labor organizing

It’s News Day Tuesday! Sam and Emma break down the biggest headlines of the day. But first, they speak with Anna Heetman, striking tenant and leader with the Independence Towers Tenant Union in Kansas City.
It’s an EmMajority Report Thursday! Emma speaks with Jeff Schuhrke, assistant professor in labor studies at SUNY Empire State University, to discuss his recent book Blue-Collar Empire: The Untold Story of US Labor’s Global Anticommunist Crusade. Then, she speaks with Seamus Malekafzali, freelance...
It’s Hump Day! Sam speaks with Sarah Lazare, editor of Workday Magazine and contributing editor at In These Times, to discuss her recent reporting on the UAW fighting to restore a shuttered Stellantis plant in Belvidere, Illinois. Then, they speak with Mark Joseph Stern, senior writer at Slate, t...
It’s an EmMajority Report Thursday! She speaks with Daniel J. Galvin, professor of political science at Northwestern University, to discuss his recent book Alt-Labor and the New Politics of Workers’ Rights. Then, she’s joined by Richard Beck, senior writer at n+1 Magazine, to discuss his recent p...
It’s Hump Day! Sam speaks with Sarah Jaffe, fellow at the Type Media Center  based in New Orleans, to discuss her recent piece for In These Times entitled “In Tough Loss, the High-Profile UAW Campaign at Mercedes-Benz in Alabama Falls Short.” Then, Sam checks in on some news stories he’s been int...
It’s Hump Day! Sam speaks with writer and labor organizer Mindy Isser to discuss her recent piece in In These Times entitled “In Labor’s Mission to Organize the South, Another Domino Could Soon Fall.” Then, he speaks with Anna Clark, reporter at ProPublica covering issues in the MidWest, to discu...
It’s Hump Day! Sam and Emma speak with David Bacon, journalist and photographer focusing on labor issues, to discuss his recent piece in the Nation entitled “Big Ag’s Latest Blow to Workers’ Rights.” Then, they speak with 2 members of the Princeton University Gaza Solidarity Encampment, who are c...
It’s Hump Day! Sam speaks with Tyler Vasseur, letter carrier and shop steward in the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), Branch 9, to discuss his recent piece in Labor Notes entitled “Momentum for Open Bargaining Grows in the Letter Carriers.” Then, Sam speaks with David Dayen, execut...
Happy Monday! Emma speaks with Ashley Dawson, English professor and founder of the Climate Action Lab at the City University of New York (CUNY), to discuss his recent book Environmentalism From Below: How Global People’s Movements Are Leading The Fight For Our Planet. Then she’s joined by Mike El...
It’s Hump Day! And Emma is BACK! Sam and Emma speak with Rena Wong, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) local 663, to discuss the recent strike efforts by grocery workers in Minnesota. Then, they speak with Abby Vesoulis, national politics reporter at Mother Jones, to discu...
It’s News Day Tuesday! Sam and Emma break down the biggest headlines of the day. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on Donald Trump’s widening lead heading into the New Hampshire primaries, the Supreme Court’s decision on the Supremacy clause and Texas’ border policy, Israel’s ongoing genoci...
It’s Hump Day! Sam and Emma speak with Joseph Jewell, professor and department head of black studies at the University of Illinois Chicago, to discuss his recent book White Man’s Work: Race and Middle-Class Mobility into the Progressive Era.
It’s Hump Day! Sam and Emma speak with Alex Press, staff writer at Jacobin, to discuss her recent piece entitled “In 2023, the US Working Class Fought Back.” Then, they speak with Bill McKibben, contributing writer at The New Yorker and founder of ThirdAct.org, to discuss how 2023 was the hottest...
It’s Hump Day! Sam and Emma speak with Trita Parsi, executive vice president at the Quincy Institute, to discuss the state of play in Israel/Gaza nearly 3 months after October 7th. Then, they’re joined by Paul Ortiz, professor of history at the University of Florida, to discuss how unions in Flor...
It’s Hump Day! Sam speaks with Ari Tolany, research consultant for Women for Weapons Trade Transparency, to discuss her recent piece that she co-authored in In These Times entitled ”How Israel Got an Endless Supply of U.S.-Made Smart Bombs.” Then, Sam speaks with Andi Dymond, member of the contra...
It’s Hump Day! Sam speaks with Aaron Kleinman, director of research for the States Project at Future Now, to break down last night’s election results. Then, Sam talks to Brittany Dorris, a 5th grade teacher in Portland, Oregon, to give us an update from the picket line on the teacher’s strike.
Happy Monday! Sam and Emma speak with Brian Merchant, tech columnist at the Los Angeles Times, to discuss his recent book Blood in the Machine:The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech. First, Sam runs through updates on Israeli operations in Gaza as 2 million Palestinians remain stuck in a t...
It’s News Day Tuesday! Sam and Emma run through updates on the GOP’s Government shutdown, Alabama’s racial gerrymander, Trump’s Co-Defendants, Texas’ crackdown on free will, Ken Paxton’s potential impeachment, and the Georgia DA’s indictment of 61 ‘Cop City’ protestors on RICO charges, before div...
It’s an EmMajority Report Thursday! She speaks with Sara Marcus, assistant professor of English at the University of Notre Dame, about her recent book Political Disappointment: A Cultural History from Reconstruction to the AIDS Crisis. Then, Emma is joined by Zoya Teirstein, climate change and he...
It’s Hump Day! Sam and Emma speak with Moe Tkacik, investigations editor at The American Prospect, to discuss her recent suite of pieces in this month’s issue on the U.S. healthcare system. Then, they’re joined by Nicole Cyrille, member of the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee, to discuss the recen...
It’s Hump Day! Sam and Emma speak with Luis Feliz Leon, staff writer at Labor Notes, and Alicia Ozier, a warehouse worker at the Amazon delivery station in Pontiac, Michigan, to discuss the recent decision by Pontiac Amazon workers to walk out for hours on Amazon’s “Prime Day”. Then, they’re join...
It’s News Day Tuesday! Sam and Emma break down the biggest headlines of the day. First, they run through updates on a potential UPS-Teamsters deal, Israeli protests around the rollback of judicial powers, the DOJ v. Texas, record-breaking employment numbers across the US, Big Pharma’s response to...
It’s Hump Day! Sam speaks to Mila Wade, a Louisville area Starbucks worker, who participated in recent store shutdowns in conjunction with workers at Sunergos Coffee.  Then, they are joined by Guardian environmental reporter Oliver Milman to discuss his recent piece “‘Double Agents: Fossil-Fuel L...
It’s an EmMajority Report Thursday! She talks to Kerry Howley, feature writer at New York Magazine, to discuss her recent book Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs: A Journey Through The Deep State. Then, she is joined by Edwin Ackerman, assistant professor of sociology at Syracuse University, to disc...
It’s Casual Friday! Sam and Emma host Alex Pareene, Contributing Editor at the New Republic and proprietor of the AP newsletter on Substack, to round up the week in news. Then they are joined by comedian and writer Adam Conover to give an update on the WGA writers strike. First, Sam runs through ...
It’s Hump Day! Sam hosts Anjeanette Damon, government accountability reporter in ProPublica’s Southwest Office, and Byard Duncan, engagement reporter also at ProPublica, to discuss their recent piece entitled ”The Ugly Truth Behind “We Buy Ugly Houses”. Then, Sam is joined by Vilma Serrano of the...
It’s Hump Day! Sam and Emma host Dennis Tajer, Communications Committee Chair Captain for the Allied Pilots Association (APA) to discuss a potential strike amongst American Airlines pilots. Then, writer Greg Iwinski joins the show from the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) picket line as they ...
Sam and Emma host Jane McAlevey, Senior Policy Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley’s Labor Center, to discuss her recent book Rules to Win By: Power and Participation in Union Negotiations. They begin by running through updates on the WGA strike, an impending airline strike, the fasc...
It’s Hump Day! Sam hosts Patrick Rucker, finance reporter for The Capitol Forum and contributor at ProPublica, to discuss his recent piece entitled ”How Cigna Saves Millions by Having Its Doctors Reject Claims Without Reading Them”. Then, he’s joined by percussionist Andy Blanco with the Musician...
Happy Monday! Sam is back from vacation! He and Emma speak with Jon D. Erickson, professor of sustainability science and policy at The University of Vermont, to discuss his recent book The Progress Illusion: Reclaiming Our Future from the Fairytale of Economics. Then, they’re joined but Justin Al...
Sam and Emma host Kari Lydersen, journalism lecturer at Northwestern University and staff writer at Midwest Energy News to discuss her recent piece at In These Times entitled ”The Case for Nationalizing the Railroads.” Then, they’re joined by Bethany Kosmicki of the Temple University Graduate Stu...
It’s News Day Tuesday! Sam and Emma break down the biggest headlines of the day. First, they run through updates on the DOJ stepping in to block JetBlue’s takeover of Spirit Airlines, Oklahoma’s weed vote, Atlanta protests at the developing Cop City, Florida and Ron DeSantis finally stepping up f...
Sam and Emma host author Steve Paxton to discuss his recent book How Capitalism Ends: History, Ideology and Progress. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on clashes in and around Atlanta’s developing “Cop City,” DHS’s illegal domestic intel program, Biden vs. the airlines, the East Palestine ...
It’s Casual Friday! Sam and Emma host David Dayen, executive editor at the American Prospect to round up the week in news. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on the Federal Reserve’s continued battle against labor, DeSantis going full fascist with the Florida legislature, the House ethics in...
Emma hosts Anastasia Curwood, Professor of History at the University of Kentucky, to discuss her recent book Shirley Chisholm: Champion of Black Feminist Power Politics. Then, she’s joined by labor and politics reporter Cole Stangler, to discuss the recent worker protests in France.  First, Emma ...
Sam hosts journalist Ann Neumann to discuss her recent piece in Harper’s, ”Falling Like Leaves: The war in Ethiopia and its crimes against civilians”. Then, Sam’s joined by Dawn Tefft, a Lead Organizer with Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC), and Sam Harshner, organizer and Adjunct I...
Sam and Emma host Raymond Jackson, President of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 689, to discuss the recent strike by Loudoun County Transit workers in Virginia. Then, they are joined by Helena Bottemiller Evich, founder of the publication Food Fix, to discuss the recent developments wit...
Emma hosts Karen Levy, Assistant Professor of Information Sciences at Cornell University, to discuss her recent book Data Driven: Truckers, Technology, and the New Workplace Surveillance. Emma first runs through updates on Zelesnkyy’s congressional address, Senate Republicans obstructing Biden’s ...
Emma hosts Jamie McCallum, associate professor of sociology at Middlebury College, to discuss his recent book Essential: How the Pandemic Transformed the Long Fight for Worker Justice. Then, Emma is joined by Gerrit Bruhaug, Ph.D candidate at the University of Rochester and research assistant for...
Emma hosts Emily Flitter, finance reporter for the New York Times, to discuss her recent book The White Wall: How Big Finance Bankrupts Black America. First, Emma discusses this morning’s news of President Biden announcing that WNBA star Brittney Griner has been released from Russian custody. The...
It’s Casual Friday! Sam and Emma host Ryan Grim, DC Bureau Chief at the Intercept, to round up the week in news, including discussions on the freight rail labor contract, the progressives’ role in the debate (and the Democratic party writ large), and Biden’s changes to the election cycle – but fi...
Sam and Emma host writer Raina Lipsitz to discuss her recent book The Rise of a New Left: How Young Radicals Are Shaping the Future of American Politics. First, Emma and Sam run through updates on the tragic terrorist attack in Colorado Springs, ongoing rail union bargaining, Kari Lake’s voter di...
Sam hosts Tim Drea, President of the Illinois AFL-CIO, to discuss the Workers Rights Amendment that is on the state ballot next Tuesday. Then he is joined by Lee Harris, reporter at The American Prospect, to discuss her recent piece ”Industrial Policy Without Industrial Unions”. Sam begins by run...
Happy Halloween! Sam and Emma host Daniel Nichanian, editor-in-chief of Bolts Magazine to discuss all of the biggest ballot measures that will be decided in next Tuesday’s midterm elections. Then, they are joined in the studio (!) by Christian Smalls, the President of the Amazon Labor Union (ALU)...
Sam and Emma host writer Jacob Silverman to discuss his recent piece in the New Republic ”The Quiet Political Rise of David Sacks, Silicon Valley’s Prophet of Urban Doom”. Then they are joined by Lauren Ornelas, founder and president of the Food Empowerment Project, to discuss the recent union bu...
Sam and Emma break down the day’s biggest headlines. Then they are joined by adult film actors Xander Corvus, Summer Hart, and Queen Ava to discuss their work with Sex Workers Mutual Aid Las Vegas (SWAID), a worker collective for sex workers. Emma and Sam first run through updates on the Congress...
Sam and Emma host Jonah Furman of Labor Notes and author of the Who Gets The Bird? newsletter on SubStack to discuss the recent negotiations between rail workers, railroad companies, and the Biden administration. Then they are joined by investigative reporter Seth Harp to discuss his recent repor...
It’s Casual Friday! Sam and Emma host Heather Digby Parton, contributing writer at Salon.com and proprietor of the blog Hullabaloo, to round up the week in news. Then they are joined by David Feldman of The David Feldman Show! Sam and Emma begin by tackling updates on Trump’s special master, the ...
Emma hosts Katherine Blunt, reporter for the Wall Street Journal, to discuss her recent book California Burning: The Fall Of Pacific Gas And Electric-And What It Means For America’s Power Grid. First, Emma dives into updates on the Freight Rail strike, the unionization of Minor League Baseball, a...
Sam and Emma host Jane McAlevey, Senior Policy Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley’s Labor Center, to discuss her recent video for The Nation ”You Voted To Form A Union. Now What?” Then they are joined by T.J. Kitchen, Organizing Director for the Teamsters Joint Council #43, to discu...
Emma hosts Dr. Heather Berg, Assistant Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Washington University St. Louis, to discuss her recent book Porn Work: Sex, Labor, and Late Capitalism. Emma hosts Dr. Heather Berg, Assistant Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Washingto...
Sam hosts Brian Callaci, Chief Economist at the Open Markets Institute, to discuss his recent piece in Dissent Magazine ”Inflation Is No Excuse For Squeezing Workers.” Then, Sam is joined by Ilana Marcucci-Morris, a Kaiser Permanente mental health therapist, to discuss recent efforts by her and h...
Sam and Emma host Dannel Jurado of Kickstarter United to discuss their unionizing effort from the ground. Then, they are joined by Vincent Vertuccio, a student climate organizer with Now Or Never, who is planning to protest the Congressional Baseball Game this Thursday. Before that, Sam and Emma ...
Sam hosts Jaz Brisack of Starbucks Workers United to give us some updates from the unionization efforts on the ground. Then, Sam is joined by Michael Bronski, professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Harvard University, to discuss his recent piece in the Boston Review ”Grooming and th...
Sam and Emma host Jamie Edwards, organizer with the Trader Joe’s Union effort in Hadley, Massachusetts, to discuss the union organizing efforts from the ground. First, however, they touch on the GOP’s flipping of a century-long Democratic seat in Texas, discuss a Florida Synagogue’s suit against ...
Sam and Emma break down the latest headlines, from the Democratic Leadership finally stepping in to ask for “reasonable republicans,” which they’ll surely respond positively to, to the continuing organizing movement within Starbucks franchises nationwide. They begin by covering the rapid response...
Sam and Emma host Jon Marshall, associate professor at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, to discuss his recent book Clash: Presidents and the Press in Times of Crisis. Then, Sam and Emma are joined by Alex Speidel, organizer for the United Paizo Workers to discuss their ...
Sam and Emma host Tony Delorio, Secretary-Treasurer of the Teamsters Local 665, to discuss the recent organizing efforts at Amy’s Kitchen in Los Angeles. Then Sam and Emma are joined by India Walton, former mayoral candidate in Buffalo and Senior Strategic Organizer at Roots Action, to discuss th...
Emma hosts Kim Kelly, labor reporter and columnist at Teen Vogue, to discuss her recent book Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor. Then Emma is joined by Jessica Cisneros, candidate for Congress in Texas’s 28th Congressional District, to give us an update from the campaign trail....
Sam and Emma host Jeff Hauser, the head of the Revolving Door Project at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Then, Sam and Emma are joined by Jordan Flowers, co-founder of the Amazon Labor Union and The Congress of Essential Workers. First, Sam and Emma dive into the Ohio primaries, as J...
It’s Casual Friday! Sam and Emma host Ari Rabin-Havt, former deputy campaign manager for Sen. B
Sam hosts David Dayen, executive editor at the American Prospect, to touch on the big weekend in news, as well as all of the fantastic journalism going on at the Prospect. He and Sam kick it off with his recent piece “The Accidental Revolution,” first covering the absolute state of despair within...
It’s Sam’s triumphant return to the show! He and Emma host Sandy Jacoby, Research Professor at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, to discuss his recent book Labor in the Age of Finance: Pensions, Politics, and Corporations from Deindustrialization to Dodd-Frank, on the contradictions ingrain...
Emma hosts Daisy Pitkin, organizer at Workers United, to discuss her recent book On The Line: A Story Of Class, Solidarity, and Two Women’s Epic Fight to Build A Union. Then Emma is joined by Brianna Wu, executive director of The Rebellion PAC, to discuss the upcoming primary in Ohio’s 11th Congr...
It’s Casual Friday! Sam and Emma host Alex Pareene, contributing editor at the New Republic and proprietor of the AP newsletter on Substack to round up the week in news. They kick off the show with updates on the Kellogg’s unionization effort, Omicron, and Tucker Carlson’s prostate (not a metapho...
Sam hosts James W. Russell, public policy affiliate scholar at Portland State University, to discuss his recent book The Labor Guide to Retirement Plans: For Union Organizers and Employees, on the importance of fighting for good end-of-life security and how employers and banks have capitalized of...
Sam and Emma host David Dayen, Executive Editor at The American Prospect, to discuss his recent project ”The Great Escape”, about the mass quitting trend in the labor market, as well as his new piece “Lina Khan Cashes in Her Chips.” They begin by confronting the numbers of the recent wave of resi...
Sam and Emma host Mark Joseph Stern, staff writer at Slate, to discuss the new Supreme Court term, and what it holds for the justices and the country at large. Dialing in on three upcoming cases, Mark, Emma, and Sam explore how the upcoming term could see a complete deconstruction of reproductive...
Sam and Emma host public sector immigration lawyer Daniel Melo to discuss his recent book Borderlines: The Edges of U.S. Capitalism, Immigration, and Democracy, which contextualizes immigration policy within the history of the US, and exploring what we can do to push back against the unfair desig...
Emma hosts Hahrie Han, director of the SNF Agora Institute and Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University, to discuss her recent book Prisms of the People: Power & Organizing in Twenty-First-Century America, that she co-authored with Elizabeth McKenna and Michelle Oyakawa. Hah...
Sam and Emma host Richard Yeselson. strategic campaigner and editorial board member at Dissent Magazine, to discuss his recent essay in Jacobin “The Defeat at Amazon and the Union Fights to Come.” They contextualize what happened in Bessemer within broader Union history, explore how the Democrats...
Sam and Emma host Washington Post national politics reporter Dave Weigel to discuss the on-going union organizing efforts in Alabama and how Democrats are leveraging them to their political advantage. Weigel offers his take on how the Biden administration has operated differently so far from prev...
Sam hosts the American Postal Workers’ Union President Mark Dimondstein to discuss the post office, the fall elections, and how Trump donor turned Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has dismantled the USPS.
Sam hosts Alex Pareene (@pareene) of the New Republic and Comedian Andy Kindler (@AndyKindler) to discuss the week’s biggest stories. Sam also hosts National Nurses United President Jean Ross to discuss the union’s protest in Washington DC and the government’s failure to deliver PPE to frontline ...
Sam hosts Digby (@Digby56) and comedian Judy Gold (@JewdyGold) this May Day Friday, and special guest Winsome Pendergrass (@WinsomePenderg4), a tenants’ rights organizer in NYC who is leading today’s rent strike.
Nomiki Konst (@NomikiKonst) and Eric Blanc (@_ericblanc) join us.
Michael Brooks is joined by two guests this Thursday on the Majority Report: Author and historian Cal Winslow joins the program to discuss his piece about the ongoing protests by Blackjewel Kentucky miners, “No Neutrals in Harlan County.” And Djene Bajalan also joins the program to discuss the Tr...
Historian Jack Kelly, author of The Edge of Anarchy: The Railroad Barons, the Gilded Age, and the Greatest Labor Uprising in America, joins us.