Labor Heritage Power Hour

Workplace violence and mental health

Broadcast 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 workers notched another victory against wage theft on Monday and DC Mayor Muriel Bowser’s just-released budget restores salary cuts for AFSCME Comps 1+2; we check in with Elizabeth Falcon, Executive Director at DC Jobs With Justice, for an update.
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 #SanJoseStrong #ThankYouTransitWorkers @IATSElocal868 @DCJWJ

Blowing the whistle on corporate greed

Broadcast 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

Will strike, if necessary

Broadcast 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.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @ATULocal689 @ATUComm @NonprofitUnion @ACLU @LaborHeritage1 @ExecdirLabor

Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect

Broadcast 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 #laborradiopod @LaborHeritage1 @ExecdirLabor @gabrielwinant

DC statehood; Volvo workers strike

Broadcast 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

Liz 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 @APWUnational

PRO Act Digital Day of Action

Broadcast 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

Duke University Press workers organize

Broadcast 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 Bryant on the April 3 celebration of Anne Feeney’s life and work.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @DUPWorkersUnion @WBNG32035

Celebrating Women’s History Month in song

Broadcast 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 celebrating mass.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Atlanta murders targeted working women

Broadcast 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 fire fighters battle Virginia’s Jim Crow legacy: Josh Turner, President, Alexandria Fire Fighters Local 2141. Who is Keolis and why are they hurting local transit workers? John Ertl, Collective Bargaining Administrator, Amalgamated Transit Union. Fitness workers unite! Emily Collinson, former trainer with Solidcore.
PLUS: World Against Racism day of action Saturday (3/20) and concert Sunday (3/21).
Music: Spirit; written/performed by Tarn Goelling, APALA member who will be singing it at the concert against racism on Sunday.
Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella.
@wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @APALAnational @APALADC @VirginiaRodino @IAFFLocal2141 @ATUComm @SolidcoreU