Working Life Podcast

Episode 100: A quick "birthday" promo: you are listening to the 100th episode of the podcast. Make today the day you become one of our small financial supporters--go to workinglife.org, click on the Patreon link and sign up to be a monthly contributor. Every bite of food you take has a lot of sweat and tears of agricultural workers around the world. I welcome back our good friend and global organizer Shawna Bader-Blau, executive director of the Solidarity Center, to talk about the tens of millions of people who toil in the food global supply chain--and how to build a food justice movement. Turning to the recent elections in New York, Katherine Brezler, grassroots activist extraordinaire, drops by to pick apart why progressives should feel pretty damn good about the results at the polls. Our Robber Baron of the week is the CEO of a drug company that jacked up the price of a critical drug more than 500%.

Episode 99: Anonymous did, in fact, do us a great favor—but probably not in the way he or she (most likely a “he”) thinks. I ruminate a bit on the point I have made for a long time—Anonymous simply showed us that Donald Trump and the Republican Party, as a whole, are one and the same. I, then, turn to a discussion with American Federation of Teachers leader Jay Rehak about his union’s efforts to use its large pension fund holdings to undercut the private prison industry’s role in tearing children from their families under the immoral Trump immigration policies. And, finally, I converse with Anastasia Christman from the National Employment Law Project about the hard conditions facing bank workers. Our Robber Baron of the week is the CEO of General Dynamics.

Episode 98: Curious which states have a better work environment? We have the answer thanks to Oxfam which unveils a ranking based on wages, worker protections and the right to organize a union. I chat about the details with Oxfam's Minor Sinclair. I, then, welcome back Alicia Priest, president of the Oklahoma Education Association, for a chat about how the teachers' uprising in her state led to a slew of primary defeats for Republicans who voted against a tax hike to fund education. Lastly, I engage in a "what does labor need to do to grow?" with Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, who always has an interesting, informed progressive take on the way forward for unions. Our Robber Baron is the CEO of Primavera, an online charter school.

Episode 97: As Labor Day looms on the horizon, I ring up Larry Mishel, distinguished fellow at the Economic Policy Institute, to talk about his new study looking at CEO greed. Not a shock, but if you are wondering where that pay increase went, it’s probably in the CEO’s bank account. A logical conversation after digging into CEO greed is this: how do you fight inequality? The answer is, and has always been, more unions, as I’ve emphasized during many episodes. That’s great rhetoric—but Suresh Naidu has the actual data proving that this has been true going back many decades, before government statistics began tracking the connection between union strength and an equal society. He joins me to talk about his path-breaking work. Our Robber Baron of the week is the CEO of Prime Healthcare.

Episode 96: When Toys R Us went belly up, 33,000 workers were cast into the streets with no severance because the bankruptcy laws favor corporate thieves and raiders. But, those workers are fighting back. I talk to two key leaders in the campaign to change the laws and get a bit of justice, not just for Toys R Us workers but all people. I, then, welcome back a good friend, Richard Bensinger, to talk about a new initiative he’s launched to teach workers inside companies how to launch effective union organizing campaigns. The Robber Baron of the Week is the CEO of Toys R Us

Episode 95: The destruction of our education system hasn’t just been a natural phenomena like the sun rising in the east. It’s been a determined assault on our schools and teachers by right-wing ideological zealots. To get the facts about this campaign of destruction, I talk to Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, about the union’s important new study, “A Decade of Neglect: Public Education Funding in the Aftermath of the Great Recession.” I, then, explore with tax expert Richard Phillips the below-the-radar tax scam slipped into the Republican tax plan robbery called “opportunity zones.” Our Robber Barons of the week are the CEO and Chairman of Dish Network.

Episode 94: Yesterday was Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, the day that signifies how long it would take for an African American woman to work in 2018 to equal the *2017* pay of a white male counterpart. I noted this day a year ago in Episode 41—and come back to it today in conversation with Valerie Wilson of the Economic Policy Institute. And it isn’t just black workers facing racism: Hispanic workers face similar bias, which is what I discuss with Marie Mora, who is with the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley and co-author of a new EPI report. Our Robber Baron of the week is the CEO of Kimberly Clark.

Episode 93: In the sea of millions of migrant workers who end up slaves or in forced labor, a pilot project has empowered Nepalese women working in Jordan’s garment industry to make a better deal. I spoke to the International Labor Organization’s Phillip Fishman about how the project works—and whether it can be scaled up. I, then, talk to the co-authors of a study looking at how companies are using the majority of profits to buy back shares, a gambit that goes back to the time before the Republican tax cuts which are going, as well, largely to buy back shares--which is great news for CEOs who get rich but not so much for workers. Our Robber Baron is the CEO of Lowe’s, a company buying back shares with money that could, if used for workers’ wages, give a pay hike of almost $20,000 to each worker.

Ep. 92: Republican Steve King is a racist, a despicable politician who fans the flames of hatred and division aiming mainly at immigrants. So, I welcomed to the show J.D. Scholten, the progressive Democrat who is aiming to take this guy down in November in the race for Iowa’s 4th Congressional district. Kimberly Ellis comes back to the show to talk about her new effort looking to be, as she says, an “incubator for the next generation of political disrupters”. Our Robber Baron of the week is the CEO of Tronc who sacked scores of New York Daily News journalists.

Episode 91: Anyone remember the talk show “Firing Line” with arch-conservative William F. Buckley, Jr., which ended its run in 1999? Well, it’s baaaaack…with a new host, my conservative friend Margaret Hoover, who visits with me to talk about reviving the iconic show, as well as the state of conservatism and the Republican Party. I, then, welcome back our all-things taxes guru Matt Gardner to tell you’all the truth about why we have a $15.7 trillion debt—and, psst, it’s all about tax cuts for the rich and war, not social spending. Our Robber Baron of the week, for the third time, is Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon and now the richest man in human history.

Episode 90: I recently posted a column, which I talk a bit about in the opening of the episode, predicting that the recent teachers’ uprisings (which have been featured a lot on the podcast) will have far more lasting impact on the country’s economic policies than any one electoral race—and those uprisings may blow up the Big Lie conservatives have shopped around for several decades. You, then, will hear a recording from a recent inspiring Black Lives Matter rally I attended in Los Angeles, and that’s especially relevant as we watch the Supreme Court signal increased hostility towards people of color, and, generally, progressive ideas (sorry, friends, that guy is going to get confirmed). Last up is my conversation with Dorothy Gasque, a progressive running for the Democratic nomination in Washington State’s 3rd Congressional district. Our Robber Baron of the week is the CEO of Coca Cola who seems to be just fine with the company’s role in global human rights violations.

Episode 89: Patriotism isn’t embodied in flag-waving. It’s seen every day in the hard work done by community and union activists. So, with the fluke of our regularly scheduled podcast falling on July 4th, I start by talking with Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, the co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health about a new initiative called “Our Turn” that is turning the spotlight on the sexual abuse and harassment rampant in the world of low-wage workers like janitors, farmworkers, hotel workers and other people who labor in factories. I also chat with Mark Dimondstein, the president of the American Postal Workers Union, about not only the union’s contract negotiations underway right now but ways in which we can re-imagine the post office to do a whole lot of things for the betterment of the people. Our Robber Baron of the Week is the recently-departed CEO of Mattel, Margaret Georgiadis.

Episode 88: Today, the inevitable happened. The Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME, with the now-familiar right-wing conservative majority siding with the anti-union billionaire forces against public sector unions, and, really, the entire middle-class. I welcome back Celine McNicholas from the Economic Policy Institute to look at who is hurt by the decision. I, then, give us another listen at an in-depth conversation with American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten about how the AFT has been preparing to fight back in the wake of the decision. Our Robber Barons are the network of billionaires who funded Janus and similar cases.

Episode 87: I start off on the West Coast with a conversation with Sylvia Cabrera, a “this is the future” union activist who helped lead winning organizing drives at three schools in Los Angeles owned by the biggest charter school chain in the area. So, yeah, charter schools undermine the public school system but, if they exist, they best be unionized. I, then, go to the final frontier, where no person has gone before…I couldn’t help channel a little Star Trek there to forecast a chat with Paul Shearon, the incoming president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), which represents, among a whole slew of varied workers, NASA rocket scientists. Our Robber Baron of the week is the CEO of Time Warner Jeff Bewkes.

Episode 86: No matter that the Los Angeles Ports moves 40 percent of the containerized goods entering the country, generating billions of dollars in commerce—it’s rip-off time when it comes to treating the truck drivers and warehouse workers fairly. I know, you’re shocked! I recently checked out a big rally, featuring Bernie Sanders, by workers trying to form a union at a number of companies at the L.A. ports. In the big picture, the workers are getting screwed like a lot of workers: companies misclassify workers, treating them as independent contractors, not employees. After you hear segments from the energetic rally, I chat with truck driver Daniel “Seko” Uaina. I, then, talk with progressive candidate Kara Eastman who won the Democratic primary for the 2nd Congressional District in Nebraska—and, then, got the blow-off from the national party, at least partly because she defeated the favored centrist “Blue Dog.” Because the national party has been so-skilled at winning elections, rights? Our Robber Baron of

Episode 85: Fantasy is the Magic Kingdom’s product. Yet, life is all too real for the thousands of people who work at Disneyland and Disneyworld, the people who make billions for the huge wealthy corporation but are faced with bad pay, homelessness, debt and hunger. So a few days ago, I went to the mass rally for Disneyland workers where the featured political ally was, of course, Bernie Sanders, who gave a tutorial on the struggle of all workers. The rally also featured a panel of workers in conversation with Bernie, and I’ll bring that to you, as well. Finally, I talked to two Disney workers whose stories you will hear right after the rally segments. Our Robber Baron of the week is, of course, Disney CEO Bob Iger who makes tens of millions of dollars while most of his workers can’t pay the bills.

Episode 84: The economic system has been built on racism for generations. The recent tax cuts just made things a lot worse—and I talk about that with Michael Linden, co-author of a path-breaking paper about the hidden racism in the system. I, then, ring up Lori Wallach, the peoples’ trade warrior extraordinaire, for an insider look at the recent earth-shaking developments and fights over the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Then, I review the political predictions for 2018 from the global business magazine, The Economist, which predicts a Democratic win…at least in the House. Our Robber Baron of the week is the CEO of BT, a global telecom company.

All those flag-waving politicians love their military folks—until it’s time to screw them every which way once they take off the uniform, especially when it comes to funding the Veterans Administration. I look into the attack on the VA by the free-market fanatics in a conversation with union policy expert Jacque Simon. I also chat with legal expert Najah Farley about how the horrendous Supreme Court decision this past week, which puts workers out on their own when it comes to taking on unlawful and unethical corporate behavior, will especially hurt the #MeToo movement. In a follow-up from last week’s episode, I also discuss with Darryl Blackwell, a worker on the hog processing line at Farmer Johns Smithfield, the brutal conditions he faces and how things will get worse if the Department of Agriculture allows big corporations to speed up the hog assembly line. Our Robber Barons of the week are the heads of the Wall Street buyout firms Bain, KKR and Vornado.

Episode 82: Another day, another chapter in the new ways to screw workers. This time, the target is workers inside hog processing plants--who are already doing one of the most dangerous jobs in the country. I talk with expert Debbie Berkowitz about the Department of Agriculture's new proposal to speed up the processing line--so that Big Ag can pile up bigger profits even if workers get hurt and sick at an even higher rate. Today, the next teacher uprising is underway in North Carolina. I caught up with NC teacher union president Mark Jewell before the mass rally to hear about not just the short-term goals but the long term political strategy. Heidi Harmon, mayor of San Luis Obispo, California is a better example of "America's Mayor". She's a solid progressive who was elected in 2016 as part of a campaign run by a big progressive team. As she prepares to run for re-election I chat with her to hear her thoughts about lessons all progressives can learn about running a city and building a long-term progressive

Episode 81: The teachers’ uprisings around the nation have challenged the bankrupt ideology of supply-side tax cutting—and maybe marks a shift in the public’s view of taxes and public spending. I talk about that with Meg Wiehe, deputy director of the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy. I welcome back Arizona teacher activist Amber Gould for an eyewitness account of the Arizona mass rally, and what it means for politics in the state. I also chat with David Rosnick of the Center for Economic and Policy Research about how much worse inequality really is despite some statistics floating around. Our Robber Baron of the week is, again, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos who is trying to scuttle a tax to fund affordable housing in Seattle.