Working Life Podcast

Episode 120: In case you hadn’t heard…Bernie Sanders has entered the race for the 2020 presidential Democratic nomination. I devote the entire podcast this week to a re-airing of my in-depth conversation with Bernie just before the 2016 general election—what he had to say then is still quite relevant today. Enjoy!

Episode 119: They are back—and trying to get their hands on your mailbox. Big money interests have tried for a very long time to make a ton of money by privatizing the postal service, and now the danger is ramped up with the ideologues in the White House. Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, is back on the show to explain the threat to universal, affordable mail service—and to the security of your information. I, then, chat with Katharine Hayhoe, a leading atmospheric scientist and a co-author of the last two National Climate Assessments, about the challenges inherit in educating people about climate change, especially in the face of the media’s willingness to consider the arguments of climate change deniers as legitimate. Our Robber Baron of the week is a building contractor who stole millions from hundreds of workers.

Episode 118: Thousands of workers, and supporters, have rallied and marched for several years under the banner “Fight for 15”—a demand that fast food workers, and all workers, be paid at least $15-an-hour, almost double the poverty-level federal minimum wage, and, as important, have the right to form a union. It’s been a hard slog but a bright spot shines: workers who toil for Burgerville in Oregon have won union representation rights at three of the chain’s locations. I talk with two of the workers, Emmett Schlenz and James Curry. Then, we see through a judge’s eyes the crisis facing the immigration system—a crisis exacerbated by the racism hurled at immigrants from the Oval Office. It’s my chat with Ashley Tabaddor, an immigration judge in Los Angeles and the president of the National Association of Immigration Judges. Our Robber Baron is the CEO of Burgerville.

Episode 117: The rich are living the creed of the 1987 film “Wall Street”: Greed is good! Consider this: 26 billionaires now have a collective wealth of $1.4 trillion—equal to the wealth of the bottom 3.8 billion people on the planet. That’s just a smidgen of the immorality I discuss with Oxfam America’s Paul O’Brien, whose organization has a startling report out called “Public Good or Private Wealth?”. Then, I chat with Hind Cherrouk, regional director for North Africa and the Middle East for the Solidarity Center, about the mass uprisings by workers in Tunisia who are seeking a small raise so they can actually eat. Our Robber Barons of the week are those 26 billionaires spotlighted by Oxfam.

Episode 116: Just as we were wrapping up the podcast episode, the striking teachers in Los Angeles won a new contract. I review the highlights, and underscore the smart strategy the union used in the campaign that generated overwhelming support for the teachers. Then, I chat with climate warrior Daphne Wysham about “risk bonding”, a demand that the fossil fuel industry stop dumping the costs of environmental damage on us and start paying up, in advance, for the wreckage the industry causes. Finally, with Jennifer Dorning, the president of the AFL-CIO’s Department of Professional Employees, I dig into the interesting trend of a slight uptick in professionals who are joining unions. Our Robber Baron of the week is the CEO of ExxonMobil.

Episode 115: A lot of people are wondering: should Bernie Sanders run? Is Bernie going to run? In today’s episode, I consider the notion that Bernie would become the most powerful politician in the country, and it could be better for the progressive movement, if maybe he sidestepped running for president. Whoa! Then, I check in with the massive and important teachers’ strike in Los Angeles—you will hear from the president of the union, Alex Caputo-Pearl. I wrap up with a conversation with Eileen Appelbaum, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, about a “radical” idea: a national severance pay law. After all, if CEOs never lose a dime when they screw up and get sacked, why should workers, who actually do their jobs and create the real value for a company, not be assured of pocketing a nice hunk of cash when a company goes belly up or just fires thousands of workers just to make the bottom line look better?

Episode 114: I’ve spent a fair amount of time recently on the very bad deal made by New York and Virginia with Amazon to lure the company to build its new headquarters in those two states. Amazon is an important story because of the power it exercises over our economy—a power that grows every day. This week, I talk with Oren Teicher, the CEO of the American Booksellers Association, whose perspective goes beyond the damage Amazon has done to book stores; he and I talk specifically about the hundreds of millions of dollars states and cities lose because of Amazon’s on-going shenanigans around sales tax collections, and how the company hurts businesses and communities on just about every block in the country. In the second segment, I celebrate and discuss with Yannet Lathrop of the National Employment Law Project the extra money 22 million workers will see in their paychecks this year because of state and local hikes in the minimum wage (yes: the federal minimum wage still stands at an immoral $7.25-an-hour). Ou

Episode 113: The least surprising thing I might say is: the GOP Tax bill last year was an utter scam. We knew it. But, now we have a full year to look back at the lies and the realities of the tax cuts—where has all that money gone? I discuss all this with Richard Phillips, senior policy analyst at the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy. I, then, pick apart a great report on what can be done to win workers’ rights at the state level. That’s a discussion with Paul Sonn, state policy director of the National Employment Law Center, which co-produced the report. The Robber Baron of the week is the former CEO of Sears. Follow me on Twitter @jonathantasini Sign up for The Working Life Podcast at: www.workinglife.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jonathan.tasini.3

Episode 112: I’ve loved baseball since I was a kid. But, at the same time, I don’t believe we, the people, the taxpayers, should spend a single dime to help build baseball stadiums, or any sports arena, for the rich people or corporations who own teams. Don’t believe the hype—these projects never pay back the subsidies doled out, and, in fact, the track record has been disastrous for many cities, saddling taxpayers with a pile of debt. Just a few weeks ago, the people of Portland got their first look at the design and plan for building a baseball stadium—and a con job that may be under way. I have a long chat on the topic with the national leading expert on sports stadium economics, Roger Noll, professor emeritus at Stanford University. I am, then, joined by Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, to talk about the organization’s roadmap for a progressive economic agenda. Our Robber Baron is the CEO of General Motors Mary Barra.

Episode 111: I circle back on the bad deal made by politicians in New York and Virginia with Amazon, honing in specifically on the vicious anti-unionism Amazon pursues—and, despite the hallucinating by the NYC mayor that somehow bringing Amazon to NYC will magically turn it into a fuzzy pro union company, I talk with Dave Mertz of the RWDSU about the global path littered with Amazon’s attacks against unions and against workers. Dean Baker, frequent guest and senior economist of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, talks with me about the real profit centers for corporations—control over patents and copyrights, all of which adds up to one trillion dollars more in corporate profits, and hits on the average person’s wallet. Lastly, racism is a little talked-about aspect of the GOP tax cut robbery last year—Meg Wiehe, the deputy director of the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, talks with me about her recent excellent report called, “Race, Wealth and Taxes: How the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Supercha

Episode 110: Join me in choking on the following three words: Trump was right. When he criticized the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as a bad deal during the 2016 campaign, he was telling a truth that resonated for many working people—even though, of course, Trump, who defrauded thousands of people who worked for him and would pile lie after lie about workers and unions, was certainly not going to blow up NAFTA on behalf of working people. But, there is now a draft of NAFTA 2.0. In this episode, I dig deep into what it says and means. Most of the episode is a great conversation between two trade experts who are peoples’ advocates: Lori Wallach, the director of Global Trade Watch, and Celeste Drake, the trade and globalization policy specialist at the AFL-CIO. -- Jonathan Tasini Follow me on Twitter @jonathantasini Sign up for The Working Life Podcast at: www.workinglife.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jonathan.tasini.3

Episode 109: I’m a dog with a bone. I take on Amazon for the second straight week for its utter highway robbery, with the willing participation of politicians, of the people of New York and Virginia. Greg Leroy, executive director of Good Jobs First, kicks off our episode with a deep dive into the lies about what this deal will cost and, surprise, it’s a whole lot more than Amazon and its political allies are saying. I, then, talk to Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union, who phones in from London where he is attending a meeting of a coalition of global unions strategizing solely over the viciously anti-union Amazon. I wrap up the episode with Maritza Silva-Farrell, executive director of the Alliance for a Greater New York (ALIGN). Ok, you are all smart listeners—guess who the Robber Baron of the week is? -- Jonathan Tasini Follow me on Twitter @jonathantasini Sign up for The Working Life Podcast at: www.workinglife.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jonathan.tasi

Episode 108: This week, Amazon announced which two communities, thanks to willing political cowards, it will fleece in return for siting its new HQ. I expand on the ground-breaking Amazon episode Working Life did in February with three segments on the financial, tax and community implications of the marauding corporation’s breathtaking campaign to extort billions. The Robber Baron of the week is, of course, Jeff Bezos. -- Jonathan Tasini Follow me on Twitter @jonathantasini Sign up for The Working Life Podcast at: www.workinglife.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jonathan.tasini.3

Episode 107: If you are shaking off the cobwebs from way too much surfing, watching and texting about every bit of Election Day trivia, then, you are an elections junkie. So, buckle up: I’ve got a great episode to keep that addiction fed. Listen again to Beto O’Rourke talk about the campaign as he rode in his car around Texas. Hear from Katie Hill, a progressive almost certainly about to become a new member of Congress from California. Abdul El-Sayed comes back on the show to give his perspective about lessons progressives can learn from his own race for governor in Michigan and the broader outcomes. National pollster and general wise soul Celinda Lake is back to wrap up the analysis. And, lastly, I have a list of 5 things to be happy about from Election Day!

Episode 106: I know no more than the next person about what the mid-term election results will be. But, what I can do is bring you, exclusively, the thinking in this episode of Celinda Lake, one of the nation’s leading Democratic and issues pollsters, who tells us what is driving voters right now just days before the election. Then, I take a deep look with national economics guru Eileen Appelbaum into the bankruptcies of grocery chains across the nation, which are financial failures driven by the greed of private equity barons. Our Robber Baron of the week is Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey for his leading role in trying to defeat a ballot initiative that would tax businesses to raise a small amount of money to address the homeless crisis.

Episode 105: Thousands of drivers in the app-driven ride service business, principally those who work for Uber and Lyft, just can’t make ends meet—and the whole scramble has created a race-to-the-bottom in which companies impoverish the very people who bring in the cash (sound familiar?). To get an insight into the plight of such drivers, I speak with Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the National Taxi Workers Alliance, and economist James Parrott from The New School. Heard the conservative rhetoric about no-income tax states being the easy street place to live? It’s the big lie—because state and local sales, property and excise taxes, which try to fill the budget gaps, are a huge burden, mostly on the not-rich. I explore the issue with Carl Davis of the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy. Lastly, as I do each year as October 25th looms (tomorrow), we remember, with his own words, the late Senator Paul Wellstone, a great progressive champion, who died in a plane crash 16 years ago while running fo

Episode 104: I am devoting the entire podcast this week to Rebecca Traister’s new book, “Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger”. I rarely do books on this show because, once you start, where do you draw the line on what I *have* to read? But, this is an important topic—I had the chance to record Rebecca’s talk at one of the nation’s absolute best bookstores, Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon. In keeping with the topic, our Robber Baron of the week is the CEO of NBCUniversal for allowing a pervasive culture of sexual harassment at NBC News to thrive.

Episode 103: I’ve been featuring dozens of progressive candidates running at all levels. Many of them have not won their races, largely primaries. But, as I’ve said before, the conversation that such progressive bring to a race is so key—especially in more conservative areas. So, I talk to Mike Ellison, a working class union member, who is running for the relatively conservative Oregon’s 19th House District on a strong progressive platform. Then, I dig into a campaign by unionized riggers to bring to heel the Wal-Mart of the concert business, Rhino. Our Robber Baron of the week is—again!—Amazon’s CEO Jezz Bezos.

Episode 102: It doesn’t matter where a woman sits on the political spectrum—solid majorities of Democratic, Independent and Republican women support policies you could term “progressive”. I talk with Celinda Lake, a long-time national pollster who conducted a just-released survey, which points to a powerful wave of women voters who will shape the coming election. And they are at it again: the Republicans are, under cover of other controversies, pushing through yet another robbery of the Treasury. We knew it would happen—and Matt Gardner, from the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, is back to break down “Tax Cuts 2.0”. The Robber Baron of the week is Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.

Episode 101: I know--you're shocked, shocked to hear that major drug companies are dodging taxes & stashing billions in tax havens around the world. Oxfam's Robbie Silverman joins me to talk about the organization's blockbuster report, and how Big Pharma's Gang of Four is hurting millions of people. Then, it's over to the nation's Capitol where the local politicians think they know better than voters--after the people voted to require higher minimum wages for tipped workers, the mayor and her cronies want to repeal the law because--get this--the voters didn't understand what they were supporting. I discuss the gory details of this perversion of democracy with David Cooper of the Economic Policy Institute who has a dynamite report on the value of higher wages for tipped workers. Our Robber Baron of the week is the CEO of Pfizer.