Belabored Podcast #42: (Almost) Striking in Portland

Subscribe to the Belabored RSS feed here. Subscribe and rate on iTunes here. Check out the full Belabored archive here. Tweet at @dissentmag with #belabored to share your thoughts, or join the conversation on Facebook. Belabored is produced by Natasha Lewis. The big news last week was the United Auto Workers’ defeat in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and there’s been a lot of discussion since about what this means for the future of labor. Meanwhile, across the country, teachers in Oregon are proving that militant unionism isn’t dead yet, and that there’s a lot to be won if workers stand together and fight with the community by their side. Portland teacher Elizabeth Thiel gives Belabored some thoughts on what happened in her district, and what’s happening as teachers around the country decide that enough is enough when it comes to corporate education reform. Sarah and Michelle also discuss a new report on port truckers and wage theft, minor league ballplayers suing over wage violations, the U.S. government’s reliance on sweatshops, the strike by University of Illinois faculty, and why the Congressional Budget Office is wrong about the minimum wage. News:  Sarah: New Report: Port Trucking Companies Steal More than $1 Billion in Wages from Drivers International Labor Rights Forum: Dangerous Silence Michelle: The U.S. Government Uses Sweatshops, Too Sarah: The cult of amateurism plaguing professional sports Minor League Baseball Players Allege Wage Violations in Lawsuit Against MLB Medford draws some hope after hearing that Portland teacher strike averted Medford Education Association Support Our Teachers – The Truth Behind the Medford Teacher’s Strike Conversation:  Sarah: In Nick of Time, Portland Teachers Make a Deal to Avert a Strike Argh, I Wish I’d Written That!:  Michelle: Lennard Davis & Walter Benn Michaels, Jacobin, “Faculty on Strike” Sarah: Mike Konczal, The New Republic, “That CBO Report on Obama’s Minimum-Wage Proposal is Remarkably Biased” The post Belabored Podcast #42: (Almost) Striking in Portland appeared first on Dissent Magazine.