Two months ago, from April 17-21, workers and labor organizers of all stripes convened in Chicago for the bi-annual Labor Notes conference, which overlapped with the Railroad Workers United convention. As the registration website rightly noted, “Labor Notes Conferences are the biggest gatherings of grassroots labor activists, union reformers, and all-around troublemakers out there.” This is not a buttoned up convention of union officials; this is a real grassroots gathering of people on the frontlines of struggle, talking openly, honestly, and strategically about their struggles, victories, and defeats, about what we can all learn from one another as fellow workers and fighters, and about how we can all contribute to growing the labor movement as fellow members of that movement. In this on-the-ground episode, cohosted by Max and Mel Buer, we speak with attendees at the RWU convention, Labor Notes, and participants in the Labor for Palestine protest that took place outside of Labor Not
Speakers include: Johnny Walker, a railroad worker and member of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers—Transportation Division (SMART-TD) Local 610 in Baltimore; Matt Weaver, who has worked on the railroad since 1994, is a member of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees (BMWED-IBT) Local 2624, where he also serves as legislative director for his state; Marcie Pedraza, an electrician at Ford Chicago Assembly Plant and member of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 551; Jacob Morrison, a member of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), president of the North Alabama Labor Council, and cohost of The Valley Labor Report; Leticia Zavala, legendary farm labor organizer working with farm workers in Mexico and the United States, and a member of El Futuro Es Nuestro (It’s Our Future), a farmworker caucus within the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC, AFL-CIO); Colin Smalley, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) Local 777 in Chicago; Berenice Navarrete-Perez, vice president of the Association of Legislative Employees (ALE); Annie Shields, former journalist and union organizer with the NewsGuild of New York; and Axel Persson, a locomotive engineer in France and general secretary of the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT) Railway Workers Union in Trappes.es on April 19.
Transcript
0:00[Music] I got work to I
0:15got all right welcome everyone to another episode of working people a
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1:22support the work that we do at the real newws Network by going to the real
1:28news.com donate especially if you want to see more reporting from the front lines of struggle around the US and
1:35across the world my name is maximilan Alvarez and we’ve got a great episode
1:41for y’all today two months ago in Chicago workers and labor organizers of
1:48all stripes convened for the biannual labor notes conference which actually
1:54overlapped with the railroad workers United convention so we had quite a lot of workers and organizers and labor
2:02Advocates all in Chicago at one time and it was really an incredible moment as
2:08the registration website rightly noted quote labor notes conferences are the
2:13biggest Gatherings of Grassroots labor activists Union reformers and all around
2:19troublemakers out there end quote and you know what they’re not wrong this was
2:25actually my second time attending labor notes and for the second time I was uh
2:30running around like a headless chicken presenting on panels uh attending other
2:36panels hosting events doing interviews I mean it’s such a jam-pack couple of days
2:43but man it it really is an incredible experience getting to share space with
2:49and and talk to and learn from so many working folks from so many Industries
2:55and unions and labor groups around the US and around the world this is is not a
3:00buttoned up Convention of Union officials this is a real Grassroots
3:05Gathering of people on the front lines of struggle talking openly honestly and
3:13strategically about their struggles victories and defeats about what we can
3:19all learn from one another as fellow workers and Fighters and about how we can all contribute to Growing the labor
3:26movement as fellow members of that movement as I overheard a number of attendees
3:33saying during the conference it’s impossible to feel hopeless at Labor
3:38notes and you know what I have to agree and I want to explicitly shout out all
3:45the labor notes staff and volunteers who worked their asses off to make this
3:51experience possible for the rest of us and I want to also ask everyone out there to please support the work that
3:58labor notes does support railroad workers United the work that they do is
4:04so important and we desperately need it and I know many of you feel the same way
4:09yourselves about Labor notes because you know labor notes is one of the very rare
4:14places where I actually get to meet a lot of listeners to this show and a lot
4:20of folks that I’ve interviewed on the show who I’ve never gotten to meet in person and if I’m being 100% honest it’s
4:28that’s actually one of the many many reasons I love labor notes so much I mean it it really is a gift a privilege
4:36and an honor to get to meet you guys in person and it genuinely means the world
4:43to me to have folks come up to me and tell me about how they found the show uh
4:48what their favorite episodes are what the podcast has meant to them but you
4:54know also to hear more about you and about the work that you’re doing that is
5:00the magic of Labor notes you know as as someone who’s been uh hosting uh this
5:05show for many years you know never knowing how many people out there were listening and how much of an impact uh
5:13the show is actually having you know it’s it’s just truly an incredible experience to get to hear firsthand from
5:20you guys in a place like labor notes that the show does matter and these conversations do matter and you know it
5:27is having an impact and so to all of you who have ever shared those stories with me reached out to me to share them like
5:34seriously thank you we’re all fighting so hard for Better Lives better
5:42workplaces better communities and ultimately a better world but that work
5:48is punishing to say the least it’s exhausting and it can be really
5:55isolating and in our day-to-day lives it can feel like it just doesn’t matter
6:01like we’re failing or we’re not doing enough like we’re the only ones doing anything and the only ones who care but
6:09being at Labor notes is a vital reminder that we are not alone that we are all in
6:16this together and when you can see so many kindred spirits and and fellow
6:22Fighters together and you can feel the potential that we all have as a movement
6:28it is indeed impossible to feel hopeless so while it’s impossible to
6:35totally communicate that feeling and that experience of Labor notes in a podcast we’re going to do our best to
6:42take you there today for this special on theground compilation episode I spoke to
6:48a number of incredible Folks at both the railroad workers United convention so
6:53you’ll hear updates on the railroad workers struggle but I also talk to folks um throughout the labor notes
7:00conference in Chicago and this was all between the span of Wednesday April 17th
7:06and Sunday April 21st of this year also I was there in Chicago with my real news
7:14colleague Mel buer and while I was talking to folks inside the conference
7:19Mel was hustling around doing important coverage and interviewing folks outside
7:25the conference at a Palestine solidarity protest held right outside the hotel by
7:31the group labor for Palestine as Martha gravat wrote at the time for the
7:36militant quote support for Palestine was strong among the thousands of Union
7:41activists who attended the labor notes conference in the Chicago area from April 18th to the 21st although not an
7:49official conference event a rally organized by the labor for Palestine national network on April 19th Drew
7:56hundreds of people the crowd blocked traffic for over an hour surrounding a
8:02cop car and refusing to leave the street after two people were arrested chanting
8:07from The River To The Sea Palestine will be free and let them go the
8:13demonstrators eventually de arrested the two activists who were released without
8:18charges end quote so in this episode you guys are going to hear interviews from me and Mel with folks inside labor notes
8:26the railroad workers United convention and outside at the labor for Palestine
8:32protest take a [Music]
8:46listen I’m Johnny Walker Spar Transportation division local 610 Baltimore Maryland Matt Weaver
8:52Brotherhood of Maintenance way employee hired in 1994 so I got almost 30 years
8:57out here um currently I am a carpenter at the railroad I won’t name the railroad because whistleblower
9:03retaliation is Alive and Well in the industry um I am the legislative director for bmwe members in Ohio and
9:11it’s been very exciting to uh see how the ties of legislation you know everything we do in the real labor
9:17industry is tied with with the politics of it so we have to be very involved in
9:22that and it’s exciting to be here um on the stage with you we’re we’re really dig you appreciate the opportunity to
9:28speak with you again I think it was just an introduction not a I go I always go a million miles an hour man yeah you know
9:35me on that no that that that was awesome you guys and it’s like yeah like that’s that’s what I want folks to hear on this
9:41recording right is like the voices that that they’ve been hearing uh on the show
9:48um you know or the other coverage that we’ve been doing right I mean folks have seen Johnny out there with his flag you
9:54know like at Capitol Hill Matt I mean we’ve had you on the show a number of times you were the first guy I
10:00interviewed after the East Palestine derailment um so like I think it’s just
10:05really exciting like that we’re all here and folks if you’re listening to this now just in the background I mean we’re
10:11at the railroad workers United uh conference here in Chicago um overlapping with the labor notes
10:18conference and yeah I’m I’m sitting like 10t away from a bunch of the railroad workers that y’all have heard from
10:24including Matt and Johnny like over the past few years and that in and out of itself is just really really cool and
10:31exciting and like I wanted to just give listeners like a little taste of that
10:36but also like you know we were here two years ago right um and a lot has
10:43happened in those two years right I mean that was we were in the midst of the contract fight uh this was before you
10:51know Biden and Congress forced the contract down railroad workers throats
10:56uh preempting the strike yeah and then two months after that East Palestine happened yada y yada but since then I
11:02mean we’ve had developments on Twan Cruise right I mean like there was a a
11:07class action settlement in East Palestine not nearly enough but like there’s something so like I just wanted
11:13to yeah check in with you guys and for our listeners who have gotten invested
11:18in what’s going on in the railroads because of you guys um because of the conversations we’ve had I just wanted to
11:24like check in and just like yeah if you could talk to our listeners about like how are going after the last two years
11:31like where are we on the railroads like um where should listeners have their focus uh as we head into the next
11:37contract fight or anything that you feel is kind of flying under the radar from your side of the
11:43Rails I know well thanks Max um first off it’s not just us it’s our
11:49organizations it’s our membership it’s the public community and stuff like that that’s really um taken the time to um
11:56come out and really see what’s going on um supported us 100% when we um got the
12:02contract you know uh forced or not they still supported us they still you know it was more than we’ve ever gotten and
12:08I’ve been out here for going on 21 years in October um we did pass uh two person
12:14crew with the help of our Coalition unions and smart um with Jared Cassidy
12:19and Greg Hines our legislative directors and alterate legislative directors uh but it’s kind of like through storm in
12:25the beaches of Normandy everyone’s happy the day is over um we’re going to be in
12:30Berlin in Christmas well there’s still a long fight there’s only a regulation it’s not a law so there’s still more to
12:37be there and currently under my understanding is the carriers are already trying to fight it so I mean you
12:43know it’s a win and it was a hard win but still it’s just like we landed the beaches of Normandy it’s still not 1945
12:50and we still got a long fight and then even if we do win the two person crew eventually in the future what’s going to
12:56be our next fight you know so I mean that’s the POS POS side on my side so um
13:01I mean there’s other things um one of the companies that we work for is has a better CEO that seems to be a
13:08little bit more uh kind and understanding but still they’re fighting with Wall Street to try to you know big
13:14profits and other things like that there is kind of a change but still it’s the same railroad just
13:21different ownership so to speak so I mean there’s a lot of you know um I in a
13:27lot of ways try to lie to myself saying I’m out here because I love the job and I can protect the public
13:32but ultimately you know this is my trade this is my profession and stuff like that and I I really want to do this this
13:38is this is what I love you know and I the way that I justify all the stuff that happens to me and other people
13:44where I could deal with it is kind of like I’m kind of a wall that I could service the customer and protect the
13:50community but even that gets harder every day it it it drives me to think that
13:56it’s very frustrating to think that we need things like the disaster in East Palestine to
14:02happen to get change made you know that was kind of lead in to Twan crew we’re
14:08looking at you know Crossing safety bills we’ve got many of the crafts have
14:15I think we might be 90% of rail labor has sick days now that didn’t come from the contract you know and so vocal
14:22advocacy and cross craft solidarity is the key to making this stuff work
14:29and just it it concerns me greatly that we are facing a scenario of more Cuts
14:37Norfolk Southerns looking to have a hedge fund buy them out again and have more Cuts PSR
14:433.0 and when’s the next disaster going to drive us to get better treatment for
14:50real labor when are we going to see better inspections for our brothers and
14:55sisters in the car shops whenever we see you know the Twan crew bill is a
15:00positive step in the right direction but there’s still a lot of loopholes in there and that that’s that’s very
15:05concerning when you think of the group of rail labor who are my brothers and sisters and we’re you know you have to
15:13be involved in politics and we we shouldn’t have to need a disaster to
15:19help Drive things forward for the the the the men and women in real labor now
15:26also like to say with um Matt um so it’s great to that I got to meet Matt through
15:31the our struggle with the contract negotiations and stuff like that the same thing with my friend Devin out west
15:37we were both interviewed by the BBC we would have never been brought together without this Strife so I mean we’ve been
15:42really looking at other things you know like we’re not looking at our seat at the table we’re looking at our table for
15:48negotiations so I mean we wouldn’t have had that without this strife and it’s really starting to pay off in a lot of
15:54ways well let’s let’s talk about that like this this will be kind of the the wrap up question right cuz like I think
16:00folks out there really want to know after they got really up like they got
16:06more up to speed uh listening to you guys over the past couple years on like
16:12what railroad workers are really going through like what it’s like to work in this industry under these conditions
16:18under Precision scheduled railroading staff Cuts Corner Cuts you know year
16:24after year after year while you know executive and shareholders payouts are
16:29larger than they’ve ever been like so so folks are now paying attention um and you know they they were
16:37worried about like what they were hearing from the folks in this room about like all that loss of talent and
16:44and knowledge uh that comes with like people being driven out of the industry
16:49and all the problems that could potentially come when the railroads are trying to fill those uh losses with
16:56hiring um you know people off the street with who aren’t going to have those
17:01relationships with the oldtimers as much as they did before like so these are the kinds of questions folks are asking me
17:07right and so I guess I just wanted to ask like looking back on the contract
17:13fight um the last one like what are you think like kind of takeaway lessons we
17:20can all learn and and that we can apply to the next contract fight which opens
17:25in 2025 like from the railroad side and the public side what what can we learn from that Strife to be better prepared
17:32this time and also just like yeah like have the conditions that we were talking about all these years like change for
17:39your fellow workers like how are folks doing working in the different
17:45crafts ex excellent question so the best thing that real labor can do at this
17:50point in time is have coordinated bargaining a rail labor bargaining Coalition we’re all on the same team
17:57just like we ended the last round of bargaining under the AFL C TTD our
18:02strength is in numbers our strength is in solidarity and we all have to realize I am My Brother’s Keeper so if we can’t
18:10come together to start bargaining out at the same position we ended last time then then we might be setting oursel up
18:16for concessions I’ve got great um hopes for us to do something like the
18:22Southwest Airlines pilots who got like what 47.9% pay increases over five years
18:29Teamsters did well with UPS UAW did pretty well let’s build on those wins
18:35and it’s time for rail labor to step up come together and
18:41bargain as a group one team good solidarity and we can we can do
18:48better um I could agree with what Matt says but I want to go back to um you were talking about with uh basically
18:55hiring people off the street to replace our veteran railroad workers um unfortunately that hasn’t really
19:02changed I mean we’re getting more people coming into the craft but because they found out how miserable it was and
19:07there’s other options we’re not getting as high quality people and you know the people that come here they’re not going to put up with it especially the first
19:13few years I mean that’s got to change but I feel that the way that that changes like with all of our
19:20apprenticeship programs for the Building Trades or anything like that they need to be federally recognized let some of
19:26these unions and these other crafts come up with with these programs that are standard for the industry because you
19:32know even though the company says that we’re looking out for our employees they’re not always looking out for the employees we’re looking out for our
19:38members they’re not they’re not employees to us they’re members they’re our family so if we get federally
19:44recognized apprenticeship programs in the Building Trades as well as the transportation trades because right now
19:49we have standardized signals and rules and other things like that but we don’t have a standardized training program for
19:55conductors or Engineers we just have guidelines and each railroad does it a little bit differently and it doesn’t
20:00matter if you’re working down south or you’re working up north it depends on who you’re working for where you get
20:07certain standards and they’re met but they’re not exceeded all the time and if we don’t start exceeding some of these
20:12standards you know 20 years down the way if some of these people fell through the cracks we’re going to have even worse
20:18issues if we save all these safety concerns so I mean coordinated bring can
20:23help do that but also Federal Regulation where we can have apprentiship programs that are nationally ferally recognized
20:29as the end all Beall and we can even do that working with the companies but they’re not willing to come to the table
20:35with us all the time we’re willing to put out the Olive Branch but everyone needs to be able to accept the olive branch on both sides because they answer
20:42to the shareholders so it’s it’s driven by you know shareholder needs constant
20:48you know more is Never Enough when you’re talking about hedge funds and these stock BuyBacks and that kind of
20:54stuff is decimating the railroads you know it’s it’s it’s abs how what we’re
20:59facing is real labor no know absolutely and it’s one of those things where Ray RADS used to be a standard stock that
21:05had good returns now it’s massive returns eventually the Top’s going to fall off and you know everything’s gonna
21:11go ahead and sink you know there you know so yeah then again you end up with
21:17East Palestine like right behind you is Chris Albright who lives there um and
21:22like I was there three weeks ago right and and so I guess I just wanted to sort of ask that as a final quick question is
21:29like like what’s your message to the public about again like why they should care about this kind of thing like why
21:36they should care that you know there are Twan Crews on those trains that those trains are not as long as they are right
21:44that the track is that we’re putting more investment in track maintenance like this can all feel in the weeds but
21:51as like Chris is living proof of as you guys are living proof of this is not you know like a theoretical thing like this
21:59we’re talking real [ __ ] that like directly impacts working people so I
22:04guess what’s your message to folks out there listening about uh why they should care about all of this well quickly um
22:12Union Carbide went overseas because there’s less regulation Union Carbide wiped out Bal the Indian town where you
22:20know everyone went to sleep and they didn’t wake up so think about what you’re doing here you can’t go ahead and
22:26send railroads overseas if you keep deregulating if you keep you know just squeaking by that’s going to happen in
22:32your community so I mean this is something that you could that directly you could affect and affects you if
22:38you’re not paying attention and let’s not forget and we’ve talked about this before Max rarro don’t go through rich people’s
22:45backyards so you know think about how close you live you know the the train in East Palestine what two miles from my
22:53home so so the people need to realize the public needs to realize that there’s
22:59dangerous materials going through their backyards we don’t want them on the highways we want better regulation we
23:06want our public servants to serve the people and control the safety of of
23:12shipping on rail so that we know that even though there’s a train in our backyard we know there will not be a
23:18problem like there was in Ohio you know that’s very troublesome [Music]
23:32yeah so my name is Jacob Morrison I’m a co-host of the valley labor report Alabama’s only Union talk radio program
23:39and the largest Union talk radio program in the South I’ve started saying that now since we’re on four stations in
23:45three states I think I think we can say that if anybody else is you know is
23:50bigger than us then I’m you know somebody should connect us right yeah it’ll be news to me well well [ __ ] yeah
23:56brother I mean as you all listening you recognize that sweet Southern twang my
24:01man Jacob Morrison is here we just bumped into Jacob’s amazing co-host Adam
24:07Keller uh if you guys listen to this show you know all about the valley labor report if for some reason you don’t you
24:13need to go listen to it as Jacob said not only is it the only but is the largest Union talk radio program in the
24:20South and they’re doing incredibly good work and I saw my man Jacob walking over here as I’m posting up in labor notes
24:27talking to folks on the street and just wanted to yeah sort of check in um and see how you guys over there in Alabama
24:34are doing feel like we’re talking a day after the incredible UAW victory at
24:40Volkswagen like shit’s going down in the South yeah absolutely so you know one of
24:45the panels that I facilitated one of the panels that I facilitated was the organizing the South panel and we had on
24:51kelle liin uh a Hyundai worker organizing with the UAW obviously down
24:56in Montgomery um and so that was my first question to her first question of the panel was you know how how are
25:04people feeling down there you know I presumably F you know you’ve got a you’ve got kind of your finger on the
25:09pulse for what’s going on in the Hyundai Factory and she said that you know her phone has been blowing up people are
25:15really take getting a lot of energy from this um I think you know anybody that’s
25:20on Twitter has seen a lot of the videos and pictures of you know grown men in
25:26Chattanooga crying uh and you could really feel a lot of that excitement and
25:31solidarity in the room in the organizing the South panel because you know like
25:38down in the South it we know that you know folks in the labor movement uh and
25:44folks who want to build the labor movement who want to you know build the fighting wing of the labor Movement we
25:50know that organizing the south is really a key it is the key as Michael Goldfield
25:56said to changing this country and so that’s organized the South has been a uh it’s been a slogan on the left
26:04and in the labor movement for decades but nobody has done anything about it right even operation Dixie if you
26:10actually take a look at how many organizers they had how much money they spent the operation Dixie which was
26:15supposedly a cross sector cross industry multi-state Thing by the Federation of
26:23unions they didn’t even have as many people as many resources as the steel workers Drive
26:28like decades before in the South so you know I mean operation Dixie I mean i’
26:34I’ve really been reading a lot of Goldfield and you know he says that it’s really just it was just a coda on and
26:41basically the final attempt to even pretend to do anything to organize the South and now the UAW is really putting
26:48some real resources in and not only real resources because you can throw money at [ __ ] and you know money’s not going to
26:56money can’t solve everything resources can’t solve anything but they’re throwing resources after importantly
27:03winning huge at the big three automakers and actually showing what workers can do
27:09when we come together so proving the case to these folks down south and then
27:15putting the resources again putting your money where your mouth is uh and giving them the opportunity to organize
27:21themselves uh themselves it’s just it it’s an exciting time to be a Southern Union organizer Southern Union member um
27:28and you could really feel it in that room and uh I’m really looking forward to seeing uh Folks at Mercedes win their
27:35election next month and then uh Folks at Hyundai after that and Folks at Toyota
27:41after that and it’s just going to keep on going so I’m do the the Howard Dean and then we’re going to
27:49Hyundai that’s right I mean like and and what a difference like to compared to
27:54like when we were here two years ago right I mean because then it was like people were talking about besser um so
28:01there was still hope that what we’re seeing happen would happen but this is
28:06like yeah like a very different moment in that a different phase in that in that movement down there and and like I
28:14could hear it I mean I was unfortunate enough to be moderating the panel in the room right next to Jacob’s and I kept
28:21hearing people just like going nuts in the room next door and I’m like what the hell like where where’s my a why aren’t
28:28you guys that pumped up but like people are fired up we got the Union of Southern service workers walking around
28:34here like like we said we are here the day after the Volkswagen news I mean
28:41like there’s there’s really don’t do not sleep on the south and if you want to know what’s going on down there of
28:46course we’re going to keep trying to cover it at the real news network and at working people but if you want to put your finger on that pulse you got to go
28:53to the valley labor report and check out their report weekly uh the weekly report
28:58on Southern labor the interviews they do with workers down there the analysis analysis they provide it’s really
29:05invaluable and I just want to ask you Jacob by way of like rounding out and letting you go like what has what has it
29:12been for you what has it been like for you being at Labor notes this time in 2024 oh man it it’s great this is my
29:19second labor notes and just like the first time two years ago uh you know as
29:25somebody in the fighting wing of the labor movement even in union halls it can get lonely sometimes right it can
29:33get lonely it can get frustrating because you feel like everybody’s Vision
29:38has been beaten out of them um you know and even you know even folks who want to
29:44build and who want to do good stuff they just so many people in our unions don’t
29:50have hope anymore and don’t know what they can do differently uh and and a lot
29:56of people are resigned to hiding behind the Fortress and protecting what we have and labor notes is one of the only
30:03places in the country one of the only times every couple of years where you have thousands of people who believe
30:12that [ __ ] can be better who are making [ __ ] better and who are going to continue to make [ __ ] better I mean it’s
30:18just there’s no other place or event like it uh if you you know if you’ve
30:25never been you should go in 202 six and especially register earlier than we did
30:30by the way yeah absolutely um yeah it’s just been so great you know there’s so
30:36many you know plans that are hatching uh you know I was on a labor Council panel
30:42and and we are uh passing resolutions to encourage our Affiliates to uh endorse
30:49Sean uh to align contracts with May 1st 2028 right Sean Fain has has called for
30:55the unions to do that uh that’s a important thing especially with you know the inability to strike in between or
31:02you know in a contract if we align our contracts it makes it easier to do some sort of mass action like that so that’s
31:09Sean Fain has put that out well and if folks want to see what like that’s not even a hypothetical like I the the panel
31:15that I was moderating today one of the the people on that panel was uh the the
31:22like you know Union Federation leader up in Quebec yeah uh and they had like a
31:27effectively it was called the common front strike uh back in November but it was essentially a general strike in that
31:34mode because it was over 500,000 public sector workers across the
31:40province of Quebec who were all on strike at the same time because their
31:45contracts were expiring at the same time so that’s the kind of [ __ ] that Jacob’s talking about like if you want a general
31:52strike you got to set laid the groundwork you can’t just snap your fingers and it comes out of nowhere but
31:57lay that groundwork and sync up those contract expirations you then have an
32:03the ability to do what the homies up and qub back did last year exactly and so you know some Labor councils uh have got
32:10together and we’re passing these resolutions to endorse that call by Shan Fain and we’re encouraging our
32:15Affiliates where possible to uh set their contract expirations for May 1st North Alabama was the first Central
32:22labor Council to pass that resolution I’m proud to say uh also I think I think
32:28Alabama is the only state with two labor councils that have passed the resolution so you know uh we’re uh bargain
32:35together.org is where you can find your materials if you’re on your central labor Council and you want to get the draft resolution um so yeah it’s just
32:43exciting plans are coming together plans are being made uh folks are executing on them and uh you know I mean no place
32:50like labor notes so it’s great to be here [Music]
33:01hi am Marcy Pedraza I’m electrician at for Chicago assembly plant and proud member of UAW Local 551 also a member of
33:11uwd all right so this is exciting gang you guys recognize that name you guys
33:17have heard me talk to Marcy uh through the UAW big three strike and um like
33:23yeah like you were one of the first people I interviewed after Nick livic and to I want to meet Nick I mean like
33:29but it’s so cool like this is what labor notes is about is like we connected virtually uh yours was one of the sites
33:37called to stand up and strike you were such a powerful voice throughout all of that um and now I get to like meet you
33:45in person and here at Labor notes so like yeah I just wanted to sort of ask if you could like refresh our listeners
33:51memories a bit about you know like uh your involvement with the UAW strike and like what it’s like being here at Labor
33:58notes now after that especially a day after the big UAW Victory down in
34:03Volkswagen yeah I mean it’s been so inspiring and I didn’t I never would
34:09have thought that that that our strike would have I mean this much of an impact
34:14not just with people like stopping me seeing my UAW gear like all right
34:19awesome you know one time I was in the airport I had to Eat the Rich hoodie on and I had a a worker in the the restroom
34:26was like good job you know she was like she was a a CWA worker and followed the
34:31whole uh you know strike campaign and the strategy as in many people and just being here at Labor notes you know
34:37running into folks like you or other people that I’ve known online or in meetings virtual meetings for the past
34:43couple years I’m like oh that’s you in real life you know it’s just it’s it’s been really great and then just hearing
34:49other folks stories like yesterday I I heard a panel and um this was before the announcement of Volkswagen winning their
34:56Union um uh work was on a panel talking about how you know cuz UAW tried to organize there
35:02before right was not Victorious for production side anyway um the skilled trades they were so he was talking about
35:08watching our strike and the the gains we got and how that was so inspiring and lit a fire and and all of them and I was
35:14like hell yes you know that was inspiring me I was like we did that like I I don’t know it just so humbling and
35:22and awesome yeah it is awesome I mean like it shows it’s like the fight
35:27matters right I mean standing up for what’s right matters like yeah like you you you and your fellow members like
35:35were showing us what it looks like to to fight for what’s right and like that’s inspiring not only because it like
35:42motivates us and and like gets us ready to fight but you’re reminding us that change we are the change we’ve been
35:49waiting for and if we’re organized if we have solidarity if we are working
35:54together strategically like we can move mountains and like UAW and your local
36:00and everyone fighting that fight like showed us that last year and now we’re like just like Starbucks workers have
36:07showed us that like just like Amazon workers Home Depot workers like everyone here who’s fighting that fight is
36:13contributing to that but yeah like I mean is it wild to you just like you
36:18know Ford electrician mom Community activist but now you’re here and
36:24everyone’s like oh [ __ ] you’re you’re the you’re the guy you were out there yeah I mean and people have recognized
36:30me just from my name or maybe seeing me on some interview and I’m like I’m sorry I don’t remember that you know but it’s
36:37it’s definitely been a a great experience humbling like I said but like yesterday the first day I was sitting
36:43behind a few rows behind um couple workers who had their future UAW shirts
36:49on I was like oh yeah I got to go talk to them they’re walking around like a couple of rock stars I thought they were Volks s but they’re Mercedes but they’re
36:55next they’re um vote I believe is May 13th so we’re going to be on the lookout
37:00for that one too and um I was like I want one of those shirts but I can’t wear it cuz I’m a current UA but anyway
37:06it’s just yeah it’s been really really uh inspiring and just to hear everybody’s stories and today you know I
37:13was on a a panel for uh about steering green transition so we know the fight isn’t over we have still a lot of work
37:20to do and hopefully more people to join us in the fight well say say a little more about that and then I promise I’ll
37:26let you go because that was aside when we were talking about UAW and the standup strike I know we touched on it a
37:32bit but this is this is something that is like as much a part of you and and what your your struggle uh as you know
37:41the UAW and and that that fight so like yeah could you just tell us a little more about how you were bringing those
37:46two things together here at Labor notes right I mean it’s like all my dreams come true I mean I’m I’m an
37:51environmental activist in my community you know so I I work on uh fighting toxic poll right but I also work in a
37:59factory and you know these things are all related and intersectional and as we’re fighting for climate Justice we
38:04have to realize that it also means workers Justice you know so this this panel and there was one yesterday too
38:10that I was unfortunately unable to attend but um just bringing all these issues together like when people hear
38:16about this green transition what does that mean and you know I don’t really know about that or they don’t might not
38:21care about it but it it does matter to workers because workers are worried about losing their jobs you know and
38:27these companies try to make these new products and and not necessarily have
38:32them be union labor you know that’s where they’re they’re trying to cut corners and make more profits so that’s
38:38why I try to tell my co-workers like this is this is our livelihood you know if we want to be in the Auto industry or
38:45just you know making anything and being Union and having these great benefits we have to make sure you know we are in
38:53these decisions that are being made with our tax dollars that the companies are
38:58getting to make these you know brand new facilities for all electric vehicles and
39:03Battery plants so hell yeah well sister again it was so great to finally meet
39:09you in person and I guess I just wanted to ask like again like 20 less than 24
39:14hours after the huge Victory down south with Volkswagen and like you said now
39:19we’ve got we’ve got this Train’s moving yeah any final like messages out there
39:24to folks who who got invested in the UA W and this struggle through the standup
39:29strike and are seeing what we’re seeing any kind of final messages you got for folks out there listening yeah anyone
39:35that feels like you know they don’t they don’t like their conditions at work it’s time to organize and form a union and
39:44just look out because UAW is coming and you know it’s not just going to be the big three anymore I don’t know what
39:49we’re going to call it maybe big three in the dirty south or big four big five big six you know so it’s just yeah truly
39:55inspiring [Music]
40:03so I’m Colin SMY I am from Chicago I am president of the ifpte which is the
40:09International Federation of professional and Technical engineers local 777 and so I represent here in Chicago
40:17workers at the United States Army Corps of Engineers this is a mixed unit everything from Tugboat crew to Crane
40:24operators Lock and Dam operators but we’ve also got engineers and scientists and accountants and economists the admin
40:31workers that keep us all straight I mean we’ve got a little bit of everybody in our Union yeah man like what is it what
40:37is it like to uh you know represent a unit that’s that diverse and doing that
40:44many essential jobs across your unit so it you might think that it would be
40:50tenser than it is uh we work together really well when we we actually were were through bureaucracy we were split
40:57into two separate unions when I took over and we combined them because it’s like why are we letting ourselves be
41:03split up like that and it the the law uses these kind of gross terms of like professional and
41:08nonprofessional and so which basically is just like does the job require college Sue or not it’s it’s like
41:14totally demeaning and weird uh so we just did away with it and we’re all one Union and so like right out of the gate
41:20we negotiated new uh agreements about the schedules of our Lock and Dam
41:25operators they are uh 24/7 facilities and they work 12-hour shifts swing
41:32shifts so they’re rotating through um we nailed down everything that was important to those guys uh we really got
41:38it it hammered out so right out of the gate you know our Blue Collar guys could see the power of the union and then when
41:43it came time to bargain about Tork for example they had the back of the white
41:50color workers in the office even though they’re not teleworking right so the
41:55office guys aren’t working swing shift and the The Operators aren’t teleworking so oh man that’s that’s so cool and like
42:03and I and I know like I want to I want to yeah like have you back on so we can like really stretch our legs and get a
42:09sense of all the different kind of members you’re representing the jobs you guys are doing the the job specific
42:14struggles that your members are facing and and all that good stuff yeah so I don’t want to put you on the spot and
42:19make you give that rundown here while we’re standing in the high lobby but um yeah I’m curious just like um
42:27how it’s been for you coming to labor notes you know like as a Chicago and doing this and like is this your first
42:33time here have you been into one before it is my first time here okay and so I one of the things that I’ve been really
42:39thinking about is I’ve been sitting in these classes and and panels and conversations as federal workers we’ve
42:46got I think we’ve been indoctrinated that we can’t have a political opinion at work and we can’t have uh you know
42:54any kind of activism as part of our job that we have to be this neutral Arbiter
42:59but in our Union capacity in our Collective capacity we all are passionate about the
43:07things that we do and whether that’s addressing how changing climate is affecting our people and our neighbors
43:14and especially the most vulnerable neighbors because of course every every climate disaster hits the the most
43:21vulnerable people first and it’s just the way it always is uh in California the Army Corps had a a failed Lev
43:27uh a year or two ago that of course was in a poor neighborhood and because they fixed the levy on the rich side and and
43:34we could talk about all that kind of stuff but uh yeah we we I think that our
43:40members are really interested in how can we embrace our expertise and our experience
43:48as Army Corp workers and bring that to bear on some of these big issues that
43:53affect us because we also live in these communities we also pay taxes we also
43:59are involved in every one of these struggles and so we’re not this like neutral robot and I another thing
44:07somebody was talking about AI this morning at the keynote and we’re also uh
44:13our our headquarters wants to replace our Lock and Dam operators with automated systems that are controlled
44:19from a control center somewhere and so we’re constantly defending against this sort of corporatist mindset even in the
44:26government where they’re trying to take over everything right and so we’re trying to
44:32it’s just another front in how we’re proving to people that we’re not autonomous robots and so we’re here uh
44:40at Labor notes and we’re learning about how is it that we exercise our voice how do we work out those muscles of bringing
44:49everything we can to these struggles that was great man anything else you wanted to throw on at the end
44:55like where people can find you what they can do to get involved yeah so I mean we’ve got a website at ifpte
45:09[Music]
45:18777.com Gracy for a rank and file strategy a bottomup strategy where we’re going to bring what the workers are
45:27interested in and what they want to fight for and we’re going to bring that to everywhere it needs to be and so
45:33we’re not going to be as worried about you know are we stepping on somebody’s toes but let’s let’s talk to people
45:40right like let’s fight the fights that we need to fight that we’re getting ready you know we’re in this perilous
45:46place as federal employees where we’ve got the project 2025 uh that’s out there
45:51the Heritage Foundation is G in for our jobs for our livelihoods and we’ve got to be ready to fight
45:57and so that’s what me and and my colleague Chris uh you know we’re we’re starting a campaign to to Really push
46:03for that and uh I I’ll be happy to get you a link for that too for your your show
46:09[Music]
46:14notes my name is laia salala I’m an organizer with it’s our future it’s a
46:19farm worker caucus of the farm labor organizing committee and basically I work for Farm Workers they are are
46:27organizing to improve their working and living conditions in the fields hell yeah well Ley it’s so great to be
46:34standing with you here at Labor nuts it’s such an honor to meet you because you’re you’re you know like she’s being
46:39modest folks I mean like you know this woman’s been in in the fight for a long time could you just tell us like a
46:46little bit about like yourself and like your history fighting for Farm Workers
46:51oh well I started working in the fields when I was 6 years old I migrated between in Florida Ohio and Michigan
46:58following the different crops and I saw my first uh Collective action when I was
47:0513 years old my dad threw himself in front of a tractor in order to stop a um
47:13a supervisor who was harassing and molesting uh young girls on the farm and
47:19that action really impacted me we were fired because he took that action but
47:24that’s the reality of of a fight right right um from there I started organizing
47:30I came back to the fields after college and I’ve been organizing Farm Workers since oh yeah and and I guess just for
47:36for folks listening because as you know better than you know anyone else like
47:42sadly when we talk about the labor Movement we often don’t talk about Farm Workers domestic workers I mean there’s
47:49so many folks who are let out which is why it’s so amazing that you all have been fighting right to to organize
47:55workers and to help workers who are the most exploited U most vulnerable um but
48:01now you’re you’re here in labor notes like part of the Union discussions that
48:07we’re having I think that’s so important but I guess I just wanted to ask for folks listening who maybe don’t know a
48:14lot about flock who don’t know about the organizing going on in uh the farm Fields could you just like say a little
48:20bit about what’s going on there what you’re fighting for like who you’re working with and what you see on a week-
48:26toe basis yes well we’re definitely um living a fight right a lot of the
48:32workers that we work with are either undocumented or h2a workers they’re here on h2a visas which means they’re
48:39dependent on their employer for housing Transportation immigration status and a
48:44job right so you can imagine the type of working environment that is there um we
48:50haven’t had a harvest without a death since 2020 we uh are having to work in the
48:58fields 8 hour 10 hour 12 hour days when news are being announced that people
49:04should put their pets inside for safety because of the heat right um these are
49:10the types of the conditions that we’re living day by day there’s workers still making $4 $5 an hour um on on a daily
49:18basis right there’s workers that are consistently fired uh there’s workers that are afraid to speak up and afraid
49:25to go to the doctor because they might not get called back next year and those are the kinds of things that we’re
49:31fighting against we’re organizing though uh we’re educating workers the workers are taking action they’re walking out of
49:37the fields they’re signing petitions they’re creating minor changes at a time with hopes of creating a bigger change
49:44that will impact the state and maybe the country hell yeah and that’s I mean is
49:50so incredible so important and what can folks listening to this do to help to be
49:55part of that we are always in need of support um there we’re the hardest time
50:02is the summer right and people can help translating documents translating
50:08petitions that workers write so that they can turn it into their grower they can help with transportation we drive a
50:15lot trying to visit workers and we depend on a lot of people to go pick up
50:20workers to bring them to Union meetings when that when we have meetings and when we have part of the Democratic process
50:27that needs exist to call actions and to do things so we need gas cards we need
50:33people to show up and drive we need people to uh help translate we need people to send donations and to
50:41sometimes call Growers and say yo what’s up why did you retaliate against that worker um because that’s the type of of
50:50Union that we need right Everybody Eats everybody has to support our c
50:57well and again like while you know one [ __ ] presidential candidate is out
51:03there saying that we are poisoning the blood of this country what are we actually doing we’re filling potholes at
51:10night on Bridges like you know our our brothers who died in Baltimore we’re
51:15picking the tomatoes that go on your cheeseburgers or in your fridge our children are working cleaning and you
51:23know like the bone saws and meat packing plants and it’s obviously this is very
51:29personal for me and for for you all and I’m just like I I think it’s again A Real Testament two labor notes that that
51:36you guys are here along with the other unions that we hear about but I wanted to ask like how has your experience been
51:43here at Labor notes um good and bad like I’m just curious It’s been I think it’s
51:50been mainly positive It’s always important you know there’s some tough conversations that have to happen we are
51:56a caucus of the farm labor organizing committee the farm labor organizing committee is a member of the AFL CIO
52:03right and unfortunately sometimes we get too comfortable in a space where we tend to
52:12protect the leaders and the institutions rather than the movement which is why
52:17the institution was created right and so we’ve had some tough conversations with some some folks but we’ve also had some
52:25very productive educ ational conversations right we’re learning from unions in Mexico we’re uh forming
52:32alliances on how to organize how they can help us organize our members while they’re in Mexico and how we can help
52:38them educate their their members when they’re trying to get across the border or promis visas that you know sometimes
52:46don’t get met and so um we we’re talking to service workers whose
52:52parents worked in the fields and want to know the history and want to connect to
52:58that that um part of their their Heritage right they want to learn that cause and they want to support our cost
53:04so I think it overall it’s been positive it’s been a great experience it’s always good to learn and exchange and we’re
53:11very thankful for them just any final messages you have for folks anything
53:17about where they can find y’all or any messages about why they should care as much about what y’all are doing as they
53:23do about Starbucks uh Ely we are on Facebook
53:29we’re on Tik Tok it’s our future there’s always actions for people
53:35to take there’s always a lot of fun stuff that members post about how
53:41specific crops are harvested so please uh learn more support when you can um
53:48there’s always calls to action so if you’re connected you’re going to and you can we we hope you can come out and
53:54support [Music]
54:02so hi everyone my name is Baron Paris I am a currently budget director for council member Christopher Marte I’ve
54:08been a budget director for two years but I’ve been with city council since I’ve been 21 I am currently
54:1428 oh and I’m also the vice president of Al which is the association of legislative
54:20employees hey everybody uh my name is Matthew Malloy I also work the New York
54:27City Council I work for council member shahana hanif um and we are with the association
54:33of legislative employees who have just secured our first contract agreement for
54:38New York City Council staff and we’re really excited to be here today at Labor notes oh yeah well it’s so great to
54:44connect with you guys and to learn about this uh struggle which I myself hadn’t
54:49heard about but I’m so grateful to learn about it now tell me more about the association of legislative employees and
54:55uh how this struggle got started like I feel like a lot of folks don’t know they’re like oh wow people weren like
55:01representing city council members are unionizing like or working with City Council Members like that’s wild like
55:07hey what is that job like and how did this uh Union effort get going so at the at the New York City Council there has
55:15been a a long history of of organizing efforts really really probably going back to 2019 but I I think what really
55:23sparked the the wave that got it over the Finish L was when New York City council member Andy King who um had
55:30sexually uh harassed sexually abused some Council staffers um was essentially
55:38given a slap on the wrist um and and I think that Dynamic of Staff feeling that they needed more leverage really was
55:44what led kicked off the organizing effort which it was a card campaign and then Co hit so then we had to do a
55:52second card campaign during Co um and then we achieved voluntary recognition
55:58that was in 21 oh yeah and then for the last two years uh we’ve been bargaining our contract which um in mid April we uh
56:07ratified um and I and there are so many great things with this contract but I think you know what you would think
56:13about it it sets standard minimum wages at the council our lowest paid full-time person used to be at $330,000 a year now
56:21they’re at $55,000 a year paid overtime grievance rights and most of our Council staffers
56:28you know when you think of a political staffer you might think of a slick uh executive type person in a suit Landing
56:36[ __ ] and most of these people are workingclass people working in district offices getting people
56:42connected with essential benefits like food stamps or or helping them with immigration paperwork so that’s a little
56:48bit of the broad background of why we organized what we won and and the kind of work people are performing at the
56:54city council I would definitely say that the side of the job people don’t see is the hours we put into our work um you
57:01know our day could really start from 9 or 10 and end at 9: at night or 11:
57:07depending on the meeting that you’re attending a community board they run pretty long they could run from 6:00
57:13until literally 10: um so there something you don’t see or hear about
57:18that is happening at city council you know there are folks who are working on weekends um I you know I used to work to
57:26a point where I had to request a weekend off because that’s how excessively we were working weekends wow had to put on
57:32the calendar like I can’t unfortunately I can’t work this Saturday or Sunday because I have other things to do and
57:38you guys are an independent Union correct yes we are an independent Union
57:43hell yeah and so like is it like being here at Labor notes meeting like other folks who are going the independent
57:49route ALU Home Depot workers like I guess I’m just could you say a little
57:55more about um why y’all went the independent route and like how that’s worked for folks on the outside who are
58:02listening to this and maybe are thinking about getting something started like that well because no one thought it was possible and you know we’ve been able to
58:10accomplish something that some a lot of folks thought it was impossible including some of the unions that are
58:17here that originally weren’t supportive of our Union yeah it was it was not our Dream to create a brand new Union from
58:25scratch it was a necessity um just essentially went to various big New York
58:30City unions they didn’t see a blueprint they didn’t see a path forward they weren’t quite sure if it was legal um
58:38and so that’s really why we built our Union and you know we’re the association of legislative employees and and another
58:44effort we took was we started collecting dues pre-contract because we didn’t have
58:49that war chest developed from an international to support us so we asked our members to commit to paying 1 do is
58:57um you know in the period during the contract uh campaign and I think that was really essential um and and you know
59:05I I I think more than anything I I think what we want people to know people listening to this who are trying to form
59:10their own uh independent Union is just that it is possible people will will
59:16tell you that it isn’t but it’s a grind but it’s possible and there are some benefits to it too because I think if we
59:22had you know uh pay masters us with with maybe connections to certain New York City
59:28Council Members they they may have uh steered us away from taking some of the
59:33more direct actions we took to get this contract you know we we were picketing this the sessions of the city council uh
59:41every two weeks essentially which is That’s How often they meet for three or four months you know being very
59:47aggressive really and trying to point out some of the hypocrisies of you know a New York City council member you know
59:54getting on the pick a line for writers Guild and Actor Guild and UAW and and
59:59then when it comes time they’re on staff Union um just just essentially being a little removed from that process so I
1:00:05think those are some of the benefits of being an independent Union and a little bit of history on why why we had to go
1:00:10that route hell yeah well like I want to I want to have you guys back on for like a longer discussion because there’s a story here that I want to hear more
1:00:16about but I want to be respectful of your time I want to let you go you got a lot of other uh panels to see people to
1:00:22meet I just wanted to ask like what your uh experience here at Labor notes has been like uh definitely my experience
1:00:28here at Labor notes has been fantastic it’s been good to understand and learn from other unions here who are attending
1:00:36um and you know our struggle is a struggle amongst other workers it’s not only in city council it’s in every
1:00:44sector um the private sector and the public sector uh but it’s been wonderful it’s exciting and I can’t wait to come
1:00:50back in 2 years with some new staff members um at every level at from City C
1:00:57and one thing we’re really excited about is we just had a great um conversation with someone who’s very involved in
1:01:03organizing the Congressional Workers Union We Are Tonight going to be meeting up with some staff from the Illinois
1:01:09State Legislature who are unionizing um we have met folks here at this at this these sessions who are
1:01:16unionizing the Chicago city council the Boston city council uh this is a movement that is really in Most states
1:01:22if you look for it but it’s not a story that’s being told and I think it’s really primarily about confronting power
1:01:30in the United States and how you know labor and and new labor too not not
1:01:35existing not always existing unions can can organize to really deliver for
1:01:40working people in even when they’re up against a really powerful entity like you know local politicians or congress
1:01:46members and and things like that so I think that’s one of the best parts about being here at Labor notes is just getting to connect with other people who
1:01:52are trying to organize their state legislature or city legislature or
1:02:00[Music] Congress uh my first name is Annie Ann IE last name is Shields s l DS I am a
1:02:09union organizer and I work for the news field of New York and I work with the
1:02:14New York Times Tech workers on their first contract campaign so I’ve been there for about two years previously I
1:02:20was a member of the news Guild for 10 years and I I got into the Union through
1:02:26um running for office so I ran on a slate with our current president and uh
1:02:32sort of on a reform ticket sort of trying to bring in more militancy and make our Union more member Leed and she
1:02:40won in a a landslide and then I just kind of got so deep
1:02:45into um our local I had the opportunity for the first time to really see what
1:02:52other shops were doing and what the new organizing looked like and so uh it maybe want to become an organizer so I
1:02:58joined our member organizer program which is my member organizer program is a really cool way that we have at the news Guild to help
1:03:04members develop organizing skills um and actually help the staff out with
1:03:10campaigns so I was able to take some trainings and then start working side by side with the staffer on some
1:03:15underground organizing campaigns and then that experience helped me uh to get the job I have now it’s great yeah so we
1:03:22are here outside of Labor notes there’s quite a few people outside because we were on a break between workshops last
1:03:30night there was a pretty sizable demonstration outside of Labor notes
1:03:36where the labor for Palestine Coalition held a rally and some demonstrators were
1:03:43arrested put into cop cars and as a result individuals stopped cars and had
1:03:49a bit of a standoff for an hour um until they were like good now you tweeted this
1:03:54morning about what it was like to be a part of and to witness that last
1:04:00night um and I you said it was um very instructive as a almost like its own
1:04:05labor notes Workshop yeah uh can you tell me more about that yeah definitely
1:04:11um so my I went into it just I had gone to a panel discussion in the morning
1:04:18with some folks talking about like know you’re rights free speech for all workers but especially media workers um
1:04:24in Palestine so you know you know there’s there’s lots of um stories of journalists or other media workers being
1:04:30censored for speaking out uh you about the war on Gaza and um there’s been a
1:04:38lot of concerns about um our members rights being infringed upon so we’ve got a lot of really great stuff going on in
1:04:44the news Guild to try to you know push back on that and set the new standard for journalists that you know doesn’t um
1:04:52that that really respects their free freedom of speech so um dur that panel somebody told us that there was going to
1:04:58be a rally at 6:30 in solidarity with um Palestinian workers and struggle for a
1:05:05free Palestine and I was definitely interested in going I thought okay great this is something that’s really important to me it’s something that I
1:05:11feel very upset about on a daily basis I know that you know so many of us do um
1:05:16and it often feels like there’s not much we can do about it um and I don’t know what difference you know the rally will
1:05:22make in terms of the war but it feels very important um to make this kind of a centerpiece of the labor notes
1:05:28conference this year because we’re at a time that feels like a turning point in terms of what Americans are aware of and
1:05:37I think that’s really important and it’s long overdue so I was excited to come to this this rally and uh I showed up and
1:05:43met a couple of friends and really was quite you know calm and people were in
1:05:48the street but this is a deadend street there’s really not traffic that comes you know anyone who’s back towards the
1:05:55end of the Street would be here to park in a parking garage for this premises so it it wasn’t you know in a big
1:06:00Interruption to like major traffic um and I I was there for probably a half hour and then things sort of you know
1:06:09the speakers had had been speaking and I thought okay I’m gonna actually go and grab my suitcase for my car and then
1:06:15come back and bring that up to the room and so on my way back I happened to just walk into this arrest as it was
1:06:20happening and I saw one person who was being held by the police and another
1:06:26person kind of get thrown to the ground and really roughed up and it looked quite it was it was very disturbing um
1:06:32not the first time I’ve seen cops behave that way but it’s it’s never a good thing to see so um my instinct was to
1:06:39just start recording so I I stayed very close and I I recorded the whole thing and um I was sort of in the middle
1:06:45though and I had this big rolling suitcase so I thought I better go back inside and get rid of this so I came back out and when I came back out I
1:06:51realized that the crowd had actually gotten bigger and the police car where
1:06:57the I wouldn’t even call them a protester necessarily just a rally goer an attendee um was being held and it
1:07:06became clear to me that we had an opportunity to make make it very difficult for the police to
1:07:12leave and so it was very spontaneous I didn’t have like really any friends or people that I knew in the crowd and I
1:07:18think it was a lot of people just kind of coming together seeing what was happening and deciding like okay we’re just going to stay here until something
1:07:25you know see we can just make it impossible for them to leave um and so I
1:07:30think there were a lot of other things but from what I saw there were some people that were kind of going inside and I I wasn’t involved in that and I
1:07:36can’t speak to it but outside um it was quite intense there were people kind of negotiating with one One Cop
1:07:44um and he was you know very clear that he he didn’t have the power to let them go and it wasn’t going to happen and um
1:07:52but people just kept chanting for like an hour maybe not maybe half hour um and
1:07:57it was not clear to me what was going to happen um we saw that there were more
1:08:03police coming and then there were some cars that were blocked that wanted to leave um and I think honestly there was
1:08:09moments where we on in the crowd weren’t necessarily on the same page about what we should do you know um there weren’t
1:08:16any Marshals around this was not something that was if it I’m sure I’m sure it was planned but I wasn’t involved in the planning and I hadn’t
1:08:22received any instruction about like what how are we going to operate um so it’s kind of just like a spontaneous ad hoc
1:08:29sort of self-organization with people in cars who are kind of getting angry and they want to go and you know we’ve seen that
1:08:37people have been emboldened to drive into protesters and things so it was definitely tension
1:08:43um and it came to the point where there was a car that was trying to go and we were like it seemed that if we let the
1:08:51car go we would lose the leverage to have the person in the police car released and so it was kind of this
1:08:57interesting there’s a lot of parallels to like how you win a contract campaign like we’re making it more painful for
1:09:02them to not do what we want than to do what we want it’s going to be a lot harder for them to get out of here with
1:09:08that person in that car than it is if they let them go um and we really had
1:09:14them kind of surrounded and that’s not something that happens every day and I it’s not something that was just
1:09:20naturally going to happen it was probably the quick thinking and like
1:09:25Collective action of a handful of people in that crowd to just say like actually no we’re not going to just like let this
1:09:31person be taken away and actually there are two people but one of them I think was taken inside of a building or something um she was released yeah yeah
1:09:38that’s great yeah um but yeah it was just it was it was sort of like the manifestation of the
1:09:45thing that we try to do all the time in in our labor organizing which is if we all the more of us that come out here
1:09:51and stand together the sooner they’re going to let this person go the more certain that outcome becomes
1:09:59because they can’t you know mow down hundreds of people in the street or probably aren’t going to in this
1:10:04situation anyway espe with the mayor inside exactly yeah so yeah it was it
1:10:11was kind of like uh an one of those impromptu activities where you know sometimes you’ll get a scenario in a labor notes training and you have to
1:10:17jump into it and sort of Imagine like okay here’s you’ve got this thing happening and these things are happening too like how do you sort of how do you
1:10:24proceed as an organizer um and I love those trainings I’ve learned a lot from them and this was
1:10:29like a real life version of that you know a situation that we hadn’t all you know necessarily planned for um and and
1:10:37I’m not entirely sure you know how to evaluate the success or or
1:10:43you know relative success of the action because you know it wasn’t really it became more
1:10:49um the stakes became much higher once they made the arrest and I think that’s
1:10:54a good example of you know when you try to repress people it just makes them
1:11:00more upset like I I’ve seen that with the workers I work with when I asked them what was the thing in their Union
1:11:07campaign that made them decide that they were actually supportive of the Union they were going to vote Yes and so many
1:11:13people tell me it was the way that management responded to our campaign I was actually on the fence I didn’t even think we needed a union but then I saw
1:11:19these emails from management and I was like they’re lying why are they lying and and that’s what you know helped me
1:11:24see see things in a different way and so yeah we we see that that act you know
1:11:30I’m not really inclined to be I’m not a major direct action person I don’t really go out in the streets that often
1:11:36but after I saw these people being violently thrown on the ground you know it it makes anybody want to stay stay
1:11:43near especially when you have this community of Labor notes people where you walk around labor notes and it’s like there’s no strangers here even if
1:11:49I’ve never met these people you know if I’m in line for a coffee everyone around is making connections and talking about
1:11:54their campaigns and congratulating each other on things they’ve heard about um and it’s a really beautiful space and so
1:12:00even though it was a tense and kind of uncomfortable experience um and one of like pretty
1:12:05serious conflict with what I hear are are notoriously um rough police in Rosemont
1:12:14um it was also very beautiful it was like a Jubilation at the end once um they left the they left the person out
1:12:19of the cop car we opened up the lane and the traffic started flowing and people were running around and I heard someone
1:12:25say that’s the first time that’s ever worked um in a really funny funny moment and um yeah it was kind of like holy
1:12:31[ __ ] right they just it worked right um yeah it was a really cool it was a really cool experience what does that um
1:12:38how does it feel you know watching the police car door open and the the hand
1:12:43CLS off Rusty what did that feel like uh as you were standing there yeah you know it felt at on the
1:12:52one hand it felt exciting you know empowering like of course you couldn’t
1:12:57get away with this of course we stopped you this is what you know Union power looks like and at the same time it
1:13:03occurred to me that like okay we now we’ve come back to like a baseline of this person is not arrested but which
1:13:08you know they weren’t arrested when this started so the action actually sort of
1:13:14became about something else and so that of course it’s important that these people were were not forced to go down
1:13:19to a police station and be processed that would have been completely unnecessary um
1:13:27but at the same time well but it is it felt it’s sort of
1:13:35there’s still this deep sort of pain to be honest that I feel knowing that a
1:13:42really successful and amazing action like this is possible and also would need to
1:13:47be replicated on such a large scale to really you know make a dent in most of
1:13:52the things we try to change about the world and so I you know on the one hand I’m I’m really I was really pleased by
1:13:59it on the other hand I was um you know just reminded like we’ve got a lot of
1:14:05work to do to help more people in you know the working class develop the kind of you
1:14:13know instincts and assessment of power and Analysis and desire to participate in these things
1:14:20and confidence to do so um in a collective way and
1:14:26that’s part of what we try to do all the time in in our labor organizing so yeah it’s it was a really cool experience it
1:14:32was also sort of sad that it had to happen but also kind of thrilling and and still
1:14:42you know still we have so much work to do to bring Justice to some kind of
1:14:47Justice the beginnings of some kind of justice for people in palestin yeah is there anything else you would like to say that I haven’t touched on or asked
1:14:53about that you think is important for our listeners to know about the organizing Happening Here with labor for
1:14:59Palestine or last night’s action I guess I would say that I really had a radicalization in 2014 when the war on
1:15:06Gaza happened and I was in a position working at the nation magazine to work with people who are actually covering it
1:15:12on the ground and I was truly blown away when I came to understand how
1:15:20little I understood and I feel like that experience was was something that I
1:15:25could never I could never go back after I sort of had that Awakening and I see people in my life having that same
1:15:32experience now and I I’m I’m encouraged by that and I I don’t think that we’re I
1:15:38think we’re at a real big turning point in so many ways and it’s a little scary but I’m hopeful that you know we start
1:15:46changing the tide on on this issue in particular [Music]
1:15:57my name is Axel person I’m a locomotive engineer they say in the US uh and I
1:16:02work for the French uh national state Railway the sncf and I’m also of course
1:16:07a proud member of the cgt Trade union and I am also honored to have been
1:16:13elected as a general secretary of the cgt ra Workers Union in the city of trap which is a big Railway City located in
1:16:20the southwestern suburbs of Paris hell yeah well AEL it is so great to have you
1:16:25on the show brother and to be sitting across the way from you cuz uh as as listeners know we got nothing but love
1:16:32for the cgt we’ve had our brother matu buat on the show a number of times you
1:16:39guys know and love Matthew and it was so cool to hear that Axel was going to be here too you know even if mat can’t we
1:16:45love you mat don’t worry we’ll catch you next time but um yeah like I mean
1:16:50because of those interviews we were doing with mat and other Strikers the the pension strikes last
1:16:57year the general strike in 2020 2019 our listeners have really gotten
1:17:02invested in what’s going on over there and they’re learning a lot from what you guys are doing so I guess I just wanted
1:17:08to sort of start by asking like that like since the pension strikes um last
1:17:17year um or maybe like refresh our memory real quick about what you guys were doing last year with the strikes and
1:17:24where things stand now with with the cgt and with rail workers in France so last year during early 2020 20 2023 uh we
1:17:33went out on U unlimited strike but not only raway workers it was workers from both the private and the public sector
1:17:40uh in order to try to defeat the governments and the employers plan to try to raise the the retirement age from
1:17:4762 to 64 uh knowing that the government had tried previously already in 2019 to
1:17:53smash our pension system but had been defeated uh during a strike there uh where they had been forced to scrap uh
1:17:59their pension reform uh due to a strike that lasted for almost one and a half months and uh that was eventually
1:18:05succeeded by covid and the government decided just to scrap everything and now tried to basically have its revenge and
1:18:11uh so what we did was uh to organize a massive strike uh not only in the public sector but in the private sector uh and
1:18:17by the means of strikes because we do think that in these matters there is no other option but a strike that is as
1:18:23massive as possible for two reasons well the first reason your most obvious one of course is uh because of the economical impact it has in order
1:18:29basically to force the employers and the government that serve that interest uh to force them to back down because
1:18:35basically the price the stakes get too high for them but there’s also another aspect to it is that when you go on
1:18:40strike paradoxically enough as you manage to Halt the wheels of society as you manage to put Society to a
1:18:46standstill paradoxically enough Society starts to move forwards politically very very fast uh sometimes you can see it in
1:18:53strikes uh the conscious the political awareness evolves very rapidly sometimes things that would have taken decades
1:18:59literally happen in a week and you see people who change because the entire Society is focused because it’s as a
1:19:05standstill on what the workers on strike have put on their agenda everybody is debating in whether they agree with it or not but everybody’s debating in in
1:19:12the media everybody’s talking about it and in society and it also is an opportunity there for us uh to put forth
1:19:19not only our defensive uh demands but also to um set the groundwork for a
1:19:24future in which we can hope because that is also something we need uh we need to be able to take the counter offensive to
1:19:29launch a counter offensive in order to not only reclaim the ground we have lost the past years but also to set forth a
1:19:36future which we can all envision and have hope in because if we don’t manage to do that um those who will reap the
1:19:41benefits of the anger that is rising today will be the far right it will be um politicians with Solutions like
1:19:48explaining that it’s the fault of immigrants it’s the fault of minorities ethnic minorities uh who will use these
1:19:54categories as scapegoats and uh and they will lay the ground RS for a future that uh in which there is nothing to Hope in
1:20:01so it’s also responsibility not only for economical reasons it’s also a political Duty for us to organize these these
1:20:07fight backs this is why I love our French brothers and sisters man like I mean I think that’s that’s so
1:20:12beautifully and powerfully put and I’m curious like having gone through that
1:20:18because I mean like you know unlike 2019 you know mcon and his you know
1:20:25cronies like weren’t weren’t backing down this time but still we in the states were watching what you guys were
1:20:31doing with envy and and with a kind of like I don’t know it almost in some ways
1:20:36we felt so close to you and your fellow workers on this general strike taken to
1:20:43the streets like the images we were seeing uh guys like you and my team with the the um the flares just looking
1:20:51badass but like yeah the the the joy the rage all of the the hope all of that on
1:20:56the streets but it felt like we were like kind of watching it from the moon like it did feel like something that
1:21:03just isn’t possible here and now you and I are sitting in this room full of railroad workers in the US who as you
1:21:10saw as we all saw were gearing up to go on strike and then the government said
1:21:16[ __ ] you get back to work so like I guess like what is it like for you being here talking to us railroad workers but
1:21:23also like what are your thoughts like and what would you say to American workers now who feel that way but I
1:21:31would say the feelings of love you have expressed are reciprocated and I can assure you that every time we see
1:21:37American workers whatever their industry taking action be It Strike or other type of action we feel them because our
1:21:43hearts are attuned to one another and then they beat at their same rate and this is not only nice words because we have concrete examples of what
1:21:49internationalist solidarity mean and that is what we are here to build in a concrete manner in a very down to manner
1:21:55for example during our strike in 2023 one of the factors not the only one of course but one of the factors that led
1:22:01that we could hold out for so long was the internationalist solidarity not only statements of course which is important
1:22:06because every time every day when we hold a general assembly of Strikers where we decide whether we pursue the strike or not of course we start by
1:22:12reading out the international states of support we see from all over the world but even further than that for example
1:22:17we have a network now that we have buil through the World Federation of trade unions of which my union is a member and
1:22:23we have managed to for example to build an international campaign all across Europe but also in some other countries
1:22:29where we had for example Swedish wayway workers British wayway workers who campaigned in their Rail Yards and
1:22:35gathered money for us for our local strike funds and it wasn’t symbolic sums it was like several tens of thousand of
1:22:40Euros so it means literally several tens of thousand of dollars while the rmt was going on strike itself exactly and and
1:22:48the and the Swedish Railway Union was the same and that money was sent to us and was immediately distributed to
1:22:54striking workers who therefore could pay the rent put food on the table for the dependence and so forth and uh it also
1:23:00showed that in a very concrete manner that internationalism is not only an abstract slogan it showed that workers
1:23:07who are sometimes separated by thousands of miles of each other they know instinctively that their interests are
1:23:13the same their hearts are Che to to to another they beat at the same rate and we can feel that even though we are
1:23:19separated by thousands of miles at the same time we are also no further separated than the fingers up a clutched
1:23:25fist fighting and that is also what we are here to do is to embody that solidarity and build those links with the American wayway workers and that is
1:23:31a sense of my presence here hell yeah well let’s round out on that like because I don’t want to keep you too long and and I know we got other folks
1:23:38who want to talk to you and all and we got to build you got to go around and build that solidarity by talking to folks so I don’t want to keep you too
1:23:43long but I guess I just like wanted to ask like um how like I mean like yeah like let’s
1:23:50talk about what concrete International solidarity can look like and why it is such an essential ingredient for all of
1:23:56our struggles well it is essential for many reasons the first one of course the most obvious one is that our enemies
1:24:02they are organized internationally be it economically they have these International institutions like the international monetary Fund in Europe
1:24:08they have what they call the European commission where they coordinate their attacks but they also organize military
1:24:14in order to maintain their power and their dominance over the world they have military Alliance they have political alliances and for a good reason that’s
1:24:20how they maintain the control over the world and uh that’s why we need to be at least as good as them even if it’s a
1:24:27difficult task ahead because we don’t necessarily have the same material means but that is why we need to build the
1:24:32front at the same level as they are fighting their War which is an international War so that’s the most obvious reason uh but the other reason
1:24:39also is that because the struggles of one other we can learn from them even us French workers we learn from what
1:24:44happens in the US sometimes uh I’ve noticed that when I say that to some us worker they’re surprised because uh they
1:24:50think that uh for some reason we would be like uh some kind of elite which we’re not we’re really not we’re just
1:24:55like workers in a country with a specific history but we learn also from the struggles across the world and for
1:25:00example uh over issues like um uh in the US for example when uh the murder of
1:25:06George Floyd happened a few years ago uh uh the the methods that were used by the movement for example black lives matters
1:25:12but not only them because there was what’s much broader than that inspired uh activists in France who organized
1:25:17along the same lines using the same methods and it worked so we practically learned from each other and as we can
1:25:23manage to learn and grow from each other we will be able to beat uh to beat our common foes because we realize very
1:25:29often and especially rway workers that given how capitalism globalized we actually work for the same companies
1:25:35I’ve met here people here who work for a subsidiary of my company uh here in France so uh back in France so we
1:25:41literally work for the same for the same enemies any final messages for American workers or workers anywhere who listen
1:25:48into this but uh I would say the most State the most obvious is that uh even though we might not always speak the
1:25:54same languages uh we made we of course have our each working class has its own
1:25:59history its own pecularities its own culture uh and which is fine which is actually part of what makes it a very
1:26:05interesting word despite the violence of this word and the fact that it’s very harsh uh in the end of the at the end of
1:26:11the day we share the same interests and uh it’s it may sound something like obvious but united we stand divided we
1:26:18fall and in order to make that a reality it only depends upon us and we cannot expect anybody else to do it for us it’s
1:26:24up to us because the emancipation of of the workers will be the the the work of the workers themselves as a famous
1:26:29German philosopher said KL [Music]
1:26:36Marx all right gang that’s going to wrap things up for us this week I want to
1:26:41thank all of our amazing guests for taking time out of their crazy conference schedules to talk with us for
1:26:48this episode and I want to thank the great Mel buer for co-p with me and of
1:26:53course I I want to give another special shout out and a thank you to the great Folks at Labor notes and railroad
1:27:00workers United for the vital work that they do and I want to encourage everyone out there to follow the links in the
1:27:06show notes learn more about Labor notes and rwu and support them however you can
1:27:13and as always I want to thank you all for listening and I want to thank you for caring we’ll see y’all back here
1:27:19next week for another episode of working people and if you can’t wait that long then go subscribe to our patreon and
1:27:27check out the awesome bonus episodes we’ve got there for our patrons we’ve got more coming this summer uh so please
1:27:34stay tuned for more there and go explore all the great work that we’re doing at the real News Network where we do
1:27:41Grassroots journalism that lifts up the voices and stories from the front lines of struggle sign up for the real news
1:27:48newsletter so you never miss a story and help us do more work like this by going to the real
1:27:55news.com donate and becoming a supporter today I’m maximilan Alvarez take care of
1:28:02yourselves take care of each other solidarity forever
1:28:09forever when my face you no longer see I live on yes I live on wherever we go
1:28:17we’ll going to roll the Union on and song I live on yes I live on whatever
1:28:24hungry hungry are we just as hungry as hungry can be the some I live on yes I
1:28:32live on while mean things are happening in this land is read a s I live on yes I
1:28:39live on wherever the book mean things are happening in this land is read I
1:28:45live on yes I live on whatever little videotape of me is shown I live on yes I
1:28:54I live on if I have help to make this a better world to live in I’ll live on yes
1:29:01I’ll live on when my body is stent and in some Lo of grave I live on yes I live
1:29:10on when my songs and poems are read I
1:29:15live on yes I live on [Music]
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