Shows
Your Rights At WorkKim Kelly says “Fight Like Hell”Broadcast on May 12, 2022
Hosted by Chris Garlock
Labor journalist KIM KELLY on her new book “Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor”, plus NALC Branch 142 President KEITH HOOKS on the Letter Carriers’ annual "Stamp out Hunger" Food Drive, Saturday, May 14 and why longtime organizer RICHARD BENSINGER thinks Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz “will go down in history as the Al Capone of union busters”.
Plus the latest labor news headlines.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Michael Nassella.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @grimkim @WPFWDC @NALC_National #tampOutHunger RichBensinger1 @starbucksunion
2022-05-1254 minYour Rights At WorkReproductive rights are workers rightsBroadcast on May 5, 2022
Hosted by Chris Garlock & Ed Smith
Hayley Brown, VP for Organizing at the Nonprofit Employees Union (NPEU): Reproductive rights are workers rights, and abortion access is a labor issue (Read NPEU’s statement here); Damon Silvers on “Labor, Climate Change, and Innovation” and why working people are central to any solution to the climate change crisis.
Plus labor news headlines: D.C. Circulator drivers strike for second day amid negotiations; Apple workers in Maryland seek unionization; Amazon Workers Urged to Fight On After Staten Island Union Push Fails; Starbucks will raise wages again...
2022-05-0555 minYour Rights At WorkKilled at WorkBroadcast on April 28, 2022
Hosted by Chris Garlock & Ed Smith
On Workers Memorial Day, National Council for Occupational Safety and Health Communications Coordinator Melissa Moriarty on the Killed at Work and Dirty Dozen reports. Monsignor George Higgins, the leading “labor priest” of his era, passed away 20 years ago; Clayton Sinyai, Executive Director of the Catholic Labor Network and member of Laborers Local 11, reports on events honoring Higgins scheduled for May 1 and May 2 (details here). Filmmaker Deborah Shaffer discusses “The Wobblies,” which screens on May Day at the 2022 DC Labor FilmFest.
Today’s music: We Just Come to Work He...
2022-04-2955 minYour Rights At WorkEarth Day 2022: Fight For Our FutureBroadcast on April 21, 2022
Hosted by Chris Garlock & Ed Smith
Barista J FLETCHER on this week’s vote by workers at five Richmond Starbucks to unionize; JOHN DOHERTY (Painters union) on the April 23 Fight for Our Future rally for climate, care, jobs and justice; ROBIN RUNGE on Stopping Gender-Based Violence and Harassment at Work: The Campaign for an ILO Convention (April 26 book talk); labor historian and journalist MICHAEL MATEJKA on the April 28 Steve Sutton Memorial Dedication in Marseilles, Illinois.
Today’s music: Paradise (John Prine cover) by Joe Uehlein; Night Falls by Tom Morello.
...
2022-04-2155 minYour Rights At WorkOffice space: designed for whom?Broadcast on April 14, 2022
Hosted by Chris Garlock & Ed Smith
Chris Biondi, Training Director at the Washington DC Joint Plumbing Apprenticeship Committee talks about apprentices and Plumber Local 5’s April 21 Industry Day and Open House. Then, there are real questions about the future of the office in the wake of the pandemic; we take a look at the fascinating history of office design with Jennifer Kaufmann-Buhler, author of Open Plan: A Design History of the American Office.
Labor news headlines: Starbucks workers vote to unionize 6 more stores, pushing total to 16; Amazon alleges ALU interference in recent un...
2022-04-1454 minYour Rights At WorkAmazon workers notch historic winBroadcast on April 7, 2022
Hosted by Chris Garlock & Ed Smith
American Prospect editor at large HAROLD MEYERSON on the historic win at the Amazon JFK8 warehouse, plus exciting news about big changes in labor law thanks to NLRB general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo.
Hundreds of workers at Howard University Hospital are planning a one-day strike next Monday; YRAW co-host Ed Smith, who’s Executive Director of the District of Columbia Nurses Association (DCNA), explains why.
Commercial security officers rallied Wednesday for a fair contract; we hear more from JUDITH HOWELL, a longtime security officer and board me...
2022-04-0755 minYour Rights At WorkOn The Line with Daisy PitkinBroadcast on March 31, 2022
Hosted by Chris Garlock
On today’s show, Washington Hilton housekeepers were up in arms on Tuesday; we find out why from UNITE HERE Local 25’s Paul Schwalb. Then, the Montgomery County Council last week unanimously approved an expansion of the Prevailing Wage; Stephen Courtien, president of the Baltimore-D.C. Metro Building and Construction Trades Council tells us what that will mean for local building trades workers.
Our final guest is longtime union organizer Daisy Pitkin; her brand-new book, ON THE LINE: A Story of Class, Solidarity, and Two Women’s Epic Fight...
2022-03-3155 minYour Rights At WorkPutting the movement in MovementBroadcast on March 24, 2022
Hosted by Chris Garlock
Movement Crystal City is the first major gym in the country to unionize; organizer Gus Mason joins us to explain why…then, Sunday was the first day of Spring and strikes have been popping up all over; Johnnie Kallas from Cornell's Labor Tracker Project updates us on their latest findings…And finally, if you were glued to this week’s Senate hearing on the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, here’s a case no one brought up: Holmes v. Atlanta, when the Supreme...
2022-03-2655 minYour Rights At WorkUkraine: Labor Radio Podcast Network reportsBroadcast on March 17, 2022
Hosted by Chris Garlock & Ed Smith
Compilation of reports about Ukraine from shows in the Labor Radio Podcast Network, including Your Rights At Work, The Dig, Working 4 a Livin, The Rick Smith Show and Work Week Radio.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Michael Nassella.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @thedigradio @4_workin @RickSmithShow @labormedianow
2022-03-1855 minYour Rights At Work“We Are Not Slaves”Broadcast on March 10, 2022
Hosted by Chris Garlock & Ed Smith
On Wednesday, Mayor Muriel Bowser signed an agreement with unions that represent more than 11,000 DC government employees; we find out more from AFSCME Council 20 Executive Director Robert Hollingsworth.
Then, We Are Not Slaves: State Violence, Coerced Labor and Prisoners' Rights in Postwar America; this book, first published in 2020, is now out in paperback and we’re joined by author Robert Chase and prisoner rights advocate Kurt Stand. Plus: music by Odetta.
Labor news headlines: 20,000 Longshore Workers Refuse to Unload Russian Ships; Starbucks Workers Unionizing in Vi...
2022-03-1054 minYour Rights At WorkGreenhouse on Two-Faced Anti-Unionism; Zirin on the MLB lockout; Crandell on Twenty-Two Cents an HourBroadcast on March 3, 2022
Hosted by Chris Garlock & Ed Smith
Longtime labor reporter Steven Greenhouse on Two-Faced Anti-Unionism; sportswriter Dave Zirin on the MLB lockout, and Doug Crandell on Twenty-Two Cents an Hour: Disability Rights and the Fight to End Subminimum Wages.
Plus labor news headlines: REI Workers in New York Vote to Unionize; Arizona Starbucks becomes first outside New York to unionize; Union Activists Arrested at Amazon warehouse in Staten Island.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Ciera Shine.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @greenhousenyt @EdgeofSports
2022-03-0459 minYour Rights At WorkWorkers say No to war in UkraineBroadcast on February 24, 2022
Hosted by Chris Garlock & Ed Smith
The American people don't want another war. The Ukrainian people don't want a war. The Russian people don't want war. We talk with longtime labor and antiwar activist Gene Bruskin about a working-class analysis of the crisis in Ukraine.
Then, what can we learn about America from Starbucks and the current explosion of organizing by their baristas? We visit with Bryant Simon, author of Everything but the Coffee: Learning about America from Starbucks.
Today’s music: War (What is it good for) Edwin Starr.
2022-02-2554 minYour Rights At WorkOne Fair Wage declares victoryBroadcast on February 17, 2022
Hosted by Chris Garlock & Ed Smith
One Fair Wage president Saru Jayaraman with an update on the DC and U.S. Congress campaigns, plus a special 9 to 5 screening with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin on 2/25; Cathy Feingold on the Jerry Black Scholarship Fund at the TraRon Center; Timothy J. Lombardo on Blue Collar Conservatism: Frank Rizzo's Philadelphia and Populist Politics.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Michael Nassella.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod #OneFairWage #RaiseTheWage @Janefonda @SaruJayaraman @bttrrstrntsdc #raisethewage
2022-02-1855 minYour Rights At WorkOrganizing with Union Kitchen, Starbucks and POTUSBroadcast on February 10, 2022
Hosted by Chris Garlock & Ed Smith
Reports from the folks who are organizing a union at, yes, Union Kitchen here in Washington, DC, and at Starbucks in Virginia. Then, with the PRO Act blocked in the U.S. Senate by Republicans, has President Biden found another way for American workers who want to organize? Actually, he’s found almost 70 ways; we hear more from Damon Silvers at the AFL-CIO.
Today’s music: Union Town, by The Nightwatchman himself, Tom Morello.
Plus labor news headlines: Portland averts major municipal strike as city, unio...
2022-02-1054 minYour Rights At WorkTransit Equity Day, grocery prices & "Revolutionary Nonviolence”Broadcast on February 3, 2022
Hosted by Chris Garlock
February 4 is Transit Equity Day and ATU Local 689 President Raymond Jackson and Labor Network For Sustainability Maryland Director Elizabeth Bunn join us to talk about why transit affects working people the most.
Then, Where Do Grocery Prices Come From? Corporate consolidation and profiteering, that’s where; Errol Schweizer, host of The Checkout Podcast, explains.
Finally, there’s a brand-new book out this month, "Revolutionary Nonviolence, Organizing for Freedom", and one of the authors, Michael Honey, joins us to discuss the philosophy and power of nonviolent organizing, and how...
2022-02-0454 minYour Rights At WorkThe Future We NeedBroadcast on January 27, 2022
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
Erica Smiley (Jobs with Justice) and Sarita Gupta (Ford Foundation's Future of Work) on their new book, “The Future We Need, Organizing for a Better Democracy in the Twenty-First Century,” plus 1199SEIU organizer James Crosby on “Low-wage workers prop up the nursing home industry. They’re quitting in droves.”
Today’s music: Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5,” which hit #1 on January 28, 1981.
Plus labor news headlines: King Soopers workers ratify 3-year contract after striking across Denver metro; Bus Drivers Go on Strike to Protest Low Pay in Rural Mississip...
2022-01-2755 minYour Rights At WorkConfessions of a Union BusterBroadcast on January 20, 2022
Hosted by Chris Garlock
Longtime union organizer Bob Muehlenkamp, who’s written an introduction to a new “activist” edition of Confessions of a Union Buster, says a half-century of union busting has eroded American democracy. Then we’ve got a brand-new song from “the singing elevator constructor,” and SpudWrench himself drops by for a visit. Last up is Jim Russell, whose book The Labor Guide to Retirement Plans explores the damages caused by the privatization of retirement plans and the connection to current struggles by labor activists.
Plus labor news headlines: Two more Bos...
2022-01-2054 minYour Rights At WorkThe filibuster’s racist rootsBroadcast on January 13, 2022
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
The AFL-CIO’s Bill Samuel on the racist anti-democratic roots of the filibuster, nurses hold a national day of action, Elise Bryant previews the annual MLK Gonna Take Us All Ball and Donald Cohen on The Privatization of Everything.
Plus: labor news headlines and music from the DC Labor Chorus.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Michael Nassella and Ciera Shine.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @AFLCIO @lizshuler #January6th #VotingRightsAct #FreedomtoVoteAct
2022-01-1355 minYour Rights At Work“All You Fascists Are Bound To Lose”Broadcast on January 6, 2022
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show: One year after the attack on the U.S. Capitol, the Capitol Police resist privatization and AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler on the fight for democracy. EPI Policy Analyst Margaret Poydock on why unions are not only good for workers, they’re good for communities and for democracy. This week’s music: The Selecter’s “All You Fascists Are Bound To Lose”.
Plus labor news headlines: Politics and Prose recognizes union; DNC staff votes to unionize; The Long American Meltdown Led to the January 6...
2022-01-0755 minYour Rights At WorkWhy Kellogg’s strikers said Hell NoBroadcast on December 9, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show: Live from Battle Creek, Michigan, an update from Trevor Bidelman, president of Baker’s Local 3G on why Kellogg’s strikers overwhelmingly rejected the latest contract offer.
Then, teaching history shouldn’t have to mean re-living it on the job. Workers at Colonial Williamsburg are being worked to the bone and exploited, just like in the old days, says their union, UNITE HERE Local 25; Benjy Cannon reports.
The ongoing strike wave reminds many of The Labor Upsurge of the 1930s and ’40s in the...
2021-12-0955 minYour Rights At WorkDefense worker says “Cut the Pentagon budget”Broadcast on December 2, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show: we talk with David Story, a defense industry worker who says it’s time to cut the Pentagon budget (and spend the money on unionized green jobs); then we catch up with James Schiffman, an associate professor in Georgia who was punished when he spoke out (‘We are teaching in COVID factories') about his concerns about his school’s lax covid policies.
Plus labor news headlines: M.L.B.’s lockout begins; Union workers ratify contract, end strike at WVa hospital; Citing new Omic...
2021-12-0255 minYour Rights At Work“Warrior Coal ain’t got no soul!”Broadcast on November 18, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show: The Warrior Met Coal strike comes to DC; UMWA’s Erin Bates reports. AFL-CIO Director of government affairs Bill Samuel on how the just-signed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will put millions of Americans to work. Author Joseph Anderson explores the worker perspective in his new book “Capitalist Pigs: Pigs, Pork, and Power in America.”
PLUS: Hold The Line; brand-new music from Tom Morello!
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Michael Nassella & Kaliah Chapman.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @AFLCIO...
2021-11-1854 minYour Rights At WorkOperation Union Veterans DayBroadcast on November 11, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show: William Attig, Executive Director of the Union Veterans Council, AFL-CIO drops by to discuss a brand-new program, Operation Union Veterans Day. Then, New York Times media columnist Ben Smith on Why the Media Loves Labor Now. Plus, the 60-second Labor Rap!
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Kaliah Chapman.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @AFLCIO @unionveterans @benyt
2021-11-1257 minYour Rights At WorkWTF happened in VA?Broadcast on November 4, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show: Harold Meyerson, Editor-at-large, American Prospect, on “The Biden Drift and do-nothing Democrats.” UNITE HERE Local 25 Political Director Sam Epps on connecting electoral work – his local knocked on over 200,000 Virginia doors during the recent elections -- with union organizing. PLUS: Garlock workers strike in Palmyra, NY, and the John Deere strike continues as UAW members reject a second contract proposal.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Michael Nassella & Kaliah Chapman.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @AFLCIO @TheProspect @DCHotelworkers @unitehere23
2021-11-0555 minYour Rights At Work“Keeping Workers Safe”; "Bridging the Divide” & “A World Like This”Broadcast on October 28, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock
This week's show: Michigan Congressman Andy Levin remembers AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka and tells us about the “Keeping Workers Safe Act” Levin just introduced in Congress. Then, Jack Metzgar on his book "Bridging the Divide” and the differences between working-class and middle-class cultures in the U.S. We wrap up with singer-songwriter George Mann, who’s just released a brand-new CD, “A World Like This.”
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Michael Nassella & Kaliah Chapman.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @AFLCIO @RepAndyLevin
2021-10-2855 minYour Rights At WorkLatina Equal Pay Day; women soccer players strikeBroadcast on October 21, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show: Today is Latina Equal Pay Day: Xochitl Cobarruvias (Labor Council for Latin American Advancement LA chapter chair) on why Latinas must work 10 extra months for the same pay.
During the sixth minute of each of the National Women’s Soccer League's games on October 6, players stopped the game, gathered at midfield and locked arms in solidarity; Dave Zirin, sportwriter and host of WPFW’s The Collision tells us what happened next.
Plus: Click here to support Your Rights At Work’s home s...
2021-10-2154 minYour Rights At Work#Striketober: MA nurses and KY distillersBroadcast on October 14, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show: 700 nurses have been striking for 8 months at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts, and the folks who make Elijah Craig Bourbons at the Heaven Hill distillery in Kentucky have been on strike since September 11.
Plus: Click here to support Your Rights At Work’s home station WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Kaliah Chapman.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @AFLCIO @MassNurses #StVincentHospital #Tenet #Healthcare @UFCW Local 23D
2021-10-1455 minYour Rights At WorkNo justice, no Froot Loops!Broadcast on October 7, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show: Bakery Workers Local 3G president Trevor Bidelman reports on the Kellogg strike from Battle Creek, MI; latest on the UNITE HERE Hilton Housekeeping Campaignwith UNITE HERE Local 25’s Benjy Cannon.
Plus: Click here to support Your Rights At Work’s home station WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @AFLCIO @BCTGM
#KelloggStrike
2021-10-0755 minYour Rights At WorkStriking Hollywood, more DC paid leave & boycotting the Merriweather LakehouseBroadcast on WPFW (89.3FM) on September 23, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock
This week's show:
Hollywood could be facing the biggest strike since World War Two; IATSE Local 488’s CDavid Cottrill on why the folks who make the movies and shows we love are so fed up.
DC Jobs with Justice’s Melinda Fiedler provides details on the new benefits and expanded access in the updated DC Paid Family & Medical Leave Act, which goes into effect October 1.
The Sheraton in Columbia, Maryland is now the Merriweather Lakehouse hotel, but a lot more than the name has...
2021-10-0154 minYour Rights At WorkSneak attack on worker rights; Oreo’s OK again; Womxn’s Labor Leadership SymposiumBroadcast on WPFW (89.3FM) on September 23, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock
This week's show:
Why Bill 34-20 in Montgomery County is a sneak attack on all union rights…Oreos are OK again (sort of); workers won their strike against Nabisco, but an “M” or “MS” on the product code means it was made non-union in Mexico…Plus: highlights from next week’s Womxn’s Labor Leadership Symposium.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @AFLCIO @UFCW1994 @BCTGM #NabiscoStrike @GeorgetownKILWP @RutgersCIWO #WeSymposium2021 @WomenLeadLabor
2021-09-2354 minYour Rights At WorkBad bosses, TSA worker rights & affordable housingBroadcast on WPFW (89.3FM) on September 16, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock & Ed Smith
This week's show:
Nabisco strikers win tentative contract.
Stories of terrible managers—and the workers who fought back; we talk with Mother Jones editor Jacob Rosenberg about Bad Bosses, a brand-new feature in the publication named after the legendary labor organizer.
Want shorter lines at airport security? Improve conditions for TSA workers! We’ll find out how from Johnny Jones, Secretary-Treasurer of the AFGE TSA Council.
We’re still struggling with effects of the global pandemic, now comes the threat of mas...
2021-09-1655 minYour Rights At WorkOn the line with striking bakers and barbersBroadcast on September 9, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock
On this week's show: NoVA Labor's Ginny Diamond (and friends) with a live report from the Richmond bakery and barber strike picket lines; plus we visit with new Painters and Allied Trades president Jimmy Williams Jr., and Carolyn Bobb, the new co-host of State of the Unions, the AFL-CIO’s podcast.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @AFLCIO @va_labor @BCTGM #NabiscoStrike @GoIUPAT
2021-09-1054 minYour Rights At WorkWorking in DC: The musical!Broadcast on September 2, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show: Working in DC, the musical based on Studs Terkel’s book of oral histories of workers, opens on Labor Day on Black Lives Matter Plaza in front of the AFL-CIO. We talk with director Shanara Gabrielle about taking it to the streets with revolutionary theater.
Plus: The latest episode of the San Francisco Mime Troupe’s Tales of the Resistance radio drama: “Hobos in Space”.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @AFLCIO @W...
2021-09-0253 min
Your Rights At WorkNo contracts, no snacks!Broadcast on August 26, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show: A frontline report from the Nabisco strike*, a preview of Saturday’s March On for Voting Rights, and Jamie McCallum remembers activist and labor historian Stanley Aronowitz, “who knew that freedom begins where work ends.”
Plus today’s labor music, "One Day Longer" by Tom Breiding, about the United Mine Workers strike at Warrior Met.
*click here for details on the Nabisco/Mondelēz “Made in Mexico” boycott.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #un...
2021-08-2754 minYour Rights At WorkRich Trumka, 1949-2021Broadcast on August 5, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock
This week's show: Labor historian Joe McCartin on the life and legacy of AFL-CIO president Rich Trumka, who died on August 5. PLUS: "I've Never Been More Optimistic": A Conversation with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, on the AFL-CIO's State of the Unions podcast.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @AFLCIO @RichardTrumka Pass the #PROAct
2021-08-0554 minYour Rights At WorkAFL-CIO’s PRO Act “Week of Action”Broadcast on July 22, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show: AFL-CIO director of policy and special counsel Damon Silvers reports on the labor federation’s week of action on the PRO Act…”Breaking the Shell” reports on the hardships faced by Mexican crab pickers on Maryland's Eastern Shore; we talk with Mari Perales Sánchez, one of the report’s authors…Plus: Jeff Bezos thanks the little people, Scabby the Rat lives to see another day, workers at Frito-Lay, Uber and Lyft strike and all the latest labor news headlines.
Produced by Chris Garl...
2021-07-2254 minYour Rights At WorkIs telework more productive? Plus, Brewing a BoycottBroadcast on July 15, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock
This week's show: Richard Loeb, AFGE Senior Policy Counselor, on why nearly 80% of federal and DC workers say they are more productive teleworking during the pandemic. Then, Allyson Brantley, author of the new book Brewing a Boycott: How a Grassroots Coalition Fought Coors & Remade American Consumer Activism on the historic Coors boycott, coalition building in the '60s & '70s and lessons for today’s organizers.
PLUS: Episode 2 of the San Francisco Mime Troupe’s “Tales Of The Resistance, Volume 2: Persistence”: injustice and romance are in the air when an...
2021-07-1554 minYour Rights At WorkPostal Workers celebrate 50 yearsBroadcast on July 1, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show: The American Postal Workers Union is celebrating its’ 50th birthday today; Postal Workers president Mark Dimondstein reports on how his union is still fighting for postal worker rights.
PLUS: Metro Washington Council Political Director David Stephen on the Hero Pay bill in DC City Council…DC Jobs with Justice Worker Rights Policy Advocate Nikko Bilitza on the Your Rights at Work and the New Minimum Wage webinar…the San Francisco Mime Troupe’s Michael Gene Sullivan previews the Mime Troupe’s brand-new radio dram...
2021-07-0255 minYour Rights At WorkWorld premiere: “Scabby the Rat, and Fatty the Cat”Broadcast on June 24, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show: NABET-CWA Local 31’s Barbara Krieger on workers under assault at Montgomery Community Television; former DC Jobs with Justice Executive Director Nikki Cole previews Wages, Benefits, and Fair Pay: 20 Years of DC JWJ panel.
Plus: World premiere of Todd Smith’s “Scabby the Rat and Fatty the Cat” song and the latest labor news headlines.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @NABETCWA @DCJWJ
2021-06-2555 minYour Rights At WorkYRAW Archives: Worked Over: How Round-the-Clock Work Is Killing the American DreamOriginally broadcast on February 11, 2021; rebroadcast on June 17, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
The AFL-CIO’s Cathy Feingold and Brian Finnegan report live from "The Sound of Democracy: A Global Noise Barrage for Myanmar" action at the Embassy of Myanmar in Washington, DC.
Jamie McCallum on his new book “Worked Over: How Round-the-Clock Work Is Killing the American Dream.” He argues that labor’s next big battle may be over not wages but time.
PLUS Labor news headlines and “Ampun Bang Jago” (Ease up, Mr. Hotshot), a popular In...
2021-06-1754 minYour Rights At WorkFact-checking the labor shortage hype/Seeing RedBroadcast on June 10, 2021
This week's show: Chris Garlock and Ed Smith are off this week but we’ve got a special show for you today.
First, on the State of Working America podcast, Heidi Shierholz and Josh Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute fact-check the labor shortage hype.
Then, from the San Francisco Mime Troupe, Seeing Red: What will it take to get people to stop voting against their interests? How do we overcome the divide-and-conquer tactics that keep us all down? And when did our electoral choices get so limited?
By...
2021-06-1054 minYour Rights At WorkClass, country music and social changeBroadcast on June 3, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show: MD Dems and labor leaders are denouncing Governor Hogan’s efforts to end supplemental unemployment insurance payments; we hear from UNITE HERE 25 Executive Secretary-Treasurer John Boardman…Then we get a report from Will Attig, Executive Director of the Union Veterans Council on how veterans joined the picket line at the Mineworker’s Warrior Met strike last week.
And we discuss class, country music and social change with Tim Fowler, who teaches a class on how these all connect.
Produced by Chris...
2021-06-0354 minYour Rights At WorkWorkplace violence and mental healthBroadcast on May 27, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show: Wednesday’s deadly shooting at the maintenance and dispatch center for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority in San Jose, California has once again raised the issues of workplace violence and mental health. We talk with Nurse Consultant – and DCNA member -- Laverne Plater.
Also, Strathmore Music Center is threatening to replace ticket-sellers there with machines; Treasurers and Ticket Sellers Union, IATSE Local 868 Business Agent Anne Vantine reports on what’s at stake.
We do have some good news this week, as DC...
2021-05-2754 minYour Rights At WorkBlowing the whistle on corporate greedBroadcast on May 20, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and David Stephen
This week's show: Washington Gas workers (Teamsters 96) blow the whistle on corporate greed. Organizer Steve Lanning (LiUNA 11) on workers’ right to strike. And Brittany Scott on Ending Racial Discrimination in Industrial Temp Hiring Through Innovative Enforcement.
Plus: WPFW’s Spring Pledge Drive; click here to support Jazz & Justice in the nation’s capital.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @teamsters @washingtongas @LIUNA @Partner4Dignity
2021-05-2054 minYour Rights At WorkWill strike, if necessaryBroadcast on May 13, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant
This week's show: ATU 689 shop steward Tonia White on why MetroAccess Operations Control Center workers voted this week to authorize a strike. Alejandro Ortiz on how the ACLU staff union won voluntary recognition. The American Prospect’s Harold Meyerson on the PRO Act's prospects and "Biden’s Good-Paying Union Jobs? Here’s How to Get Them."
Plus: WPFW’s Spring Pledge Drive; click here to support Your Rights At Work in the nation’s capital.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia.
2021-05-1455 minYour Rights At WorkDeath on the Job: The Toll of NeglectBroadcast on May 6, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show: The AFL-CIO’s 30th annual Death On The Job report…DC Labor Chorus’ annual spring concert preview…Nikko Bilitza from DC Jobs with Justice reports on the Essential Workers Bill of Rights…and Gabriel Winant discusses his book The Next Shift: The Fall of Industry and the Rise of Health Care in Rust Belt America.
PLUS: We Did Not Come This Far, by the DC Labor Chorus.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #lab...
2021-05-0755 minYour Rights At WorkDC statehood; Volvo workers strikeBroadcast on April 22, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show: David Stephen, MWC political director, on today’s historic House vote on DC statehood; Ginny Diamond, NoVA Labor president, on the Volvo worker strike in Dublin, VA; Lane Windham, Kalmanovitz Initiative Associate Director, on Constructing a New Social Compact: A Public Forum on Empowering the Post-Pandemic Working Class (April 28 – May 1, 2021).
Plus: D.C. Vote by the Chopteeth Afrofunk Big Band.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod #DCStatehoodNow #UAW2069 @GeorgetownKILWP
2021-04-221h 00Your Rights At WorkLiz Davis lives!Broadcast on April 15, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show: Remembering the life and work of Washington Teachers Union Local 6 president Liz Davis, who died April 4.
Guests: Fedrick Ingram, AFT Secretary-Treasurer; Dyana Forester, Metro Washington Council president; Jos Williams, former MWC president, currently serves on the Steering Committee of The Black Coalition against COVID; Dena Briscoe, APWU, Nation’s Capital and Southern MD Local. Plus listeners call in with their memories.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @AFTunion @AP...
2021-04-1553 minYour Rights At WorkPRO Act Digital Day of ActionBroadcast on April 8, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show: AFL-CIO Communications Director Tim Schlittner on the PRO Act Digital Day of Action today (Click here to call your rep!); Moment of Silence for WTU 6 president Liz Davis; latest labor news headlines, including our new Bad Bosses feature and peeing in bottles at Amazon (yes, it’s really true!).
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @timschlittner #PROAct #1u
2021-04-0855 minYour Rights At WorkDuke University Press workers organizeBroadcast on April 1, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
Breaking news: AFL-CIO reports that the federation’s headquarters have been renamed the Scott Walker Center for Labor Solidarity, noting that “Nobody has done more to unite and galvanize the Labor Movement than the former Wisconsin Governor.”
This week's show: Constant turnover, extended vacancies, low compensation, inconsistent policy enforcement and patterns of discrimination at the Duke University Press has sparked an organizing drive by workers there. We talk to DUP Workers Union members Dan Ruccia and Kelsea Smith.
PLUS: Labor Heritage Foundation’s Elise Br...
2021-04-0155 minYour Rights At WorkCelebrating Women’s History Month in songBroadcast on March 25, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant
This week's show: Music by and about working women from Anne Feeney, Bev Grant, Etta James, Alicia Keys, Annie Lennox, the Rose City Kings, Nina Simone, Keb' Mo' & Roseanne Cash. And we celebrate the birthday of Aretha Franklin, The Queen of Soul.
PLUS: Bev Grant and Ballad of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (March 25, 1911) and Seeds Of Freedom by the R.J. Phillips Band for Óscar Romero – the archbishop of San Salvador who spoke out against social injustice -- assassinated March 24, 1980 by the right-wing military while cele...
2021-03-2655 minYour Rights At WorkAtlanta murders targeted working womenBroadcast on March 18, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show: Labor movement unites in condemnation of murders of female Asian workers in Atlanta; fire fighters battle Virginia’s Jim Crow legacy; Who is Keolis and why are they hurting local transit workers? Fitness workers unite!
APALA Grieves for the Asian Women Who Were Victims of Targeted Shootings in Georgia, and Condemns Misogyny and White Supremacy that Motivated These Murders: Virginia Rodino, Maryland coordinator of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) and the national convenor of United Against Hate.
Alexandria fi...
2021-03-1854 minYour Rights At WorkWorkers after a year of the pandemicBroadcast on March 11, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show: What’s been the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on DC-area workers and their unions? First-hand reports on the toll -- and the ongoing struggles -- from hotel workers (John Boardman, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, UNITE HERE 25), supermarket workers (Mark Federici, president, UFCW Local 400), DC teachers (Elizabeth Davis, president of the Washington Teachers Union) and janitors, security guards and airport workers (Jaime Contreras, District Chair and Supervisor, SEIU 32BJ).
PLUS: Workers helping workers: Sonte DuCote, Executive Director, MWC Community Services Agency.
Music: Covid Va...
2021-03-1255 minYour Rights At WorkUI, MEWPA & Re-UnionBroadcast on March 4, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
Pushing to extend Unemployment Insurance benefits with Judy Conti, Government Affairs Director at the National Employment Law Project…
"Essential Worker Wednesdays" and the Maryland Essential Workers Protection Act (MEWPA), with Chris Stevenson, analyst for 1199SEIU…
Solidarity Forever, with Pete Seeger and special guest Joe Biden…
And Re-Union: How Bold Labor Reforms Can Repair, Revitalize, and Reunite the United States, with David Madland, Senior Fellow and Strategic Director of the American Worker Project at the Center for American Progress.
PL...
2021-03-0555 minYour Rights At WorkThe Hardhat RiotBroadcast on February 25, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
EPI Policy Analyst Margaret Poydock on the story behind the 2020 decline in the number of striking workers.
David Paul Kuhn on his book THE HARDHAT RIOT: Nixon, New York City, and the Dawn of the White Working-Class Revolution.
Music: Strike (1970 funk tune by Union).
PLUS: it’s WPFW’s annual Winter Pledge Drive; pledge at 202-588-9739 or online; be sure to scroll down to Your Rights At Work to show your support for DC’s only call-in show about...
2021-02-2555 minYour Rights At WorkLife and Times of a Black Wobbly & Strike the HammerBroadcast on February 17, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
Special Black Labor History Month show: Peter Cole on “Ben Fletcher: The Life and Times of a Black Wobbly” (2nd Edition) and Dr. Laura Warren Hill on “Strike the Hammer: The Black Freedom Struggle in Rochester, New York, 1940-1970” (March 2021).
Peter Cole is Professor of History at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois; Laura Warren Hill is Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies, Bloomfield College in Bloomfield, New Jersey.
Music: The Preacher And The Slave (Pie in the Sky): Mischief...
2021-02-1855 minYour Rights At WorkWorked Over: How Round-the-Clock Work Is Killing the American DreamBroadcast on February 11, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
The AFL-CIO’s Cathy Feingold and Brian Finnegan report live from "The Sound of Democracy: A Global Noise Barrage for Myanmar" action at the Embassy of Myanmar in Washington, DC.
Jamie McCallum on his new book “Worked Over: How Round-the-Clock Work Is Killing the American Dream.” He argues that labor’s next big battle may be over not wages but time.
PLUS Labor news headlines and “Ampun Bang Jago” (Ease up, Mr. Hotshot), a popular Indonesian protest song that popped up in a viral...
2021-02-1253 minYour Rights At WorkRemembering John Sweeney (1934-2021)Broadcast on February 4, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
Stephen Lerner, Marilyn Sneiderman, Harold Meyerson and Joe McCartin remember John Sweeney, who led the AFL-CIO from 1995 to 2009. John Sweeney died on Monday at his home in Bethesda, Maryland; he was 86.
American labor and community organizer Stephen Lerner worked with Sweeney at SEIU to create the Justice for Janitors campaign in the mid-Eighties. Marilyn Sneiderman is Executive Director of the Center for Innovation in Worker Organization at Rutgers; under Sweeney, she directed the National AFL-CIO’s Department of Field Mobilization, where sh...
2021-02-0455 minYour Rights At WorkWhy “Work Won’t Love You Back”Broadcast on January 28, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
Labor journalist Sarah Jaffe on her new book Work Won't Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone.
Richard Loeb, AFGE Senior Policy Counselor on President Biden revoking Trump’s Executive Orders targeting federal workers’ rights.
Sophia Miyoshi, Restaurant Opportunities Center-DC Lead Organizer on the upcoming webinar on Your Rights At Work In A Pandemic
(Thursday, January 28; 6:30 – 8:00pm).
Plus: Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do?) and I Do What I Love by Ellie...
2021-01-2854 minYour Rights At WorkBiden fires Trump's union buster at the NLRBBroadcast on January 21, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock
This week's show:
Joe McCartin on Biden’s firing of Peter Robb, Trump-appointed general counsel for the National Labor Relations Board, who helped Reagan bust PATCO in 1981. McCartin wrote "Collision Course: Ronald Reagan, the Air Traffic Controllers, and the Strike that Changed America."
Becky Kolins Givan on “Strike For The Common Good: Fighting for the Future of Public Education”; she’ll be discussing this online next Monday, January 25, 5:00 pm EST with Joe McCartin, hosted by the Albert Shanker Institute.
Steve Striffler, co-editor “Organizing for Power: Building a 21st Centu...
2021-01-2154 minYour Rights At WorkCOVID vaccine: myths & realitiesBroadcast on January 14, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
John Boardman, UNITE HERE Local 25 on calls for DC-area hotel closures and transit safety procedures to protect staff and public from right-wing violence.
Anita Jenkins, Chief Executive Officer at Howard University Hospital, clears up the myths and realities about the COVID vaccine.
Richard Schweid on “The Caring Class.”
Plus: Maryland My Maryland: The Free State Song. Hear a proposed replacement for the state’s song glorifying secession and violence. Sign the petition here.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engine...
2021-01-141h 00Your Rights At WorkWorkers react to the insurrectionBroadcast on January 7, 2021
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
John Boardman (UNITE HERE 25), Jaime Contreras (SEIU 32BJ) and Mark Federici (UFCW 400) on how DC-area workers were affected by Wednesday's insurrection and how they're surviving the pandemic.
Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, which is demanding an investigation into the federal and local police planning and response to yesterday's events and Harold Meyerson, American Prospect editor, take a deeper dive in Wednesday's events, including the difference in how authorities handled peaceful BLM protests and the violent right-wing mob...
2021-01-0854 minYour Rights At WorkGonna Vote Your Asses Out!Broadcast on December 31, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show: Chris and Ed say goodbye to 2020 with a dozen work-themed songs, including Gonna Vote Your Asses Out! (Emma's Revolution), A Matter of Time (Los Lobos), Factory (Bruce Springsteen), Welcome to the Working Week (Elvis Costello), Working Man's Blues (Merle Haggard), Big In The Body/All You Fascists Bound To Lose (The Selecter), Together (For King and Country), Working-Class Hero (John Lennon), Wake up Everybody (Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes), Inner City Blues (Marvin Gaye), Living for the City (Stevie Wonder) and Work Song...
2020-12-3136 minYour Rights At WorkA Red Carol; Workers in holiday moviesBroadcast on December 17, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
A Red Carol; Daniel Savio, Music Producer and member of the San Francisco Mime Troupe Collective, talks about the Mime Troupe's first-ever radio play A Red Carol, which airs next week on Christmas Eve at 1pm on Your Rights At Work.
Workers in holiday movies: Kathy Newman, Associate Professor of English at Carnegie Mellon University, discusses the workers who make your favorite holiday movies possible. Read her essay “Christmas (and Class) Behind the Scenes” on the Working-Class Perspectives blog.
Plus: There...
2020-12-1854 minYour Rights At WorkBest labor books of the yearBroadcast on December 10, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
The best labor books of 2020, with TIM SHEARD, Hardball Press publisher and author of the Lenny Moss mysteries, and PATRICK DIXON, Managing Editor at LABOR: Studies in Working-Class History.
YEMISRACH WOLDE, Ethiopian Community Center on the upcoming DC Pay Stub Clinic.
Plus: Fallen Heroes: Songs for Essential Workers by The Pandemics.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Michael Nasella.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @hardballpress @GeorgetownKILWP
Proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network
2020-12-1154 minYour Rights At Work“Right to Return to Work”; the urgent need for economic reliefBroadcast on December 3, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
Sam Epps, Unite Here Local 25 Political Director, on the “Displaced Workers Right to Reinstatement and Retention Amendment Act” or “Right to Return to Work” for DC workers.
Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO, on the crisis facing American workers and the urgent need for economic relief.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Ciera Shine.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @FlyingWithSara @DCHotelworkers
Proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network
2020-12-0454 minYour Rights At WorkWorkers fight for safe DC schools; "Tales of the Resistance" wrapsBroadcast on November 19, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
Metro Washington Council president Dyana Forester reports on the latest on efforts by DC school unions to keep students safe; plus why postal workers took to the streets across the country this week.
Tales of the Resistance; the final episode! Will the Resistance become a Revolution, or will the fascist corporate overlords maintain their control over the workers? Find out in the last installment of this gripping radio drama from the San Francisco Mime Troupe!
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered...
2020-11-1954 minYour Rights At WorkEverything you need to know about DC unemployment insuranceBroadcast on November 12, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
DC City Councilmember Elissa Silverman discusses extended UI benefits, troubleshooting the latest issues, and the upcoming oversight hearing on outstanding Department of Employment Services issues. PLUS: latest labor news headlines and callers weigh in with their questions.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Kaliah.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @tweetelissa
2020-11-1254 minYour Rights At WorkElection zombies?Broadcast on November 5, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
Bill Fletcher, Jr. explains how the 2020 election proves the existence of zombies (and reveals his simple 3-step Zombie Test). Callers weigh in on this and much much more.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Myke “The Man” Nasella.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @BillFletcherJr
2020-11-0554 minYour Rights At WorkThe End of the Beginning!!!Broadcast on October 29, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
The cliff-hanger Episode 9 of the San Francisco Mime Troupe’s Tales of the Resistance radio drama. Will the Resistance become a Revolution? Or will the fascist corporate overlords maintain their control over the workers?
Plus: Metro Washington Council Political Director David Stephen on labor-endorsed DC-area candidates and why Montgomery County voters should vote against Question B.
Labor headlines: Kroger workers demonstrate for contract; ‘Stunning’ Executive Order Would Politicize Civil Service; Gig Worker Groups Release Solidarity Letter Opposing Proposition 22
2020-10-2954 minYour Rights At WorkFighting union busters in a Carolina carpet millBroadcast on October 22, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
Legendary organizer Phil Cohen’s shocking expose of illegal union-busting under the Trump Administration (info/order his book here).
Plus: Metro Washington Council president Dyana Forester reports on the "No on B" labor rally, DC teachers hold a public hearing on re-opening DC schools safely, and DC dispensary workers organize with UFCW 400.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Myke “The Man” Nasella.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod
2020-10-2355 minYour Rights At WorkThe San Francisco Mime Troupe’s “Tales of Resistance” (Episode 8)Broadcast on October 15, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
“Systemic racism” at the VA? Plus: the latest episode of the San Francisco Mime Troupe’s Tales of Resistance! Today, the continuing story of “DIMENSION 2020" - No one could predict that Greg and Clya could either save democracy, or lock the country into an endless cycle of tyranny and oppression, but now they have a hard choice to make...
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Myke “The Man” Nasella.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod
2020-10-161h 00Your Rights At WorkA nerd runs for office; Marx at the ArcadeBroadcast on October 8, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
Policy nerd Ed Lazere – DC City Council At-Large candidate -- on why he wants to take the fight for DC’s working people inside the belly of the beast.
“Marx at the Arcade”; Dr. Jamie Woodcock on how Karl Marx can help us understand video games and the people who make them.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Myke “The Man” Nasella.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @edlazere @jamie_woodcock
2020-10-081h 00Your Rights At WorkThe Killing of Daniel Prude: Rochester labor reactsBroadcast on October 1, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
Rochester (NY) Labor Council president Dan Maloney on the local labor movement’s reaction to the killing of Daniel Prude and the need for police accountability: "It is imperative to remember that social justice, racial justice and human rights are forever intertwined with the fight for labor rights."
San Francisco Mime Troupe’s Tales of the Resistance, Episode 7: Fear of the Dark: "The Rotten Orchard." Can Primo come to grips with his haunted past? Will he be able to be more than...
2020-10-0254 minYour Rights At WorkTrump’s top 50 attacks on working peopleBroadcast on September 24, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
Heidi Shierholz on EPI’s report on the Trump administration’s 50 most egregious attacks on working people since he took office.
Julie Karant, SEIU 32BJ: Essential workers launch union’s largest-ever voter turnout program.
PLUS: NPEU president Kayla Blado on union-busting at the Feminist Majority, and "Resisterhood" director/producer Cheryl Jacobs Crim
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Kailah
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @32BJSEIU @EconomicPolicy @NonprofitUnion @Resisterhooddoc
2020-09-2553 minYour Rights At WorkNC nurses win landslide victory; Despotism at workBroadcast on September 17, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
Largest hospital union victory in South since 1975: Asheville, NC HCA nurses vote ‘Yes’ to unionize in Landslide Vote by 70% for National Nurses United.
Despotism on Demand: How Power Operates in the Flexible Workplace; a chat with author Alex J. Wood, live from the UK.
PLUS: The latest episode of the San Francisco Mime Troupe’s Tales of the Resistance radio drama. Today, the continuing story of "Novice Nurse Susie Terse!" - Can she continue to fight off the bureaucracy while fendin...
2020-09-171h 00Your Rights At WorkUnion vets mobilizing to vote; AFGE's Black Labor WeekBroadcast on September 10, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock
This week's show:
The Union Veterans Council reports on their 2020 political strategy launch; AFGE’s Black Labor Week September 14-18.
PLUS: Laid-off food service workers to rally at Senator Mitch McConnell’s house & labor news from RadioLabour International.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Myke “The Man” Nasella.
@unionveterans @radiolabour @AFGENational @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod
2020-09-101h 54Your Rights At WorkGrocery workers protest; Tales of the Resistance Episode 5Broadcast on September 3, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
Grocery workers plan 18 simultaneous protests today at area stores to demand hazard pay; also, how UFCW 400 members rescued boaters at sea last week.
PLUS: “The Case of the Wrinkled Egg”; Episode 5 of the San Francisco Mime Troupe’s Tales of the Resistance radio drama; The continuing story of "Jade, For Hire!" - Looking for work during a race and class war ain’t easy, But why was "Derrick" fired in the first place? And what is the secret of... Jamazon.com? Find out...
2020-09-0354 minYour Rights At WorkLabor joins the Commitment March; Unionbusting, vegan styleBroadcast on August 27, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
We visit with local union leaders participating in tomorrow’s Commitment March and Rally on the 57th anniversary of the historic 1963 March on Washington, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" Speech.
PLUS: "Union Busting, Vegan Style"; No Evil Foods suppresses labor podcast; we talk to the show’s host and an expert on fair use.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Myke “The Man” Nasella and Kahlia
2020-08-2755 minYour Rights At Work“The Last Strike”; Tales of the ResistanceBroadcast on August 20, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
Danny Alpert, Co-director of the upcoming film The Last Strike; check out their Kickstarter campaign here.
PLUS: Episode 4 of The San Francisco Mime Troupe’s "Tales of the Resistance" radio drama: “It Came From R&D!"
Times are tough, but if you’re able to, please consider contributing to WPFW’s summer fund drive. You can give online at wpfwfm.org, On your phone via CashApp: $WPFW or pledge by phone at 202-588-9739 or 1-800-222-9739. WPFW and Your R...
2020-08-2054 minYour Rights At WorkGetting it right on reopening schools; How the media abandoned the working classBroadcast on August 13, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
Liz Davis, Washington Teacher’s Union; “Getting it Right: Reopening Our Nation’s Schools” (Saturday, August 15, 12-4p on WPFW and WBAI FM)
Music: “Old School Mechanic,” by SpudWrench
Christopher Martin, Professor of Digital Journalism, University of Northern Iowa: author of "No Longer Newsworthy: How the Mainstream Media Abandoned the Working Class"
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Myke “The Man” Nasella
2020-08-131h 00Your Rights At WorkWorker wins and losses at DC City Council; 2020 Executive Paywatch reportBroadcast on August 6, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
Jews United For Justice DC Community Organizer Zach Weinstein on “Wins, losses and a few things in-between: highlights from this year’s DC City Council”; read the report here.
AFL-CIO Deputy Director, Corporations and Capital Markets Brandon Rees on “1,000-to-1 Pay Ratio CEOs Furlough Workers”; the AFL-CIO's 2020 Executive Paywatch report.
Tales of the Resistance, an original radio serial from the San Francisco Mime Troupe. This week's episode: “The Good Cop.”
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Myke “The Man” Nasella
2020-08-0654 minYour Rights At WorkTales of the Resistance (Episodes 1 & 2)Broadcast on July 30, 2020
Chris Garlock and Ed Smith are off this week; they’ll be back next week with the latest labor news, guests and updates, plus of course your calls about your rights on the job.
Today, catch up on Tales of the Resistance, the radio serial we’ve been running from the wonderful San Francisco Mime Troupe, featuring political comedy, biting satire, and catchy original music. The stories are all about workers fighting back in creative ways, perfect for these days.
Here are the first two episodes; we’ll be back next week w...
2020-07-301h 00Your Rights At WorkUnion-busting at the Scholars Strategy NetworkBroadcast on July 23, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock
This week's show:
A tribute to John Lewis, the American politician and civil-rights leader who served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia's 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death on July 17, 2020 from pancreatic cancer.
Kayla Blado, president of the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union (NPEU), on union-busting at the pro-democracy Scholars Strategy Network.
News headlines: 18 ways to be a hero (by supporting the HEROES ACT)
Plus: Episode 2 of Tales of the Resistance, an original radio serial from the San Francisco Mime Troupe. This...
2020-07-2454 minYour Rights At WorkVA first to issue standard to protect workers from COVID-19Broadcast on July 16, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock & Ed Smith
This week's show:
Doris Crouse-Mays, Virginia AFL-CIO President: Virginia Issues an Emergency Temporary Workplace Standard to Protect Workers from COVID-19
MUSIC: Fight The Power; Public Enemy
Joe McCartin & Sara Myklebust, Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor: An Interactive Tool for Building Power: Contract Map
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Myke “The Man” Nasella
2020-07-171h 00Your Rights At WorkSF Mime Troupe’s “Tales of the Resistance”Broadcast on July 9, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock & Ed Smith
This week's show:
Latest labor news updates, including what’s happening with the proposed East End Hospital and the NLRB says the boss can search your car!
Plus: Tales of the Resistance, an original radio serial from the San Francisco Mime Troupe. Today’s episode: JADE, FOR HIRE! Looking for work during a race and class war ain’t easy, But why was "Derrick" fired in the first place? And what is the secret of...Jamazon.com?
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Myke “...
2020-07-091h 00Your Rights At WorkUnion democracy at the Homestead Steel Mill; Remembering Dr. Howard CroftBroadcast on July 2, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock & Ed Smith
This week's show:
MIKE STOUT, author, Homestead Steel Mill: The Final Ten Years ― Local 1397 and the Fight for Union Democracy (PM Press).
Remembering DR. HOWARD CROFT, the longtime social justice activist in Washington DC, who recently died of COVID-19. Excerpted from the June 29 broadcast of To Heal DC on WPFW 89.3 FM; hosted and produced by Joni Eisenberg
Music: Occupy the song-Mike Stout
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike “The Man” Nasella
2020-07-0254 minYour Rights At WorkCoerced: Work Under Threat of PunishmentBroadcast on June 25, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock & Ed Smith
This week's show:
ERIN HATTON, author, Coerced: Work Under Threat of Punishment
MLOV’s MEGAN MACARAEG on the DC Excluded Workers Rally coming up Monday, June 29
Poem: "Ready To Kill" by Carl Sandburg, performed by ELISE BRYANT, Executive Director of the Labor Heritage Foundation and president of the Coalition of Labor Union Women
Music: You About to Lose Your Job ( Original Remix )
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike “The Man” Nasella
2020-06-2554 minYour Rights At WorkSCOTUS bans LGBTQ workplace discrimination; meet new MWC president Dyana ForesterBroadcast on June 18, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock & Ed Smith
This week's show:
JERAME DAVIS, Executive Director, Pride@Work
ANNE BALAY, teacher, activist and author of “Steel Closets” and “Semi Queer”
Music: I Walk The Line: Sophie Hanson
DYANA FORESTER, new President of the Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike “The Man” Nasella
2020-06-191h 00Your Rights At WorkMusic to start a revolution!Broadcast on June 11 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock & Ed Smith
This week's show:
Music to start a revolution. Plus, listener music calls and suggestions.
Music:
A Change Is Gonna Come (Aretha Franklin)
Power Martin Luther King Jr. Type_Beat
Rosa Parks Equality Song (Horrible Histories)
This Little Light of Mine (Fannie Lou Hamer)
$20 Bill (for George Floyd); Tom Prasada-Rao
None of Us Are Free (DC Labor Chorus)
Aint Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around (The Roots from The Soundtrack For A Revolution)
Produced by...
2020-06-111h 00Your Rights At WorkLabor on George Floyd and the fight for justiceBroadcast on June 4, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock & Elise Bryant, President, Coalition of Labor Union Women
This week's guests:
RYAN TIMLIN, President, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005 in Minneapolis, Minnesota
TERRY MELVIN, President, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists
YANIRA MERINO, President, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement
PLUS: Listeners call in to join the conversation.
Music: Tracy Chapman, Talkin' Bout a Revolution
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineering by Katea Stitt
2020-06-0455 minYour Rights At WorkAU WORKER RIGHTS; LABOR AND THE ENVIRONMENT; "THE EDGE OF ANARCHY"DC’s call-in show about worker rights: those you have, those you don’t, how to get them and how to use them.
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's guests:
ANTHONY RANDOLPH from UNITE HERE LOCAL 23; Tens of thousands more laid off workers filed for unemployment assistance in the DMV last week, for a total of nearly half a million claims over the last five weeks. A small fraction of those workers are lucky enough to be members of a union, and at American University that membership might literally mean life or de...
2020-04-2355 minYour Rights At WorkHOTEL WORKERS FIGHT TO SURVIVE; ORGANIZING NON-PROFITS; "THE LONG DEEP GRUDGE"DC’s call-in show about worker rights: those you have, those you don’t, how to get them and how to use them. Broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's guests:
JOHN BOARDMAN, UNITE HERE LOCAL 25: Update on hotel workers
KATIE BARROWS, NPEU (Nonprofit Professional Employees Union): Why we’re still organizing
Music: GmacCash - On Strike: https://youtu.be/uJOHvQ9cL38
TONI GILPIN, “The Long Deep Grudge: A Story of Big Capital, Radical Labor, and Class War in the American Heartland”
Produced by Chris Garl...
2020-04-1654 minYour Rights At WorkSUPERMARKET WORKERS & NURSES DURING THE PANDEMIC; “MONGREL FIREBUGS AND MEN OF PROPERTY"DC’s call-in show about worker rights: those you have, those you don’t, how to get them and how to use them. Broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's guests:
JONATHAN WILLIAMS, UFCW 400: Supermarket workers to DC mayor: more must be done
TIM SHEARD, author “All Bleeding Stops Eventually” and Condition Critical! NYC Nurse Issues Harrowing Report From The Medical Frontlines
STEVE FRASER, author “Mongrel Firebugs and Men of Property: Capitalism and Class Conflict in American History”
Music: The Elevator Man; SpudWrench
MICHAEL PETERSON, AKA S...
2020-04-0954 minYour Rights At WorkSuing the government on behalf of federal employees exposed to coronavirus; Michael Honey on "What Happened to Martin Luther King Jr.’s Dream of Economic Justice?” (Hour 2)DC’s call-in show about worker rights: those you have, those you don’t, how to get them and how to use them. Broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
Today’s guests:
HEIDI BURAKIEWICZ, partner at the lawfirm of KCNF DC; Kalijarvi, Chuzi, Newman & Fitch: American Federation of Government Employees and Kalijarvi, Chuzi, Newman & Fitch Sue Government on Behalf of Federal Employees Exposed to Coronavirus
MICHAEL HONEY, historian: What Happened to Martin Luther King Jr.’s Dream of Economic Justice?”
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Katea Stitt
2020-04-0252 minYour Rights At WorkCompanies mistreating workers as COVID-19 spreads; Nationals Opening Day finds thousands of concessions workers facing destitution (Hour 1)DC’s call-in show about worker rights: those you have, those you don’t, how to get them and how to use them. Broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
Today’s guests:
DEBORAH BERKOWITZ, Worker Health and Safety Director at the National Employment Law Project: As coronavirus spreads, so do reports of companies mistreating workers
MARGARET SHARP, DC organizing director, UNITE HERE Local 23: Nationals Opening Day Finds Thousands Facing Destitution; MLB response inadequate
1:30: Music: Look For The Union Label, JOE GLAZER
Case Closed, with DAVID SCHLOSS
Pr...
2020-04-0253 minYour Rights At WorkWorker voices from the COVID pandemicBroadcast on March 26, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith
This week's show:
Worker voices from the COVID pandemic: Brian Wivell, ATU 689; Dabney Hudson, president DC Fire Fighters Local 36; John Boardman, Executive Secretary-Treasurer UNITE HERE 25, represents DC hotel workers.
DC Councilmember Elissa Silverman: What DC is doing to help workers.
AFL-CIO’s Damon Silvers: The stimulus bill: good news for American workers?
Randy Chen, DC Asst Atty General: D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine’s “Know Your Rights (COVID-19): Labor Leaders and Advocates Tele-Town Hall” this Friday
Music...
2020-03-2655 minYour Rights At WorkCoronavirus bill; labor & COVID 19; Paid sick leaveBroadcast on March 19, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith, live from their own homes, thanks to Chris Bangert-Drowns who’s engineering the show from the WPFW studios in downtown DC.
This week's show:
ELISE GOULD (EPI): Senate coronavirus bill is crucial—but it’s a fraction of what’s needed
DAMON SILVERS (AFL-CIO): American labor movement and the COVID-19 pandemic
HAMILTON NOLAN (In These Times): Unions Across America Are Screaming For Paid Sick Leave and Healthcare
Music: "Ever Since The World Ended"; Mose Allison
Case Clo...
2020-03-1955 minYour Rights At WorkLabor takes on CoronavirusBroadcast on March 12, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock; David Stephen is subbing for Ed Smith, who’s self-quarantined due to possible exposure to the Coronavirus
This week's show:
AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler; Labor takes on Coronavirus
Stephen Frum, RN, NNU; report from the frontlines
Ed Smith, DCNA; quarantined YRAW co-host
Case Closed, with Bob Samet
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Myke “The Man” Nasella
2020-03-1255 minYour Rights At WorkCoronavirus and worker rightsBroadcast on March 5, 2020
Hosted by Chris Garlock & Damon Silvers, subbing for Ed Smith, who’s away this week
This week's show:
JUDY CONTI; Coronavirus and worker rights
JOANNA BLOTNER; Paid Sick Leave
GARY MOUSSEAU, RN; report from the frontlines
Music: Big Ovaries baby
Case Closed, with DAVID SCHLOSS
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Chris Bangert-Drowns
2020-03-0555 min