Working Life

Shut your damn mouth or be deported. That’s basically the upshot of what happened to Delmer Joel Ramirez Palma, who wanted to tell the truth about the collapse of the under-construction Hard Rock Hotel in New Orleans but, two days after he was hurt in the disaster, Joel found himself dragged off by ICE into […]

Read the full story

is here…

Read the full story

IKEA, Volkswagen, Nestle & Airbus are pretty different companies but all of them have a two-faced corporate Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde that explains a lot about the oppression workers face in the U.S. South. Across the pond, all those companies have a pretty reasonable posture towards unions and workers trying to unionize. But just […]

Read the full story

As you may recall from last week’s episode, I was at the California Democratic State Party convention recently. I continue bringing you the speeches of the presidential candidates who spoke—this week it’s Bernie Sanders, Tulsi Gabbard and Cory Booker. To give those speeches some context, I chat with Karen Bernal, the outgoing chair of the […]

Read the full story

I just returned from the great city of San Francisco which hosted the state Democratic Party Convention. And in my audio bag are most of the speeches of the Democratic presidential candidates who gave their pitches to the delegates—California, with a much earlier primary than usual, will potentially have a decisive say about who will […]

Read the full story

A classic workers versus corporate greed battle is underway right now in Erie, Pennsylvania. Just about 2,000 workers who make locomotives are walking the picket lines in freezing weather—and I talk with Scott Slawson, the president of the union, to get the details on their struggle against, Wabtec, a union-busting company. Kimberly Ellis is back […]

Read the full story

In Germany, the most powerful union in the country just secured the rights of workers to opt for a—get this!–28-hour workweek. I give us the details. And, then, I talk with two progressive candidates—Michael Bracamontes who is running for governor in California and Jenny Marshall who is looking to capture a House seat in North […]

Read the full story

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 […]

Read the full story

Political revolution ain’t beanbag. It’s hard work and requires taking on tough assignments. I talk about two of the efforts with my guests: Pat Harris joins us for a chat about his California primary bid to unseat incumbent Senator Dianne Feinstein. And Lane Windham stops by to chat about maybe even a bigger, important task: […]

Read the full story

“Politically speaking, you will be murdered and we will personally take part in murdering you”…that was the message Kimberly Ellis heard from her “sisters” in the California Democratic Party when she began running for the chairmanship of the party. And the “murder” took place—possibly through voter fraud. In her first extensive interview since the election […]

Read the full story