A UW Health nurse explains how the union fight is still on after the Wisconsin Supreme Court rules against the union in its Act 10 fight with the local healthcare giant, union-endorsed candidates are elected to the Group Health Collective board and a physician there speaks to Labor Radio as the GHC union recognition fight continues, labor voices are among those protesting at the Wisconsin state capitol after the US bombs Iran, the Wisconsin Alliance of Retired Americans meets at Madison's Labor ...
Jun 27, 2025•32 min
Labor is included in the Madison version of the national No Kings march and rally, workers at Madison's Group Health Cooperative who are trying to win a union rally on Madison's east side, and a GHC member describes a union-supporting member-worker slate for GHC board elections ending June 22, national labor leaders Randi Weingarten of the AFT and Lee Saunders of AFSCME quit the Democratic National Committee, we hear voices from a Juneteenth celebration in Sun Prairie, a lawsuit is filed to prot...
Jun 20, 2025•30 min
Workers at Group Health Cooperative rally to demand union recognition, leaders from the Meriter Hospital nurses and Harvard dining hall workers discuss their successful strikes and the power of solidarity in the workplace and in the community, the president of SEIU California is among union members targeted in protests against ICE abductions, we hear voices from Take Kids Fishing Day, a former Google employee fired for his activism has an update on that company's stake in military and policing p...
Jun 13, 2025•29 min
Meriter Hospital nurses in Madison represented by SEIU Wisconsin end their five-day strike and win a new contract, SEIU Wisconsin workers at Gundersen Health Care in LaCrosse have a new settlement, UAW Local 291 continues its strike a Cummins Incorporated in Oshkosh as the rank-and-file rejects the latest company offer, and workers at Anodyne Coffee joins the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Union after a unanimous NLRB-adjudicated vote. THIS IS A PLEDGE WEEK EDITION.
Jun 06, 2025•29 min
Nurses at UnityPoint Health Meriter Hospital in Madison go on strike, the rank-and-file of UAW Local 291 will look at the latest management proposals as the strike continues at Cummins in Oshkosh, Labor Radio talks to Christine Vitel of AFGE 777 representing TSA workers, unions organize to resist federal spending cuts, mental health workers of the National Union of Healthcare Workers in Southern California reach an agreement with Kaiser Permante after striking for over six months, an immigration...
May 30, 2025•29 min
The South Central Federation of Labor holds its annual Bean Feed to raise funds for its COPE, a Wisconsin expert discusses the likely effect of Medicaid cuts on working people in the wake of the federal bill granting huge tax cuts to the rich, nurses at Meriter Hospital in Madison talk to Labor Radio ahead of their strike starting May 27th, UAW Local 291 workers at Cummins in Oshkosh reject a tentative agreement and continue their strike, a tornado wipes out a union-represented business in Mayvi...
May 23, 2025•29 min
Workers at Group Health Collective in Madison are demanding union recognition from GHC management amidst charges of union busting, Meriter nurses have set a strike date and discuss that state of negotiations with Labor Radio, Voces de la Frontera and organized labor rally for indicted Milwaukee judge Hannah Dugan while federal ICE terror continues, Madison Starbucks workers join a nationwide unfair labor practice strike over a Starbucks dress code imposed outside of collective bargaining, Wiscon...
May 16, 2025•29 min
Labor Radio speaks to workers affected by federal cuts in the Americorps program and in public broadcasting, how US Labor Department cuts will affect workers, there are new directors of the Social Security system and of the postal service, a federal judge orders the release from ICE captivity of graduate student and SEIU member Rumeysa Ozturk and her union is there for her, the Rick Smith Show remembers the anniversary of the death of UAW leader Walter Reuther, and the United Way of Dane County ...
May 09, 2025•29 min
Multiple May Day marches and rallies in Milwaukee, Madison, and around the state continue in Madison on May 2, the South Central Federation of Labor holds its annual Workers Memorial Day remembrance, Marquette University faculty and staff and staff are demanding recognition of their union, proposed changes to Wisconsin's unemployment insurance system pose serious risks to workers' rights, we play an excerpt from Walt Whitman's 'We Hear America Singing,' a community services position has opened i...
May 02, 2025•29 min
Protests are quickly called in Milwaukee as the federal government arrests Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan for not submitting to ICE, UFCW members at a Minneapolis food co-op stand up for freedom of expression while that freedom comes under attack across the country, May Day and May 2 marches and rallies include a May 1 high school student-organized event in Madison that is supported by many union teachers, the AFL-CIO has announced a new initiative to help fired federal workers organize and fi...
Apr 25, 2025•29 min
Madison holds rallies for a union-sponsored call to support higher education and another for child care providers on Child Care Advocacy Day, UAW Local 291 holds a rally and march in Oshkosh as its strike against Cummins continues into its second month, about a third of Internal Revenue Service workers may be gone by the end of this year, a whistleblower at the National Labor Relations Board showed how Musk's DOGE is accessing privileged data on workers and unions, and we play a performance of t...
Apr 18, 2025•28 min
UnityPoint-Meriter nurses and their supporters rally for a fair contract and promise to strike if hospital management doesn't come through in bargaining, Labor Radio speaks to folks marching at Madison's version of the national Hands Off rally, a local worker wins a wage theft case but the company has yet to pay up, UAW President Shawn Fain address the union and the world about support for Trump's tariffs, the president of the University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty and staff union speaks on a r...
Apr 11, 2025•30 min
Labor Radio previews the April 5 Hands Off rally against the Republican administration in Washington and talks to a local organizer, the results of the April 1 Wisconsin statewide election are in with union-backed victories, how tariffs can be expected to affect the working class, union members are prominent among some high-profile ICE detention and deportation cases, employers at religion-funded groups are looking to get exemptions from unemployment taxes, and Madison protests the Trump executi...
Apr 04, 2025•30 min
While Trump takes away collective bargaining rights from even more federal workers, rallies are held at the Madison Labor Temple and at the main post office, and we speak to American Federation of Government Employees Local 1732 President William Townsend. The AFL-CIO has endorsements for the April 1 election in Wisconsin, we talk to the president of UAW Local 291 in Oshkosh about their strike at Cummins, Inc., UAW International President Shawn Fain speaks out against NAFTA, Florida's answer to ...
Mar 28, 2025•29 min
The Wisconsin Education Association Council talks endorsements for the April 1 statewide election, postal workers in Madison take to the street after the threatened Trump-Musk takeover, UAW Local 291 strikes Cummins Drivetrain and Braking Systems in Oshkosh, the Trump-Musk administration says that the federal collective bargaining agreement with the Transportation Security Administration just doesn't count any more so TSA workers with AFGE Local 777 and supporters speak up in Madison, the Flight...
Mar 21, 2025•29 min
The President of the United States or the world's richest man or somebody orders the US Postal Service to become part of the Commerce Department or even more of a private company or something, and they say that the collective bargaining agreement with workers of the Transportation Security Administration doesn't count any more because they say they can, and they keep firing people because they say they can and cutting federal programs because they say they can, while rank-and-file federal worker...
Mar 14, 2025•31 min
Hundreds including union members rallied and spoke at the state capitol for reproductive health rights and for electoral support of a labor-endorsed candidate in the April 1 Supreme Court race, some Democratic state legislators are holding "listening sessions" on the intricacies and problems of state budget proposals and some others have sponsored a labor-supported bill that could cover state budget gaps due to Trump-Musk federal funding cuts, and SEIU health care workers in contract talks at Co...
Mar 07, 2025•30 min
A federal judge backs a union lawsuit for now and issues a temporary restraining order halting a Trump-Musk order to fire about 200,000 US government workers, people march on US Senator Ron Johnson's Madison office to protest Medicaid cuts, Wisconsin teachers and public school advocates rally at the state capitol to demand that state legislators fund education, an early childhood education worker talks about the effects of a funding freeze on Head Start programs, the Oregon Nurses Association ha...
Feb 28, 2025•30 min
Absence of Madison bus drivers on February 20 looks like a labor action from drivers and mechanics working without a contract, SWIU Wisconsin rallies for Meriter nurses during their contract talks and for UW Health and GHC workers who are organizing, chaotic federal funding cuts affect Head Start, US Forest Service workers facing Trump purges speak at the Madison Labor Temple, the National Treasury Employees Union pushes back on the Trump-Musk cuts, the Labor Temple has a workshop on fighting ba...
Feb 21, 2025•31 min
Absence of Madison bus drivers on February 20 looks like a labor action from drivers and mechanics working without a contract, SWIU Wisconsin rallies for Meriter nurses during their contract talks and for UW Health and GHC workers who are organizing, chaotic federal funding cuts affect Head Start, US Forest Service workers facing Trump purges speak at the Madison Labor Temple, the National Treasury Employees Union pushes back on the Trump-Musk cuts, Amazon workers vote against a union in Carolin...
Feb 21, 2025•31 min
UW Health System nurses and supporters speak up before a Wisconsin Supreme Court hearing on their union's status under the Wisconsin Employee Peace Act, Labor Radio holds interviews before the Tuesday election for Wisconsin Director of Public Instruction, workers at a North Carolina Amazon facility are voting on whether they will be represented by Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment (CAUSE), Oregon nurses at eight hospitals run by Providence Health voted down a tentative ag...
Feb 14, 2025•29 min
A march and rally in Madison protests the Trump and Musk takeover of the government, Trump goes after the National Labor Relations Board, federal workers discuss the fear and uncertainty as Trump and Musk swing their axes, the National Association of Letter Carriers has voted against its tentative agreement with the US Postal Service, as their strike approaches one month 5000 nurses of the Oregon Nurses Association at Providence Health facilities across Oregon vote on a tentative agreement, the ...
Feb 07, 2025•31 min
The South Central Federation of Labor and Worker Justice Wisconsin plan trainings on workers rights and organized labor joining with immigrant workers ahead of expected Trump administration assaults, the Madison Labor Temple will be sold, a Mexican professor speaks on immigration and the US economy, Wisconsin construction giant Findorff is now under a full employee stock ownership plan, Trump goes after not only the NLRB general counsel but also a term-protected board member, Wisconsin Second Co...
Jan 31, 2025•29 min
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers gives his State of the State speech and we have excerpts on the budget, President Trump goes after the federal civil service starting with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion administrators and those who work from home, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul talks about the lawsuit filed by Wisconsin and other states against Trump's attempt to remove birth citizenship, a Peoples March was held in Madison and labor voices were there, Iowa considers rolling back child labo...
Jan 24, 2025•28 min
Labor Radio looks back at the close ties between the Reverend Martin Luther King and the labor movement and tells what is happening in the Madison area this holiday weekend, a nurse discusses the Oregon Nurses Association strike against Providence Health in that state, the SEIU rejoins the AFL-CIO, workers and community members rally at an Amazon-owned Whole Foods store in Philadelphia ahead of a unionization vote later this month, and South Central Federation of Labor President Kevin Gundlach t...
Jan 17, 2025•29 min
Labor Radio talks to workers and labor leaders as SEIU Wisconsin works to organize Group Health Collective while a GHC management complaint on the voting unit heads to a regional National Labor Relations Board hearing in Madison, South Central Federation of Labor President Kevin Gundlach tells what workers he talked to had to say during his recent trip to South Africa, an organizer discusses how the documentary "Union" shows the grassroots organizing of the first Amazon facility and talks about ...
Jan 10, 2025•29 min
Labor Radio reporters Carol Weidel, Keith Steffen, Jeannine Ramsey, and Greg Geboski, and engineer Joann Powers sit down in the studio to discuss stories aired in 2024 and what happened in the year in labor.
Jan 03, 2025•30 min
The WORT News Department has more on its investigation of University of Wisconsin payouts to consultants, particularly Huron Consulting, an arrangement that has long been under critical scrutiny by university unions. Also, Labor Radio interviews strikers as Madison joins the Christmas Eve unfair labor practices strikes held at Starbucks stores across the country. This broadcast show has a music portion. The full show will be available for a limited time under Friday, December 27, on the WORT arc...
Dec 27, 2024•22 min
In the wake of a shooting at Madison's Abundant Life Christian School, Labor Radio speaks to the Madison public teachers union president and to a former teacher about what it's like working where school shootings have become normalized. Also, workers at Amazon and Starbucks get into the holiday spirit with unfair labor practice strikes across the country, with New York City cops busting Teamster Amazon picket lines. Also the faculty and academic staff union president explains how a software upda...
Dec 20, 2024•29 min
An attorney addresses the immigrants rights group Voces de la Frontera ahead of the second Trump administration, the Wisconsin legislature wants to end work-at-home for state workers, the US Senate refuses to re-confirm National Labor Relations Board chair Lauren McFerran as an NLRB regional office rules that some reality show workers are employees, the Canadian government orders it striking mail employees back to work, US railroad workers promise tough negotiations after years of company- and g...
Dec 13, 2024•29 min
