Working People
Working People

Working People

Working People

Overview
Episodes

Details

Working People: A podcast by, for, and about the working class today (now in partnership with In These Times magazine and The Real News Network). Working People is a podcast about working-class lives in 21st-century America. In every episode, you'll hear interviews with workers from around the country, from all walks of life. We'll talk about their life stories, their jobs, politics, and families, their joys and hopes and frustrations. 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 country.

Recent Episodes

What does it mean to be a union member in these dark times?
NOV 20, 2025
What does it mean to be a union member in these dark times?

Making ends meet in today's economy is difficult enough, but with so many societal crises affecting working people's lives on and off the shop floor—from mass layoffs to untenable costs of living, from an authoritarian federal government to AI and the climate crisis—it can feel all but impossible. What does it mean to have a union job, to be a union member, and to be part of the labor movement in these overwhelming times? What role do unions and other labor organizations have to play, not just in the fight for economic justice, but in the fight for democracy, civil rights, the rule of law, and a livable planet? We posed these questions to a range of emerging labor leaders from different unions and worker centers enrolled in the 2025-26 Minnesota Union Leadership Program (MULP). Here's what they told us…

Additional links/info:

Featured Music:

  • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

Credits:

  • Audio Post-Production: Alina Nehlich
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58 MIN
'We're done': Starbucks workers launch indefinite national strike
NOV 13, 2025
'We're done': Starbucks workers launch indefinite national strike
Four years after the first Starbucks store in the US unionized in 2021, workers across the country are still facing rampant union busting and still fighting for a first contract with the coffee giant. That is why a supermajority of unionized baristas with Starbucks Workers United recently voted to authorize an Unfair Labor Practice strike, which is set to begin on Thursday, Nov. 13, on "Red Cup Day," in over 25 cities around the US. "Union baristas mean business and are ready to do whatever it takes to win a fair contract and end Starbucks' unfair labor practices," says Michelle Eisen, Starbucks Workers United spokesperson and 15-year veteran barista. "If Starbucks keeps stonewalling, they should expect to see their business grind to a halt. The ball is in Starbucks' court." In this urgent episode, we speak with Eisen about the impending strike and the state of the yearslong union struggle at Starbucks. Additional links/info: Featured Music:
  • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song
Credits:
  • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
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53 MIN
Campus life is unrecognizable in the Trump era: 'There's so many cops everywhere'
NOV 6, 2025
Campus life is unrecognizable in the Trump era: 'There's so many cops everywhere'
Life on college campuses has changed dramatically in the last 10 months. While institutions of higher education continue to reel from the Trump administration's top-down attacks and scramble to adjust, workers on campus say that their universities are simultaneously expanding their own internal repression and surveillance apparatuses to squash dissent. In this episode, we speak with a panel of graduate student workers and union members from Columbia University and the University of Michigan about the chilling new reality on their campuses and what it's like to live, learn, and work there today. Panelists include; Vayne, a PhD candidate in history at Columbia University and a member of the bargaining committee for Student Workers of Columbia; Conlan Olson, a PhD student in computer science at Columbia University and a member of the bargaining committee for Student Workers of Columbia; Jared Eno, a grad worker in sociology and public policy at the University of Michigan and a rank-and-file member of the Graduate Employees Organization. Additional links/info:

Credits:

  • Featured Music: Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song
  • Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
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57 MIN
Life after genocide: A Gazan's message to the world about the ceasefire
NOV 1, 2025
Life after genocide: A Gazan's message to the world about the ceasefire

In September, before the current ceasefire deal was announced, we spoke with two Palestinians in Gaza—Mohamed Abu Tawila (a former English teacher) and his nephew Abdul Rahman (a would-be college student)—about surviving 700 days of genocidal destruction at the hands of Israel's military and with the full backing of the United States. In this critical follow-up episode, we speak once again with Mohamed Abu Tawila from Gaza to get an on-the-ground account of life for Palestinians after the shaky implementation of the ceasefire began on Oct. 10.

Additional links/info:

Featured Music:

  • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

Credits:

  • Audio Post-Production: Alina Nehlich
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17 MIN
Workers replaced by AI have a dire warning for the world
OCT 29, 2025
Workers replaced by AI have a dire warning for the world

In this special crossover edition of Working People and The Marc Steiner Show, hosts Maximillian Alvarez and Marc Steiner examine how the "artificial intelligence" (AI) boom is shaping the economy and the impact it is already having—and will continue to have—on working people's lives, livelihoods, and jobs. Alvarez and Steiner speak with two members of a new mutual aid and advocacy group called Stop Gen AI, which formed this year out of the critical need to provide material support for creatives, knowledge workers, and anyone else impacted by generative AI.

Guests:

  • Kim Crawley is a former cybersecurity professor and co-author of The Pentester Blueprint. She founded Stop Gen AI in May 2025 in response to the immense socioeconomic harm generative AI has done to her and her peers, and to the vast environmental, cultural, scientific, psychological, and economic harm it does to the world. Stop Gen AI is unique for its anticapitalist focus and commitment to raising survival funds for people who are struggling.

  • Emmi is an information security expert with experience across many niches of the industry, including application security across a number of verticals, and she is a specialist in insider threat and cyber threat intelligence. She joined the efforts of Stop Gen AI in 2025 due to the overwhelming amount of friends she has seen lose their entire lives and careers due to the out-of-control AI bubble. She also has nearly two decades of experience with boots-on-the-ground union organizing, protesting, and activism.

Additional links/info:

Featured Music:

  • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

  • Stephen Frank, Marc Steiner Show Theme Song

Credits:

  • Studio Production: David Hebden

  • Audio Post-Production: Alina Nehlich

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50 MIN