Working Life

Just about every piece of clothing you put on is made with blood, sweat and tears of exploited labor. I revisit the April 2013 murder of 1,138 garment workers in Bangladesh with my two guests, two women global labor leaders: Christy Hoffman, the deputy secretary of the 20-million member UNI and Nazma Akter, who began working […]

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  We start this week’s podcast by remembering Paul Wellstone, the progressive firebrand who died exactly 15 years ago in a small plane crash while campaigning for re-election. I, then, bring us the voice of Bruce Franks, a powerful leader of the Black Lives Matter movement in St. Louis and across the nation. I also sit […]

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  We’ve got great stuff on tap for our one-year anniversary episode. I start off by asking members of the Democratic National Committee “What are you thinking?” with a bizarre loyalty resolution aimed at Bernie Sanders. Then, I turn our attention to the right answer to the question of how to create economic growth—raise wages, not cut […]

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That guy in the Oval Office can’t stop making up fibs. Yesterday, he repeated a lie: “We’re the highest taxed nation in the world”. Not even close. Which inspired me to look at lies about the economy. Thea Lee, the incoming president of the Economic Policy Institute, stops by to talk the truth about trade, […]

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Today, 152 million children—children—are in forced labor around the world, along with 40 million people are simply slaves. Don’t turn your head away! Because we need to know about this—and understand the movement afoot to end this moral stain on the planet. After participating in a United Nations summit, I speak to two leading global […]

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Let’s make a small connection here that needs emphasizing because it’s not usually made in the public debate over the new ACA repeal effort: The connection between block grants and the very, very poor general financial outlook at the state level. You probably have read that the Graham-Cassidy proposal creates block grants to states to […]

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It’s just a smidgen but every time you get a chance to hear about the shake-ups needed in our beloved labor movement, it’s worth saying “yeah, baby”. And, sisters and brothers, we have a double-barreled shot for you today. I chat first with MaryBe McMillan, the new president of the North Carolina AFL-CIO, about organizing […]

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It’s not going to happen tomorrow or even next year. But, the day when insurance companies are no longer bankrupting people every single day because of outrageous premiums is drawing closer. Today, Bernie Sanders will unveil a “Medicare For All” bill that rockets the conversation about universal health care to a new level. And he […]

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Remember the election for the Democratic California state party chair? It has stayed sleazy. I circle back with progressive chair candidate Kimberly Ellis to hear the latest—sexism, racism and just plain bully tactics are still the order of the day. Then, just two weeks after I talked about a big-time corporate fleecing of taxpayers in […]

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Having chicken tonight? Go right ahead, but pause for a few minutes to listen to my look at the brutal working conditions faced by poultry plant workers—and the entirely insane idea being pushed by industry lobbyists to make those birds whizz by even faster on the factory assembly line. I, then, take us half way […]

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