Belabored By Dissent Magazine

Does our basic humanity suffer as we pursue our “dream jobs”? We speak with Miya Tokumitsu, who examines the dangers of the "do what you love" ethic in her new book. Plus: the Seattle teachers’ strike, LA sweatshop struggles, adjunct agony, and the latest in the campaign for workers' rights at Walmart. The post Belabored Podcast #86: Loving and Loathing Work, with Miya Tokumitsu appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

The National Labor Relations Board made news last week when it ruled to revise its definition of a joint employer to include many business owners who get their workers through a temp agency or subcontractor. We discussed what this means for workers with Larry Engelstein of SEIU 32BJ. The post Belabored Podcast #85: Joint Responsibilities, with Larry Engelstein appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Premilla Nadasen joins us to talk about her new book, Household Workers Unite, on the forgotten history of black domestic workers organizing from the 1950s to the 1970s. The post Belabored Podcast #84: Domestic Workers Unite, with Premilla Nadasen appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

What's happening in Greece? Sarah Leonard, who just returned from a reporting trip to the country, joins us to explain what just happened and what's next for the working people of Greece and the rest of austerity-ridden Europe. The post Belabored Podcast #83: Austerity and Solidarity in Greece, with Sarah Leonard appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Writers Guild of America East is the union behind recent public organizing campaigns at two digital media outlets—Gawker Media and Salon.com. We talked to their director of organizing, Justin Molito. The post Belabored Podcast #82: Labor Rising in New Media, with Justin Molito appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Audio from our live discussion on labor and the history of capitalism, with Betsy Beasley and David Stein. The post Belabored Podcast #81: Live, with Who Makes Cents? appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

What if you could run a workplace organizing campaign through your smartphone? We speak with Mark Zuckerman, president of The Century Foundation, about how unions can use digital platforms to empower workers. Plus: the latest on Uber, Verizon, the TPP, and an ice-cream labor revolt. The post Belabored Podcast #80: Class Struggle? There’s An App for That appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Irene Tung of the National Employment Law Project explains Andrew Cuomo's new wage board, an unconventional way that New York fast food workers might see a raise. Plus, audio from the Walmart shareholders meeting. The post Belabored Podcast #79: On Board for $15 appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Organizers from five private universities discuss what's next for grad student unionism. The post Belabored Podcast #78: The Union and the University appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

This week, Sarah and Michelle invited Hack the Union editor Kati Sipp to explain universal basic income, and why it's an important idea for workers. They discuss automation, which parts of the social safety net UBI would replace, and what it has to do with the unwaged work that women do in the home. The post Belabored Podcast #77: Should the Labor Movement Support Basic Income? appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

This May Day, we bring you voices from the streets of Baltimore and Long Beach—where unions are helping mobilize their communities against police terror and for economic justice—and from a West Coast Walmart, where activist Venanzi Luna has been leading the fight against union-busting. Plus: Whatever happened to the eight-hour day? The post Belabored Podcast #76: May Day Special! Labor Shuts It Down From Baltimore to Long Beach appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Following Wednesday's nationwide protests for a living wage, Sarah and Michelle spoke with workers in New York and Atlanta about why they joined the Fight for $15 movement and what they hope it will achieve. The post Belabored Podcast #75: What’s Next in the Fight for $15? appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Following last week's Supreme Court decision that UPS had unfairly denied a pregnant worker reasonable accommodations on the job, Belabored talked with Melissa Josephs, from Women Employed, an Illinois-based organization that successfully campaigned for a new state law to protect pregnant worker’s rights, and Latavia Johnson, a Walmart worker in Illinois. The post Belabored #74: Labor Pains, with Melissa Josephs and Latavia Johnson appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

What is the Trans-Pacific Partnership? It's hard to know since the deal is being negotiated almost entirely in secret. Belabored talks with Celeste Drake, Trade & Globalization Policy Specialist at the AFL-CIO, about the ramifications of the trade deal for workers around the globe. The post Belabored Podcast #73: Shedding Light on TPP Secrets, with Celeste Drake appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Lawmakers across the country are racing to pass so-called "right-to-work" legislation, the euphemistically named union-busting policy that restricts the collection of fees from all workers covered by a union contract. Belabored spoke with historian Elizabeth Shermer about the politics and history of right-to-work policies, and what labor can do to fight back. The post Belabored Podcast #72: The Right to Work for Less, with Elizabeth Shermer appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Belabored talked with Ai-jen Poo talk about her new book, The Age of Dignity, her work organizing domestic workers, how care work is undervalued, and how racism and sexism contributed to the crisis in caring labor. The post Belabored Podcast #71: Building Care, with Ai-jen Poo appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

U.S. oil workers are are on strike, in the largest walkout since 1980. Belabored talked with Steve Garey, president of United Steelworkers local 12-591 in Mount Vernon, WA, about worker safety, the decision to strike, and what's at stake. The post Belabored Podcast #70: Striking Oil, with Steve Garey appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

What does the decline of stable working-class jobs mean for the working-class family? Belabored asks Andrew Cherlin, author of a new book, Labor's Love Lost, on the rise and fall of the nuclear family in America, and how the workplace shapes our family life. The post Belabored Podcast #69: Laborers and Lovers, with Andrew Cherlin appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

Belabored talked to historian Joshua Freeman about how police and their unions fit within the labor movement, and the political contradictions of uniformed officers getting organized. The post Belabored Podcast #68: Good Cop, Bad Cop, with Joshua Freeman appeared first on Dissent Magazine.

As protests continue to grow nationwide under the banner "Black Lives Matter," Belabored talks to two workers about how their struggle connects to today's racial justice movement. We also talk to three graduate student organizers and discuss a new retail workers' bill of rights, bad news from the Supreme Court, the secret lives of airport workers, and more. The post Belabored Podcast #67: Bodies On the Gears appeared first on Dissent Magazine.