Episodes

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, the Labor Temple has a workshop on fighting ba...

UW Health System nurses and supporters speak up before a Wisconsin Supreme Court hearing on their union's status under the Wisconsin Employee Peace Act, Labor Radio holds interviews before the Tuesday election for Wisconsin Director of Public Instruction, workers at a North Carolina Amazon facility are voting on whether they will be represented by Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment (CAUSE), Oregon nurses at eight hospitals run by Providence Health voted down a tentative ag...

A march and rally in Madison protests the Trump and Musk takeover of the government, Trump goes after the National Labor Relations Board, federal workers discuss the fear and uncertainty as Trump and Musk swing their axes, the National Association of Letter Carriers has voted against its tentative agreement with the US Postal Service, as their strike approaches one month 5000 nurses of the Oregon Nurses Association at Providence Health facilities across Oregon vote on a tentative agreement, the ...

The South Central Federation of Labor and Worker Justice Wisconsin plan trainings on workers rights and organized labor joining with immigrant workers ahead of expected Trump administration assaults, the Madison Labor Temple will be sold, a Mexican professor speaks on immigration and the US economy, Wisconsin construction giant Findorff is now under a full employee stock ownership plan, Trump goes after not only the NLRB general counsel but also a term-protected board member, Wisconsin Second Co...

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers gives his State of the State speech and we have excerpts on the budget, President Trump goes after the federal civil service starting with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion administrators and those who work from home, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul talks about the lawsuit filed by Wisconsin and other states against Trump's attempt to remove birth citizenship, a Peoples March was held in Madison and labor voices were there, Iowa considers rolling back child labo...

Labor Radio looks back at the close ties between the Reverend Martin Luther King and the labor movement and tells what is happening in the Madison area this holiday weekend, a nurse discusses the Oregon Nurses Association strike against Providence Health in that state, the SEIU rejoins the AFL-CIO, workers and community members rally at an Amazon-owned Whole Foods store in Philadelphia ahead of a unionization vote later this month, and South Central Federation of Labor President Kevin Gundlach t...

Labor Radio talks to workers and labor leaders as SEIU Wisconsin works to organize Group Health Collective while a GHC management complaint on the voting unit heads to a regional National Labor Relations Board hearing in Madison, South Central Federation of Labor President Kevin Gundlach tells what workers he talked to had to say during his recent trip to South Africa, an organizer discusses how the documentary "Union" shows the grassroots organizing of the first Amazon facility and talks about ...

Labor Radio reporters Carol Weidel, Keith Steffen, Jeannine Ramsey, and Greg Geboski, and engineer Joann Powers sit down in the studio to discuss stories aired in 2024 and what happened in the year in labor.

The WORT News Department has more on its investigation of University of Wisconsin payouts to consultants, particularly Huron Consulting, an arrangement that has long been under critical scrutiny by university unions. Also, Labor Radio interviews strikers as Madison joins the Christmas Eve unfair labor practices strikes held at Starbucks stores across the country. This broadcast show has a music portion. The full show will be available for a limited time under Friday, December 27, on the WORT ar...

In the wake of a shooting at Madison's Abundant Life Christian School, Labor Radio speaks to the Madison public teachers union president and to a former teacher about what it's like working where school shootings have become normalized. Also, workers at Amazon and Starbucks get into the holiday spirit with unfair labor practice strikes across the country, with New York City cops busting Teamster Amazon picket lines. Also the faculty and academic staff union president explains how a software upda...

An attorney addresses the immigrants rights group Voces de la Frontera ahead of the second Trump administration, the Wisconsin legislature wants to end work-at-home for state workers, the US Senate refuses to re-confirm National Labor Relations Board chair Lauren McFerran as an NLRB regional office rules that some reality show workers are employees, the Canadian government orders it striking mail employees back to work, US railroad workers promise tough negotiations after years of company- and g...

This week Dane County Circuit Court Judge Jacob Frost has ordered sweeping changes to Act 10, the Wisconsin law severely restricting the rights of the state's public sector unions, and Labor Radio spoke to Jeff Mandell, an attorney for the union plaintiffs who brought the successful lawsuit, and to Barrett McIntosh of the Teaching Assistants Association, one of the seven unions filing the suit. Also, Donald Trump has designated a Secretary of Labor who isn't hated by everybody in organized labor...

AFSCME Local 1 has a workshop on the Wisconsin state budget, Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee is organizing a union, a Greek worker discusses the state of labor in Greece, the UE considers an independent way forward for labor after the Democrats' big presidential election loss, Whole Foods workers file for a union, a major expansion of overtime coverage ordered this year has been shot down by a federal judge, and average daycare costs now outstrip average rents.

An Iron River, Wisconsin, pizza parlor is busted by the Department of Labor for multiple child work violations, a member of Build a Fighting NALC talks about rank-and-file efforts in that union and disagreements over the national NALC tentative contract agreement, more University of California system workers sign up to join the UAW, the Teaching Assistants Association of the University of Wisconsin-Madison has a new initiative to improve the lot of UW bioscience workers, the National Labor Relat...

Kevin Gundlach of the South Central Federation of Labor looks at the November 5 election results, Lambeau Field workers get their first contract, Los Volcanoes worker-owned cooperative kicks off, the president of Machinists District 751 discusses the end of the Boeing strike and the new contract, California keeps prison labor as a punishment, and the Rick Smith Show looks back on the anniversary of some early interracial union solidarity in the US.

A panel at the University of Wisconsin gives the good and bad news on organized labor in Wisconsin since Act 10, the SEIU Wisconsin president discusses endorsements and AFGE tells how a crisis in Social Security Administration staffing could get even worse under Project 2025, pension plans look to divest from investments in fossil fuels, rank-and-file letter carriers push back on a proposed contract, southeast Pennsylvania transit workers have authorized a system-wide strike for this week after ...

Letter carriers rally in Madison and call for legislative help against recent assaults, the policy director of the American Federation of Government Employees talks on Trump's proposed Project 2025, representatives of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2304 and of the Wisconsin Education Association Council talk about their political endorsement processes and their political priorities, the Teaching Assistants Association at the University of Wisconsin in Madison talks about i...

The annual Wisconsin Association of Retired Americans Power Lunch focuses on social Security and social programs, Machinists union negotiator Jon Holden talks to Labor Radio about the ongoing Boeing strike and the history that led to it, the International Association of Firefighters endorses neither presidential candidate, the National Labor Relations Board is swamped but funding and staffing isn't keeping pace, the State of Wisconsin reports good jobs numbers, a new book looks at American labor...

After a weeklong strike, Molson Coors repair workers with Machinists Lodge 66 in Milwaukee ratify a new contract. The immigrant-founded workers co-op Los Volcanoes launches in Madison, a UAW striker is killed on a Michigan picket line, Boeing management talks tough as the West Coast Machinists strike ends its first month, South Central Federation of Labor AFL-CIO president Kevin Gundlach explains the SCFL electoral endorsement process, a Malaysian contractor of the multinational Kimberly-Clark i...

Teachers and staff at Toad Hill Montessori schools in Madison voted overwhelmingly to join OPEIU Local 39, immigrant workers talk about how employers target them for wage theft, picketing workers speak to Labor Radio as Machinists Council 66 strikes Molson Coors in Milwaukee, the UAW prepares nationwide strikes if Stellantis doesn't meet contract demands, the Wisconsin Association of Retired Americans announces this year's agenda ahead of its October 14 power lunch, and a member of the Madison P...

East Coast and Gulf longshore workers could strike this week, the Machinists reject Boeing management's latest "best and final" offer, the UAW says it will push back against announced layoffs at Stellantis, United Electrical workers nationally condemn Israeli attacks on Lebanon and a UE 1186 member describes an action in the Madison area, the gender wage gap lives on, Mitchell Johnson of IBEW Local 159 is the Wisconsin AFL-CIO Organizer of the Year, a November ballot measure would change voting ...

Teachers and staff at Toad Hill Montessori in Madison are organizing with OPEIU Local 39, the UAW says it will strike Stellantis if company management doesn't live up to its contract agreements, unions and community organizations are joining to oppose construction emplyees being misclassified as 'independent contractors', Wisconsin Teamsters break with the national union over a presidential endorsement, the AFT Wisconsin is looking for a political organizer, and voting rights will be on the ball...

A view of the Harris-Trump debate from the Labor Temple bar, yet another proposed constitutional change on the Wisconsin November ballot, 33,000 member of the Machinists are on strike at Boeing, and flight attendants at United Air are two weeks into their strike authorization. THIS IS A PLEDGE WEEK EDITION.

Voices from LaborFest 2024 at the Madison Labor Temple, a steamfitter describes the trade, rank-and-file workers oganize to move their unions to support Palestinians, and workers speak at the Havens-Wright Center at the University of Wisconsin. THIS IS A PLEDGE WEEK EDITION.