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  • Who's afraid of Chris Smalls?

    Who's afraid of Chris Smalls?
    2026/06/08
    At a live event hosted at Red Emma's Cooperative Bookstore and Coffeehouse in Baltimore, Maryland, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez got to sit down for a deep and wide-ranging conversation with Chris Smalls, co-founder and former president of the Amazon Labor Union. Alvarez and Smalls discuss Smalls' new book, When the Revolution Comes: A Fight for the Future of the Working Class; they recount the incredible story of the formation of the Amazon Labor Union and the unionization of the first Amazon warehouse in the US; and they talk about Smalls' journey from warehouse worker and labor organizer to becoming an internationally recognized public figure and a human rights activist who has sailed with humanitarian flotilla missions to Gaza and Cuba.

    Additional links/info:
    • Chris Smalls X page and Instagram
    • Chris Smalls, Penguin Random House, When the Revolution Comes: A Fight for the Future of the Working Class
    • Maximillian Alvarez, TRNN, "Chris Smalls: Sabotage attempts and death threats won't stop Gaza Freedom Flotilla"

    Featured Music:
    • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

    Credits:
    • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
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    54 分
  • 'They were going after everyone': Baltimore security officers fired and removed from schedules after lawful strike

    'They were going after everyone': Baltimore security officers fired and removed from schedules after lawful strike
    2026/05/27
    Nearly a year after workers voted to authorize a strike, non-union city and commercially contracted security officers in Baltimore, MD, walked off the job on April 9 on an Unfair Labor Practice strike against their employers, Abacus Corporation, Metropolitan Protective Services, and Urban Development Solutions. Now, Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) say that workers have been retaliated against by Metropolitan Protective Services (MPS), alleging that the city contractor "fired and harassed workers following [the] lawful strike." MPS denies these allegations and claims "that no employees have been terminated due to union involvement." In this episode of Working People, we speak with Victoria Cox, a former MPS employee who worked to reach the rank of sergeant, and Daril Riley, a former MPS employee who reached the rank of corporal. Both Cox and Riley have had their shifts taken off the schedule—and, essentially, their jobs taken away—and both have been put under investigation by MPS since the strike in April.

    Additional links/info:
    • Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, "Underpaid, uninsured, held at gunpoint: Baltimore security guards strike for a union"
    • SEIU Local 32BJ website, Facebook page, and Instagram
    • Katherine Wilson, Baltimore Sun, "Baltimore contract security officers at city properties prepare to strike"

    Featured Music:
    • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

    Credits:
    • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor

    Statement from Derrick Parks, CEO and President of Metropolitan Protective Services (5/26/26):     Metropolitan Protective Services, Inc. (MPSI) maintains that no employees have been terminated due to union involvement. We fully support our employees' right to choose whether or not to join a union. The individuals recently removed from the schedule were terminated for failing to maintain the current Maryland guard license required by the Maryland State Police. Regarding Sergeant Cox, she was removed from the schedule at the specific request of the client following multiple advisements regarding violations of client policy and insubordination. Of our 175 employees, only six have been removed from the schedule or terminated, all due to licensing issues or performance concerns. We find these allegations to be without merit and believe they are being used by the union to exert pressure on the company. Furthermore, we have received reports of union representatives harassing employees who chose not to join, including unauthorized site visits and the use of derogatory language. MPSI is currently considering filing a cease and desist order and a harassment lawsuit to protect the rights of our staff. Our priority remains protecting all employees, regardless of their union status.
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    30 分
  • Kim Kelly: Coal miners are dying, and Trump betrayed them

    Kim Kelly: Coal miners are dying, and Trump betrayed them
    2026/05/20
    Since the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump and his acolytes, rightwing media, and coal industry barons and lobbyists have obsessively painted the picture of Trump as a friend to coal miners and the so-called "undisputed champion of beautiful clean coal." But as labor journalist Kim Kelly reports at In These Times, "the simpering ​'Trump digs coal' image the administration seeks to project is vastly at odds with the actions it's taken to limit miner protections, endanger their health, and exacerbate the black lung crisis consuming Central Appalachia." In this episode of Working People, we speak with Kelly about the Trump administration's latest betrayal of coal miners and their families and its underreported attack on the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission and abrupt, unprecedented firing of FMSHRC Commissioner Moshe Z. Marvit.

    Additional links/info:
    • Kim Kelly website, X/Twitter page, TikTok, Bluesky page, and Instagram
    • Kim Kelly, In These Times, "Trump's latest target: Coal miners' safety"
    • Jordan Barab, Confined Space, "Friday night massacre at Mine Safety Review Commission"
    • Kim Kelly, In These Times, "The Trump administration ramps up its war on coal miners"
    • Kim Kelly, In These Times, "Trump to coal miners: Drop dead"

    Featured Music:
    • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

    Credits:
    • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
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    33 分
  • Over 4,000 UAW members on strike at Harvard University

    Over 4,000 UAW members on strike at Harvard University
    2026/05/12
    After 14 months of fruitless contract negotiations with the Harvard University administration, over 4,000 workers represented by the Harvard Graduate Students Union (HGSU-UAW Local 5118) walked off the job on an indefinite strike on April 21. According to the union, "Graduate student workers will suspend teaching and research labor until Harvard's bargaining team takes substantive action in addressing the union's key issues: pay that keeps pace with the rising cost of living, recourse for harassment and discrimination, support for non-citizen students, protections for academic freedom, and 'fair share fees' to equitably distribute the expenses of union representation, among others." In this episode of Working People, we speak with three striking graduate student workers about the issues at the center of this strike, and about what it's like to live, work, and strike at the country's richest university amid political attacks from the federal government, scandals connecting high-ranking Harvard officials to Jeffrey Epstein, and a nationwide cost-of-living crisis.

    Panelists include: Sara Speller, a fifth-year PhD student in the Music Department at Harvard and president of the Harvard Graduate Students Union; Zoë Feder, a seventh-year PhD student in the program in Biological & Biomedical Sciences at Harvard Medical School and a research assistant in the Microbiology Department; and Jacob Wolf, a third-year PhD student and Teaching Fellow in the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

    Additional links/info:
    • Harvard Graduate Students Union (HGSU-UAW Local 5118) website, Facebook page, X/Twitter page, TikTok, and Instagram
    • Harvard Graduate Students Union Strike Update/FAQ Zine
    • Lydialyle Gibson, Harvard Magazine, "Harvard graduate student workers strike"
    • Noah A. Ferris, The Harvard Crimson, "Grad students rally outside Garber's home as strike enters third week"
    • Hugo C. Chiasson & Elise A. Spenner, The Harvard Crimson, "Harvard promised a 'full' review of its Epstein ties. Its own files reveal what it left out"

    Featured Music:
    • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

    Credits:
    • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
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    51 分
  • Meet the new Pittsburgh Post-Gazette bosses, same as the old bosses

    Meet the new Pittsburgh Post-Gazette bosses, same as the old bosses
    2026/05/07
    After members of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh won their strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in late 2025, which had lasted for over 3 years, they were notified in January that the paper's wealthy owners, the Block family and Block Communications Inc., were shutting down operations. Then, in a stunning turn of events, the Post-Gazette was purchased in April by the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, which also owns The Banner in Baltimore, MD. While Post-Gazette workers were cautiously optimistic about the news, the union learned last week that the Venetoulis Institute is cutting at least 40 percent of its staff, including 80 percent of the union workers who participated in the recently ended strike.

    In this episode of Working People, we speak with a panel of union members and former Post-Gazette employees about what will happen to them and their coworkers, to the Post-Gazette itself, and to journalism in the Steel City. Panelists include: Andrew Goldstein, a now-former Post-Gazette education reporter and still-acting president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh; Helen Fallon, a longtime copyeditor for the Post-Gazette and professor emerita at Point Park University in Pittsburgh; and Erin Hebert, a now-former copyeditor and designer for the Post-Gazette and First Vice President of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh.

    Additional links/info:
    • Pittsburgh Alliance for People-Empowered Reporting (PAPER) website
    • Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh website, Facebook page, and Instagram
    • Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh: "Incoming Post-Gazette ownership slashes staff, purges former strikers"
    • Riddhi Setty, Columbia Journalism Review, "The Venetoulis Institute goes to Pittsburgh"
    • Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, "They won their strike fair and square. Now their rich bosses are closing up shop"
    • Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, "The longest-running strike in the US is over—and the workers won"

    Featured Music:
    • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

    Credits:
    • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
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    52 分
  • Alec Baldwin backs union drive at Starbucks

    Alec Baldwin backs union drive at Starbucks
    2026/05/01
    After decades of decline, the organized labor movement in the US has seen a resurgence in rank-and-file militancy over the last decade, with increased strike actions and union drives in industries across the economy. And in the story of this recent revival of labor in America, the movement led by predominantly young baristas to unionize coffee giant Starbucks has played a pivotal role. The new documentary Baristas vs. Billionaires takes viewers on a journey through the last five years of the epic, ongoing struggle to unionize Starbucks, told by some of the workers and organizers at the center of that struggle. TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with director of Baristas vs. Billionaires and Academy Award nominee Mark Mori, and with legendary actor and Academy award nominee Alec Baldwin, who is a producer on the film.

    Additional links/info:
    • Baristas vs. Billionaires website
    • Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, "'Starbucks is the largest labor violator in modern history': Starbucks workers prepare for indefinite national strike"
    • Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, "How union organizing can change your life and the world: A conversation with Jaz Brisack"
    • Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, "Want to unionize your workplace? These worker-organizers have some advice"


    Featured Music:
    • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song


    Credits:
    • Studio Production / Post-Production: David Hebden
    • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
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    26 分
  • May 1: A Nationwide 'Economic Blackout' Against Billionaires and Authoritarianism

    May 1: A Nationwide 'Economic Blackout' Against Billionaires and Authoritarianism
    2026/04/29
    Inspired by January's mass strike against ICE terror in Minnesota, a vast coalition of labor unions, democratic organizations, and community groups are organizing a nationwide economic blackout on Friday, May 1, International Workers Day. "May Day Strong events are being planned across the US," Michael Sainato reports at The Guardian, "with organizers calling for 'no school, no work, no shopping,' in protest of government policies they say put billionaires' needs above those of workers."

    In this episode of Working People, we speak with a panel of guests who are all involved in organizing May Day events this week from Philadelphia to Chicago to Iowa. Panelists include: Jana Korn, who currently serves as the chief of staff for the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO, and also serves on the board of Philadelphia Jobs with Justice; Jeff Kurtz, a retired locomotive engineer and union officer who also served as a state representative in the Iowa House of Representatives; and John Emiliano, a healthcare worker and organizer in Chicago with the Tahanan Center and Tanggol Migrante, a grassroots Filipino migrant defense network.

    Additional links/info:
    • May Day Strong coalition website
    • Workers Over Billionaires 2026 - Philadelphia Linktree
    • Workers Over Billionaires 2026 - Chicago details
    • Lee County (Iowa) Labor Chapter Facebook page and May Day 2026 details
    • Tahanan Filipino Center Instagram
    • Tanggol Migrante website
    • Latino Union of Chicago website
    • Michael Sainato, The Guardian, "US activists plan May Day economic blackout: 'No school, no work, no shopping'"

    Featured Music:
    • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

    Credits:
    • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
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    48 分
  • 'The rain was black': A plant explosion set off a toxic bomb in this Louisiana town

    'The rain was black': A plant explosion set off a toxic bomb in this Louisiana town
    2026/04/15

    On Aug. 22, 2025, the small-town lives of residents living near the Smitty's Supply facility in Roseland, LA, changed forever when an explosion occurred at the automotive lubricant plant. The explosion and ensuing fire, which burned for days, triggered evacuations across the area, blanketing homes and businesses with smoke, soot, and oily residue, while spilling petroleum products from the plant into area waterways, including several adjacent ponds and the Tangipahoa River. While the Environmental Protection Agency claims that the area is safe, according to the agency's own chemical monitoring, residents say they've been left behind and kept in the dark as they develop negative health symptoms and their homes remain covered in toxic substances. In this episode, we speak with Arlene Bankston, a farmer and resident of Roseland, and Allie Ponvelle, who lives one town over in Amite, about the slow-moving nightmare they've been living in ever since the massive explosion and chemical fire at Smitty's Supply.

    Additional links/info:

    • Alene Bankston's Facebook page

    • Allie Ponvelle's Facebook page

    • Petition to Close Roseland Montessori School Due to Toxic Contamination

    • Chemically Impacted Communities Coalition (CICC) website

    • Wesley Muller, Louisiana Illuminator, "Smitty's Supply neighbors still wary of fire fallout despite assurances from Landry, EPA"

    • Whitney Miller, WWL Louisiana, "What was in the air and water after the Smitty's Supply fire? Testing under new scrutiny"

    • "Maximillian Alvarez, TRNN, "America's toxic future looks like East Palestine, Ohio, today"

    Featured Music:

    • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

    Credits:

    • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
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    52 分