Working People
Working People (in partnership with In These Times and The Real News Network) is a podcast about working-class lives in the 21st century. In every episode, you’ll hear interviews with workers from all walks of life. We talk about their life stories, their jobs, politics, and families, their joys and hopes, their dreams and struggles. Overall, Working People aims to share and celebrate the diverse stories of working-class people, to remind ourselves that our stories matter, and to build a sense of shared struggle and solidarity between workers around the world.
The Real News Network proudly partnered with Working People during Season Four of the show and will be posting all new episodes here on the TRNN website. To listen to the back catalog of Working People episodes, listen and subscribe on your podcast player of choice using the buttons below.
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Latest Episode
When work inspires art: Labor poet George Fish
The literary world often seems to stand apart from the working class, but poets like Fish are keeping the tradition of working class art alive.
Recent episodes
Union leaders explain why they’re demanding an end to US aid to Israel
In a letter to President Biden, seven major labor unions called for an end to US military aid to Israel, linking the genocide in Gaza to the flow of arms and funding from Washington.
Thousands of Keck-USC healthcare workers fight for fair contract
Caught between the soaring cost of living and managers hell-bent on freezing wages, health care workers are using their collective power to fight back.
Celebrating 300 episodes of ‘Working People’
Nearly six years since the start of ‘Working People,’ the program has covered the lives, jobs, and dreams of workers across industries from Brazil to Slovenia. What’s next?
Why is America’s largest union locking out its staff over a contract dispute?
The National Education Association, which represents over 3 million workers, is cracking down on its own staff organizing for better wages and treatment.
From East Palestine to Pike County: Ohio’s ‘sacrifice zone’ communities gather in Toledo
Activists will connect the Norfolk-Southern trail derailment catastrophe to the Toledo water crisis and more at a conference on Aug. 3 hosted by the Justice for East Palestine Residents & Workers coalition.
Labor militancy can’t be stopped: Palestine and Labor Notes 2024
At Labor Notes 2024, the labor movement showed it won’t abandon militancy, Palestine, or each other—as some cops who tried to arrest pro-Palestine protesters learned.
We asked 8 different Teamsters what they thought of Sean O’Brien’s speech—their responses may surprise you
Sean O’Brien’s speech at the RNC in support of Trump has left many in the union feeling that the Teamsters President doesn’t represent them.
Baltimore nurses at largest Catholic health network in US fight on for first contract
“We held the rally… to show [management] that we’re not afraid, that we’re not going to be intimidated, and that we’re not going to back down until we win a good contract for our patients and for ourselves”
In Brazil, the climate crisis is already turning working people into climate refugees
Catastrophic flooding in the state of Rio Grande do Sul has working people searching for solutions, and accountability from local officials.
My childhood in Cuba under the US blockade
Despite growing up during some of the worst economic conditions in Cuba’s recent history, Liz Oliva Fernández enjoyed a freedom in her childhood common to the people of Cuba, yet rarely portrayed in media.
‘CSX has got to go!’ Industrially polluted South Baltimore residents want rail giant out of their community
Working-class residents of Curtis Bay and other South Baltimore communities marched to the CSX rail terminal on June 10 to “evict” the rail giant that has been polluting their homes with toxic coal dust for years.
Baltimore’s billion-dollar disaster through the eyes of a longshoreman
We speak with John Blom, a veteran longshoreman who worked in the Port of Baltimore for over 30 years, about the Key Bridge collapse and the conditions that led to this catastrophe.
South Baltimore residents on the toxic reality of living in a ‘sacrifice zone’
Cherry Hill, Westport, Mt. Winans, Lakeland, Brooklyn, and Curtis Bay lead Maryland in pollution levels as measured by the Department of the Environment.
Before East Palestine, there was Portsmouth
Vina Colley was hired as an electrician at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in 1980, where her employers knowingly exposed her, her coworkers, and her community to radioactive material. She has been fighting for justice, accountability, and compensation ever since.
Give the people musicals: Gene Bruskin, the people’s artist
Art has always played a role in revolution. For Gene Bruskin, cultivating culture in social movements has been a lifelong pursuit.
East Palestine residents demand fully-funded healthcare
A new coalition of residents and workers in solidarity with East Palestine calls for fully-funded healthcare from the federal government for survivors of the train derailment catastrophe last year.
A new coalition demands healthcare and justice for East Palestine
Organizations and activists from around the country are gathering in East Palestine, Ohio, this Saturday to raise up residents’ demands for accountability from the federal government.
‘I fight so that my son is remembered’: Brett Cross on life in Uvalde before and after the shooting
Brett Cross, father to Uziyah Garcia, one of the 21 victims of the Robb Elementary School shooting, opens up about life before the shooting and what he’s done since to hold city, state, and federal officials accountable.
Why do railroad workers keep dying on the job?
The race for profit gives railroad corporations incentive to pack schedules and loosen standards, even if it means killing workers.
Johns Hopkins grad student-workers picket as contract negotiations stall
One year after their historic union election victory, Johns Hopkins grad workers say they’re hitting a dead end at the bargaining table, so they’re hitting the streets, putting on practice pickets to build a credible strike threat and show the administration what’s in store if more progress is not made in bargaining soon.
Baltimore’s co-ops show the power of a ‘solidarity economy’
These democratically operated, worker-owned businesses show a different way of working is possible.
Homegrown Sandwich shop workers hit 100 days on strike
The Seattle sustainable sandwich chain sparked a months-long strike by firing a union organizer last fall.
One year later, East Palestine residents want Norfolk-Southern held accountable
Poisoned air and water, compromised health, lost jobs, and meager assistance. These are the realities confronting East Palestine residents in the wake of the Norfolk-Southern train derailment.
Kaiser workers win big after largest healthcare strike in US history
After mobilizing over 75,000 workers in a three-day strike this October, the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions won a new contract for hundreds of healthcare facilities around the country.
These Brazilian farmworkers escaped slavery, now they’re taking back the land
In this exclusive interview, we speak with Brazilian farmworkers who were rescued from slave-like working conditions about their lives and about a radical new government program to return the land and means of production to workers.
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