Description: William B. Wilson, the first U.S. Secretary of Labor, began union organizing at age 12. He went on to serve in Congress before leading the department he helped create to aid the interests of workers. Bill and Rachel discuss.
Links and notes for Ep. 335 (PDF): http://arsenalfordemocracy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/AFD-Ep-335-Links-and-Notes-William-B-Wilson.pdf
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Description: In September 1919, a poorly-planned strike by the newly formed union representing Boston Police collapsed immediately and ended organizing of police for decades. But did they belong in the labor movement at all?
Links and notes for Ep. 325 (PDF): http://arsenalfordemocracy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/AFD-Ep-325-Links-Boston-Police-Strike-Police-Labor-Relations.pdf
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Description: Final summer episode before our hiatus. Bill and Rachel discuss industrial union action by US flight attendants, European flight crews, European dockworkers and shipyard workers, and Kentucky coal miners, as well as Bernie Sanders’ new proposal for federal union rights legislation.
Links and notes for episode 12 (PDF): http://arsenalfordemocracy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Lend-Lease-Episode-12-Notes-and-Links-Latter-Day-Syndicalist-Action-in-the-First-World.pdf
Intro music by friend of the show Stunt Bird.
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Topic: Codetermination and Elizabeth Warren’s bill to put workers on the boards of major corporations. People: Bill, Nate. Recorded: Aug 26th, 2018.
Episode 239 (31 min):
AFD 239
– AFD 239 Links (PDF)
– AFD March 2015: “Corporate borrowing diverted to shareholders, not investment”
RSS Feed: Arsenal for Democracy Feedburner
iTunes Store Link: “Arsenal for Democracy by Bill Humphrey”
Stitcher Link: Arsenal for Democracy on Stitcher
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Topics: Abusive proliferation of non-compete clauses; a leftist future for intellectual property and pharmaceutical patents. People: Bill, Rachel, and Sarah. Produced: Aug 7th, 2017.
Episode 191 (55 min):
AFD 191
You can find a list of the articles we referenced here.
RSS Feed: Arsenal for Democracy Feedburner
iTunes Store Link: “Arsenal for Democracy by Bill Humphrey”
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Topics: News media consolidation in the US (including University of Delaware research); legal protections for retail workers on part-time on-call/zero-hour contracts. People: Bill, Rachel, and Nate Produced: July 10th, 2017.
Episode 188 (47 min):
AFD 188
– NY Magazine on the Sinclair deal
– Research by Danilo Yanich for UD/CWA on Local TV Service Agreements, Duopolies, Mega-Mergers: (download the full paper, which is very readable)
Oregon: Oregon Passes Pioneering Worker-Rights Bill
NY: A.G. Schneiderman and Eight Other State Attorneys General Probe Retailers Over Use of On-Call Shifts
– Forbes: Is On-Call Scheduling In Retail Coming To An End?
– CNBC On-call scheduling debate: Where retailers stand
– National Jobs With Justice: Why It’s Time for Just Hours and Stable Schedules
– San Francisco JWJ: Full-Time Hours Offer, Predictable Scheduling, Minimum On-Call Pay
– Dissent magazine: “The New Working Class”
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Massachusetts has historically been at the forefront in the United States on worker safety and labor rights, compensation, activism, and organizing. Organized labor has been and must remain a fundamental component of our economic structure. Without it, there is no significant force representing our workers on an equal level with management and owners.
Our courts must uphold the rights of workers – including state and municipal workers – to organize themselves and bargain collectively and cooperatively for compensation and benefits proportionate to their productive work, as well as safe workplaces and fair scheduling.
Our courts must uphold contracts signed with workers’ unions, particularly by the state or municipal governments. It is the responsibility of employers to negotiate contracts they can actually execute.
We cannot achieve economic justice without securing the rights of organized labor to fight for fair and living wages in our society.
