The Labor Notes Podcast

Labor Notes

The Labor Notes Podcast, co-hosted by organizers Danielle Smith and Natascha Elena Uhlmann, is a weekly show from the folks who put on the Labor Notes conference every two years.

We’ll talk about the strikes, contract campaigns, shop floor actions, reform caucus organizing, and union elections that our staff and rank-and-file workers in the labor movement’s troublemaking wing write about and work on all year round.

New episodes on Fridays.

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English

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#81
Friday · 9 min
How to Lose Your Next Union Election in 10 Steps
If you’re holding bad meetings, caving to management, and trying to do everything yourself, congrats—you’re already well on your way to fumbling your shot! On the other hand, if you want to actually advance a positive vision for your union that energizes members, you can ground your next union election campaign in tried and true organizing principles. Also check out: How to Lose Your Next Election, A Step-By-Step Guide, by Dan Campbell
#80
September 18 · 16 min
Why Evil Women Make the Best Organizers
They lure people into their campaigns, grow phone trees, and machete a path out of fear. It turns out some of our archetypal evil heroines—Amy Dunne of Gone Girl, sisters Sally and Gillian Owens of Practical Magic, and Merricat Blackwood of We Have Always Lived in the Castle—have some positively devilish organizing tactics (disclaimer: not all of which we endorse!) up their dark, trumpet sleeves. Also check out: 1. All Horror Movies Are About Organizing, Actually: The Labor Notes Podcast Hallowepisode 2. Steward's Corner: A Path Out of Fear 3. Keep Going: A Guide to Organizing When It's Hard
#79
September 11 · 24 min
Tyson Shuttered a Plant Overnight, Laying off 2,500 Meatpacking Workers
Tyson workers at a meatpacking plant in Joslin, Illinois, arrived at work one day in mid-August to discover that it was suddenly closed and that 2,500 of them would be out of jobs. These workers—members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1546—are now rallying to demand that the plant reopen, or that they at least be given six months of severance pay rather than the two the company has offered. Caitlyn Clark of Essential Workers for Democracy reported on the plant closure for Labor Notes, and joins this episode. A representative for UFCW Local 1546 did not respond to emailed requests for comment. Relevant reading: 2,500 Tyson Workers Laid Off, Plant Shutters Overnight The First Major Meatpacking Strike in 40 Years Extends into Third Week Learn more about the movement to revitalize the UFCW in our podcast episode from June 2025: “Grocery Workers at the UFCW are Organizing for a Fighting Union.” The incoming new CEO of Tyson just purchased $1 million in Tyson stock, almost immediately after an announcement of low projected earnings due to the beef sector. (Read more here)
#78
September 4 · 11 min
Jackson Transit Workers Win Strike, Save Saturday Service
After five weeks on the picket line, 80 public transit workers in Jackson, Mississippi, members of ATU Local 1208, have won a 5 percent wage increase; beat back a plan for “microtransit,” a private on-call service that would have brought in drivers without a commercial driver’s license at a lower-tier wage; and stopped cuts to Saturday service. Labor Notes Organizer Paul Prescod joins the pod. Check out Paul’s coverage of the strike on labornotes.org Jackson Transit Workers Win Strike, Save Saturday Service Mississippi Transit Workers Strike for Better Protections and Service
#77
August 28 · 1 min
A Summer Friday Break
The Labor Notes Podcast is taking a Summer Friday. We’ll be back next week!
#76
August 21 · 10 min
Unions Aren’t Backing Down Amid Reported Federal Infiltration Efforts in Minnesota
The Trump Administration has been surveilling and investigating unions including the Communications Workers (CWA) and Service Employees (SEIU), as part of its targeting of groups resisting immigration raids in Minnesota, according to a report this month in the New York Times. But union members and representatives have since told Labor Notes that they are undeterred. “We are proud of our work and will never apologize or back down because of these dirty tricks and intimidation,” said CWA Local 7250 President Kieran Knutson. Read the story by Luis Feliz Leon: Federal Spies Hunt Minnesota Unions in Search of Conspiracy, But Find Solidarity. Also check out our episode back in February about the uprising in Minnesota, featuring Luis and Diana Varenik: “How Workers Pulled Off a Mass Strike in Minnesota.”
#75
August 14 · 25 min
Letter Carriers Fighting to Make their Union More Democratic Have an Opening
This fall, 200,000 members of the Letter Carriers will get the chance to vote (perhaps fittingly, by mail ballot) for new leadership. For many postal workers fed up with low pay, forced overtime, dangerous heat, and robberies—conditions they see their opaque, undemocratic leadership failing to address—the upcoming election is a focal point for recent reform currents brewing in the union. They’ll be voting on 10 officers, three trustees, and 15 regional business agents. Labor Notes Editor Al Bradbury joins the episode. Also check out: Letter Carriers Set to Deliver Change in Upcoming Union Election by Alexandra Bradbury, July 29, 2026 On the Labor Notes Pod, in April 2025: Facing Privatization And DOGE Attacks, Postal Workers Are Fighting Back Labor Notes Online Workshop: What to Do When Your Union Breaks Your Heart, Tuesday, August 18 Labor Notes Online Workshop: Running for Union Office, Tuesday, September 15 New Labor Notes Book: Running for Local Union Office
#74
August 7 · 15 min
Steward’s Corner: Are You Thinking Like an Organizer?
You want more members to share the work of your contract action team? Win more grievances? Commit to wearing Hawaiian shirts together to the Jaws screening? You know what we're about to suggest: Think like an organizer. It's a common Labor Notes refrain to many organizing conundrums—but what does it mean? A problem-solving approach that engages and involves more people? More direct asks of our fellow union members? Union movie club? Labor Notes Organizer Joe DeManuelle-Hall joins the pod. And don't miss our upcoming online Stewards' Workshop on this topic: Thinking Like an Organizer! Monday, August 10, 8 p.m. Eastern. SIGN UP HERE!
#73
July 31 · 12 min
How Utility Workers Won Back Real Pensions in Pennsylvania
For over four decades now, workers have seen their steady, reliable pension payouts replaced by more uncertain returns from 401(k) plans—where employees’ payments are invested in retirement accounts that are vulnerable to the stock market. But just this month, power workers in Pennsylvania did something that worked—workers at PECO, the electric company for the Philadelphia region and Pennsylvania’s largest electric and natural gas utility, won defined-benefit pensions for 600 newer hires who had been offered 401(k)s, and they won full medical coverage in retirement, Mindy Isser reported for Labor Notes. Pod co-hosts Danielle Smith and Natascha Elena Uhlmann talk about Mindy’s piece on how they did it.
#72
July 24 · 18 min
The Other World Cup Winners: Workers Organizing at World Cup Host Cities
More than 2,000 stadium workers in Los Angeles scored a goal that VAR can’t take away: they overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike and built a credible threat to walk off the job during World Cup matches scheduled at the SoFi stadium—and they won the right to strike over ICE. Their campaign, and others like it this summer—including in Philadelphia where workers at the Sheraton and Warwick hotels won contracts that will raise wages to $30 an hour by 2028—show how workers are strategically assessing their leverage and notching concrete wins. Read the story by Labor Notes Organizers Paul Prescod and Natascha Elena Uhlmann. Paul and UNITE HERE Local 274 member Kathleen Householder from Philadelphia join the episode.
#71
July 17 · 28 min
App Workers in Mexico Are Fighting The Bosses' Biggest Lie
Gig workers are often sold the lie that their job is flexible, customizable, and lets them be their own boss. But that hides the reality that they don’t control a lot of their own basic working conditions, including the rates they’re paid or even if they can continue working with the app, if they’re arbitrarily deactivated. In May, hundreds of app workers across Mexico held a two-hour work stoppage to escalate their demands and to fight for a collective agreement with app giants like Uber, DiDi, and Rappi (two Uber Eats-style delivery platforms), reported Natascha Elena Uhlmann. Joining Natascha and Danielle this week is Luis Fernando Mora Reyes, an app worker from Mexico City and the secretary of training and culture for the National App Workers Union (la Union Nacional de Trabajadores por Aplicación or UNTA). Read Natascha’s story in English: Mexico's Gig Workers Fight Efforts to Hollow Out Their Employee Status Win Lee el artículo de noticias de Natascha en español: Los trabajadores por aplicación luchan por hacer valer sus derechos bajo la reforma laboral
#70
July 10 · 53 min
The Labor Notes Podcast: Live! At the 2026 Conference
Have you ever been so stumped by an organizing challenge that you wished you could just beam out a help signal to others who’ve dealt with the same thing? Enter special guests Tera Arnold and Dakota Massman, who fielded several organizing questions along with pod co-hosts Danielle Smith and Natascha Elena Uhlmann at our first ever live episode of the Labor Notes Podcast, which took place last month at the 2026 Conference in Chicago. Tera and Dakota, of Teamsters Local 135, were two of the casino dealers at the Horseshoe Indianapolis Casino who walked out last year on a rare and courageous strike for union recognition. Send us more organizing questions in writing or on a voice note to podcast@labornotes.org, and we’ll try to answer them on the pod!
#69
July 3 · 22 min
Your Favorite Summer Blockbuster Is Really About Organizing
You might be in a battle of wits with a great white shark on a New England beach and needing a bigger boat. Or maybe you're getting into property fights with your goth relatives (or imposters) in the Addams Family. Perhaps you're just a toy, a child's plaything, but developing power analysis in the Toy Story franchise. Wherever your big screen adventures are playing out, we at the Labor Notes Podcast think you're probably applying a labor lesson from our bestseller, Secrets of a Successful Organizer, or our new book, Keep Going: A Guide to Organizing When It's Hard. Tune into this week's episode for why our favorite summer blockbusters are really about organizing. Links to resources we mention in this episode: Stewards’ Corner: Workplace Safety Is Not a Game (Labor Notes Podcast, October 2025) Four Union Strategies to Fight on A.I. (Article on labornotes.org | Labor Notes Podcast, May 2026) Keep Going: A Guide to Organizing When It's Hard: Order your copy | See Inside: Introduction: How to use this book; Chapter 1: Cultivate Respect
#68
June 26 · 13 min
Still Having Bad Meetings? Take Another Listen
You guys loved our episode about having bad meetings so much that we’re actually bringing it back. Revisit this old Labor Notes pod banger and evergreen organizing question: “What if Unions Meetings Were Actually Good?”
#67
June 19 · 1 min
We *Are* on a Break
It feels like we just saw about 4,700 of you a week ago in Chicago, so we're taking some space this week to give you a chance to miss us a little. (i.e. We're catching up on sleep after the 2026 Labor Notes Conference, and will be back to our programming next week!) In the meantime, watch the conference livestream: Friday, June 12 Main Session: WATCH HERE Saturday, June 13 The Soul in the Machine: Resisting A.I. Pressure on the Character and Quality of Our Jobs: WATCH HERE Opening Up Bargaining: WATCH HERE Sunday, June 14 Main Session: WATCH HERE See you next week, solidarity y'all!
#66
June 12 · 26 min
Keep Going: A Guide To Organizing When It’s Hard (w/ Ellen David Friedman and Carlos Pérez)
What do you do when you work at a public school in a “right-to-work state” that also bars public employees from collective bargaining? And what happens, when your school district exploits its leverage over employees to snatch raises owed to workers? Members of the Durham Association of Educators in North Carolina turned to the tried and tested principles of collective action. They helped channel members’ frustrations into action, brought more school workers into the union, and built an escalation campaign that empowered members to hold out until their demands were met—and they won. Theirs is among several stories of strategic, persistent organizing featured in the new Labor Notes book, “Keep Going: A Guide To Organizing When It’s Hard,” by Ellen David Friedman—Organizing that gets the goods, even against what may seem like stacked odds. Author and Labor Notes board chair Ellen David Friedman and Durham Association Educators member Carlos Pérez join the pod. Order your copy of “Keep Going” here! And read Ellen David Friedman’s Labor Notes interview with DAE’s Carlos Perez and Allison Swaim on their organizing wins in North Carolina.
#65
June 5 · 8 min
How to Build a List to Expand Your Reach with Co-Workers
You’ve learned the passes on the campaign mountain, figured out your co-workers’ most widely and deeply felt issues, and polished up your 1-1 skills. It’s time to start bringing in your co-workers—with the humble spreadsheet. List-building is a foundational organizing function that helps you map your workplace, reach out to members, and assess the strength of the union you’re building together. This episode is based on a recent piece by Labor Notes Organizer Lisa Xu, “List-Building 101, or How to Expand Your Reach as a Troublemaker.”
#64
May 29 · 44 min
The Antidote to Organizing Burnout (w/ Teamsters Local 804 Organizer Antonio Rosario and Sarah Slichter, Movement of Rank-and-File Educators)
It’s natural to feel overwhelmed by the boss’ relentless union busting (it’s why they do it!) and to get discouraged by lapses and disengagement by union leadership. It can also compound the difficulty of organizing—figuring out how to make a meeting worthwhile, how to connect with members when it feels like your shop floor is in disarray, or even getting through concrete tasks like drafting agendas and to-do lists when everything starts feeling heavy. That’s when a return to basic organizing principles—and coming up with structural solutions with our co-workers—may be the way forward. Teamsters Local 804 Organizer Antonio Rosario and Sarah Slichter from the Movement of Rank-and-File Educators, join the pod.
#63
May 22 · 6 min
Four Union Strategies to Fight on A.I.
A.I is a management power grab, disguised as an inevitable technical upgrade. To fight it, workers can use four strategies proven in the past: name the real problem; unionize it; ransom it; and block it. Also read the piece by Labor Notes Organizer Keith Brower Brown: Four Union Strategies to Fight on A.I.
#62
May 15 · 34 min
Massachusetts Teachers Taxed the Rich and Brought in $3B Last Year
The Fair Share Amendment in Massachusetts, which passed in 2022, has helped offer free community college to tuition residents, provide free school meals for students, run free regional buses, and has helped to fund a multi-billion-dollar capital program for public higher education and vocational high schools. It’s a tax on the rich that brought in $3 billion in 2025 and went toward public education and transportation. Read more in the piece by MTA president Max Page: “We’re Making ‘Tax the Rich’ More Than a Slogan.” The measure was the result of organizing by groups including the Raise Up Massachusetts coalition, which the Massachusetts Teachers Association has teamed up with. Page, also a member of the Raise Up Massachusetts steering committee, joins the pod along with former MTA president and retiring Labor Notes Organizer Barbara Madeloni.

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