A podcast about how even though we're working hard, modern life is hardly working for us. This is the pro-worker show about your job and how to make it better.
Strikes are still the answer | Costco, King Soopers, bad bills, and Wisconsin
Andy and Will are back to pick through some of the disheartening news of the last month.
Stories:
5:18 - Costco, Teamsters reach tentative agreement and avert a strike
21:12 - "NOSHA" Act
25:34 - National Right to Work Act
27:57 - 10,000 workers get the goods by striking King Soopers
30:29 - Lessons from Wisconsin's recent labor history
Links:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/costco-teamsters-tentative-contract-avoid-strike/
https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/86/text
https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1232/text
https://apnews.com/article/king-soopers-grocery-strike-ends-denver-e3195f8b00754ec75699ae43d83aeac6
Write into the show: hardlyworkingshow@gmail.com
27 Jan 2025
"Return to office" and other nonsense
Recorded January 22, 2025
Andy and Will discuss: Trump's inauguration, Elon Musk is just another far-right billionaire, SEIU and AFL-CIO join forces, and the ski patrollers strike.
Resources mentioned:
https://redflag.org.au/article/the-teamsters-strikes-at-amazon-a-critical-assessment
https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/350-the-civil-wars-in-u-s-labor
7 Jan 2025
Inside the fight to organize Starbucks (with Evan McKenzie)
It's a supersized episode to start 2025: Andy and Will discuss the ever-accelerating upward transfer of wealth, H-1B visas, and the overall state of union membership in the US.
Then, (at 40:30) union organizer Evan McKenzie joins the show to give an inside look at the Starbucks Workers United campaign leading up to the recent strikes in December 2024.
Write to us: hardlyworkingshow@gmail.com
17 Nov 2024
Post-Election Reaction / NYT Tech Guild, company unions, and more
Andy and Will are back to deliver their analysis of the 2024 election as well as some labor news from the last couple of weeks.
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
2:51 Welcome to the show
3:45 Captive audience meetings are ruled to be unlawful
8:39 New York Times Tech Guild to return to work, negotiations will go on
19:42 Boeing machinists approve contract
26:30 Massachusetts voters allow Uber, Lyft drivers to unionize
37:45 Post-election discussion
Resources:
https://www.nlrb.gov/news-outreach/news-story/board-rules-captive-audience-meetings-unlawful (https://www.nlrb.gov/news-outreach/news-story/board-rules-captive-audience-meetings-unlawful)
https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/11/24294023/new-york-times-tech-workers-strike-end (https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/11/24294023/new-york-times-tech-workers-strike-end)
https://www.npr.org/2024/11/05/nx-s1-5179037/boeing-machinists-union-strike-vote (https://www.npr.org/2024/11/05/nx-s1-5179037/boeing-machinists-union-strike-vote)
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/massachusetts-voters-allow-uber-lyft-drivers-unionize-2024-11-06/ (https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/massachusetts-voters-allow-uber-lyft-drivers-unionize-2024-11-06/)
31 Oct 2024
'Out of Office' Documentary / Union Nurses Strike / Dockworkers Strike / Boeing Workers Reject Contract
In this episode of the Hardly Working podcast, Andy and Will talk about some of the labor news from the past month. Then, Andy interviews Will about Will's documentary, "Out of Office," the story of how office workers stood up to their employer and won.
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:44 Welcome to the show
2:48 Honolulu Nurses Weather Long Lockout and Win Staffing Ratio Language
17:12 Dockworkers’ union suspends strike until Jan. 15 to allow time to negotiate new contract
29:20 ‘Not Good Enough’: Striking Machinists Reject New Boeing Offer
35:22 Discussion of Will's documentary
Resources:
https://labornotes.org/2024/10/honolulu-nurses-weather-long-lockout-and-win-staffing-ratio-language
https://apnews.com/article/longshoremen-strike-ports-dockworkers-agreement-ila-f136bdcd52738e94f2938aaa79a1fa2a
https://labornotes.org/2024/10/not-good-enough-striking-machinists-reject-new-boeing-offer
Videos Will made for the TruStage workers' strike: https://www.youtube.com/@trustageworkersunion/videos (https://www.youtube.com/@trustageworkersunion/videos)
Trailer for Out of Office: https://youtu.be/f4USN19AvPU (https://youtu.be/f4USN19AvPU)
17 Sept 2024
O'Brien at the RNC / The Election
In today's episode, we discuss Andy's article for Tempest, "The RNC does the Teamsters" (https://tempestmag.org/2024/09/the-rnc-does-the-teamsters/) and break down how popular appetite for real change can be co-opted by nefarious actors looking to seize power for themselves.
But it's not all bad! We also get into the US presidential election and how we're spoilt for excellent options (I'm being told now that it is, in fact, all bad).
Andy's article: https://tempestmag.org/2024/09/the-rnc-does-the-teamsters/
Thanks for listening to the show. You can yell at us here: hardlyworkingshow@gmail.com.
20 Aug 2024
Union basics: The structure of a union
In our last episode, we talked about what unions are, why they’re important, and why you might want to join or start a union. Today, we’re continuing our unofficial “union basics” series and getting into the structure of what a union can look like. What’s a steward? What are my dues going to? What's a local?
Email the show: hardlyworkingshow@gmail.com (mailto:hardlyworkingshow@gmail.com)
Chapters:
0:00 - Introduction
10:14 - Bungie CEO buys expensive cars as layoffs hit 17% of the workforce (https://www.vg247.com/bungie-ceo-seemigly-bought-over-2-million-dollars-classic-cars-since-acquisition) (https://www.vg247.com/bungie-ceo-seemigly-bought-over-2-million-dollars-classic-cars-since-acquisition)
23:35 - UAW files federal labor charges against Donald Trump and Elon Musk (https://uaw.org/uaw-files-federal-labor-charges-against-donald-trump-and-elon-musk-for-attempting-to-intimidate-and-threaten-workers/) (https://uaw.org/uaw-files-federal-labor-charges-against-donald-trump-and-elon-musk-for-attempting-to-intimidate-and-threaten-workers/)
30:59 - Elon Musk loses fight with ex-Twitter staffer, must pay 600K (https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/08/elon-musk-loses-fight-with-ex-twitter-staffer-must-pay-600k/) (https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/08/elon-musk-loses-fight-with-ex-twitter-staffer-must-pay-600k/)
33:11 - AppleTV VFX workers unionize with IATSE (https://iatse.net/appletv-vfx-workers-unanimously-vote-to-unionize-with-iatse-in-official-labor-board-election/) (https://iatse.net/appletv-vfx-workers-unanimously-vote-to-unionize-with-iatse-in-official-labor-board-election/)
40:20 - The structure of a union
Hardly Working is a Brand New Extra Good (brandnewextragood.com) production.
3 Aug 2024
Union basics: What are unions and why are they important?
Recorded August 2, 2024
Will and Andy are back to talk about the Oxford comma and some good old-fashioned Marxism.
In this episode, we do some Unions 101 work and get into some of the personal, economic, and philosophical reasons unions are important.
Chapters:
0:00 - Introduction
15:03 - Disneyland cast members ratify contract: https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/disney-cast-members-new-contract-raise-disneyland-anaheim-unions/ (https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/disney-cast-members-new-contract-raise-disneyland-anaheim-unions/)
20:11 - Apple reaches its first-ever union contract with store employees in Maryland: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/apple-union-towson-maryland-rcna163978 (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/apple-union-towson-maryland-rcna163978)
24:40 - Samsung workers in South Korea continue their strike, picketing outside Samsung chairman's house: https://techxplore.com/news/2024-08-south-korea-union-pickets-samsung.html (https://techxplore.com/news/2024-08-south-korea-union-pickets-samsung.html)
28:28 - Boeing workers authorize strike: https://nwlaborpress.org/2024/08/boeing-workers-vote-to-authorize-a-strike/ (https://nwlaborpress.org/2024/08/boeing-workers-vote-to-authorize-a-strike/)
31:45 - Unions 101
55:29 - This is a system working as intended
You can write in to the podcast at hardlyworkingshow@gmail.com
Hardly Working is a Brand New Extra Good (brandnewextragood.com) production.
30 Jul 2024
Captive audience meetings
In this episode, Andy and Will talk about captive audience meetings, a common union-busting tactic.
Articles discussed:
Journalists at Australian newspapers go on strike on eve of Olympics: https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/7/26/journalists-at-australian-newspapers-go-on-strike-on-eve-of-olympics (https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/7/26/journalists-at-australian-newspapers-go-on-strike-on-eve-of-olympics)
Staff at IOC’s luxury Paris hotel go on strike: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/jul/25/olympic-breakfast-off-the-menu-staff-at-ioc-luxury-paris-hotel-go-on-strike (https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/jul/25/olympic-breakfast-off-the-menu-staff-at-ioc-luxury-paris-hotel-go-on-strike)
The threat of a strike by dancers in the Opening Ceremony got them a greater share of broadcast royalties: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/24/arts/dance/olympic-dancers-strike-opening-ceremony.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/24/arts/dance/olympic-dancers-strike-opening-ceremony.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare)
Video game performers go on strike over artificial intelligence: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4ngy53qyq8o (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4ngy53qyq8o)
World of Warcraft developers form Blizzard’s largest and most inclusive union: https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/24/24205366/world-of-warcraft-developers-form-union-blizzard-entertainment (https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/24/24205366/world-of-warcraft-developers-form-union-blizzard-entertainment)
Blue states line up to ban anti-union captive audience meetings: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/captive-audience-meetings-state-bans_n_66a167d4e4b0ac6125bd0c36 (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/captive-audience-meetings-state-bans_n_66a167d4e4b0ac6125bd0c36)
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
3 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 32 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
51
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
32
Contact Hardly Working
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of Hardly Working?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
