Belabored By Dissent Magazine

For Black Friday, Belabored talks to a Walmart labor activist and learns about a recent investigation into Walmart’s tax dodging. Plus: Ferguson #NotOneDime boycott, Obama's executive action on immigration, the port truckers’ strike, and more. The post Belabored Podcast #66: Seeing Red on Black Friday appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Belabored talked to Michael Mulholland, president of the utilities union AFSCME Local 207 in Detroit, about last week's financial deal, the impact on union workers, and the political forces driving what he calls a manufactured financial crisis. The post Belabored #65: Inside the Motor City’s Economic Crash appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Belabored talks to Brian Jones, a teacher union activist running for Lieutenant Governor of New York on the Green Party ticket. The post Belabored Podcast #64: A Teacher on the Ballot, with Brian Jones appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Belabored spoke with Allison Julien, a New York-based domestic worker and veteran campaigner with the National Domestic Workers Alliance, on the state of the movement and new challenges in organizing this unique and often overlooked workforce. The post Belabored Podcast #63: Domestic Workers on the Move, with Allison Julien appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

This week, Belabored is all about labor feminism, with Feminism Unfinished authors Dorothy Sue Cobble, Linda Gordon, and Astrid Henry. Plus: labor joins the protests in Hong Kong, college students take on Teach for America, and more. The post Belabored Podcast #62: The Unfinished History of Labor Feminism appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Is real economic and environmental sustainability still achievable? How do you tackle capitalism and climate change simultaneously? Belabored, in its first ever live recording, asks Nastaran Mohit, Lara Skinner, and guests. The post Belabored Podcast #61: When Climate and Labor Converge (Live!), with Nastaran Mohit and Lara Skinner appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Is the outcome of the Market Basket strike a victory for working people, or something more complicated? Belabored asks James Green, a former professor at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and the author of several books on labor history and social movements. Plus: care workers mobilizing across the country, pre-K workers and inequality in New York, and more. The post Belabored Podcast #60: Whither Market Basket? with James Green appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Is the right to form a union also a civil right? Belabored asks Moshe Marvit, who recently helped turn the idea into legislation now pending in Congress. Plus: "crowd work," Ferguson, unionizing Elmos, and why we need a four-hour workday. The post Belabored Podcast #59: Labor Rights as Civil Rights, with Moshe Marvit appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

This week, Belabored talks to Catherine Ruckelshaus, General Counsel of the National Employment Law Project, about the NLRB's McDonald's ruling, and what it means for workers facing the "Who's the Boss" problem. The post Belabored Podcast #58: Holding McDonald’s Responsible, with Catherine Ruckelshaus appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

This week, Belabored talks to Ben Speight, a veteran organizer with Teamsters 728 in Georgia, about building the labor movement in the South. Plus: transgender discrimination at Hobby Lobby, teachers supporting postal workers, and why workers should have a say in who runs the company. The post Belabored Podcast #57: Organizing the South, with Ben Speight appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

What does Harris v. Quinn mean for home care workers, for other public sector workers, and for any of us who care about labor? Belabored asks Harvard Law professor Benjamin Sachs and Minnesota care worker Sumer Spika. Plus: strikes in California and Greece, labor struggles at the opera, and more. The post Belabored Podcast #56: The Post–Harris v. Quinn Future appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

This week, Belabored talks to sports critic Dave Zirin about the wildcat strikes, street protests, and police crackdowns on the fringes of the World Cup in Brazil. Plus: a look at the White House’s new push for “family-friendly policies,” the latest teacher-bashing crusade led by ex-Obama flacks, the economic assault on young black men, and more. The post Belabored Podcast #55: The Ugly Side of the Beautiful Game, with Dave Zirin appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

This week brought bad news for public schools, when a California court ruled in Vergara v. California that teacher tenure laws were unconstitutional. Belabored talks to California teacher Frank Wells about the implications of the lawsuit, the motivations behind it, and why tech companies are so interested in changing schools. Plus: World Cup unrest in Brazil, a win for child care workers in Vermont, and more. The post Belabored Podcast #54: Teacher Tenure on Trial appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

As activists shine a spotlight on labor abuses surrounding the Guggenheim and NYU's expansion to Abu Dhabi, Belabored speaks with Andrew Ross about global labor struggles and the role that the arts and academic communities can play in transnational movements for social justice. Plus: Sheryl Sandberg's latest "Lean In" fail, Jeff Bezos as the World's Worst Boss, Uber organizing, and more. The post Belabored Podcast #53: Art, Academia, and Labor Struggles in Abu Dhabi, with Andrew Ross appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

In the latest escalation of the low-wage workers' movement, fast food workers went out on strike this week in hundreds of cities around the globe. Sarah and Michelle speak with Tsedeye Gebreselassie of the National Employment Law Project about the importance of local victories in this global struggle, and why workers must lead the way. Plus: miners' deaths abroad and at home, teachers' ongoing resistance to high-stakes testing, Thomas Piketty, and more. The post Belabored Podcast #52: Fast Food Local, with Tsedeye Gebreselassie appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Ellen Bravo sits down with Belabored to discuss new challenges and milestones in the movement for gender justice and why the basic, structural struggles for women’s economic empowerment are still far from over. Plus: the port truck drivers’ latest labor action; struggles led by sherpas, cabbies, and banking sector workers; divisions in NYC charter schools; and Donald Sterling. The post Belabored Podcast #51: Taking on the Big Boys, with Ellen Bravo appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

For Belabored’s one-year anniversary, Michelle and Sarah talk to Saket Soni of the National Guestworker Alliance about how the conditions faced by guestworkers are spreading to more and more of the workforce. Plus: a victory for UPS workers in Queens and a labor uprising in China; the drug-testing of public employees; the fight for $15 in Seattle; and more. The post Belabored Podcast #50: The Future of Work, with Saket Soni appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

In New Labor in New York, editors Ruth Milkman and Ed Ott of the City University of New York analyze thirteen worker centers and labor groups focused on the new "precariat": traditionally non-union sectors like street vendors, domestic workers, struggling freelance “creatives,” and restaurant workers. This week on Belabored, we speak to Milkman about what these case studies tell us about the future of labor. The post Belabored Podcast #49: Mapping New York’s New Labor Movements, with Ruth Milkman appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Is the era of the student athlete over? This week on Belabored, Lee Adler joins us to discuss the groundbreaking NLRB decision that Northwestern University's football players are employees and thus eligible to form a union. Plus: a growing campaign to opt out of standardized testing, the difference between unemployment and retirement, the struggle against Amazon in Europe, and more.  The post Belabored Podcast #48: Athlete-Students’ Big Win appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

This week on Belabored, we speak to activists with the Retail Action Project and Women Employed about the impact of unfair scheduling on the lives of retail workers. We also discuss the Supreme Court drama over employer-sponsored health insurance and reproductive rights, "the end of jobs," labor protections for unpaid interns, Wall Street's attack on Los Angeles, TaskRabbit, and more. The post Belabored Podcast #47: Retail Hours, Wholesale Injustice appeared first on Dissent Magazine.