#1486 Unionizing is a Labor of Love
Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Jay Tomlinson
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 29 April 2022
⏱️ 79 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Air Date 4/29/2022
Today we take a look at the rising wave of successful unionization efforts and the corporate tactics being leveled against them, including the propaganda that surrounds the culture of labor.
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SHOW NOTES
Around the country, workers are rising up, demanding more, and winning important victories, even though the deck is stacked against them. The question is: Where will the reinforcements come from?
Ch. 2: Apple Store employee explains why he's fighting to unionize - ABC News - Air Date 4-26-22
Genius Bar technician Derrick Bowles explains why he and his coworkers are making the move to unionize their Apple Store
We speak with the two best friends who led a drive to organize workers at Amazon's warehouse in Staten Island, New York, and made history Friday after a majority voted to form the first Amazon union in the U.S.
Ch. 4: Unions And Strikes Are Good - Some More News - Air Date 3-30-22
Hi. In today’s episode, Cody, who is still on strike against the News Lord, discusses the importance of Unions, Co-Ops, and the future of work.
Ch. 5: Why Work Won't Love You Back - On The Media - Air Date 4-22-22
In 2021, a record-breaking number of workers quit their jobs, leading to the phenomenon deemed the "Great Resignation." To understand how that happened, it helps to unpack how work has shifted over the past several decades
Around the country, workers are rising up, demanding more, and winning important victories, even though the deck is stacked against them.
MEMBERS-ONLY BONUS CLIP(S)
Ch. 7: The Holiday You May Have Missed - On The Media - Air Date 4-20-22
International Workers' Day is celebrated with rallies and protests all over the world on May 1, but it's not a big deal in the United States. Back in 2018, Brooke spoke with Donna Haverty-Stacke of Hunter College, CUNY about the American origin of May Day
FINAL COMMENTS
Ch. 8: Final comments on the intrinsic human needs that, when fulfilled, give meaning to any work
TAKE ACTION!
Call your members of Congress today and demand the $94 million increase in funds to The National Labor Relations Board: US Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
Find Your Senator and Representative
House Lawmakers Demand More Labor Board Funds As Workplace Organizing Spreads (Huffington Post)
Lawmakers Urge NLRB Budget Boost Amid 'Dramatic Increase' in Unionization (Common Dreams)
The Labor Board Is Withering Away, And That's Bad News For The Labor Movement (Huffington Post)
EDUCATE YOURSELF & SHARE
Bernie Sanders Wants Democrats to Make Unions Their Biggest Message (Vanity Fair)
Sanders pressures Biden on Amazon unions: ‘The time for talk is over’ (Politico)
Starbucks May Soon Face Legal Consequences for Union Busting (Truthout)
The Revolt of the College-Educated Working Class (NY Times)
Curated by BOTL Communications Director Amanda Hoffman
MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions)
SHOW IMAGE:
Description: Amazon Labor Union logo - a black outline of an open box with three fists coming out of the top - against Amazon corporate orange. A heart encircles the logo and is surrounded by black.
Credit: Amazon Labor Union logo (artist not found upon search). Additional heart border design by Amanda Hoffman.
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to this episode of the award winning the Best of Left podcast in which we shall |
| 0:07.0 | take a look at the rising wave of successful unionization efforts and the corporate tactics |
| 0:12.8 | being leveled against them, including the propaganda that surrounds the very culture of labor. |
| 0:18.8 | Clips today are from the Real News, ABC News, Democracy Now, some more news, and on the media |
| 0:26.7 | with an additional members only clip also from on the media. |
| 0:36.2 | For 45, in fact, I should say 50 years capital has declared they have always been in conflict |
| 0:44.5 | with labor, but for the past 45 to 50 years there has been a class war against working people |
| 0:50.5 | in the United States. Conservatism was always eager to pursue that class war, but then in the 70s |
| 0:58.0 | there emerged something known as neoliberalism, which in one sense is a classic form, a classic form |
| 1:04.4 | of, you know, reduced wages, break up unions, lower taxes, empower business, et cetera, but we |
| 1:12.6 | should understand that the word actually signified something very significant in the 70s. It meant |
| 1:17.8 | a new form of liberalism. That is the neoliberals that included Jimmy Carter and others were |
| 1:25.9 | determined to take the Democratic Party and turn it away from the Roosevelt tradition. |
| 1:32.8 | And when they declared war on capital by way of the trilateral commission of corporate and |
| 1:38.8 | political leaders by way of the famous Lewis Powell memorandum to the Chamber of Commerce and |
| 1:44.7 | people can read those. It's available online. The fact is that as much as it seemed a political move, |
| 1:53.0 | it actually was the political vanguard of the class war on labor. And it was powerful in the 70s. |
| 2:01.2 | They used to say, don't know if it's true or not, that in the 70s the fastest growing enterprise |
| 2:06.2 | was union busting law firms. And it came to a head in 1978 when Dunn-Frazier left the Dunlop |
| 2:14.4 | commission and wrote an open letter to believe it was open to Jimmy Carter saying, I cannot serve |
| 2:20.0 | on a labor management commission when they have declared class war on us. Well, the fact is the |
| 2:25.9 | Democrats turned their back on working people on the labor movement and decidedly on the FDR |
... |
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