries and working conditions; Ha’aretz reported that “only 150 of the 65,000 Palestinian construction workers [came] to work in Israel. This paralyzed building sites, causing losses estimated at 130 million shekels (nearly $40 million).” We spoke with Riya Al-Sanah, a researcher on political economy and the author of several reports on workers’ rights and labor issues in Palestine, about the strike and what it felt like on the ground, trade unions in Palestine, and what it all means for the struggle going forward. We also spoke with Veena Dubal on a potential “sectoral bargaining” deal with Uber and Lyft in New York, and heard an update from Marlena Pellegrino, one of the striking nurses from St. Vincent Hospital in Massachusetts, on the picket line for the eleventh straight week. We consider a new report on what causes wage suppression in the United States, and look at the Fight for $15 strike this week and the ongoing conversation about unemployment benefits. For Argh, we consider Amazon’s dystopian new “AmaZen” wellness program and getting the profits out of care. We are now on Patreon! You can sign up to support us with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Sarah: The battle for the future of “gig” work (Vox) Labor, Gig Companies Said to Be Near Deal in New York (Bloomberg) Sarah: The Fight for $15 Confronts the ‘Labor Shortage’ Narrative (The American Prospect) Sarah, with C.M. Lewis: Nurses Are Striking Across the Country Over Patient Safety (The Nation) Striking St. Vincent Nurses Stand Firm Against Replacement Hiring (Telegram) Conversation General Strike Highlights Israel’s Dependency on Palestinian Workers (Haaretz) In Pictures: In show of unity, Palestinians go on strike (Al Jazeera) Riya Al’Sanah on Twitter Riya Al’Sanah with Rafeef Ziadah: Palestinian Workers Are Bearing the Brunt of the Pandemic (Jacobin) Riya Al’Sanah: Workers’ Rights in Crisis: Palestinian workers in Israel and the settlements (ITUC) Riya Al’Sanah: Exploited and Essential: Palestinian Labour Under COVID-19 Michelle (from 2014): Jerusalem’s Palestinian Neighborhoods Are Under Economic Siege (The Nation) From 2017: Palestinian Workers Are Now Unionizing in the West Bank (The Nation) Argh, I wish I’d written that! Michelle: Robert Kuttner, Capitalism and the Caring Economy (The American Prospect) Sarah: Edward Ongweso Jr., Amazon’s New ‘AmaZen’ Program Will Show Warehouse Workers Meditation Videos (Vice) The post Belabored: General Strike in Palestine appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] Care workers are organizing and striking around the country, from 800 nurses on the picket lines in Worcester, Massachusetts to a barely-averted strike of 4,000 hospital workers in Minnesota to 2,000 new nurse union members in Maine. But care work and “work-work” are still too often separated in people’s minds, and in public policy. This week, to look at Joe Biden’s “American Jobs Plan” and “American Families Plan” and assess them both in terms of economic and environmental impact, we’re joined by Alyssa Battistoni, a fellow at Harvard’s Center for the Environment, a member of Dissent‘s editorial board, and the co-author of A Planet To Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal. Alyssa is one of our favorite thinkers on care work as a green job, and we also talk a little bit about graduate student workers on strike too. Speaking of academic labor, we hear from Rutgers University’s faculty union president Todd Wolfson on how a campus-wide coalition of workers saved jobs and built solidarity, and the ongoing struggle for citizenship rights for undocumented workers with Jonathan Jayes Green. We also look at the potential strike at Conde Nast publications the New Yorker, Pitchfork, and Ars Technica, and the raise that thousands of federal contractors are getting. For “Argh,” we consider the (union) workers who make the Kentucky Derby happen, and the farmworkers who make your salads happen. We are now on Patreon! You can sign up to support us with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News For Workers at Rutgers, Work Sharing Has Been a Weapon Against Austerity (Jacobin) Sarah: “Injury to All” at Rutgers (Dissent) New Yorker staffers vote to authorize strike amid tensions with Condé Nast (Guardian) The New Yorker Union Why undocumented essential workers need to be part of Biden’s massive infrastructure package (AL DÍA) Up to 390,000 federal contractors will see a raise under the Biden-Harris executive order (EPI) Conversation Alyssa Battistoni A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal Alyssa Battistoni: Living, Not Just Surviving (Jacobin) Alyssa Battistoni: Spadework (n+1) Alyssa Battistoni: Will Joe Biden Be the First Climate President? (Dissent) Sarah: Who Cares? (Baffler) Michelle: Even With a New Union, California’s Child Care Providers Struggle Amid Pandemic (Truthout) Argh, I wish I’d written that! Sarah: Travis Waldron, Potential Work Stoppage Looms Over Saturday’s Kentucky Derby (Huffington Post) Michelle: Esther Honig, The Story Behind Your Salad: Farmworkers, Covid-19, and a Dangerous Commute (The Nation) The post Belabored: The Value of Care, with Alyssa Battistoni appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] Four decades ago, immigrant workers began to organize to demand the right to a fair wage, the right to be free from police harassment, detention, and deportation, and the right to safety and dignity on the job. Those efforts eventually crystallized into the worker center movement. As grassroots labor organizations, worker centers today focus on organizing workers who are typically excluded from labor regulations, disconnected from mainstream unions, or otherwise socially marginalized. This week we talk with each other about our articles for The American Prospect’s series on worker centers, discussing the evolution of the movement, its impact on policy, and the way we think about labor. In other news, we look at nurses on strike in Massachusetts (with Marie Ritacco, a Post Anesthesia Care Unit nurse, member of the St Vincent Nurses negotiating team and the Vice President at Massachusetts Nurses Association) and labor activists imprisoned in Myanmar (with Bent Gehrt of Worker Rights Consortium), along with some reflections on Amazon workers and the failed union vote in Bessemer. With recommended reading on why New York’s restaurants can’t hire enough workers, and why “just cause” labor protections are having a moment. We are now on Patreon! You can sign up to support us with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News Myanmar military junta arrests prominent trade union leader (The Guardian) Nurses union projects Saint Vincent Hospital has spent nearly $40 million to prolong strike (Masslive) Massachusetts Nurses Face Down For-Profit Health Care Giant Tenet in Daring Strike (Labor Notes) If the PRO Act Were Law, The Amazon Union Election Would Have Looked Very Different (Labor Notes) Inside the Alabama Amazon Union Drive: An Interview with the Lead Organizer (Labor Notes) Blowout in Bessemer: A Postmortem on the Amazon Campaign (The Nation) Endings and Beginnings in Bessemer (Strikewave) The Long Struggle Against Giving Up (In These Times) Conversation The Alt-Labor Chronicles: America’s Worker Centers (The American Prospect) Michelle: How the Powerless Win Power (The American Prospect) Sarah: Worker Centers: Where Causes Cohere, and Forge Power (The American Prospect) Argh, I wish I’d written that! Sarah: Chris Crowley, NYC’s Restaurants Are Hiring But Struggling to Find Workers (Grub Street) Michelle: Jeff Schuhrke, The Movement to End At-Will Employment Is Getting Serious (In These Times) The post Belabored: The Power of Alt-Labor appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] The workers at the Amazon facility in Bessemer didn’t succeed in winning a union when all the votes were counted, but nevertheless the story has drawn attention to the company’s labor practices and the struggles of the workers in its facilities. This week, while we waited for the count, we teamed up with Steven Pitts of Organizing Upgrade’s Black Work Talk podcast to talk about the state of the Black working class. We were joined by Robin D.G. Kelley, author of many books you should read about social movements and labor history, but perhaps most importantly for this conversation, one of my all-time favorites: Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression (the book is currently available to download for free at the publishers’ website). Kelley is also Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA, and we invited him to discuss the historical and present conditions in Bessemer. We are now on Patreon! You can sign up to support us with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org Conversation Black Work Talk Organizing Upgrade The Alabama Town That Could Defeat Jeff Bezos (New Republic) Documents Show Amazon is Aware Drives Pee in Bottles and Even Defecate en Route Despite Company Denial (Intercept) The Amazon Union Vote Is Ending in Bessemer. Workers Are Already Preparing for the Next Fight. (New Republic) Blowout in Bessemer: A Postmortem on the Amazon Campaign (The Nation) The post Belabored: Black Against Amazon, with Steven Pitts and Robin D.G. Kelley appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

[contentblock id=belabored-info-ck] Some of the most exciting social justice and labor struggles unfolding around the world today are being helmed by women workers—garment workers fueling a general strike in Myanmar; teachers and nurses leading mass movements for just education and healthcare systems; domestic workers leading a charge to have their labor recognized as “real work.” So why does it often seem like the institutions of the mainstream labor movement have been built by and for men? We talk to Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union in the United Kingdom, about the prospects for a truly feminist labor movement, building intersectional and internationalist labor solidarity, and why organized labor would look very different if women labor leaders “were to design new trade unions from scratch.” We also look at how education unions across the pond have been dealing with the pandemic and challenging the UK government’s aggressive push to reopen schools and campuses. In other news, we look at taxi workers demanding financial relief (with Mohamadou Aliyu), the myths about what the PRO Act means for freelancers (with Brandon Magner), Columbia graduate workers striking again (with Ludda Ludwig), and Massachusetts nurses on the picket line. With recommended reading on anti-Asian violence and gendered work, and class war at the opera. Join us on April 5 for a live recording of a special episode on the organizing drive at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, with Steven Pitts of the Black Work Talk podcast. We are now on Patreon! You can sign up to support us with a monthly contribution, at the level that best suits you. If you’re interested in advertising on the show, please email ads@dissentmagazine.org. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, or tips, email us at belabored@dissentmagazine.org News How Covid exacerbated NYC taxi drivers’ long-standing debt from inflated fees (NBC News) The PRO Act and the ABC Test (The Authors Guild) No, The PRO Act Wouldn’t “Kill” Freelancing (Labor Law Lite) In focus: Columbia graduate students picket on the first day of strike (Columbia Spectator) St. Vincent’s strike heads into second week (Boston Globe) Sarah, First, Nurses Saved Our Lives—Now They’re Saving Our Health Care (The Nation) Conversation UCU general secretary, Jo Grady (@DrJoGrady) Jo Grady: Towards a Feminist Trade Union Movement (Tribune) Joint union statement: We demand safety. We demand justice. We demand equality. Argh, I wish I’d written that! Michelle: Kenzo Shibata, Anti-Asian, Anti-sex work hate crimes don’t get a congressional hearing (Kenzo’s Newsletter) Sarah: David Dayen, How the Met Opera Is Squeezing Its Workers (The American Prospect) The post Belabored: Women on Labor’s Frontline, with Jo Grady appeared first on Dissent Magazine.