Home care workers are some of the most exploited workers in New York City. These workers are expected to work shifts as long as 24 hours while being shortchanged on the pay they are owed. Many of these women have experienced debilitating injuries and illnesses. A coalition of groups including Chinese Staff & Workers Association, Flushing Workers Center, National Organization for Women NYS, NYC DSA Socialist Feminists & National Mobilization Against SweatShops is leading the “Ain’t I A Wo...
Sep 15, 2022•22 min
We were excited to be joined by James Davis, President of PSC-CUNY on WBAI. The 50th anniversary is coming up of the Professional Staff Congress union at CUNY, formed in 1972. The union represents over 30,000 faculty and professional staff at the City University of New York at its 24 campuses. CUNY is the largest urban higher-education system in the country, and we talk about the fight for a free and just CUNY that the union has been a part of for years.
Sep 14, 2022•13 min
Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez recently announced that he was throwing out 378 past convictions that were tainted by police corruption. We were joined by one of our contributing editors and an expert investigative reporte, Ted Hamm, who has written extensively about the intersection of our criminal justice system and the machinations of power-politics in Brooklyn, especially at the Brooklyn DA’s office, where there’s been some recent developments.
Sep 14, 2022•11 min
We speak on WBAI about Labor Day 2022 and how it was celebrated yesterday by a rising new generation of bold young unionists. The Amazon Labor Union, joined by Starbucks Workers United and many other insurgent labor groups rallied to demand billion-dollar companies Amazon and Starbucks recognize their unions. On April 1 of this year, the Amazon Labor Union pulled off what many said was impossible — they won a union election at JFK8, an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island. The election results were...
Sep 08, 2022•29 min
A mini segment with Editor-in-Chief on the history of Labor Day and how it harkens back to a split in the labor world between TK and TK which still runs strong today.
Sep 08, 2022•9 min
We speak on WBAI-99.5 FM with Dr. Kaliris Salas-Ramirez, a public school parent leader and a member of New York City’s school board. A new school years begins on Thursday for New York City’s 1 million public school students. Dr. Kaliris Salas-Ramirez has been a leading critic of the decision by Eric Adams and the City Council to defund the schools this year by $469 million. She talks about the impact that decision is having on the city’s children and their support systems and what public educati...
Sep 08, 2022•12 min
First Segment: On April 1 of this year, the Amazon Labor Union pulled off what many said was impossible — they won a union election at JFK8, an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island. The election results were objected to by Amazon and after months of hearings and deliberation, the National Labor Relations Board announced on Thursday that the company’s objections had no merit. The worker-led Amazon Labor Union is demanding the company come to the bargaining table and negotiate a first contract. Since...
Sep 08, 2022•55 min
Listen along as Indypendent Editor-in-Chief John Tarleton and WBAI's Linda Sarsour discuss the results from Tuesday's Democratic primary in New York. In their conversation, they talk about some of the Left's big victories on Tuesday and why it failed to coalesce and win in NY's newly created 10th congressional district in Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn.
Aug 25, 2022•55 min
We spoke with writer and leftist pundit Tom Robbins on primary night about some of the hardest-fought races and the terrain these races were being contested on. Some of the wealthiest New Yorkers are spending millions of dollars this year to drown out the voices of progressive grassroots candidates.
Aug 25, 2022•1 hr
We speak with voters as they exit polling places in congressional districts NY-10 and NY-10. In NY-10 where progressive incumbent Jamaal Bowman (who was backed by the DSA two years ago when he first won election)ran to keep his seat against three more moderate challengers. In NY-16, David Alexis ran an insurgent DSA-backed campaign against Kevin Parker, who has held the seat for two decades and has received more than $100,000 in campaign donations in his career from fossil-fuel interests. Alexis...
Aug 25, 2022•4 min
We hear from State Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou. She is carrying the progressive banner in the wide-open race for New York’s newly created 10th congressional district which encompasses Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn. The latest polls show Niou running second in a field of 15 candidates, trailing only Dan Goldman, a former federal prosecutor and an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune. Also, a reminder that we will be hosting a special, two-hour election night edition of The Indypendent News Ho...
Aug 17, 2022•23 min
We speak with Ariadna Phillips of South Bronx Mutual Aid, who has been part of on-the-ground solidarity efforts when buses of asylum seekers arrive in NYC, sent from Texas border towns by Gov. Greg Abbott, who calls Biden's anything-but border policy "open borders." So far, around 4000 people have arrived and the buses keep coming, says Phillips, who explains the difficulty of the journey described as "hell" and "prison." She also describes the current "resettlement" process.
Aug 17, 2022•27 min
We speak with Ariadna Phillips of South Bronx Mutual Aid, who has been part of on-the-ground solidarity efforts when buses of asylum seekers arrive in NYC, sent from Texas border towns by Gov. Greg Abbott, who calls Biden's anything-but border policy "open borders." Then we hear from State Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou. She is carrying the progressive banner in the wide-open race for New York’s newly created 10th congressional district which encompasses Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn. The l...
Aug 17, 2022•57 min
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has been sending the asylum seekers to “sanctuary cities” Washington, DC, and NYC for months — without sufficient food, water and medical assistance, say those that are supporting the migrants as they arrive. Since Friday, two buses carrying asylum seekers have arrived from Texas, with a total of 68 passengers. 4,000 immigrants have come from Texas in the last few months. We are joined by Adriana Phillips, founder of South Bronx Mutual Aid and a member of the NYC ICE w...
Aug 11, 2022•11 min
We learn about races to watch in the upcoming state and national legislative elections from co-host John Tarleton, the Editor-in-Chief of The Indy and a keen observer of electoral politics.
Aug 11, 2022•7 min
There are ~1,800 public schools in NYC serving 1 million students. But even though school will start in a month, most schools don't know what their annual budget will be and whether they will have to lay off staff. The matter appeared to be settled on June 13 when Mayor Eric Adams pushed the City’s annual budget through City Council with hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to school funding. But on Friday New York Supreme Court Justice Lyle Frank ruled that the process upon which the Departm...
Aug 11, 2022•30 min
—There are ~1,800 public schools in NYC serving 1 million students. But even though school will start in a month, most schools don't know what their annual budget will be and whether they will have to lay off staff. The matter appeared to be settled on June 13 when Mayor Eric Adams pushed the City’s annual budget through City Council with hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to school funding. But on Friday New York Supreme Court Justice Lyle Frank ruled that the process upon which the Depart...
Aug 11, 2022•56 min
We get a needed sermon from Reverend Billy Talen of the Church of Stop Shopping about their new “Earth Church” in a former bank building on the Lower East Side. Billy insists if we’re going to survive the climate crisis, we will need soon need an Earth-centered cultural revolution.
Jul 28, 2022•10 min
Advocates for the Build Public Renewables Act get another chance to make their case tomorrow. On Thursdays New York State Assembly will host an unprecedented mid-summer hearing on the BRPA. If passed and signed into law, the bill would greatly expand New York’s public power system and the state’s use of renewable energy sources. To discuss this, we speak with Sarahana Shrestha. She recently knocked off a 13-term State Assemblymember in her Hudson Valley district while running on the promise to f...
Jul 28, 2022•19 min
We look at the ongoing struggle to unionize workers at Starbucks franchises across the US. Starbucks Workers at 316 stores in 36 states have filed to unionize despite Starbucks’ aggressive anti-union campaign. So far, 201 Starbucks stores in 32 states have won union elections. Just 40 stores have lost an election. In retaliation, Starbucks has been union-busting. Among other tactics, they have fired worker-organizers and sometimes even closed down stores. Austin Locke, a key Starbucks organizer,...
Jul 28, 2022•12 min
We commemorate Michael Lardner, founder and driving force behind the Marxist Education Project who died last Wednesday at 68. He hailed from a family of Michigan autoworkers and came to New York as a young man to work on the grapes boycott called by the United Farm Workers. In that same era, he helped found the New York Marxist School which became the Brecht Forum. When the Brecht Forum closed down in 2014, Michael stepped into a moment of great sadness and disappointment and launched the Marxis...
Jul 28, 2022•4 min
First, we commemorate Michael Lardner, founder and driving force behind the Marxist Education Project who died last Wednesday at 68. He hailed from a family of Michigan autoworkers and came to New York as a young man to work on the grapes boycott called by the United Farm Workers. In that same era, he helped found the New York Marxist School which became the Brecht Forum. When the Brecht Forum closed down in 2014, Michael stepped into a moment of great sadness and disappointment and launched the...
Jul 28, 2022•56 min
New York’s supreme court, the New York Court of Appeals has taken a conservative turn in recent years. It’s been stacked with Andrew Cuomo appointees. The chief justice of the seven-member court, Janice DiFiore, a Cuomo appointee, unexpectedly announced she would be stepping down last week. The court is divided 4-3 in favor of a conservative block of which DiFiore is a member. As she leaves, there’s a chance for the court to go in a different direction. Our third guest, Matthew Thomas, has looke...
Jul 20, 2022•18 min
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has made homeless sweeps one of the defining features of his administration. The sweeps often end with people’s few worldly possessions being tossed in the back of a garbage truck. The City was at it again on Tuesday, dismantling a couple of encampments by the Manhattan Bridge. It also planned to oust a homeless encampment in Sara Roosevelt Park at the intersection of Forsyth and Canal. One abolitionist neighborhood resident, Isabel, has sought to aid the homeless ...
Jul 20, 2022•14 min
A report-back from The Indy's Amba Guerguerian. Sri Lanka, the teardrop-shaped island nation of 23 million people located just south of India. The country has been in the throes of an economic meltdown. A mass protest movement erupted in April; on July 10, thousands of demonstrators took over the presidential palace and sent the country’s leader Gotabaya Rajapaksa fleeing into exile. In now-iconic images, the protesters were seen taking selfies on the President’s canopied bed and splashing in hi...
Jul 20, 2022•13 min
We start with a report-back from The Indy's Amba Guerguerian. Sri Lanka, the teardrop-shaped island nation of 23 million people located just south of India. The country has been in the throes of an economic meltdown. A mass protest movement erupted in April; on July 10, thousands of demonstrators took over the presidential palace and sent the country’s leader Gotabaya Rajapaksa fleeing into exile. In now-iconic images, the protesters were seen taking selfies on the President’s canopied bed and s...
Jul 20, 2022•55 min
We speak with John Teufel, who authors a monthly column called "This Month in Eric Adams." He also wrote the cover article for our July print edition, “Welcome to the Fear Factory: How The Mayor, The Cops and the Corporate Media Make It Impossible To Solve New York City’s Many Challenges.”
Jul 13, 2022•13 min
How did we end up with the new city budget we have? And what will its impact be in the coming year, especially New York’s 1 million public school students? We speak with City Councilmember Shahana Hanif of District 39 in Brooklyn. She’s the co-chair of the City Council’s Progressive Caucus and was in the thick of this year’s drama around the budget.
Jul 13, 2022•21 min
We speak with Max Rivlin-Nadler of the Hell Gate news website about the dearth of lifeguards at city pools this summer and how that’s affecting ordinary New Yorkers who don’t have their own rooftop pools or private gym memberships.
Jul 13, 2022•56 min
First Segment: We speak with Max Rivlin-Nadler of the Hell Gate news website about the dearth of lifeguards at city pools this summer and how that’s affecting ordinary New Yorkers who don’t have their own rooftop pools or private gym memberships. Second Segment: How did we end up with the new city budget we have? And what will its impact be in the coming year, especially New York’s 1 million public school students? We speak with City Councilmember Shahana Hanif of District 39 in Brooklyn. She’s ...
Jul 13, 2022•56 min
