The Heartland Labor Forum is Kansas City’s only program about the workplace. It’s radio that talks back to the boss! Whether you’re a union member or your workplace isn’t organized, Heartland Labor Forum (HLF) has stories for you, guaranteed to inspire, educate, or enrage you. HLF is produced by a diverse group of working people. We have been agitating for the rights of working people on the KKFI airwaves since 1989.
Find out about labor struggles and strikes, organizing in Kansas City, global sweatshops, and how the economy is working from the point of view of working people. Listen to our monthly features: Know Your Rights, Safety First, Remember Our Struggle, and Washington Window on Workers. Heartland Labor Forum has won the International Labor Communications Association first prize for radio several times. We are members of the Labor Radio Podcast Network #laborradiopod. Other media have plenty of business news of, by, and for the 1%; HLF is for the rest of us.
Find our schedule of upcoming shows and our archive at www.heartlandlaborforum.org.
Feature Editors
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- Michael Amash does Know Your Rights once a month. He is with the Blake & Uhlig labor law firm.
- Mark Gruenberg is on once a month with Washington Window on Workers. He is a full-time labor journalist with PAI-Press Associates Inc. which provides news to unions and labor publications.
- Mark Galus does Labor Song of the Month when there is a fifth Thursday.
- Ariana Eakle does Remember Our Struggle about labor history.
June 20, 2024 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Michael Zweig and his New Book Class Race & Gender; Challenging the Injuries and Divisions of Capitalism and Jenny Agee: Truck-Driving Woman
We’ll interview Michael Zweig whose new book Class Race & Gender; Challenging the Injuries and Divisions of Capitalism explains how our capitalist economy is the root of many of our urgent problems like inequality, war and racism. Then, we’ll replay our interview from December, 2022 with Jenny Agee, a pioneer in non-traditional jobs for women. She was Kansas City’s first woman Trucker and later became a Teamster Organizer. Our feature is Know Your Rights with Michael Amash.
ListenJune 13, 2024 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Operating Engineers Local 101 Union Leader Aaron Brown and Vets and Unions Go Fishing for Freedom
Ever wonder how workers move mountains of dirt or lift tons of steel to the tops of buildings? This week on the Heartland Labor Forum, we’ll talk to Aaron Brown, Business Manager of Operating Engineers local 101 in our labor leader series. Then, Fishing for Freedom day brings several hundred veterans together to fish in peace. It’s sponsored by unions and we’ll hear about it from Steve Gercone and Greg Davison who said, ““It’s not about catching fish, it’s about being out there, and nobody’s shooting at us.” Our feature is Remember Our Struggle with Ariana.
ListenJune 6, 2024 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Jayhawks Flock to the Union and Labor Song Covers
In a landslide victory, faculty and academic staff at the University of Kansas voted to unionize with the American Federation of Teachers. This week on the Heartland Labor Forum, we'll talk to organizers about the issues staff are facing and their efforts to negotiate a first contract. Then, we all know the song "There is Power in a Union." But have you ever heard the song performed by a German hillbilly band? We'll play that, as well as alternate versions of other famous labor songs.
ListenMay 30, 2024 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
The Legislative Sausage Grinder: What happened This Year in Jeff City and Topeka?
If we could grade them, this year’s Missouri and Kansas legislatures both flunked. Missouri gets an F minus with less than 30 non-appropriation bills passed, but Kansas bombed out on taxes and, of course, Medicaid Expansion, so the Governor is sending them to summer school. What about union and worker issues? For the most part they weren’t in the lesson plan. We’ll hear from Missouri Representatives Jamie Johnson and Eric Woods and Kansas Loud Light Communications Director Paris Raite about it. Our feature is Labor Song of the Month.
ListenMay 23, 2024 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Art Works: How Art Enlivens Social Struggles
Ken Grossinger, author of Art Works: How Organizers and Artists Are Creating a Better World Together believes activism needs art to imbue social struggles with purpose and solidarity. We’ll hear examples from Ken and ask him how to use art strategically in struggles for justice. Then Ken will talk with local musicians Bob and Diana Suckiel and playwright/musician Bill Clause for some local examples. Our Feature is Washington Window with Mark Gruenberg.
ListenMay 16, 2024 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Reassessing the Legacy of Walter Reuther
Last month's Labor Notes Conference had nearly 8,000 union troublemakers. UAW President Shawn Fain and members are reviving an almost moribund union. Will the UAW reclaim its militant past? We'll hear from historians and rank and filers this week on the Heartland Labor Forum on the legacy of Walter Reuther.
ListenMay 9, 2024 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Ron Carey: From UPS Driver to Teamster President and What Constitutional Rights Do Corporations Have?
Ron Carey was the first Teamster President elected directly by the members. A new book gives us the inside scoop on the enormous challenges this union reformer faced. Author Ken Reiman will be on the Heartland Labor Forum. Then, it’s an election year, and corporate dollars are raining on candidates. In 2010, the Supreme Court gave business the constitutional right to free speech, and elections have never been the same. We’ll talk to Move to Amend, an organization working to change that.
ListenMay 2, 2024 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
The Voucher Scam and the Construction Contractor Tax Dodge
Across the country proponents of school vouchers promise choice, freedom and upward mobility. Nicole Abshire of Mothers for Democracy Institute says vouchers are a scam on students, teachers, unions and communities. She’ll be on the Heartland Labor Forum this week. Then, a new study by UMKC economist Michael Kelsay says increasing numbers of construction employers who commit wage theft and misclassify workers as independent contractors are tax cheats costing Kansas and Missouri millions. They swindle workers out of wages, worker compensation coverage and their legal rights.
ListenApril 25, 2024 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Insulators Local 27 Business Manager Chuck Martin and New Grads of the Missouri Works Initiative
When it’s freezing out or super-hot, and you walk into a building and sigh with relief, you probably don’t thank the workers who insulated those buildings for your comfort. For over a hundred years, the Insulators Local 27 members have been insulating in our schools, hospitals, work places and public buildings. This week on the Heartland Labor Forum we’ll talk to Business Manager Chuck Martin. Then, we’ll catch up with the Missouri Works Initiative's Apprenticeship Ready Program, which trains future skilled craftworkers, and speak with three recent graduates as they embark into their chosen trades. Our feature is Washington Window with Mark Gruenberg.
Read MoreApril 18, 2024 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Comparing Our Labor Law with Europe and Canada and Gerald Epstein: Busting the Bankers’ Club: Finance for the Rest of Us
Heartland Labor Forum listeners know that U.S. labor law sucks. Are there places in the world where workers have real rights and employers can’t violate the law with impunity? This week we'll compare labor laws of the U.S. and other countries. Then bankers brought the global economic system to its knees in 2007 and almost again in 2020. Both times, the US government bailed them out and left them in control. Find out how to fix this broken system with Gerald Epstein who wrote Busting the Bankers' Club. Our Feature is Know Your Rights with Michael Amash.
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