Working People

Nearly a year after workers voted to authorize a strike, non-union city and commercially contracted security officers in Baltimore, MD, walked off the job on April 9 on an Unfair Labor Practice strike against their employers, Abacus Corporation, Metropolitan Protective Services, and Urban Development Solutions. Now, Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) say that workers have been retaliated against by Metropolitan Protective Services (MPS), alleging that the city contractor "fired and harassed workers following [the] lawful strike." MPS denies these allegations and claims "that no employees have been terminated due to union involvement." In this episode of Working People, we speak with Victoria Cox, a former MPS employee who worked to reach the rank of sergeant, and Daril Riley, a former MPS employee who reached the rank of corporal. Both Cox and Riley have had their shifts taken off the schedule—and, essentially, their jobs taken away—and both have been put under investigation by MPS since the strike in April. Additional links/info: Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, "Underpaid, uninsured, held at gunpoint: Baltimore security guards strike for a union" SEIU Local 32BJ website, Facebook page, and Instagram Katherine Wilson, Baltimore Sun, "Baltimore contract security officers at city properties prepare to strike" Featured Music: Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song Credits: Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor Statement from Derrick Parks, CEO and President of Metropolitan Protective Services (5/26/26): Metropolitan Protective Services, Inc. (MPSI) maintains that no employees have been terminated due to union involvement. We fully support our employees' right to choose whether or not to join a union. The individuals recently removed from the schedule were terminated for failing to maintain the current Maryland guard license required by the Maryland State Police. Regarding Sergeant Cox, she was removed from the schedule at the specific request of the client following multiple advisements regarding violations of client policy and insubordination. Of our 175 employees, only six have been removed from the schedule or terminated, all due to licensing issues or performance concerns. We find these allegations to be without merit and believe they are being used by the union to exert pressure on the company. Furthermore, we have received reports of union representatives harassing employees who chose not to join, including unauthorized site visits and the use of derogatory language. MPSI is currently considering filing a cease and desist order and a harassment lawsuit to protect the rights of our staff. Our priority remains protecting all employees, regardless of their union status.

Since the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump and his acolytes, rightwing media, and coal industry barons and lobbyists have obsessively painted the picture of Trump as a friend to coal miners and the so-called "undisputed champion of beautiful clean coal." But as labor journalist Kim Kelly reports at In These Times, "the simpering ​'Trump digs coal' image the administration seeks to project is vastly at odds with the actions it's taken to limit miner protections, endanger their health, and exacerbate the black lung crisis consuming Central Appalachia." In this episode of Working People, we speak with Kelly about the Trump administration's latest betrayal of coal miners and their families and its underreported attack on the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission and abrupt, unprecedented firing of FMSHRC Commissioner Moshe Z. Marvit. Additional links/info: Kim Kelly website, X/Twitter page, TikTok, Bluesky page, and Instagram Kim Kelly, In These Times, "Trump's latest target: Coal miners' safety" Jordan Barab, Confined Space, "Friday night massacre at Mine Safety Review Commission" Kim Kelly, In These Times, "The Trump administration ramps up its war on coal miners" Kim Kelly, In These Times, "Trump to coal miners: Drop dead" Featured Music: Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song Credits: Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor

After 14 months of fruitless contract negotiations with the Harvard University administration, over 4,000 workers represented by the Harvard Graduate Students Union (HGSU-UAW Local 5118) walked off the job on an indefinite strike on April 21. According to the union, "Graduate student workers will suspend teaching and research labor until Harvard's bargaining team takes substantive action in addressing the union's key issues: pay that keeps pace with the rising cost of living, recourse for harassment and discrimination, support for non-citizen students, protections for academic freedom, and 'fair share fees' to equitably distribute the expenses of union representation, among others." In this episode of Working People, we speak with three striking graduate student workers about the issues at the center of this strike, and about what it's like to live, work, and strike at the country's richest university amid political attacks from the federal government, scandals connecting high-ranking Harvard officials to Jeffrey Epstein, and a nationwide cost-of-living crisis. Panelists include: Sara Speller, a fifth-year PhD student in the Music Department at Harvard and president of the Harvard Graduate Students Union; Zoë Feder, a seventh-year PhD student in the program in Biological & Biomedical Sciences at Harvard Medical School and a research assistant in the Microbiology Department; and Jacob Wolf, a third-year PhD student and Teaching Fellow in the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Additional links/info: Harvard Graduate Students Union (HGSU-UAW Local 5118) website, Facebook page, X/Twitter page, TikTok, and Instagram Harvard Graduate Students Union Strike Update/FAQ Zine Lydialyle Gibson, Harvard Magazine, "Harvard graduate student workers strike" Noah A. Ferris, The Harvard Crimson, "Grad students rally outside Garber's home as strike enters third week" Hugo C. Chiasson & Elise A. Spenner, The Harvard Crimson, "Harvard promised a 'full' review of its Epstein ties. Its own files reveal what it left out" Featured Music: Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song Credits: Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor

After members of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh won their strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in late 2025, which had lasted for over 3 years, they were notified in January that the paper's wealthy owners, the Block family and Block Communications Inc., were shutting down operations. Then, in a stunning turn of events, the Post-Gazette was purchased in April by the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, which also owns The Banner in Baltimore, MD. While Post-Gazette workers were cautiously optimistic about the news, the union learned last week that the Venetoulis Institute is cutting at least 40 percent of its staff, including 80 percent of the union workers who participated in the recently ended strike. In this episode of Working People, we speak with a panel of union members and former Post-Gazette employees about what will happen to them and their coworkers, to the Post-Gazette itself, and to journalism in the Steel City. Panelists include: Andrew Goldstein, a now-former Post-Gazette education reporter and still-acting president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh; Helen Fallon, a longtime copyeditor for the Post-Gazette and professor emerita at Point Park University in Pittsburgh; and Erin Hebert, a now-former copyeditor and designer for the Post-Gazette and First Vice President of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh. Additional links/info: Pittsburgh Alliance for People-Empowered Reporting (PAPER) website Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh website, Facebook page, and Instagram Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh: "Incoming Post-Gazette ownership slashes staff, purges former strikers" Riddhi Setty, Columbia Journalism Review, "The Venetoulis Institute goes to Pittsburgh" Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, "They won their strike fair and square. Now their rich bosses are closing up shop" Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, "The longest-running strike in the US is over—and the workers won" Featured Music: Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song Credits: Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor

After decades of decline, the organized labor movement in the US has seen a resurgence in rank-and-file militancy over the last decade, with increased strike actions and union drives in industries across the economy. And in the story of this recent revival of labor in America, the movement led by predominantly young baristas to unionize coffee giant Starbucks has played a pivotal role. The new documentary Baristas vs. Billionaires takes viewers on a journey through the last five years of the epic, ongoing struggle to unionize Starbucks, told by some of the workers and organizers at the center of that struggle. TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with director of Baristas vs. Billionaires and Academy Award nominee Mark Mori, and with legendary actor and Academy award nominee Alec Baldwin, who is a producer on the film. Additional links/info: Baristas vs. Billionaires website Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, "'Starbucks is the largest labor violator in modern history': Starbucks workers prepare for indefinite national strike" Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, "How union organizing can change your life and the world: A conversation with Jaz Brisack" Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, "Want to unionize your workplace? These worker-organizers have some advice" Featured Music: Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song Credits: Studio Production / Post-Production: David Hebden Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor