Class Matters

Aug 15 2024 15 ep. 44 mins 259

Class Matters Podcast artwork

Class Matters is the podcast where we ask the question: "What Would Our Country Look Like If It Were Run By and For the Working Class?"

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Ep 15: When Compromises Come Home to Roost: With Adolph Reed Jr. and Mark Dudzic

Aug 15 2024 44 mins

In Episode 15 of Class Matters, Adolph Reed Jr. and Mark Dudzic take on the 40+ years of anti-worker compromises that have led to worker frustration with both political parties and distrust in our government. They examine how the Labor Party effort of the 1990s/2000s aimed to channel that anger into an independent working-class politics.

Ep 14: Wall Street’s War on Workers with Les Leopold

Mar 18 2024 49 mins

In Episode 14 of Class Matters, Adolph Reed Jr. talks with labor educator Les Leopold about his new book, Wall Street’s War on Workers: How Mass Layoffs and Greed Are Destroying the Working Class and What to Do About It.

Ep 13: Medicare Advantage: What Unions & Retirees Need to Know

Nov 07 2023 44 mins

In Episode 13 of Class Matters, we’re talking with labor activists Marianne Pizzitola, Rose Roach, and Mark Dudzic about Medicare Advantage (Disadvantage?) health plans and what they mean for union retirees, for collective bargaining, and for the future of traditional Medicare. And we get the scoop on how retirees in New York City are fighting back against efforts to force them o

Ep 12: Power and Participation in Negotiations and Politics with Jane McAlevey

May 22 2023 50 mins

In Episode 12 of Class Matters, we’re talking with labor organizer Jane McAlevey about how to democratize union negotiations and build significant worker power by practicing transparent, big, and open negotiations. That’s the focus of McAlevey’s latest book, Rules to Win By: Power and Participation in Union Negotiations. McAlevey talks with Gordon Lafer and Adolph Reed Jr. ab

Ep 11: Labor on the Rise? A Conversation with UE’s Carl Rosen

Jan 31 2023 40 mins

With public approval of unions at its highest since 1965, organizing drives bringing in 200,000 new union members, union election petitions to the NLRB up 51 percent, 60 million workers who want a union, and low unemployment spurring strike actions and gains in wages and benefits, many have declared that labor is on the rise. Yet in 2022, the overall share of workers who are union

Ep 10: Millionaires Tax on the Ballot in Massachusetts

Nov 02 2022 37 mins

Can a union-backed "Millionaires Tax" win at the ballot box in Massachusetts? It would raise $2 billion/year for quality public education, for repair and maintenance of roads and bridges and for public transportation. In Episode Ten, Adolph Reed Jr. talks with union leaders Eve Weinbaum and Dean Robinson on state-wide organizing for the amendment and its potential as a model for an

Ep 9: Inflation: What Workers Need to Know

Sep 13 2022 48 mins

Inflation and the fight against it is on the public agenda today in a way not seen since the 1970s. In Episode Nine, Professor Adolph Reed Jr. leads a discussion with Sam Gindin and Samir Sonti, on what inflation means for the working class, and why anti-inflation policies have often come at the expense of workers. We also look at how this round of inflation is different, how we sh

Ep 8: The Jim Crow South + Listener Qs - Part Two

Aug 23 2022 49 mins

In Part 2 of 2, Adolph Reed Jr discusses his new book, The South: Jim Crow and Its Afterlives, with Toure Reed. The Reeds explore how tendencies to romanticize Jim Crow undercuts our ability to address the root causes of racial inequality today. They also tackle questions from our listeners about race and about the labor movement.

Ep 7: The Jim Crow South + Listener Questions

Aug 08 2022 40 mins

In Part 1 of 2, Adolph Reed Jr discusses his new book, The South: Jim Crow and Its Afterlives, with Toure Reed. The Reeds explore how tendencies to romanticize Jim Crow undercuts our ability to address the root causes of racial inequality today. They also tackle questions from our listeners about race and about the labor movement.

Episode 6: Why the Supreme Court Matters to Working People

Jul 15 2022 41 mins

In Episode 6, we take a look at one of the recent Supreme Court rulings – West Virginia v. EPA. It turns out this case is about much more than climate change. As you will hear from Jenny Breen, Gordon Lafer, Adolph Reed Jr., and Samir Sonti, this ruling is the first time the Supreme Court has used the "major questions doctrine" in a majority opinion. That doctrine is an attempt t