Black Work Talk

Looking Back and Forward After a Year of Labor Strikes and Wins, with Carlos Jimenez

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Throughout this season of Black Work Talk, we've explored how Black workers have shown up in many of the big labor wins that happened in 2023. This season finale brings the full picture into perspective as Carlos Jimenez, head of the special projects division of the AFL-CIO, joins host Jamala Rogers to analyze the history of labor fights that got us to this moment, and how organized Black workers have shown up throughout that history. The conversation delves into the encouraging and growing trend of action we have seen in the labor movement over the past few years. Jamala and Carlos also discuss the complexities of influencing institutions while preserving personal self-interest to bring about positive changes within large organizations like the AFL-CIO.

If you enjoyed any portion of this season of Black Work Talk, we'd ask that you take a few moments to rate and review the show wherever you listen. Or you can help the show continue to grow by becoming a Patreon member at Patreon.com/blackworktalk

Kaiser Workers’ Unsung Win, with Rashad Pritchett and Theresa Myles

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 10 Jan 2024 13:00:00 +0000

Rashaad Pritchett and Theresa Mtles of SEIU United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) join hosts Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers for this episode of Black Work Talk. They delve into the challenges faced by Black healthcare support workers, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rashaad and Theresa recount their experiences of being on the frontlines during the pandemic, tackling fears amongst Black workers as they struggled to perform their duties without proper PPE or safe staffing, lacking proper respect and benefits.

They also discuss SEIU-UHW's monumental healthcare strike in October 2023, which saw participation from 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers across four states. After the strike, the union won a historic contract ratified by over 90% of the membership. This conversation focuses on union organizing for healthcare workers, highlighting the importance of establishing connections with workers and dissecting the tactics which they can use to navigate the landscape of fighting for basic safety in the workplace during the pandemic.

Support the show by becoming a patron at Patreon.com/blackworktalk

Preparing for a General Strike, with Cecily Myart-Cruz

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 10:00:00 +0000

In this episode, United Teachers Los Angeles President Cecily Myart-Cruz joins Bianca and Jamala to discuss the challenges she has faced as the first woman of color to head this powerhouse union, and a leader who took over during the COVID-19 pandemic. When she advocated for educators and students in 2020, she faced immediate backlash. The interview explores how she found the resolve to continue to stand up for LA's teachers, students, and their families amidst such hostility.

Cecily's experience as a strong union leader on the Left makes her consideration of a general strike unique. She, Bianca and Jamala discuss the possibility of such an action and what it would take to make one a reality.

Black Work Talk will be on a winter hiatus for the next few weeks. Be sure to subscibe in your podcast feed to be alerted when new episodes appear in early January.

Support Black Work Talk at patreon.com/blackworktalk

Electoral Focus of the Working Class in 2024 and Beyond

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 10:00:00 +0000

BWT co-hosts Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers take time this episode to explore a few of the crises and challenges shaking the world and the Left in this moment. The recent demands by the United Auto Workers (UAW) and a few other national unions for a ceasefire in Gaza suggest an opening for a worker-led movement for peace. Bianca and Jamala discuss that possibility as well as how the Left is positioned for the upcoming 2024 elections.

Opinions on national electoral work vary among those identified with the US Left, but two perspectives stand out in this moment:

We should continue to support incumbent or mainstream Democratic candidates we ideologically disagree with, like Joe Biden, in the short term. This "harm reduction" strategy focuses on the need to block the authoritarian MAGA Right from creating untenable conditions for future organizing.
We should take big chances on more ideologically aligned candidates in hopes of building a new party structure from the bottom up. Severing ties with Democrats emphasizes the importance of gaining traction and excitement around a more representative populist movement.

The Biden administration's response to the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas in Israel has been unequivocal and unending support for the aggressive military action against Palestinians by Israel and its far-Right Netanyahu administration. This has complicated the question of Left support for mainstream Democrats over the past few months. Bianca and Jamala explore the pros and cons of both of these strategies in the short and long term.

Solidarity in the South. Solidarity in Palestine. Solidarity Everywhere. With Shafeah M’Balia

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 10:00:00 +0000

Fifty-six percent of people in the US who self-identify as Black call the South home. Today's guest, Shafeah M'Balia, explains why and how we need to focus organizing strategies on Black workers in southern states. Shafeah is a lifelong activist and organizer with Black Workers for Justice and Muslims for Social Change.

In this episode Shafeah talks with host Jamala Rogers to help listeners understand why they need to move through lingering, harmful stereotypes of the South and understand the interconnectedness of all workers in the region's supply chains. She'll review her past and present efforts to organize southern workers, and explore why international solidarity with movements like that for a free Palestine matter to US workers.

Where the Writers Guild of America Goes Next to Support Marginalized Workers, with Angela Harvey and Tawal Panyacosit Jr.

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 10:00:00 +0000

After the second-longest strike in Hollywood history, members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) voted to ratify a new contract in October 2023. Their 146-day walkout brought wins on some of the most pressing issues they were fighting for. These included new standards governing the use of AI for producing content and the distribution of residuals in the age of streaming.

Joining host Bianca Cunningham to discuss the strike, the contract, and these shifts in the entertainment industry are WGA member and Think Tank for Inclusion & Equity (TTIE) co-chair Angela Harvey, whose writing credits include MTV’s Teen Wolf, Station 19, and American Horror Stories, and one of TTIE's other co-chairs, Tawal Panyacosit Jr., a WGA member and activist whose has writing credits on Vampire Academy and other shows.

Bianca also talks with Angela and Tawal about TTIE and the importance of bringing more diverse stories to audiences who are hungry for them. TTIE is an intersectional group of working TV writers comprised of BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disabled, and women writers, from emerging voices to showrunners. Angela and Tawal reflect on the openness to diversity in TV and film writers' spaces today and their hopes for the industry's future.

The Case for a Black Workers’ Bill of Rights, with Tanya Wallace Gobern

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 10:00:00 +0000

Within this moment of labor upsurge, the National Black Worker Center (NBWC) exists to build the collective leadership of Black workers. NBWC is "a Black worker power building and worker’s rights advocacy organization that leads with militant joyfulness and Black movement culture." In addition to the national center, 11 local centers operate around the country, and nine more are in incubation. The centers offer leadership development and political education, as well as tools and safe spaces to help navigate the challenges of “working while Black.”

NBWC Executive Director Tanya Wallace Gobern joins host Jamala Rogers for this episode to talk about the Center’s programs, the unique role it fills, and how workers can access its resources. They also discuss the organization's Black Workers' Bill of Rights – a simple set of 10 demands for laws to protect Black workers and serve the fight for an anti-racist economy.

Support this show and others like it by becoming a Patreon supporter at Patreon.com/convergencemag

Teamsters’ Hard Fight For a Fair UPS Contract, with Chris Williamson and Richard Hooker Jr.

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 13:00:00 +0000

Around 340,000 members of the Teamsters Union who work for UPS came within days of walking off the job in July 2023 in what would have been the one of the largest strikes in US history. In August, they voted 86.3% in favor of ratification of a new five-year contract with the company. The contract provides provisions like a $21 per hour minimum wage for new part-time hires, increased wages for full-time UPS workers with an average top rate of $49 per hour, and safety provisions such as in-cab air conditioning for vehicles added to fleets after January 1, 2024.

Joining Bianca and Jamala this episode to discuss their experience in these negotiations and more about the relationship of UPS and the Teamsters are Chris Williamson, vice president and bargaining team member of Queens Local 804, and Philadelphia Teamsters Local 623 President Richard Hooker Jr.

Support this show and others like it by becoming a Patreon supporter at Patreon.com/convergencemag

Passing the Torch – Season Three of ‘Black Work Talk’

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 08 Nov 2023 10:00:00 +0000

Black Work Talk’s third season goes to the source of the energy for this current wave of labor activism, looks at how this surge impacts Black workers, and offers a fresh vision for what’s next. Listeners will hear conversations with rank-and-file workers from unions including the United Auto Workers, the Teamsters, and the Writers Guild of America. New hosts Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers offer educational tools and compelling strategies for the 90% of American workers who have yet to organize—and have an opportunity to seize the moment.

For this launch episode, Bianca and Jamala are joined by author, international trade union activist and longtime friend of the show Bill Fletcher Jr., who interviews them to learn more about who they are as well as what they bring to the Black worker movement.

Bill Fletcher: Keep Fighting Till the Lights Go Out

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 19:09:44 +0000

Black Work Talk comes full circle: This is the last episode of this iteration of Black Work Talk, and host Steven Pitts talks with Bill Fletcher Jr, who was the show’s first guest in November 2020. Their wide-ranging conversation started with some historical reflection on Black worker organizing and leadership, beginning with the National Negro Labor Council in the 1930s and then the National Negro American Labor Council, which did so much to build the 1963 March on Washington. They reflected on neoliberalism in Black politics, and the dangers that emerge when people who get elected on a progressive message find themselves blocked or walk back their politics. “In the absence of pressure from the Left, a couple things can happen,” Fletcher said. “One is people become discouraged, and cynical, and say, ‘Hey, there’s no point in engagement, because all these guys are fools.’ Another thing that can happen is that people become open to right-wing alternatives.” The conversation touched on internationalism, the expanding political role of Black immigrants, and the need for building organization and contesting for governing power. Asked at the end what advice he would offer from his vantage point as a movement veteran, Fletcher began by saying “Our determination to change the planet keeps us young, and when people give up on that you become old. That’s the framework that we all need to have. You’re fighting until the lights go out.” Convergence editorial note: Much appreciation to Steven Pitts for this insightful and thought-provoking series that has offered so much to our movements’ understanding and our practice.

Carroll Fife: ‘A Movement Person Having a Political Experience’

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Sat, 17 Dec 2022 19:31:26 +0000

Carroll Fife didn’t want to run for office, but a movement candidate dropped out of the race to represent Oakland’s District 3 on the City Council. As Fife searched the community for others to step up, people turned to her. “They said, ‘Because you are a servant of the work we are doing together, and you know how to do this, it makes sense for you to run,” she said. On Episode 18 of Black Work Talk, she and co-hosts Steven Pitts and Lauren Jacobs explored what it means to bring movement practice to elected office. They talked about the balance of power among the people, the policymakers and the elites, and how that can shift. They dug into what deepening democracy might look like, about how that will require uncomfortable conversations and a deep and consistent attention to race. “Don’t talk to me about an uptick in crime if you’re not talking to me about closing schools, disinvesting in schools, not paying teachers, taking people’s homes, not providing health care and all the other ways wealth has been extracted from communities,” Fife said. “If we’re having a conversation devoid of origins, we’re not having a real conversation.”

Kyra Greene and Branden Snyder: Making the PowerSwitch

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 19:46:07 +0000

“Where people live is changing very rapidly. When most of us say we organize locally, usually we mean in the central city,” said San Diego-based Kyra Greene, Executive Director of the Center on Policy Initiatives. “But more and more, as we’re seeing all over the country, it means going out to these suburban communities where our people are being pushed as the cities get gentrified. And there’s much less of the organizing infrastructure, and the connections among people are being reconfigured as we do our work.”

Greene joined Detroit Action Executive Director Branden Snyder for Episode 17 of Black Work Talk. In conversation with Steven Pitts and co-host Lauren Jacobs, they examined the difference place makes in the exercise of Black political power. They wrestled with the relationship between mutual aid—so necessary to poor communities’ survival—and building governing power. And they considered the dilemmas posed by neoliberal politicians of color, and the difference between winning elections and co-governance. Both the Center on Policy Initiatives and Detroit Action are affiliates of PowerSwitch Action, a network of local organizations dedicated to building a multiracial feminist democracy and economies in cities and regions around the country. Lauren Jacobs is Executive Director of PowerSwitch Action.

Linda Burnham on ‘Power Concedes Nothing’

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 22:14:41 +0000

As a writer, activist, strategist and political educator, Linda Burnham has developed a nuanced understanding of the complex path to building more power in this country. In this episode of BWT, she talked with co-hosts Steven Pitts and Lauren Jacobs about the new book she co-edited, Power Concedes Nothing: How Grassroots Organizing Wins Elections. Elections are not the only arena where we build and contest for power, Burnham observed, but it would be impossible “to build a broad base in this country while avoiding the electoral arena.” The work done in 2020 by base-building groups like New Virginia Majority and Florida Rising—and chronicled in Power Concedes—shows how we can successfully build electoral majorities and build the thick relationships with working people that allow for successful action beyond elections. The conversation begun in the book can also set the groundwork for the national strategy development the Left so clearly needs. “How does set of people that’s doing the work get in the right place at the right time to talk about how are we building on this? What are we trying to get to? What’s going to take us there? What kinds of resources do we need?… That conversation has ripened, and we’ll get to the place where we can actually have it.”

Stacy Davis Gates: Our Union’s Fight Is a Fight for Black Chicago

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Fri, 09 Sep 2022 19:44:27 +0000

Just before the tenth anniversary of the landmark 2012 Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) strike, new CTU President Stacy Davis Gates sat down with Black Work Talk co-hosts Steven Pitts and Sheri Davis. They started off with the Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators (CORE), which Gates co-founded in 2008, and reflected on the new politics and leadership practices CORE brought when several of its members won union office in 2010. CORE understands the ties that bind teachers, parents, and their communities. Its politics rest on, as Gates said, “recognition of the facts.”

“As a Black educator in Chicago you are experiencing the fullness of privatization, the fullness of lack of affordability, and the fullness of the lack of public employee jobs for the next generation…The union cannot just be concerned with a pay scale and a sick bank and a vacation day. God knows those are important, but what do they matter when these vacant lots continue to pop up, when there are foreclosure signs all in my neighborhood and the school I want to walk my kids to is closed down? This forces you to do one of two things: leave or fight,” said Gates, who also serves on the Convergence advisory board.

Organizing Black Workers: A Conversation Across Generations (Part 2)

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Tue, 09 Aug 2022 22:22:55 +0000

This is the second of two episodes drawn from “Black Labor Struggles Over Time,” the Black Work Talk panel at the 2022 Labor Notes conference. Panelists Jerome Scott (Project South and the League of Revolutionary Black Workers), Stacy Davis Gates (Chicago Teachers Union), Susan DeCarava (NewsGuild of New York), and Chris Smalls (Amazon Labor Union) discussed what it means to support Black workers at this moment in time. Not surprisingly, given the depth of experience among them, their answers covered the full spectrum from mutual aid to revolutionary vision, from direct action to skillful rooting in Black culture.

“What we’re doing now is building something,” Gates said. “We gotta test hypotheses and fail at some stuff because nobody in here can tell me how we overcame, because we are still overcomING….we have to be willing to do the thing we haven’t done before.”

Organizing Black Workers: A Conversation Across Generations (Part 1)

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Sat, 23 Jul 2022 01:49:58 +0000

At the June 2022 Labor Notes conference, Black Work Talk presented a panel of organizers spanning generations and geographies: Jerome Scott of Project South and the League of Revolutionary Black Workers; Stacy Davis Gates, president of the Chicago Teachers Union; Susan DeCarava, president of the NewsGuild of New York, and Chris Smalls of the Amazon Labor Union. This is the first of two episodes drawn from that panel. Participants responded to the question, “What are the key challenges facing Black workers today and what should we do about them?”

Jerome Scott kicked off the panel by reminding everyone that, “The United States is a capitalist, class society whose DNA is white supremacy. If we forget that, we might make some advancements…but as long as we have capitalist relations of production, they’re going to be able to take it back… if we don’t have any long-range strategic goals, we’re in trouble.” The conversation only got deeper and more layered from there on, as participants built on each other’s responses and articulated their vision. Toussaint Losier of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Bianca Cunningham of Action Center on Race and the Economy moderated the panel.

Erica Iheme: ‘We Organize From Our Soul’

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Fri, 08 Jul 2022 18:22:22 +0000

Burnout nearly took Erica Iheme out of the labor movement twice. “Our organizing culture excludes the most impacted,” Iheme said on the July 7 episode of Black Work Talk. In her work with Jobs To Move America, she’s about changing that to allow people to bring their full selves to the work—and practice an organizing model that brings community partners to the table instead of just going to them with “asks.” She’s based in Alabama, and put that model to the test in building community support for the workers organizing at the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer. The faith/labor/community blitz she helped organize gave hundreds of local people an in-depth understanding of why the union drive was important. “It was part of a 10 – 15-year campaign to make union organizing commonplace and successful across the South,” she told BWT co-hosts Steven Pitts and Sheri Davis.

Danielle Phillips-Cunningham: Black Women’s History of All-Sided Labor Resistance

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Fri, 20 May 2022 03:12:09 +0000

For more than a century, Black women’s organizations—whether explicitly working-class or not—have fed what Dr. Danielle T. Phillips-Cunningham calls “comprehensive labor resistance.” The Washing Society organized the Atlanta washerwomen’s strike of 1881. The National Council of Colored Women’s Clubs, with chapters in every state, organized around voting rights and unjust incarceration of Black women and men, as well as working women’s issues. They took the view that “when Black women’s lives improve, the whole community will rise,” Phillips-Cunningham said. Some were socialists with a global analysis of labor and capital, documenting labor injustices and quantifying the exploitation of Black workers. Some of their key activists started the National Association of Wage Earners in the 1920s, when the Women’s Trade Union League declined to organize Black women. In the interview with Black Work Talk co-hosts Sheri Davis and Steven Pitts, Phillips-Cunningham follows this deep organizing tradition up through the last decade of game-changing electoral work in Georgia.

Beverly Guy-Sheftall: All Our Oppressions are Interconnected

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Sat, 23 Apr 2022 13:26:54 +0000

“Black feminism is the political idea that all forms of oppression, which are global and persistent, are interconnected and structural: white supremacy, racism, heterosexism, ableism, class disparities,” said Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall, referencing bell hooks. “All of those systems of oppression are connected, and we experience them simultaneously. We have to dismantle all of those structural systems and cannot prioritize one over the other,” she said. Using this lens, Dr. Guy-Sheftall drew a long history of Black feminist activism, including Ida B. Wells and her anti-lynching campaign, the organizers of the Atlanta washerwomen’s strike of 1881, Rosa Parks’ anti-rape organizing, and of course the work of the Combahee River Collective. Her conversation with Black Work Talk co-hosts Steven Pitts and Sheri Davis, Guy-Sheftall dug into this history, the ways power functions within and outside the Black community, and how a Black feminist understanding can shape organizing praxis.

Mariame Kaba: Organizing is the How

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 16:23:51 +0000

In this episode of Black Work Talk, Steven Pitts and his co-host, Toussaint Losier, talk with Mariame Kaba. Mariame is one of this country’s leading abolitionist thinkers and practitioners. She has founded several projects organizing around abolitionist principles including Project NIA. Many of her writings on abolition are collected in a recent book, “We Do This ‘Til We Free Us”. We talk about Mariame’s definition of abolition and what might account for the increased interest in abolition.

NTanya Lee: We Need a Liberatory Strategy for Today and Tomorrow

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 19:05:29 +0000

In this episode of Black Work Talk, Steven Pitts and his co-host, Toussaint Losier talk with NTanya Lee, National Secretary of LeftRoots, a national organization of social movement organizers and activists. We began by reviewing the landscape of the Black Left today and continued by discussing the distinctions between the Black Left and Black Lives Matter activism. We later talked about the need for a liberatory strategy so as to better support current activists and better achieve gains that allow us to improve the Black working class lives today AND build power for tomorrow. We closed by discussing how LeftRoots sees itself in the broader Black movement organizational ecosystem and some of its current work.

Bianca Cunningham: From AfroSOC to Elections to Eviction Defense

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 20:34:14 +0000

When thousands of people occupied the park across from New York City Hall in 2020 to demand defunding of the police, “it turned into a huge mutual aid project, and we had to look at what keeps a community safe,” Bianca Cunningham said. Cunningham, now a campaign director at Action Center for the New Economy, reflected on her range of organizing experiences with Black Work Talk co-hosts Steven Pitts and Toussaint Losier. The energy of the #BlackLivesMatter protests flowed into eviction defense; Cunningham and other supporters of the first Black homeowner on her block faced off against violent landlord goons. Working closely with the eight socialists elected to the New York State legislature, NYC DSA is injecting an element of collective organizing into constituent services—for example, mobilizing for better housing policies at the state level. In the big picture, Cunningham says, “socialism is the only way to ensure that people get what they need to survive.” She joined DSA and co-founded the AfroSocialist and Socialist of Color Caucus; it started as a happy hour to build relationships, and has grown into a space for people of color inside and outside DSA who are “radicals and leftists and socialist-curious.”

Lester K. Spence: Power makes durable shifts in politics, economics & culture

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Fri, 25 Feb 2022 18:33:24 +0000

Lester K. Spence parsed the nature of power in his wide-ranging conversation with Black Work Talk co-hosts Steven Pitts and Toussaint Losier. Spence is perhaps best-known for his work on neoliberalism in the Black community. “Neoliberalism turned cross-class solidarity in the Black community towards upper-class interests,” he said, but that is changing. “As a result of Black Lives Matter, we have a robust Black liberal tendency and a growing Black Left.” The three also touched on the impact that the decline of unions has had on Black political power, and the nuances of recognizing police abuse as a class issue as well as an expression of racism.

Toussaint Losier: What Is the Black Left?

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 16 Feb 2022 23:38:38 +0000

In this fifth episode of Black Work Talk’s Season Two, Steven Pitts talks with Toussaint Losier, his co-host for the second mini-series of Black Work Talk on the Black Left. Toussaint is a professor in the African American Studies Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. During this episode, we previewed the mini-series by presenting our definitions of the Black Left; discussing the importance of organizations and institutions to expanding the power and influence of the Black Left; and outlining some of the key challenges facing the Black Left.

Will Jones: How Labor Built the March on Washington

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 21:37:03 +0000

In this fourth episode of Black Work Talk’s Season Two, co-hosts Steven Pitts and Bill Fletcher talk with Will Jones. Will is Professor of History at the University of Minnesota. His particular emphasis is understanding the relationship between race and class in the United States during the 20th Century. His 2013 book, “The March on Washington: Jobs, Freedom and the Forgotten History of Civil Rights,” examined the role of Black labor leaders in the 1963 March on Washington and was the basis for our conversation. Beyond understanding how Black unionists were a key to the mobilization of 250,000 marchers to DC, Will discussed how this success was a function of the power of their union and their relationship with a variety of organizations in the Black community. We talked about the relevance of this insight for organizing and mobilizing today and winning durable victories.

Here is a link to the publisher webpage about Will’s book:

https://www.norton.com/books/the-march-on-washington/

Here is an article by Will that captures some of his main points detailed in the book:

Will Jones "The Forgotten Radical History of the March on Washington (Dissent Magazine)

Bert Bayou: We meet our members where they live

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Tue, 25 Jan 2022 14:00:00 +0000

In this third episode of Black Work Talk’s Season Two, co-hosts Steven Pitts and Bill Fletcher talk with Bert Bayou. Bert is DC Chapter Director of African Communities Together (ACT) and Vice President of UNITE HERE Local 23. ACT is an organization of African immigrants with chapters in Washington DC and New York. ACT provides services and organizes for power. Local 23 represents airport workers in 10 cities across the United States.

We talked about Bert’s work in both organizations and it appeared that in DC, there was a great deal of overlap between the two organizations. African immigrants (mainly Ethiopian immigrants) are a large portion of the workforce at National and Dulles Airports and prior to significant worker engagement, organizers went to great length to understand the conditions of the workers in their communities. This community-orientation was important as voter engagement work was done in the 2020 Presidential Election and runoff race in Georgia. Bert also spoke of the devastating impact of the pandemic on members on the job and in their communities.

African Communities Together

UNITE HERE Local 23

April Verrett: Care workers bridge the partisan divide

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 14:00:00 +0000

In this second episode of Black Work Talk’s Season Two, co-hosts Steven Pitts and Bill Fletcher talk with April Verrett. April is president of SEIU 2015, a union of 400,000 long-term caregivers in California. April talked about the importance of Democracy Schools the union operated to engage members in basic political governance activities at the local level. These schools were an important campaign that activates members regardless of their political identifications. One key outcome of these schools was building bridges across partisan divides. April also spoke of the importance of combining a sharp analysis of corporate power with an understanding of how race impacts everything.

For more information on SEIU 2015, see:

SEIU 2015

April mentioned SEIU Racial Justice Center; here is the link to this information:

SEIU's Racial Justice Center

Rob Baril: Health workers say ‘take your knee off our necks’

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 14:00:00 +0000

In this first episode of Black Work Talk’s Season Two, co-hosts Steven Pitts and Bill Fletcher talk with Rob Baril. Rob is the president of SEIU 1199NE, a union of health care workers in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Rob talked about how members of SEIU 1199NE have been fighting state officials in Connecticut for better working conditions during the pandemic. He indicated this fight not only won…

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Bill Fletcher: ‘We need to push the envelope on democracy’

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 21:00:00 +0000

In this eighteenth episode of Black Work Talk, we end Season One as we began it with Bill Fletcher, long-time racial justice and labor activist. We reviewed the events over the past 8 months: the insurrection; the determined GOP efforts to promote the Big Lie about the election and insist the adherence to the Big Lie would be a litmus test for GOP elected officials; and the effort of the Biden…

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Dawn Gearhart: Leveraging apps to build care workers’ power

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 30 Jun 2021 21:00:00 +0000

In this seventeenth episode of Black Work Talk, our guest today is Dawn Gearhart. Dawn is the Director of Gig Economy Organizing for the National Domestic Workers Alliance. Dawn is leading efforts to organize workers who utilize an app to connect with potential clients desiring domestic work services. Prior to joining NDWA, Dawn organized taxi drivers and gig workers in Seattle.

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Michael Dawson: Breaking down the neoliberal racial order

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 21:00:00 +0000

In this sixteenth episode of Black Work Talk, our guest is Michael Dawson. Michael is a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, where he has written extensively about the intertwined nature of Black politics and Left politics. Currently, he co-leads the Race and Capitalism Project that seeks to understand how the racial and capitalist systems of domination interact.

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Lauren Jacobs: Build people’s sense of collective power

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 21:00:00 +0000

In this fifteenth episode of Black Work Talk, our guest is Lauren Jacobs. Lauren is the Executive Director of the Partnership for Working Families – a national network of regional power-building organizations. Lauren and I have been friends for over 15 years…I remember when she was a union organizer in Boston. I have always loved the way Lauren combines things: race and class…theory and practice.

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Sheri Davis: Bringing Black feminist principles to union practice

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 19 May 2021 19:00:00 +0000

In this fourteenth episode of Black Work Talk, today’s Sheri Davis. Sheri is the Associate Director of the Center for Innovation in Worker Organization (CIWO) at Rutgers University and the Senior Program Director – WILL Empower at CIWO. The purpose of WILL Empower is to develop the next generation of women in the labor movement – unions and worker centers. Sheri fuses her desire to promote deep…

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Maurice Mitchell: Victories now should build to our north-star vision

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 05 May 2021 19:00:00 +0000

In this thirteenth episode of Black Work Talk, Today’s guest is Maurice Mitchell. Maurice is the National Director of the Working Families Party. Since its inception, the Working Families Party has done a good job of navigating the complicated waters of combining Left political perspectives with building bases among working class people and maintaining effectiveness in the electoral arena.

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Barbara Ransby: Capitalism and racism intertwine and feed on each other

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 19:00:00 +0000

In this twelfth episode of Black Work Talk, host Steven Pitts welcomes Barbara Ransby, professor of history at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Barbara has written extensively on the Black Freedom Movement on topics ranging from Ella Baker and Eslanda Robeson to the current Black Lives Matter movement. Our conversation took place soon after the release of the videos of the Chicago police’s…

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Robin D.G. Kelley: Amazon union drive carries on Alabama’s Black radical legacy

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 19:00:00 +0000

This eleventh episode of Black Work Talk was a joint effort with Dissent Magazine’s podcast, Belabored. Belabored’s co-hosts, Michelle Chen and Sarah Jaffe, and Black Work Talk’s host, Steven Pitts were joined by historian Robin D.G. Kelley. Robin’s book, Hammer and Hoe, details the organizing work in the Birmingham metropolitan area during the 1930s where key Black workers were Communist and…

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Maurice BP-Weeks: Racial capitalism, ‘because I’m Black all the time’

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 19:00:00 +0000

In this tenth episode of Black Work Talk, host Steven Pitts welcomes Maurice BP-Weeks, co-founder of the Action Center on Race and the Economy (ACRE). ACRE sits at the nexus of the struggles for racial and economic justice. As such, they provide campaign assistance to local organizations and engage in national campaigns against corporate elites. Equally important, ACRE shapes the national…

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Jesse Hagopian: #BlackLivesMatter at school

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 20:00:00 +0000

In this ninth episode of Black Work Talk, host Steven Pitts welcomes Jesse Hagopian, an Ethnic Studies teacher at Garfield High School in Seattle, Washington. The public schools in the United States have been near Ground Zero during this confluence of COVID, the recession, and the fight for racial justice and because of this, education has become a flashpoint for political struggle.

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Michelle Crentsil: Nurses bridge differences to tackle life-and-death issues

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 20:00:00 +0000

In this eighth episode of Black Work Talk, host Steven Pitts welcomes Michelle Crentsil, political director for the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA). The members of NYSNA have been through hell this past year dealing with the extreme conditions caused by COVID and federal government ineptitude. We talked about these struggles and the reality that the pandemic has forged greater solidarity…

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Erica Smiley: Can we imagine a democracy worth fighting for?

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 20:00:00 +0000

In this seventh episode of Black Work Talk, host Steven Pitts welcomes Erica Smiley, Executive Director of Jobs with Justice. Smiley has been with Jobs with Justice for over 15 years. Prior to joining the organization, she worked at a number of unions and community-based organizations. During the episode, we spoke about a variety of topics including the need to go beyond the red state/

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Bill Lucy: At the crossroads of labor, Black power & civil rights

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 20:00:00 +0000

In this sixth episode of Black Work Talk, host Steven Pitts welcomes William A. Lucy. Bill retired in 2010 after over 50 years in the leadership of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Union (AFSCME). Bill talked about his beginnings in the labor movement organizing government workers in Contra Costa County (CA). He later represented the national staff of AFSCME during the…

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April Sims: Building vibrant unions with space for all workers

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 20:00:00 +0000

In the fifth episode of Black Work Talk, host Steven Pitts welcomes April Sims, Secretary-Treasurer of the Washington State Labor Council. April told us a bit about her background, in particular, how the experiences of her mother led April to understand the importance of unions to working people’s lives. She also talked about the work of the State Labor Council in developing and rolling out an…

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Greg Kelley: Unions can lay a foundation for lasting progress

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 20:00:00 +0000

In the fourth episode of Black Work Talk, host Steven Pitts welcomes Greg Kelley, President of SEIU Health Care Illinois. Greg gave us a sense of how he got into labor organizing. We moved to get a sense of how COVID has impacted union members and their resolve to use the power of their union to protect their quality of life on the job. Greg relayed stories of how efforts to build racial…

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Tanya Wallace Gobern: Our work can be ‘joyous militancy’

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 20:00:00 +0000

In this third episode of Black Work Talk, host Steven Pitts welcomes Tanya Wallace Gobern, Executive Director of the National Black Worker Center. Tanya spoke of how growing up in Chicago shaped her passion for social justice and worker organizing. She continued to share lessons from her years of organizing Black workers especially to need to build a “joyous militancy”. We talked about the recent…

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Bill Fletcher: 2020 election takeaways and next steps

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 23:00:00 +0000

In this first episode of Black Work Talk, host Steven Pitts welcomes Bill Fletcher, long-time racial justice and labor activist. Bill talks about key takeaways from the 2020 Election and steps needed to build a progressive governing majority. Also, we discuss why it is important to build Black worker power and how to go about doing this.

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Interview Sneak Peek: Bill Fletcher

Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 21:00:00 +0000

Guest Bill Fletcher sits down with Steven and previews for us the big questions he will address in our first real episode, dropping November 11th, one week after the election. Bill tells us what he thinks Black workers and organizers should be paying attention to as election day approaches. This is an important glimpse into the most important challenges and opportunities facing all of us in this…

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