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

- 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.
Upcoming Episodes
February 13, 2025 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Explaining Tariffs and How They Affect the Working Class and Hidden in Plain Sight: the $8.5 trillion in Untaxed Income of the Rich
Confused about Trump’s tariffs and their impact on jobs and prices? Join trade expert Lori Wallach from Rethink Trade. Then we'll talk to William Rice from Americans for Tax Fairness about the $8.5 trillion in untaxed wealth of the ultrarich. Also, Labor Song of the Month with Mark Galus.
Read MoreFebruary 6, 2025 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Freeman’s Challenge; The Murder That Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit by Robin Bernstein and The KC Campaign to End Gender Violence in the Workplace
In Auburn New York in 1840 William Freeman, an imprisoned Black teenager, demanded pay for forced labor. We'll talk to Robin Bernstein who wrote Freeman's Challenge: The Murder that Shook America's Original Prison for-Profit. Then Heartland Women in Trades, the Women’s Bureau and the KC Human Rights Commission are advocating against gender-based violence in the workplace and for save workplaces for women in the trades.
ListenJanuary 30, 2025 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Nuggets of Gold: Processed Chicken and the American Diet by Patrick Dixon and The Life and Death of an American Worker by Alice Driver
We explore the business of chickens and nuggets, with Patrick Dixon on his book, "Nuggets of Gold." Alice Driver interviewed chicken processing plant workers in her book "The Life and Death of the American Worker." Christina Dismang highlights three January strikes in our labor history feature.
ListenJanuary 23, 2025 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
What’s Responsible Bidder Language? and Are There Dire Days Ahead for Labor Under Trump?
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. Then, will Donald Trump gut labor law enforcement? Are there dire days ahead for labor?
ListenJanuary 16, 2025 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
“The Union Changed My Life” UFCW’s Laura Kelly and Union Leader Series: New KC Federation of Teachers President David Price
We’ll have two remarkable union leaders. UFCW Local 655's Laura Kelly where she’s assistant to the president. She has a compelling story of how union and LGBTQ activism intersect. Then, David Price, new president of local 691 of the American Federation of Teachers. Meet him and Laura. Our feature is Know Your Rights with Michael Amash.
ListenJanuary 9, 2025 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Public Transit Union Fights Service Cutbacks
The union of bus drivers in Kansas City's ATU Local 1287 faces stalled negotiations with the ATA due to threatened service and funding cuts. We'll speak with Local 1287 President Nick Miller, former VP Javier Perez, and ex-State Rep Richard Brown about the significance of a robust public transit system and its workforce. Our feature includes Labor Song of the Month with Mark Galus
ListenJanuary 2, 2025 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
The Best of 2024 of the Heartland Labor Forum
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 work. Find our show on KKFI 90.1 FM or streaming at kkfi.org.
ListenDecember 26, 2024 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Blue Collar Empire — The AFL-CIA and Trump’s Labor Department Pick
Since the 1940s, U.S. labor officials collaborated with the CIA to weaken militant unions overseas and destabilize neutral governments in an anti-communist effort, making the world safe for export of US jobs. We'll talk to Jeff Schuhrke about book Blue Collar Empire. Then we'll ask Bloomberg's Rebecca Rainey about President-elect Trump's nomination of Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer as Labor Secretary with Rebecca Rainey.
ListenDecember 19, 2024 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Heartland Labor Forum’s Annual Crystal Ball Show
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? Our volunteers and friends will participate in our annual Crystal Ball show and make their predictions for labor for 2025.
ListenDecember 12, 2024 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
David Kingsley Asks: Is Medicare Advantage a Scam? and Shifting Gears; Canadian Autoworkers and the Changing Landscape of Labour Politics
Feeling confused by the abundance of Medicare Advantage? Thursday's Heartland Labor Forum will clear up deceptions and explain the Medicare Advantage rip-off. Then, the Canadian autoworkers started as a progressive social justice union. But that’s changed. We'll talk to Larry Savage of Shifting Gears; Canadian Autoworkers and the Changing Landscape of Labor Politics.
ListenDecember 5, 2024 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
What Can We Learn from the Great Depression? and IRIS Workers Organizing
In the 1930s, American workers organized during the Great Depression, prompting government response. This week on the Heartland Labor Forum, historian Dana Frank discusses her book, What Can We Learn from the Great Depression? We'll also explore current organizing efforts by IRIS workers in Kansas City facing long hours and low pay.
Listen