Spring 2019

This week in Belabored: fighting hospital closures in Brooklyn, the firing of a dozen Walmart strikers, an end to the New York legal services strike, and a new bill to make managers pay for retaliation. With special guest Rich Yeselson, author of “Fortress Unionism.”

This week on Belabored: a worker takeover of public broadcasting in Greece; the passage of a new law protecting New York child models; McDonald’s forcing debit cards on its employees; and a hunger strike in protest of Philadelphia school cuts and layoffs. With special guest Penny Lewis, author of Hardhats, Hippies, and Hawks.

Josh and Sarah recount the spectacle and ideology of last week’s Walmart shareholder meeting. Also discussed: a GOP effort to pre-empt paid sick days; a landmark legal ruling on unpaid internships; a letter from Elizabeth Warren on trade deal transparency; and two rallies in New York.

Uprisings in Turkey and the role of labor unions, international actions targeting McDonald’s, ongoing conflict at Palermo’s Pizza, and an independent organizing campaign at an upscale New York deli. Plus the debut of Belabored Explainers! This week: wage theft.

Savannah port truckers organizing; Seattle fast food workers striking; Chicago teachers suing; and a bankruptcy judge’s blow to retired mineworkers. Sarah discusses the new NYC bike share program through a labor lens. Josh talks about the first prolonged strikes by US Walmart employees. And find out how to participate in Belabored’s new explainer!

Josh and Sarah interview Gabriel Thompson, biographer of Fred Ross, the little-known organizer who trained Cesar Chavez. They also discuss the latest strikes by low-wage workers, a strike in Dubai of immigrant workers, & more.

Obama’s appointments to the National Labor Relations Board rejected, new strike authorizations, and Sarah and Josh discuss the state of fast food workers’ organizing efforts. They interview journalist Jake Blumgart about recent developments around anti-sweatshop activism, at-will employment, the future of Atlantic City, and high-stakes testing at a sushi restaurant.

Sarah and Josh discuss port trucker organizing in Savannah, fast food strikes in St. Louis, and one union’s experiment with using collective bargaining as a weapon against big banks. Then they consider the anti-union record of Obama’s new nominee for the Commerce Department, and the Democratic Party’s future with organized labor.

Sarah and Josh interview Hyatt hotel housekeeper Cathy Youngblood, a leader in UNITE HERE battling with the hotel giant, on Obama’s choice of a Hyatt heir to run the Commerce Department, and her “Someone Like Me” campaign calling for a worker to be added to Hyatt’s board. Plus labor news and “I wish I’d written that!”

Sarah and Josh talk strikes: the latest wave of one-day, low-wage, non-union work stoppages and, hypothetically, what might happen if everyone doing care work in America…stopped.

Belabored interviews the BBC’s Paul Mason and talks minimum wage, maximum subsidies, the expansion of Working America, the end of the American Crystal Sugar lockout, the beginning of a strike at “Fashion Police,” and the role of guestworkers in the immigration debate.