Union Democracy and Working Class Power Require Deep Organizing w/ Marybeth Seitz-Brown

Marybeth Seitz-Brown, organizer and former rank-and-file member with the NewsGuild of New York, joins the show to discuss how deep organizing is necessary for building robust union democracy and pushing union members to tackle the biggest issues of the day.

Building off her article, "The Left Needs to Engage Members If We Want to Win Big" in The Forge, Marybeth puts forward grounded advice on how to develop methods for ensuring union democracy is an active practice and organizing approaches workers with the expectation that their politics and activity can change over time.

We discuss why it matters to view democracy as the practice of "governing by obeying," the need to expand the political imagination around what unions can fight for and win, and how deep organizing can build the structures within our unions necessary for accomplishing the above.

Read the article at https://forgeorganizing.org/article/left-needs-engage-members-if-we-want-win-big

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Music:

Mika Miko- Turkey Sandwich

Organized Labor Shouldn't Expect Much from President Joe Biden w/ Alex Press

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Alex Press, labor reporter and staff writer at Jacobin Magazine, joins the show to discuss Joe Biden's union credentials and what organized labor should and shouldn't expect from a Biden administration. As made clear in this interview- not much without a fight.

We also dig into the details of the PRO Act, the types of unions the working class wants and needs, and how the primary means for workers to win progressive legislation is to form militant unions and engage in class struggle.

This interview follows an article from Alex Press that you can read at https://jacobinmag.com/2020/11/joe-biden-labor-unions-afl-cio-kamala-harris

Music from In The Red Records: Fuzz- Rat Race

The Union Busting Playbook & How To Fight It as told by workers at No Evil Foods

Laborwave spoke with workers at No Evil Foods about the company's union busting strategy against an employee organized union campaign. Megan, John, and Max discuss in detail the tactics of No Evil Foods union busting, including a marathon series of 14 hours of captive audience meetings, illegal firings, and censorship, and how workers should prepare for aggressive anti-union campaigns conducted by bosses.

We also delved into a conversation about "solidarity unionism" and the IWW as a viable alternative to conventional union recognition campaigns.

This episode includes never before heard leaked audio from captive audience meetings employees were forced to attend by owners of No Evil Foods!

Despite being a "progressive" company producing vegan meat alternatives and naming their products in socialist language like "comrade cluck," No Evil Foods prioritizes profit over people and demonstrates a no-holds-barred approach to union busting.

Workers have compiled an extensive catalog of information, interviews, and resources for the union busting that took place housed at the website https://www.moevilfoods.com/

Additional resources mentioned in the show:

Confessions of a Union Buster by Martin Jay Levitt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-0gxca-VxM

Music (thanks John Dwyer and In The Red Records)

Thee Oh Sees: Adult Acid

The Spits- Shitty World