Labor Radio
Labor Radio is news by, for, and about working people in Madison, Wisconsin and around the world. It originates out of the studios of WORT 89.9 FM Madison.
Episodes
The national Starbucks strike led by Starbucks Workers United continues at four stores in the Madison area, the Labor Department is back to issuing a monthly jobs report and Labor Radio takes a closer look, the Trump Administration again unilaterally voids the collective bargaining agreement covering Transportation Security Administration workers and Labor Radio speaks to the president of TSA AFGE Local 777, New York State sues UPS...
Wisconsin state workers unions rally as the Joint Committee on Employment Relations legislative committee continues to hold up their compensation, Wisconsin dairy workers have authorized a strike as milk companies pull back on safety and compensation, a fourth Madison area Starbucks store joins the nationwide strike and Starbucks workers get a legal win in New York City over widespread Starbucks labor violations, educator unions a...
Labor Radio hears from the picket line as the national Starbucks strike for a good faith bargained contract reaches Madison, the president of IBEW Local 2304 talks to Labor Radio after meeting with the WORT board of directors in the wake of the firing of two unionized staff collective members, and a filmmaker behind Baristas vs. Billionaires on the Starbucks unionization fight speaks to WORT. THIS IS A PLEDGE WEEK EDITION. Feel fre...
Labor Radio for Friday, November 28, 2025, was an all-music show. The show is at the WORT archive for three months at archive.wortfm.org. Look for Labor Radio for Friday, November 28, listed at 5:30 p.m.
The Building Trades Council and community members speaking at a public meeting are on opposite sides on building a data center in the DeForest area and Labor Radio hears from both side, new owners of Milwaukee Forge agree to keep the company open and retain union jobs, leaked documents detail how Amazon intends to slash jobs within three years using automation, Amazon drivers at a Kentucky facility march on the boss and declare the...
WORT lays off two union members and Labor Radio talks to the president of IBEW Local 2304, writer Eric Blanc says the the deal to end the federal government shutdown shows fissures in organized labor and a missed opportunity to exercise worker power, a federal court ruling gives a big win to NewsGuild workers who have been on strike for over three years at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Labor Radio talks to a striker there, striki...
UNITE HERE Local 1 invites the community to a picket demanding a first contract at the Madison Hilton Monona Terrace, the labor liaison to the Madison area United Way discusses how they are reaching out to workers facing dismissals and a federal shutdown, rank and file Machinists striking Boeing in the St. Louis area have rejected a tentative agreement, Labor Radio looks at the expected skyrocketing of healthcare costs for working ...
Machinists on strike at Boeing in the St. Louis area have a federally-mediated agreement that will be voted on by members on October 26, the national No Kings march takes place in Madison with labor support, federal workers who have been shut out from work rally outside the Madison-area Social Security office, national flight attendants union leader Sara Nelson has raised the idea of a general strike as the Trump administration run...
A membership meeting at Group Health Cooperative in Madison cheers a push for unionization with SEIU, Trump announces that some federal workers won't return after the government shutdown and American Federation of Government Employees members talk to Labor Radio about the White House onslaught against federal workers, as ICE deports farm workers the Trump administration says the answer to farm job loss is to lower the minimum wage ...
The strike at Mercy Health East Clinic in Janesville enters its 100th day and UAW Local 95 holds a solidarity rally, Boeing is ignoring striking Machinists and training scabs as the strike near St. Louis enters its third month, Labor Radio speaks to a local president of a federal employees union about how the US government shutdown is being used to heighten the anti-worker attacks of the Trump administration, and workers at Anodyne...
UFCW Local 1473 president Jake Bailey talks to labor Radio about a worker victory in an NLRB ruling shows egregious union busting in 2022 by Starbucks during a 1473 organizing drive in Madison, the Sumud Flotilla is stopped as it tries to break Israel's illegal blockade of Gaza but workers in Italy and elsewhere strike in support of Palestine, a federal judge issues a sweeping First Amendment victory in a union-backed petition figh...
Unions and community supporters hold a rally for striking health care workers of Mercy Health East Clinic in Janesville, UAW members in California demand a sustainable industrial policy, striking Machinists at Boeing in the St. Louis area offer their own contract proposal absent movement from Boeing management, New Mexico is becoming the first state to institute state-funded universal childcare, strikes spread across Italy in suppo...
University of Wisconsin system faculty and staff unions go to a Board of Regents meeting to demand meet and confer and formal recognition, OPEIU Local 39 wins a union recognition vote at Pathfinders social services in Milwaukee, a four-day strike by Teamsters Local 320 at the University of Minnesota system ends in an agreement with the help of solidarity from IATSE, a UW School or Workers webinar series looks at the role of immigra...
Machinist union members who build Boeing fighter jets reject a tentative agreement, Teamsters Local 320 at the University of Minnesota goes on strike and Labor Radio talks to a strike captain, the US Supreme Court increasingly relies on a "shadow docket" to upend the lives of workers, department store Target's abandonment of diversity gets a target on its back from organized labor, the feds raid a Georgia Hyundai plant and maybe de...
UAW Local 95 remains on strike against Mercy Health East in Janesville and labor and supporters in Madison rally at the state capitol, the Madison Social Security office was the site of a rally in support of that program, on Labor Day workers speak at LaborFest and also march downtown against oligarchs in Labor Over Billionaires, Italian dockworkers promise to shut down European shipping if a flotilla braving the illegal blockade o...
Security workers at Woodman's grocery vote to join SMART Local 565, a nationwide AFL-CIO bus tour hits Eau Claire and a Central Labor Council leader there speaks to Labor Radio, W&W dairy workers who are on strike receive a show of support in Madison, AFL-CIO President Liz Schuler's Labor Day speech slams Trump but also says workers can't depend on Democrats, Laborers union member Jose Ramirez speaks of his union rise and the l...
Immigrant workers at W&W Dairy in Monroe strike their new owners and the community and organized labor comes out in support, hotel workers at the Hilton-Madison Monona Terrace join UNITE HERE Local 1 in an NLRB certified election with two-thirds of the vote, workers at Mercy Health East represented by UAW Local 95 carry their strike into the seventh week and get support in Madison, Teamsters local 705 is striking Mauser Packagi...
Workers at Festival Foods in Madison speak to Labor Radio after their landslide vote to unionize and join UFCW Local 1473, Pathfinders in Milwaukee joins OPEIU Local 39, some states are passing labor protections as they are withdrawn on the federal level, the NewsGuild and the NWU jointly condemn the Israeli assassination of journalists Anas al-Sharif and his colleagues and call for solidarity with the Palestinian people, AFGE Loca...
After three years the Game Workers Alliance union at Raven Software in Middleton secures its first contract, a representative of UAW Local 95 on strike in Janesville addresses Labor Radio listeners, Teamsters Local 120 inks a contract at Sysco Minnesota and alleges poor bus maintenance support in Madison, the Secretary of the Veterans Administration tears up VA collective bargaining agreements, Madison celebrates the 60th anniversa...
Former Amazon Labor Union organizer Chris Smalls is freed from Israeli captivity after being abducted on the sea while bringing aid to Gaza, Amazon workers finally get rulings on charges filed at the National Labor Relations Board, national unions are having trouble unifying against actions of the Trump administration, a Wisconsin bill to strip gig workers of employee status goes to the desk of Governor Tony Evers, the president of...
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