Working People

Working People

Working People: A podcast by, for, and about the working class today.

  • 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
  • 25 minutes 24 seconds
    Tech workers protest Microsoft's ties to ICE terror and Israel's war crimes

    In just six months, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) more than tripled the amount of data stored on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform,The Guardian reports, "at the same time that its arsenal of surveillance technology ballooned." This week, tech workers with the No Azure for Apartheid (NOAA) campaign staged a protest and informational picket at Microsoft's global headquarters in Redmond, WA, demanding that Microsoft cancel all contracts that provide technological support for Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and ICE's campaign of terror in the US. We speak with Ibtihal, a former software engineer at Microsoft and an organizer with the NOAA campaign.

    Additional links/info: Featured Music:
    • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song
    Credits:
    • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
    26 February 2026, 4:59 pm
  • 33 minutes 9 seconds
    They won their strike fair and square. Now their rich bosses are closing up shop.
    On Nov. 24, 2025, in a major and hardwon victory, Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh members finally returned to work at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette after more than three years on strike. Then, on Jan. 7, 2026, workers were notified that Block Communications Inc.—the company that owns the Post-Gazette as well as the Toledo Blade, the Buckeye Sports Network, and a number of TV stations in Ohio and Kentucky—said that it will be ceasing operations at the Post-Gazette on May 3 of this year. We speak with Steve Mellon, a veteran photographer and writer who was on strike for over three years at the Post-Gazette, about how workers are processing this devastating news, and about their push to launch a new news source by and for working people. Additional links/info: Featured Music:
    • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song
    Credits: Audio Post-Production:
    • Jules Taylor
    18 February 2026, 11:00 am
  • 21 minutes 46 seconds
    NO DEAL: Nurses at NY-Presbyterian overwhelmingly vote to stay on strike

    The longest-running nurses strike in New York City history has come to an end—for some. Nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, however, overwhelmingly voted this week to reject a tentative agreement and to stay on strike until their demands for safer staffing and more job security are met. In this unscheduled strike update episode, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with Beth Loudin, a neonatal nurse and member of the executive committee of the New York State Nurses Association at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

    Additional links/info:

    Featured Music:

    • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

    Credits:

    • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor

    13 February 2026, 7:16 pm
  • 1 hour 53 seconds
    Massive strike at Kaiser Permanente enters third week
    An estimated 31,000 health care workers in California and Hawaii walked off the job on Jan. 26 in their ongoing battle with healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente to address workers' demands for safe staffing, more manageable workloads, and a livable wage. The United Nurses Associations of California / Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP) strike is now in its third week, and more than 3,000 pharmacy technicians, pharmacy assistants, and clinical laboratory professionals represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers. In this urgent strike update episode, we speak with a panel of UNAC/UHCP members who are all currently on strike at Kaiser Permanente. Guests:
    • Sanayo Kondo is a physical therapist at Kaiser Permanente - Redwood City in Northern California, and she is also on the bargaining team for her UNAC/UHCP group.
    • Kadi Gonzalez is an outpatient Registered Nurse at Kaiser Permanente who works in OB/Gyn care and is on the board of directors for UNAC/UHCP.
    • Lucky Longoria is a Registered Nurse who works in pediatrics at Kaiser Permanente - Downey in Southern California and previously worked as a travel nurse.
    Additional links/info: Featured Music:
    • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song
    Credits:
    • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
    12 February 2026, 10:35 pm
  • 38 minutes 5 seconds
    America's toxic future looks like East Palestine, OH, today
    Feb. 3, 2026 marked the three-year anniversary of the Norfolk Southern train derailment and chemical disaster in East Palestine, OH—one of the worst industrial disasters in US history. Over the last three years, residents have been exploited and abandoned by Norfolk Southern, the government, opportunistic politicians, sensationalist media outlets, and self-serving attorneys, but we have not forgotten them. On the three-year anniversary of the day that changed their small-town lives forever, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez was on the ground in East Palestine speaking with residents about their lives and needs today. Here is what they said... Additional links/info: Featured Music:
    • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song
    Credits:
    • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
    6 February 2026, 8:34 pm
  • 15 minutes 49 seconds
    "A hero": Nurses, federal workers honor Alex Pretti
    Hundreds of union nurses, federal workers, and local residents gathered outside the Veterans Affairs central office building in Washington, DC, on Jan. 28, to hold a vigil for Alex Pretti and all who have been killed by ICE. The vigil was one of many events organized or co-sponsored by National Nurses United, the nation's largest union and professional association of registered nurses, which has forcefully called for ICE to be abolished in the wake of Pretti's killing. We speak with attendees of the vigil in this on-the-ground edition of Working People. Additional links/info: Credits:
    • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
    1 February 2026, 8:35 pm
  • 24 minutes 53 seconds
    Largest nurses union calls to abolish ICE after Alex Pretti killing
    On Friday, Jan. 23, around 50,000 people in Minneapolis, MN, engaged in a historic mass strike and day of protest to demand an end to ICE terror and President Trump's federal siege of Minnesota. Then, on Saturday, Jan. 24, an ICE agent shot and killed Alex Pretti, volunteer ICE observer and a registered union nurse who worked for the Veterans Health Administration. In this episode, we speak with Mary C. Turner, a registered nurse inn Minnesota and a member of the Council of Presidents of National Nurses United, the largest nurses union in the US, which is now forcefully calling for the abolition of ICE. Additional links/info: Credits:
    • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
    28 January 2026, 11:00 am
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