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.
March 30, 2023 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Derailed in Ohio! What About Kansas City? What’s Coming Thru A Rail Near You?
Did any of you listeners wonder whether the Ohio rail derailment could happen here? Do we have bomb trains coming through KC? On the show we’ll find out from the experts: the rail workers who strive to keep us safe. Then we’ll ask why we can’t improve the antiquated rail braking systems on our trains with the modern ECP system. Also, labor song of the month with Mark Galus.
ListenMarch 23, 2023 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
New Building Trades Council Leader Ralph Oropeza and SMART Local 2’s Greg Chastain
The Kansas City Building Trades – the union of construction unions - has a new leader: Ralph Oropeza. We’ll ask Ralph about himself and whether he’s expecting a building boom in KC. Then do you know who put the roof on the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts? It was SMART, among others. That’s the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers in Local 2. In our ongoing union leader series we’ll talk to SMART’s Greg Chastain. Also we’ll have Mark Gruenberg with the latest national labor news
ListenMarch 16, 2023 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Labor Power & Strategy: Organizing around the Choke Points
There’s a new book out on how organized labor can build its power to take on corporate America and win. It asks how we get the leverage necessary to force an Amazon or a Railroad Carrier to truly value their workers. The book is called Labor Power & Strategy: Organizing around the Choke Points. We’ll have a panel discussion about this of experienced union organizers who contributed to the book. We’ll also hear from Michael Amash with Know Your Rights.
ListenMarch 9, 2023 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Staffing Our Hospitals: Nurses vs HCA and The Cost of Worker Misclassification
The National Nurses United represents the RNs at Menorah and Research Hospitals. Does HCA want to bust their union? Find out this week on the Heartland Labor Forum. Then, one of the most common labor law violations is worker misclassification. That’s when a worker is told they’re an independent contractor when they’re actually an employee. We’ll talk to the Economic Policy Institute which has figured out how much this costs workers, and it’s a lot. Also Remember Our Struggle with Ariana Blockmon.
ListenMarch 2, 2023 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Sherman Smith, Reflecting on the Kansas Legislature and Kansas City Public Schools Update from AFT Local 691 – New Superintendent and big Contract Win!
Between attacks on our public schools and what LGBTQ folk called “hate week” the Kansas legislature is full of bizarre agendas. This week on the Heartland Labor Forum well ask Sherman Smith from the Kansas Reflector to reflect on extremism in Topeka. Then, Kansas City Federation of Teachers and School-Related Personnel, AFT Local 691 President Jason Roberts has a lot to report what with a new Superintendent and a big win in contract negotiations. Tune in for all that and more. Also Safety First with Mary Erio.
ListenFebruary 23, 2023 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Beyond Team Management and Teamsters Delivering a New UPS Contract
Many workers today work in teams. That sounds great because workers know how to run things, but more often than not their knowledge is used against them by management. This week on the Heartland Labor Forum we’ll talk to Richard Mellor, activist and writer about it. Then, one of this year's most significant union contracts will expire in less than six months. It’s the UPS agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. How it turns out, whether there will be a strike can have big ramifications for working people.
ListenFebruary 16, 2023 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Trucking Country; The Road to America’s Wal-Mart Economy by Shane Hamilton and Labor Leader Series: Amber Gibson Navigating the Future for Argosy Casino Workers
The transformation of the U.S. food, ag and trucking industry and the political fall-out and which casinos in Kansas City are unionized, and which union represents them. We'll talk to Amber Gibson of SEATU.
ListenFebruary 9, 2023 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
New NLRB Rules for Organizing and Fighting Times by Jonathan Melrod
Joe Biden's NLRB is rewriting anti-union policy. Find out what they're up to. Then Jon Melrod - 60s student radical - took his organizing skills into a factory and led the workers to win gains through direct action.
ListenFebruary 2, 2023 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Rock Chalk Union – Organizing at KU and M-Power – The Multilateral Partnership for Organizing, Worker Empowerment, and Rights
Faculty are organizing at the University of Kansas. What are their issues? Also, the US Department of Labor's new M-POWER international labor rights program.
ListenJanuary 26, 2023 Local, News & Public Affairs, Podcast
Busting the Myth of Lazy Youth
Every generation accuses the one behind it of lazyness, no work ethic, going to ruin America, but somehow we survive over the decades. It's time we bust the myth of lazy youth.
Listen