In Auburn New York in 1840 William Freeman, an imprisoned Black teenager, demanded pay for forced labor, l leading to violence. We’ll talk to author Robin Bernstein about the first for-profit prison and a murder. Then last month Heartland Women in Trades, the Department of Labor Women’s Bureau and the...
It’s all about chickens and those nuggets that are presumably made from them. We’ll talk to Patrick Dixon about his new book, Nuggets of Gold and then to Alice Driver who spent four years interviewing workers in chicken processing plants in the south and wrote The Life and Death of the...
Kansas City building trades unions want area towns to pass Responsible Bidder Ordinances requiring public works contractors to provide good jobs with apprenticeship training and opportunities for continuous employment for the tradesmen and women who do the work. We’ll talk to union leaders about it. Then, will Donald Trump gut labor...
We’ll have two remarkable union leaders. Laura Kelly (no it isn’t the governor of Kansas) from UFCW Local 655 where she’s assistant to the president. She says, “the union changed my life” and has a compelling story of how union and LGBTQ activism intersect. Then, David Price, a KCMO elementary...
The union of bus drivers in Kansas City local 1287 of the Amalgamated Transit Union or ATU is bogged down in negotiations with the Area Transportation Authority or ATA amidst threatened and actual cuts to service and funding from Kansas City and suburbs. We’ll talk to Local 1287 president Nick...
As we begin the new year, we look back at highlights from the Heartland Labor Forum in 2024. We’ll hear clips of some of the most interesting interviews, features, and songs that we aired last year. Also, our feature is Safety First, all about how to stay safe while you...
Starting in the 1940s US labor officials worked with the CIA to split militant unions overseas and overthrow neutral governments in an obsessive anti-communist crusade that helped make poor countries safe for the export of American jobs. We’ll talk to Jeff Schuhrke about his book Blue Collar Empire. Then, President-elect...
Anticipation or dread, what’s YOUR prediction for 2025? Will the current upsurge in support for unions and worker organizing continue, or will the next administration squash labor rights? Will threats of firing thousands of federal workers turn to reality? Will millions of undocumented workers get deported leading to food shortages?...
