• 50 minutes 50 seconds
    Over 4,000 UAW members on strike at Harvard University
    After 14 months of fruitless contract negotiations with the Harvard University administration, over 4,000 workers represented by the Harvard Graduate Students Union (HGSU-UAW Local 5118) walked off the job on an indefinite strike on April 21. According to the union, "Graduate student workers will suspend teaching and research labor until Harvard's bargaining team takes substantive action in addressing the union's key issues: pay that keeps pace with the rising cost of living, recourse for harassment and discrimination, support for non-citizen students, protections for academic freedom, and 'fair share fees' to equitably distribute the expenses of union representation, among others." In this episode of Working People, we speak with three striking graduate student workers about the issues at the center of this strike, and about what it's like to live, work, and strike at the country's richest university amid political attacks from the federal government, scandals connecting high-ranking Harvard officials to Jeffrey Epstein, and a nationwide cost-of-living crisis. Panelists include: Sara Speller, a fifth-year PhD student in the Music Department at Harvard and president of the Harvard Graduate Students Union; Zoë Feder, a seventh-year PhD student in the program in Biological & Biomedical Sciences at Harvard Medical School and a research assistant in the Microbiology Department; and Jacob Wolf, a third-year PhD student and Teaching Fellow in the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Additional links/info: Featured Music:
    • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song
    Credits:
    • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
    12 May 2026, 3:44 pm
  • 52 minutes 26 seconds
    Meet the new Pittsburgh Post-Gazette bosses, same as the old bosses
    After members of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh won their strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in late 2025, which had lasted for over 3 years, they were notified in January that the paper's wealthy owners, the Block family and Block Communications Inc., were shutting down operations. Then, in a stunning turn of events, the Post-Gazette was purchased in April by the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, which also owns The Banner in Baltimore, MD. While Post-Gazette workers were cautiously optimistic about the news, the union learned last week that the Venetoulis Institute is cutting at least 40 percent of its staff, including 80 percent of the union workers who participated in the recently ended strike. In this episode of Working People, we speak with a panel of union members and former Post-Gazette employees about what will happen to them and their coworkers, to the Post-Gazette itself, and to journalism in the Steel City. Panelists include: Andrew Goldstein, a now-former Post-Gazette education reporter and still-acting president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh; Helen Fallon, a longtime copyeditor for the Post-Gazette and professor emerita at Point Park University in Pittsburgh; and Erin Hebert, a now-former copyeditor and designer for the Post-Gazette and First Vice President of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh. Additional links/info: Featured Music:
    • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song
    Credits:
    • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
    7 May 2026, 2:26 am
  • 25 minutes 40 seconds
    Alec Baldwin backs union drive at Starbucks
    After decades of decline, the organized labor movement in the US has seen a resurgence in rank-and-file militancy over the last decade, with increased strike actions and union drives in industries across the economy. And in the story of this recent revival of labor in America, the movement led by predominantly young baristas to unionize coffee giant Starbucks has played a pivotal role. The new documentary Baristas vs. Billionaires takes viewers on a journey through the last five years of the epic, ongoing struggle to unionize Starbucks, told by some of the workers and organizers at the center of that struggle. TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with director of Baristas vs. Billionaires and Academy Award nominee Mark Mori, and with legendary actor and Academy award nominee Alec Baldwin, who is a producer on the film. Additional links/info: Featured Music:
    • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song
    Credits:
    • Studio Production / Post-Production: David Hebden
    • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
    1 May 2026, 3:50 pm
  • 47 minutes 46 seconds
    May 1: A Nationwide 'Economic Blackout' Against Billionaires and Authoritarianism
    Inspired by January's mass strike against ICE terror in Minnesota, a vast coalition of labor unions, democratic organizations, and community groups are organizing a nationwide economic blackout on Friday, May 1, International Workers Day. "May Day Strong events are being planned across the US," Michael Sainato reports at The Guardian, "with organizers calling for 'no school, no work, no shopping,' in protest of government policies they say put billionaires' needs above those of workers." In this episode of Working People, we speak with a panel of guests who are all involved in organizing May Day events this week from Philadelphia to Chicago to Iowa. Panelists include: Jana Korn, who currently serves as the chief of staff for the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO, and also serves on the board of Philadelphia Jobs with Justice; Jeff Kurtz, a retired locomotive engineer and union officer who also served as a state representative in the Iowa House of Representatives; and John Emiliano, a healthcare worker and organizer in Chicago with the Tahanan Center and Tanggol Migrante, a grassroots Filipino migrant defense network. Additional links/info: Featured Music:
    • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song
    Credits:
    • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
    29 April 2026, 3:10 pm
  • 52 minutes 17 seconds
    'The rain was black': A plant explosion set off a toxic bomb in this Louisiana town

    On Aug. 22, 2025, the small-town lives of residents living near the Smitty's Supply facility in Roseland, LA, changed forever when an explosion occurred at the automotive lubricant plant. The explosion and ensuing fire, which burned for days, triggered evacuations across the area, blanketing homes and businesses with smoke, soot, and oily residue, while spilling petroleum products from the plant into area waterways, including several adjacent ponds and the Tangipahoa River. While the Environmental Protection Agency claims that the area is safe, according to the agency's own chemical monitoring, residents say they've been left behind and kept in the dark as they develop negative health symptoms and their homes remain covered in toxic substances. In this episode, we speak with Arlene Bankston, a farmer and resident of Roseland, and Allie Ponvelle, who lives one town over in Amite, about the slow-moving nightmare they've been living in ever since the massive explosion and chemical fire at Smitty's Supply.

    Additional links/info:

    Featured Music:

    • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

    Credits:

    • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor

    15 April 2026, 10:00 am
  • 29 minutes 1 second
    Baltimore security guards strike for respect, healthcare, and a union
    Nearly a year after workers voted to authorize a strike, non-union city and commercially contracted security officers in Baltimore, MD, will walk off the job on April 9 in an Unfair Labor Practice strike against their employer, Abacus Corporation. In their yearslong effort to unionize and secure more job security, better pay, accessible healthcare, and safer working conditions, workers at Abacus have reported rampant union busting and violations of their labor rights. In this episode, we speak with Laura Dixon, a veteran security officer and Abacus employee, and Jaimie Contreras, executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union, Local 32BJ. Additional links/info: Featured Music:
    • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song
    Credits:
    • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
    8 April 2026, 9:29 pm
  • 40 minutes 43 seconds
    US postal workers side with communities over collaboration with ICE: "Don't be a snitch"
    While facing decades-long political efforts to throttle and privatize the United States Postal Service (USPS), and while US Postmaster General David Steiner ominously warns that the USPS will "run out of money" within a year, postal workers continue to deliver the mail and serve communities across the country. But that job has gotten harder, more dangerous, and more complicated in recent years. From increases in targeted violence against letter carriers to the Trump administration's attacks on mail-in voting, to ICE and Border Patrol agents invading communities on their mail routes, USPS workers are confronting many daily hazards on the job that the public doesn't see. In this episode, we speak with Connor Mauche, a letter carrier in New York and a shop steward for Branch 3 of the National Association of Letter Carriers, about what it's like to be a postal worker in America in 2026. Additional links/info: Featured Music:
    • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song
    Credits:
    • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
    1 April 2026, 5:46 pm
  • 33 minutes 49 seconds
    Immigrant workers launch largest US meatpacking strike in 40 years

    3,800 workers and Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 7 members at the massive JBS beef processing plant in Greeley, CO walked off the job on an unfair labor practice strike on March 16. This is the first strike ever at the Greeley plant—one of the largest in the country—and it's the biggest meatpacking strike in the US since the 1985-86 strike at the Hormel plant in Austin, MN. As Caitlyn Clark and Lisa Xu report in Labor Notes, "Strikers say JBS has been increasing the speed of the production line while cutting work hours from 40 a week to 35, squeezing out more work for less money… Workers are also demanding that the company stop charging them out-of-pocket costs for personal protective equipment like mesh vests and arm guards—essential because they work with knives, saws, and other sharp, dangerous equipment." In this episode, we speak with Clark and Xu, who report from the JBS picket line and break down why this strike is so significant and what it will take for workers to win this fight against the largest beef processor in the US.

    Guests:

    • Caitlyn Clark is a national organizer at Essential Workers for Democracy, an organization dedicated to rank-and-file member education and empowerment for UFCW members in grocery, meatpacking, and retail.

    • Lisa Xu is a staff writer and organizer at Labor Notes.

    Additional links/info:

    Featured Music:

    • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

    Credits:

    • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor

    25 March 2026, 5:20 pm
  • 52 minutes 11 seconds
    Fourth-generation fisherwoman Diane Wilson goes on hunger strike against Dow Chemical
    Diane Wilson is a fourth-generation fisherwoman and a lifelong resident of Seadrift, Texas. Wilson has become a global folk hero over the course of her epic, decades-long journey from shrimp boat captain and mother of five to social and ecological justice warrior who took on a multibillion dollar corporation polluting the bays along her beloved Texas Gulf Coast. But the fight to save her home from industrial pollution is far from over. On March 2, Wilson began a hunger strike outside the Dow Chemical Company / Union Carbide plant in Seadrift. "I have a tent and am camping out 24 hours, 7 days a week," Wilson wrote in a letter to Dow CEO Jim Fitterling, "to impress upon Dow/Union Carbide our intense dislike and frustration of decades of plastic pollution being discharged into our bays and waterways." In this urgent episode, we speak with Wilson as her hunger strike enters its third week. Guest: Additional links/info: Featured Music:
    • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song
    Credits:
    • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
    18 March 2026, 5:26 pm
  • 43 minutes 41 seconds
    "ICE got me": The urgent fight to free Ludovic Mbock

    38-year-old regional video gaming champion Ludovic Mbock, who came to the US legally from Cameroon, was snatched by ICE while applying for his yearly work permit—as he's done for 20 years. He has since been detained for three weeks and moved to facilities in Louisiana and Georgia, and his freedom depends on a critical bond hearing this week. In this urgent episode of Working People, we speak with Diane Sohna, Ludovic's sister, and Nikhil Delahaye, a close friend of Ludovic's and a fellow gamer.

    Additional links/info:

    Featured Music:

    • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

    Credits:

    • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
    12 March 2026, 4:17 am
  • 1 hour 8 minutes
    Sean O'Brien sold workers and unions out to Trump—these Teamsters are running to oust him
    As general president of the union, Sean O'Brien has operated with a "Teamsters vs. Everybody" mentality, especially when it comes to dealing with President Trump and embracing the MAGA right. But now, 14 months into the second Trump administration, the labor movement and the entire working class—Teamsters members included—is under attack. In this episode of Working People, we speak with veteran Teamsters Richard Hooker Jr. and John Palmer, who are running to oust O'Brien from leadership in the upcoming union election. Guests:
    • Richard Hooker Jr. has dedicated 26 years to the Teamsters, spending 20 of those years at UPS and the last six in leadership roles. He is the Secretary-Treasurer and Principal Officer of Teamsters Local 623 in Philadelphia, and he is now running on the Fearless Slate to unseat Sean O'Brien as a candidate for general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
    • John Palmer has 38 years of experience in the Teamsters and is currently serving as a vice president at large of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. He is running on the Fearless Slate as a candidate to be the union's general secretary-treasurer.
    Additional links/info: Featured Music:
    • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song
    Credits:
    • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
    4 March 2026, 2:47 pm
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