United Autoworkers Local 249 is the largest local union in KC. It represents Ford workers. This week on the Heartland Labor Forum we interview Jason Starr, President of Local 249 and find out the challenges and joys of representing almost 8000 autoworkers. Then the Kansas City Labor Beacon has seen...
Nora Guthrie, daughter of America’s great folk singer, Woody Guthrie, has released a book called Woody Guthrie: Songs and Art, Words and Wisdom. This week on the Heartland Labor Forum we’ll talk to Nora about her father’s genius. Then, health care workers at University Hospital formerly known as Truman are...
This week on the Heartland Labor Forum, we will talk to the authors of two new books: first is Joe Burns with Class Struggle Unionism. He asks if the labor movement is losing ground or gaining traction. He clearly wants more movement in the labor movement. Then, Natasha Iskander asks,...
This week on The Heartland Labor Forum, we look into the explosion of bills attacking teachers and dumbing-down education across Missouri. We'll cover bills expanding charter schools, banning critical race theory in favor of teaching fairy tales, bills requiring parental oversight of professionals -- that is, teachers -- and bills...
This week on the Heartland Labor Forum, it’s New York Times reporter Peter Goodman on his new book Davos Man: How the Billionaires Devoured the World. Goodman lampoons ultra-rich guys as a voracious uber-species preying on all of us. Then- employers have long used threats and coercion to oppose union...
In recent years, Missouri voters have bypassed a recalcitrant legislature to take burning issues directly to the voters through the initiative process. That’s how Missourians defeated right to work, raised the minimum wage, and expanded Medicaid. The majority in the legislature hate being bypassed and they’re trying to make it...
What’s it like to be on strike for almost a year? How do you stay hopeful? How do you pay the bills? What do you tell your kids? This week on the Heartland Labor Forum, we’ll interview Haeden Wright, wife of a coal miner for Warrior Met Coal in Alabama...
Who are the good people who do the bad jobs no one wants, and at what cost? This week on the Heartland Labor Forum, we talk to the author of Dirty Work: Essential Jobs and the Hidden Toll of Inequality in America. Then, has the Biden administration found a renewed...
