How to Be a Better Human: How labor unions create worker power
TED Talks Daily
TED
4.1 • 12.1K Ratings
🗓️ 4 September 2023
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We don't know about you, but we are fans of weekends. And social security. And health insurance. And the end of child labor! And all of these workplace protections exist because of the advocacy of labor unions. In this episode, political scientist Margaret Levi shares the long history of organizing labor and explains how unions create equality and protect worker rights. She also discusses her optimism about today's young workforce and why she believes that an equitable future requires a revival of the labor movement. This is an episode of How to Be a Better Human, a podcast from the TED Audio Collective. You can listen to more How to Be a Better Human wherever you're listening to this.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Ted Audio Collective. |
| 0:02.0 | Audio Collective. |
| 0:04.0 | I'm Elise Hugh, it's |
| 0:08.0 | I'm Elise Hugh, it's TED Talks Daily, and today we have something a little different for you |
| 0:14.8 | an episode of How to Be a Better Human, another podcast from the Ted Audio Collective. |
| 0:19.7 | It's hosted by my friend Chris Duffy and in today's episode he sits down with |
| 0:24.6 | Stanford professor Margaret Levi to talk about the power of worker solidarity. |
| 0:29.8 | Even if you're not part of a labor union, this conversation sheds light on what unions and organizing can teach us about building inclusive communities. |
| 0:40.0 | After the break. You're listening to how to be a better human. |
| 0:47.0 | I'm your host Chris Duffy. |
| 0:51.0 | Of the many strange things about being a comedian, one of the biggest is how being paid works. |
| 0:56.0 | I can perform the exact same jokes and get paid wildly different amounts. |
| 1:00.0 | Sometimes I go to a conference and I tell my jokes and I get a very lucrative check. |
| 1:05.0 | Other times I tell those same jokes at a bar and they give me two free-sellers. |
| 1:09.0 | It's the Wild West out there when it comes to joke prices. |
| 1:12.0 | So when I got my first TV writing job, |
| 1:14.1 | I was really surprised to learn |
| 1:15.4 | that I was now part of a small but powerful union |
| 1:17.9 | called the Writers Guild of America. |
| 1:19.8 | All of a sudden, my work included things |
| 1:22.0 | like minimum weekly rates, health care contributions, |
| 1:24.8 | a potential pension down the road and rules about how I could be treated by my bosses. |
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