Episodes

Former Amazon Labor Union organizer Chris Smalls is freed from Israeli captivity after being abducted on the sea while bringing aid to Gaza, Amazon workers finally get rulings on charges filed at the National Labor Relations Board, national unions are having trouble unifying against actions of the Trump administration, a Wisconsin bill to strip gig workers of employee status goes to the desk of Governor Tony Evers, the president of IATSE Local 415 in Arizona talks to Labor Radio, there will be a...

The president of UAW Local 95 talks to Labor Radio as her union continues its strike against Mercy Health East in Janesville, faculty and staff at institutions of higher education across the US are organizing against federal cuts and academic interference, the NEA executive board backs off from its rank-and-file proposed ban of the ADL, an Australian journalist is awarded damages after being fired for commenting on Gaza, a Palestinian union federation issues a desperate call, Representative Ilha...

A UAW Local 95 nurse at the striking Mercy East clinic in Janesville speaks to Labor Radio and the union holds a rally at the picket line, Wisconsin health care activist Tim Faust speaks on the effect on workers of the upcoming massive cuts in Medicaid funding, a Good Trouble rally is held in Madison, the US Supreme Court says Trump can go ahead with gutting the US Department of Education, striking municipal workers in Philadelphia go back to work as they go to vote on a tentative agreement, and...

The massive Philadelphia public worker strike continues, a deeper look at "no taxes on tips," the Supreme Court allows Trump to go ahead with mass firings of federal workers and a Madison-area labor veteran explains why US workers may have to give up on relying on labor law, Amazon thinks a good way to solve its hiring problems is to "suggest" office workers work in its warehouses for free during its Prime Days, a leading committee of the country's largest union says it will no longer work with ...

The president of UAW Local 291 discusses its new contract with Cummins Incorporated in Oshkosh as its almost four-month strike there comes to an end, the president of the faculty and academic staff union at the University of Wisconsin-Madison discusses how a seeming big Wisconsin state budget increase for UW isn't necessarily one for workers, over 9000 city workers including sanitation workers are on strike across Philadelphia, UAW Local 35 members working at Mercy Health East in Janesville go o...

A UW Health nurse explains how the union fight is still on after the Wisconsin Supreme Court rules against the union in its Act 10 fight with the local healthcare giant, union-endorsed candidates are elected to the Group Health Collective board and a physician there speaks to Labor Radio as the GHC union recognition fight continues, labor voices are among those protesting at the Wisconsin state capitol after the US bombs Iran, the Wisconsin Alliance of Retired Americans meets at Madison's Labor ...

Labor is included in the Madison version of the national No Kings march and rally, workers at Madison's Group Health Cooperative who are trying to win a union rally on Madison's east side, and a GHC member describes a union-supporting member-worker slate for GHC board elections ending June 22, national labor leaders Randi Weingarten of the AFT and Lee Saunders of AFSCME quit the Democratic National Committee, we hear voices from a Juneteenth celebration in Sun Prairie, a lawsuit is filed to prot...

Workers at Group Health Cooperative rally to demand union recognition, leaders from the Meriter Hospital nurses and Harvard dining hall workers discuss their successful strikes and the power of solidarity in the workplace and in the community, the president of SEIU California is among union members targeted in protests against ICE abductions, we hear voices from Take Kids Fishing Day, a former Google employee fired for his activism has an update on that company's stake in military and policing p...

Meriter Hospital nurses in Madison represented by SEIU Wisconsin end their five-day strike and win a new contract, SEIU Wisconsin workers at Gundersen Health Care in LaCrosse have a new settlement, UAW Local 291 continues its strike a Cummins Incorporated in Oshkosh as the rank-and-file rejects the latest company offer, and workers at Anodyne Coffee joins the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Union after a unanimous NLRB-adjudicated vote. THIS IS A PLEDGE WEEK EDITION.

Nurses at UnityPoint Health Meriter Hospital in Madison go on strike, the rank-and-file of UAW Local 291 will look at the latest management proposals as the strike continues at Cummins in Oshkosh, Labor Radio talks to Christine Vitel of AFGE 777 representing TSA workers, unions organize to resist federal spending cuts, mental health workers of the National Union of Healthcare Workers in Southern California reach an agreement with Kaiser Permante after striking for over six months, an immigration...

The South Central Federation of Labor holds its annual Bean Feed to raise funds for its COPE, a Wisconsin expert discusses the likely effect of Medicaid cuts on working people in the wake of the federal bill granting huge tax cuts to the rich, nurses at Meriter Hospital in Madison talk to Labor Radio ahead of their strike starting May 27th, UAW Local 291 workers at Cummins in Oshkosh reject a tentative agreement and continue their strike, a tornado wipes out a union-represented business in Mayvi...

Workers at Group Health Collective in Madison are demanding union recognition from GHC management amidst charges of union busting, Meriter nurses have set a strike date and discuss that state of negotiations with Labor Radio, Voces de la Frontera and organized labor rally for indicted Milwaukee judge Hannah Dugan while federal ICE terror continues, Madison Starbucks workers join a nationwide unfair labor practice strike over a Starbucks dress code imposed outside of collective bargaining, Wiscon...

Labor Radio speaks to workers affected by federal cuts in the Americorps program and in public broadcasting, how US Labor Department cuts will affect workers, there are new directors of the Social Security system and of the postal service, a federal judge orders the release from ICE captivity of graduate student and SEIU member Rumeysa Ozturk and her union is there for her, the Rick Smith Show remembers the anniversary of the death of UAW leader Walter Reuther, and the United Way of Dane County ...

Multiple May Day marches and rallies in Milwaukee, Madison, and around the state continue in Madison on May 2, the South Central Federation of Labor holds its annual Workers Memorial Day remembrance, Marquette University faculty and staff and staff are demanding recognition of their union, proposed changes to Wisconsin's unemployment insurance system pose serious risks to workers' rights, we play an excerpt from Walt Whitman's 'We Hear America Singing,' a community services position has opened i...

Protests are quickly called in Milwaukee as the federal government arrests Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan for not submitting to ICE, UFCW members at a Minneapolis food co-op stand up for freedom of expression while that freedom comes under attack across the country, May Day and May 2 marches and rallies include a May 1 high school student-organized event in Madison that is supported by many union teachers, the AFL-CIO has announced a new initiative to help fired federal workers organize and fi...

Madison holds rallies for a union-sponsored call to support higher education and another for child care providers on Child Care Advocacy Day, UAW Local 291 holds a rally and march in Oshkosh as its strike against Cummins continues into its second month, about a third of Internal Revenue Service workers may be gone by the end of this year, a whistleblower at the National Labor Relations Board showed how Musk's DOGE is accessing privileged data on workers and unions, and we play a performance of t...

UnityPoint-Meriter nurses and their supporters rally for a fair contract and promise to strike if hospital management doesn't come through in bargaining, Labor Radio speaks to folks marching at Madison's version of the national Hands Off rally, a local worker wins a wage theft case but the company has yet to pay up, UAW President Shawn Fain address the union and the world about support for Trump's tariffs, the president of the University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty and staff union speaks on a r...

Labor Radio previews the April 5 Hands Off rally against the Republican administration in Washington and talks to a local organizer, the results of the April 1 Wisconsin statewide election are in with union-backed victories, how tariffs can be expected to affect the working class, union members are prominent among some high-profile ICE detention and deportation cases, employers at religion-funded groups are looking to get exemptions from unemployment taxes, and Madison protests the Trump executi...

While Trump takes away collective bargaining rights from even more federal workers, rallies are held at the Madison Labor Temple and at the main post office, and we speak to American Federation of Government Employees Local 1732 President William Townsend. The AFL-CIO has endorsements for the April 1 election in Wisconsin, we talk to the president of UAW Local 291 in Oshkosh about their strike at Cummins, Inc., UAW International President Shawn Fain speaks out against NAFTA, Florida's answer to ...

The Wisconsin Education Association Council talks endorsements for the April 1 statewide election, postal workers in Madison take to the street after the threatened Trump-Musk takeover, UAW Local 291 strikes Cummins Drivetrain and Braking Systems in Oshkosh, the Trump-Musk administration says that the federal collective bargaining agreement with the Transportation Security Administration just doesn't count any more so TSA workers with AFGE Local 777 and supporters speak up in Madison, the Flight...

The President of the United States or the world's richest man or somebody orders the US Postal Service to become part of the Commerce Department or even more of a private company or something, and they say that the collective bargaining agreement with workers of the Transportation Security Administration doesn't count any more because they say they can, and they keep firing people because they say they can and cutting federal programs because they say they can, while rank-and-file federal worker...

Hundreds including union members rallied and spoke at the state capitol for reproductive health rights and for electoral support of a labor-endorsed candidate in the April 1 Supreme Court race, some Democratic state legislators are holding "listening sessions" on the intricacies and problems of state budget proposals and some others have sponsored a labor-supported bill that could cover state budget gaps due to Trump-Musk federal funding cuts, and SEIU health care workers in contract talks at Co...

A federal judge backs a union lawsuit for now and issues a temporary restraining order halting a Trump-Musk order to fire about 200,000 US government workers, people march on US Senator Ron Johnson's Madison office to protest Medicaid cuts, Wisconsin teachers and public school advocates rally at the state capitol to demand that state legislators fund education, an early childhood education worker talks about the effects of a funding freeze on Head Start programs, the Oregon Nurses Association ha...

Absence of Madison bus drivers on February 20 looks like a labor action from drivers and mechanics working without a contract, SWIU Wisconsin rallies for Meriter nurses during their contract talks and for UW Health and GHC workers who are organizing, chaotic federal funding cuts affect Head Start, US Forest Service workers facing Trump purges speak at the Madison Labor Temple, the National Treasury Employees Union pushes back on the Trump-Musk cuts, Amazon workers vote against a union in Carolin...