Local • News & Public Affairs • Podcast
Heartland Labor Forum is Kansas City's only program about the workplace. It is produced by and for our working people. We have been agitating on the air since 1989. Find out who is busting unions and who is fighting back. We are a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network #laborradiopod
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The Team
Heartland Labor Forum Programmers
The Heartland Labor Forum is produced by a group of volunteers who are labor and community activists who believe in workplace democracy, workers rights, and economic justice. We're the only show in Kansas City that focuses on working people: who is fighting on their side and who is not, what they need to know about the economy. We seek to educate and inspire.
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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
March 20, 2025 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Will the Missouri Legislature Undo the Will of the Voters? and Former AFL-CIO Organizing Director Stewart Acuff: Love Is Solidarity in Action
The MO Legislature is at it again – trying to subvert the will of the people. This week on the Heartland Labor Forum, we’ll talk to Missouri State Reps. Pattie Mansur and Tiffany Price who oppose reversing the popular will. Then, throughout his career, Stewart Acuff organized union after eventually becoming the organizing director for the AFL-CIO. In retirement he’s written a book of poetry called Love Is Solidarity in Action. He’ll be on the show
Read MoreMarch 13, 2025 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Federal Unions Fight Back
With President Trump’s dismantling of the federal bureaucracy in full swing, led by Elon Musk's DOGE, federal workers are under siege. But unionized federal workers are fighting back. We'll talk with leaders from the American Federation of Government Employees and the National Treasury Employees Union about their resistance efforts. Our feature is Labor Song of the Month
ListenMarch 6, 2025 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
CWA’s Margaret Cook: Attacks on the Public Sector and Half-Priced Books Workers Organize
Right-wing politicians have declared war on public employees across federal, state, and local levels, despite their hard work ensuring that essential government programs function. CWA represents many of these employees. We’ll speak with Margaret Cook, CWA's VP for Public, Health, and Education. Then, workers at three Half-Priced Bookstores in the KC area have unionized but they’re frustrated with management stalling on their first contract.
ListenFebruary 27, 2025 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
The Workers Strike Back Conference and Julie Greene on Who Built the Panama Canal and Trump’s Bullying
This week on the Heartland Labor Forum, we’ll report on the Workers Strike Back Conference advocating for a $25 minimum wage and healthcare. We’ll discuss Trump’s claims about the Panama Canal with historian Julie Greene. Bill Clause returns with commentary on the attack on government workers.
ListenFebruary 20, 2025 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
David Bacon on Domestic Workers Organizing and Nancy MacLean: Behind the Mask of Chivalry: The Making of the Second Ku Klux Klan
Union organizer and photojournalist David Bacon discusses cross-border labor solidarity and workers’ rights, highlighting grassroots organizing's impact on the labor movement. Next, Nancy MacLean explores her book, Behind the Mask of Chivalry, examining the Ku Klux Klan's 1915 resurgence and their true identities. Our feature is Know Your Rights with Michael Amash.
ListenFebruary 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.
ListenFebruary 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
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