This week we are excited to bring listeners an interview that brings together two of our most urgent areas of discussion on our show: union democracy and the fight against ICE terror. We're honored to be joined by Leo and Kevin, two organizers with CREW, the Caucus of Rank and File Electrical Workers, an internal reform caucus in the IBEW. Not only are the folks in CREW working hard to make the IBEW a democratic, fighting union, as workers in the construction industry they are on the front lines of ICE's war against the working class. We discuss their goals of internal union reform, strategies for talking to coworkers who might have absorbed right wing talking points, and how the fight against ICE terror and the fight for our rights at work can't be separated.

Contact CREW: https://www.rankandfilecrew.org/ Email: rankandfilecrew@gmail.com

Maine Solidarity Fund: https://www.mainesolidarity.org/

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We start out with a reportback from Dan and Lina who went to their local No Kings protests and discuss the energy behind the call for a May Day general strike. We've got headlines this week from Canada Post, AirTrain, United Airlines, TSA, Western Washington University, Starbucks, Amazon, and Patagonia. The major strike by meatpackers at JBS in Colorado has been extended as workers continue to fight for a fair deal. Non-tenure track faculty have been deeply exploited by US universities in recent years, but this week those educators won a historic contract at NYU that could set a new standard. Finally, we discuss a recent piece in the Guardian on the wave of attacks on child labor laws across the country, and how ill it bodes for our whole economy.

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Late last year, teachers at the Highlander Charter School in Providence, Rhode Island launched the state's first ever strike at a charter school. We have covered a lot of teachers strikes on our show, but strikes at charters have been few and far between. Just as with teachers at traditional public schools, teachers at charters are on the front lines of the struggle not only for their own working conditions, but for their students' learning conditions. So we were super excited to speak with the teachers at Highlander about their struggle, the lessons they've learned, and how teacher organizing can help build stronger communities!

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We start this week's episode with headlines from CBS, ProPublica, Portland Community College, REI, Starbucks, Corewell Health, the WNBA, Atlassian Software, and the Tornel Rubber Company. Our first story checks in on the strike by Colorado meatpackers at JBS in a fight for safety and dignity on the job. Workers at Kaiser Permanente both ended a major strike with a win AND started a new strike in the same week. Horrific revelations of abuse by UFW co-founder Cesar Chavez rocked the labor world this week, we discuss the impact and lessons for the future of the movement. Finally, a recent interview in Jacobin discussed the way workers in Australia are fighting a similar issue we have here in the US, the disconnect between struggle on the shop floor and political action for the working class.

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Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Somehow it's been 300 whole episodes since we started this show. But as long as work continues stopping, we will keep discussing it! We've got headlines from the MST, Belgian trade unions, Portland Community College, REI, Starbucks, Amazon, American Axle, and AFGE. JBS workers in Colorado are on strike, the biggest in meatpacking in decades. Oakland workers in logistics are trying to navigate how best they can do their part in gumming up the war machine when the boxes they move aren't even labeled. Student Workers of Columbia are poised once again to strike as their bosses in admin keep trying to drive student unions from existence. Finally, we discuss the Mamdani Administration in NYC and several stories about how policies are affecting workers in these first couple months.

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Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

The US war on Iran continues to create an emergency for the working class worldwide, and we start by discussing the need for workers to enter the struggle to end it. We've got headlines this week from LabCorp, Mercedes, JBS, Home Depot, DHL Express, Patagonia, Crumbs & Whiskers and The Holy Donut. For our first full story, we discuss the ongoing strike by teachers in Sacramento. Next, yet another story has come out revealing a new smart device's "AI" features are actually just poorly paid remote workers. Florida is taking yet another major step in its war on public unions. Finally, we discuss how workers continue to fight against Gestapo terror here in the belly of the beast.

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Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Texas IBEW Member Legal Fee Funds: https://www.gofundme.com/f/bring-our-union-sister-home https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-Brian-IBEW-Brother

Our episode this week is a bit lighter on labor stories as the launch of yet another war by the US takes up most of our intro. When we do get back into the labor news we have headlines from Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, Texas IBEW, Twin Rivers USD, St John's University, Burger King, Panipat Refinery in India, and the nation of Mexico. The first of our two major stories this week is on an upcoming strike by contingent faculty at NYU who can barely afford to live while working at one of the country's most expensive universities. Finally, there has been yet another major strike launched by incarcerated workers in Alabama against prison slavery and the cruelty and inhumanity of the Alabama Department of Corrections.

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Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

SWOC Hardship Fund: https://opencollective.com/student-workers-of-columbia

We start with headlines this week from Columbia University, Penn, Volkswagen, New York Presbyterian Hospital, Mission Hospital, and the nation of Argentina. For our first major story this week, we discuss recent reporting on South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang, which is mimicking not just Amazon's market share, but its worker abuses as well. Workers have been taking to the streets to fight the billionaire assault, but the AAUP has also been taking the billionaires to court, and they've been winning. Finally, we discuss the next stage of the fightback in Minneapolis, as unions and tenants have come together to organize what could be the largest rent strike in modern US history.

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Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee