1 00:00:05,519 --> 00:00:08,119 Speaker 1: Hey, this is Emily, and this is and you're listening 2 00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:21,880 Speaker 1: to stuff Mom never told you. Today, in honor of 3 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:25,759 Speaker 1: Labor Day, we wanted to take a look back at 4 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:29,440 Speaker 1: the history of the labor movement here, especially in the 5 00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:33,960 Speaker 1: United States, as it relates to women. And what I 6 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:37,919 Speaker 1: have loved learning in preparation for today's episode is that 7 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:41,040 Speaker 1: women are not only a huge part of where the 8 00:00:41,159 --> 00:00:45,239 Speaker 1: labor organizing movement is headed in the United States, but 9 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:48,760 Speaker 1: also an instrumental part of labor's past. And so I'm 10 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:52,400 Speaker 1: really excited bridget to talk this through with you, Um, 11 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:54,360 Speaker 1: because I know you've at one point mentioned that you 12 00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:57,840 Speaker 1: were a part of a union yourself, right I was, Um, 13 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:00,960 Speaker 1: I was a part of a labor union for freelancers 14 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:04,800 Speaker 1: called the Freelancers Union. Shout out to them instrumental during 15 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:07,320 Speaker 1: my time as a freelancer. I don't think I would 16 00:01:07,319 --> 00:01:10,080 Speaker 1: have been able to navigate getting things like healthcare if 17 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:13,320 Speaker 1: not for them. So shout out to the Freelancers Union. Awesome. 18 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:15,800 Speaker 1: And I think it's important. You know, we talk a 19 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:19,320 Speaker 1: lot on this show about career stuff and and work 20 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:24,880 Speaker 1: relations today and just how fraught companies and employee employer 21 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:27,560 Speaker 1: relationships can really be today, especially when we were talking 22 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:30,840 Speaker 1: through things like the gig economy and its impact on 23 00:01:31,319 --> 00:01:35,800 Speaker 1: gender equality issues like equal pay. The list goes on 24 00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:39,960 Speaker 1: and around Labor Day every September. It's important to not 25 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:45,480 Speaker 1: forget just how significant the movement for workers rights has 26 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:51,040 Speaker 1: been in setting the standard for what we deem essential 27 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:55,360 Speaker 1: and expected for basic human rights of working class people 28 00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:58,279 Speaker 1: and working people. That's so true. I think it's easy 29 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:01,520 Speaker 1: to think of Labor Day as that holiday that marks 30 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:03,480 Speaker 1: when your kids have to go back to school, or 31 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:05,880 Speaker 1: there's gonna be a big sale on tires, so By 32 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:10,919 Speaker 1: Tires or whatever, um. But really Labor Day highlights these 33 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:13,120 Speaker 1: things that we think of as integral parts of how 34 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:16,880 Speaker 1: we work as Americans, things that we we love and 35 00:02:16,919 --> 00:02:19,120 Speaker 1: that we don't want taken away. And so it's really 36 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:21,919 Speaker 1: important to highlight how important these things have been. I'm 37 00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:25,080 Speaker 1: talking about things like the five day work week and weekends. 38 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:27,600 Speaker 1: Who doesn't enjoy a good weekend? Um. I know not 39 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:31,440 Speaker 1: everybody has the luxury of having weekends, particularly if you 40 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:34,600 Speaker 1: are a service job where you don't get Saturdays and 41 00:02:34,639 --> 00:02:36,840 Speaker 1: Sundays off as a given. Maybe you get Tuesdays and 42 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:39,680 Speaker 1: Thursday's off, or something like that UM the eight hour 43 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:42,880 Speaker 1: work day. You know this idea of eight hours of work, 44 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:45,520 Speaker 1: eight hours of sleep, eight hours of what you will, 45 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:47,679 Speaker 1: um this idea that you don't just have to work 46 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:51,440 Speaker 1: yourself to death and that's okay. UM. Safe for working conditions, 47 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:53,799 Speaker 1: making sure that you're not going into a workplace that's 48 00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:57,000 Speaker 1: unsafe or going to get you hurt or killed. In fact, 49 00:02:57,080 --> 00:02:59,400 Speaker 1: one of the practices that I was horrified to find 50 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:02,519 Speaker 1: out is that used to be normal and back in 51 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:06,800 Speaker 1: the Industrial Revolution era when we were packing people into factories, 52 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:12,119 Speaker 1: was in order to keep employer employees from taking too 53 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:17,480 Speaker 1: many unsanctioned, non sanctioned breaks, they would lock the doors 54 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:21,639 Speaker 1: and lock workers into the factory. And that changed after 55 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:26,720 Speaker 1: a factory fire combined with those locked doors led to 56 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:31,160 Speaker 1: a situation of complete and total horror and a tragic situation. 57 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:35,880 Speaker 1: That was the impetus for UH the labor organizers there 58 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:39,000 Speaker 1: to demand safer and fairer working conditions that didn't put 59 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:43,280 Speaker 1: workers lives at risk. So really, these are basic rights, UH, 60 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:45,840 Speaker 1: to be able to know that you're going to go 61 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:49,000 Speaker 1: to work and be safe and be protected as a 62 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:51,760 Speaker 1: worker who is a human being and deserves to have 63 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 1: that freedom and have that safety as a basic expectation. 64 00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:59,280 Speaker 1: And these things were hard funt people lost their lives 65 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:02,800 Speaker 1: fighting for these protections, and it's so important to lift 66 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:05,160 Speaker 1: that up and really protect them and make sure that 67 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:08,400 Speaker 1: we honor the fact that our fore mothers and forefathers 68 00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:10,320 Speaker 1: they fought for this stuff, and it's important to make 69 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 1: noise that we keep it and that we protect it exactly. 70 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:15,440 Speaker 1: And things that we take for granted now like minimum 71 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:19,560 Speaker 1: wage laws or child labor laws not being a thing. 72 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:22,640 Speaker 1: We can't have six year olds changing fimbles and our 73 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:26,640 Speaker 1: factories anymore. That's all thanks to the labor movement. So 74 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:31,120 Speaker 1: regardless of of what you feel about labor unions, which 75 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:33,680 Speaker 1: I think of the labor movement and labor unions, sometimes 76 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:36,520 Speaker 1: there's two different things or one that fits into the other. 77 00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:41,240 Speaker 1: Um these are these are protections for working people that 78 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:46,360 Speaker 1: companies and corporations were not going to volunteer. Okay, these 79 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:51,520 Speaker 1: were hard fought battles. So in starting this conversation and 80 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:53,880 Speaker 1: thinking about how those battles were really one, let's take 81 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:55,919 Speaker 1: it back. I'd like to go back to the beginning 82 00:04:56,680 --> 00:05:00,479 Speaker 1: of early early women who stood out out in the 83 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:03,880 Speaker 1: earliest part of labor organizing here in the United States. 84 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:07,360 Speaker 1: You know, the roots of women's involvement in the labor 85 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:12,679 Speaker 1: movement were formed during the reconstruction era following the Civil War. 86 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:16,160 Speaker 1: So it was really during that era when people were 87 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:20,279 Speaker 1: moving to cities because of the Industrial Revolution and innovations 88 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:26,880 Speaker 1: that were creating specialized workforces. Uh where you know, women's 89 00:05:26,960 --> 00:05:30,640 Speaker 1: work really did move out of the private sector into 90 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:33,039 Speaker 1: the public sphere for the first time in a large way. 91 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:35,599 Speaker 1: And again we're not talking about the Betty Drapers of 92 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:38,440 Speaker 1: the world. We're not talking about the sort of middle 93 00:05:38,440 --> 00:05:41,640 Speaker 1: class housewife, the white middle class housewife who was still 94 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:45,320 Speaker 1: on the whole being a full time homemaker. But really 95 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:49,760 Speaker 1: there were a lot of working class people, women and 96 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:55,000 Speaker 1: women of color, who made up eighteen percent of the 97 00:05:55,360 --> 00:06:00,760 Speaker 1: non agricultural workforce as of nineteen hundred. So is not 98 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:04,000 Speaker 1: but it's still that's a significant amount of women. That's 99 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:05,880 Speaker 1: a good chunk. And I also think it's important to 100 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:09,119 Speaker 1: note that we're talking about work like seamstresses and working 101 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:12,680 Speaker 1: in textile mills and laundry, still work that's considered sort 102 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:16,160 Speaker 1: of segregated from men's work, but driving into the workforce 103 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:19,320 Speaker 1: in these um in these kinds of ways. Exactly. So, 104 00:06:19,360 --> 00:06:21,160 Speaker 1: even though they were working to create the same kind 105 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 1: of end products, women's work was still very segregated from 106 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:30,239 Speaker 1: the men who were doing the more industrial type machine 107 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:33,960 Speaker 1: ing and riveting, you know, all the sort of metal 108 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:36,560 Speaker 1: work and things were very much more dominated by men 109 00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:44,080 Speaker 1: at the time. Still. Um So back in eighteen sixty nine, 110 00:06:44,760 --> 00:06:51,240 Speaker 1: that's when the first national women's labor union was formed 111 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:55,680 Speaker 1: in the United States, and it originated in Lynn, Massachusetts. 112 00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:59,040 Speaker 1: So shout out to what is that the Bay State? Yeah, 113 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:02,720 Speaker 1: so in mass its us its um, that's where women 114 00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:06,200 Speaker 1: came together to form the first national women's labor union, 115 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:10,800 Speaker 1: known as the Daughters of St. Crispin, which was actually 116 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:14,240 Speaker 1: a spinoff of the Knights of St. Crispin, which I 117 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:19,920 Speaker 1: find very interesting talk about internalized patriarchy and benevolent sexism. 118 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:23,960 Speaker 1: They had to classify themselves as daughters daughter warranting of 119 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:27,480 Speaker 1: protection because wouldn't what's the what's the female word for night? 120 00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:29,640 Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm pretty sure John of Arc was 121 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:33,040 Speaker 1: a night. Yeah. Side note, that's interesting how gendered the 122 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:36,960 Speaker 1: our language is, where you know, daughters versus knights. You know, 123 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:39,600 Speaker 1: what's the female version of this or that. It's interesting 124 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:42,520 Speaker 1: how it's not just an ungendered thing. Even in the 125 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:44,560 Speaker 1: name of their union. It sort of goes back to 126 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:47,800 Speaker 1: highlighting their status as women. Well, and it's one is 127 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:51,600 Speaker 1: much more patronizing, definitely fantalizing than the other. I mean, 128 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:54,640 Speaker 1: would you rather be a daughter or a knight? Right? Exactly? 129 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:58,080 Speaker 1: Maybe some nights are somebody's daughters too, but that's a 130 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:00,960 Speaker 1: whole other thing. So I I just wanted to highlight 131 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:03,760 Speaker 1: that because I thought it was significant. But Daughters of St. 132 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:06,960 Speaker 1: Crispin were a spinoff of the Knights of St. Crispin Um, 133 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:09,880 Speaker 1: which was a cobbler's union. So these were shoemakers that 134 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:13,880 Speaker 1: we're talking way early. This is even really pre pre industrial. 135 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:17,280 Speaker 1: And both of those unions were named in honor of 136 00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:22,320 Speaker 1: the patron Saint of cobblers Um. And what's interesting here 137 00:08:22,560 --> 00:08:26,000 Speaker 1: is that this is the first national women's labor union, 138 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:29,040 Speaker 1: which they had to create separately because the men weren't 139 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:34,520 Speaker 1: exactly welcoming women into their union. Uh, And they what 140 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:37,520 Speaker 1: was their first battle? What was their first battle? And 141 00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:40,960 Speaker 1: we still seem to be talking about today equal pay. 142 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:44,120 Speaker 1: It's absurd to me that as women we are still 143 00:08:44,120 --> 00:08:47,040 Speaker 1: fighting this battle that are our grandmothers and our grandmother's 144 00:08:47,040 --> 00:08:49,640 Speaker 1: grandmother's fought for equal pay for their for equal work, 145 00:08:49,840 --> 00:08:52,560 Speaker 1: and here we are in seventeen still fighting for it. 146 00:08:52,679 --> 00:08:55,720 Speaker 1: So Um, the Daughters of St. Crispin, they sought the 147 00:08:55,760 --> 00:08:59,160 Speaker 1: same equal pay as their male counterparts, staging successful protests 148 00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:02,240 Speaker 1: in eighteen Sick Sea and later again in eighteen seventy two. 149 00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:05,480 Speaker 1: The group dismantled in eighteen seventy three, and many of 150 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:09,120 Speaker 1: them ended up combining with the informing the Nights of Labor, 151 00:09:09,280 --> 00:09:11,840 Speaker 1: which basically brought the Male Labor Union and the Female 152 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:14,280 Speaker 1: Labor Union together. This was the first union that was 153 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:17,760 Speaker 1: formed to really activate and engage women in particular in 154 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:21,760 Speaker 1: the United States. So you know, this is some This 155 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:24,360 Speaker 1: is a battle. Equal pay is something we've been fighting 156 00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:29,400 Speaker 1: now for allowing time since eighteen sixty nine, and with 157 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:33,360 Speaker 1: mixed success, they were successful, which is great to hear, Um. 158 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:37,120 Speaker 1: But there was also one woman's story that really stood 159 00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:39,400 Speaker 1: out to me that I want to dive deep into 160 00:09:39,480 --> 00:09:43,280 Speaker 1: for a second. Here in this industrial age, in this 161 00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:48,480 Speaker 1: Civil War construction era, as all of these huge changes 162 00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:53,000 Speaker 1: are sweeping the nation, and as you might recall from 163 00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:55,920 Speaker 1: our history books in high school or middle school. This 164 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:59,800 Speaker 1: is also during the era of monopolies forming for the 165 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:02,800 Speaker 1: US big time in a huge way and setting us 166 00:10:02,840 --> 00:10:06,800 Speaker 1: up for the Great Depression. So in the early nine hundreds, 167 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:10,800 Speaker 1: with all of these sweeping economic socio economic changes happening 168 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:14,360 Speaker 1: in the labor force, one woman's story really stood out 169 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:17,760 Speaker 1: to me who became very much active and engaged and 170 00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:22,240 Speaker 1: involved in the labor movement and later in the socialist 171 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:25,920 Speaker 1: um movement in the United States. And that woman is 172 00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:31,840 Speaker 1: named Lucy Parsons. Now, Lucy Parsons is not the kind 173 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:36,240 Speaker 1: of person you picture when you think of labor union organizer, 174 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:41,559 Speaker 1: which still today has a very masculine, older white dude reputation. 175 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:45,200 Speaker 1: If if am I alone in that, I would say 176 00:10:45,240 --> 00:10:48,760 Speaker 1: definitely masculine. Even even the non white figures you think 177 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:52,040 Speaker 1: of as integral to the labor movement are mostly men 178 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:55,080 Speaker 1: women that you think of, even even if they're these 179 00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:58,960 Speaker 1: like total badasses, Allah, Lucy Parsons, don't you don't see 180 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:02,400 Speaker 1: them on T shirts, on posters and things like when 181 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:03,960 Speaker 1: this woman needs to be on a T shirt. So 182 00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:09,800 Speaker 1: I'm going, yeah, get get your losy Persons Organizer T 183 00:11:09,880 --> 00:11:14,920 Speaker 1: shirt ready, because this woman was born in Texas, and 184 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:18,439 Speaker 1: there's a little bit of historical controversy over her heritage. 185 00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:21,920 Speaker 1: Some people say that she was definitely born the daughter 186 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:27,160 Speaker 1: of slaves in the Deep South. UM. She in many 187 00:11:27,200 --> 00:11:32,120 Speaker 1: ways denied her African American heritage throughout the course of 188 00:11:32,120 --> 00:11:36,200 Speaker 1: her life UM, potentially for reasons related to wanting to 189 00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:41,760 Speaker 1: avoid over racism and discrimination UM, and instead identified more 190 00:11:41,840 --> 00:11:47,360 Speaker 1: prominently with her Native American heritage and Mexican ancestry. So, 191 00:11:47,679 --> 00:11:49,920 Speaker 1: like many of us in the United States, she has 192 00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:54,640 Speaker 1: a very diverse heritage that she draws upon throughout the years. 193 00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:57,520 Speaker 1: She actually used different surnames, different last names to sort 194 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:00,920 Speaker 1: of shield her identity, play up different parts for ancestry. 195 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:04,680 Speaker 1: But she ended up marrying a white dude from Texas, 196 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:07,520 Speaker 1: didn't she be? She did, and so it's important to 197 00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:10,400 Speaker 1: note that their marriage was illegal since he was white. UM. 198 00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:12,800 Speaker 1: They had to flee to Chicago to avoid Jim Crow 199 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:17,079 Speaker 1: air persecution. Albert sounds like a real badass himself. He 200 00:12:17,120 --> 00:12:19,280 Speaker 1: wrote for the Chicago Times during the Great Depression and 201 00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:22,040 Speaker 1: was part of the socialist and anarchist ideology coming to 202 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:26,600 Speaker 1: the USA. UM. But side note, uh Lucy was actually 203 00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:30,120 Speaker 1: considered to be more quote unquote dangerous than her husband 204 00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:34,000 Speaker 1: because she was a woman exactly. So Albert and Lucy 205 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:39,600 Speaker 1: Parsons created quite a name for themselves upon arrival in Chicago. 206 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:42,520 Speaker 1: Now this is at peak Great Depression times, so the 207 00:12:42,559 --> 00:12:45,199 Speaker 1: fact that Albert had a job writing for the newspaper, 208 00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:49,480 Speaker 1: the Chicago Times, um was sort of a godsend in 209 00:12:49,520 --> 00:12:52,000 Speaker 1: a lot of ways. So the fact that he ended 210 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:55,520 Speaker 1: up losing his job and being blacklisted from being involved 211 00:12:55,559 --> 00:12:59,520 Speaker 1: in any journalistic practices later on because of his radical 212 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:05,400 Speaker 1: political organizing goes to show you just how important these 213 00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:08,280 Speaker 1: fights were to Lucy and Albert because they were willing 214 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:13,280 Speaker 1: to risk losing their livelihood in the Great Depression to 215 00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:16,640 Speaker 1: stand up for what they thought was wrong, which is 216 00:13:16,679 --> 00:13:19,760 Speaker 1: how working people were being treated. So this all came 217 00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:24,520 Speaker 1: to a head, uh during a nationwide strike that took 218 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:30,040 Speaker 1: place related to the iron workers on the Baltimore, Ohio 219 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:35,880 Speaker 1: rail line. So national Railroads, Um, we're trying to reduce 220 00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:38,640 Speaker 1: wages and basically just cut wages for workers for no 221 00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:42,800 Speaker 1: other reason other than they could, and um, it was 222 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:47,040 Speaker 1: the Great Depression, so they could take advantage of that, uh, 223 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:49,480 Speaker 1: And they weren't. And labor organizers like Lucy and Albert 224 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:53,480 Speaker 1: weren't having it, so they joined the strike. They joined 225 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:56,520 Speaker 1: the sort of labor organizers as it all came to 226 00:13:56,559 --> 00:14:00,959 Speaker 1: a head in Chicago, and Albert Parsons ended up addressing 227 00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:05,600 Speaker 1: crowds of something like twenty five thousand people who were 228 00:14:06,400 --> 00:14:12,319 Speaker 1: there present during riots and picket lines and striking against 229 00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:15,840 Speaker 1: the Baltimore Ohio railroads. And this is really what put 230 00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:19,480 Speaker 1: Albert Parsons at the forefront of what was deemed the 231 00:14:19,640 --> 00:14:24,040 Speaker 1: anarchist movement in Chicago. I love that, um. I also 232 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:28,520 Speaker 1: love how this trajectory really put Lucy at the forefront 233 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:31,680 Speaker 1: of these movements too. After her husband was fired, she 234 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:34,240 Speaker 1: opened a dress shop to support her family, and together 235 00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:37,120 Speaker 1: with her friend Lizzie Swank, began hosting meetings for the 236 00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:40,840 Speaker 1: International Ladies Garment Workers Union, and she sort of became 237 00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:43,880 Speaker 1: became more and more involved in this union. She started 238 00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:46,760 Speaker 1: writing for the Socialist The Alarm. These are these great 239 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:49,600 Speaker 1: anarchist publications, so was clearly sort of getting more more 240 00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:53,080 Speaker 1: and more entrenched in all of this socialist anarchist ideology. 241 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:57,520 Speaker 1: Allah myself back when I was this is a hard 242 00:14:57,560 --> 00:15:01,160 Speaker 1: course she was really. I just I feel like I'm 243 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:03,480 Speaker 1: channeling her in a kind of way, because starting to 244 00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:06,120 Speaker 1: write for these sort of like super lefty publications and 245 00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:09,840 Speaker 1: getting involved in hosting meetings, that is so what you 246 00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:11,800 Speaker 1: think of when you think of someone becoming sort of 247 00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:16,040 Speaker 1: activated in their in their political ideology. Definitely, I mean, 248 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:19,520 Speaker 1: and she was no doubt a radical. They both were. 249 00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:24,240 Speaker 1: And basically when she started writing, Lucy Parsons was advocating 250 00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:28,760 Speaker 1: and making the case that only violent direct action or 251 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:32,880 Speaker 1: threat of such action would win the demands of workers. 252 00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:35,560 Speaker 1: So she was, you know, it could be said that 253 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:38,680 Speaker 1: she was inciting violence, and that's part of the reason 254 00:15:38,760 --> 00:15:42,240 Speaker 1: why the police force, who at the time were um 255 00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:45,280 Speaker 1: really freaking out about the influence of socialism in the 256 00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:49,680 Speaker 1: United States and really freaking out over how to manage 257 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:53,360 Speaker 1: mass worker strikes that were occurring as a result of 258 00:15:53,400 --> 00:15:56,280 Speaker 1: the Great Depression and as a result of these monopolies 259 00:15:56,320 --> 00:16:00,240 Speaker 1: trying to uh squeeze every last time out of their 260 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:03,800 Speaker 1: profit margins that they could. Um. She was freaking out 261 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:06,280 Speaker 1: the police force because she was not just a woman 262 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:09,920 Speaker 1: who refused to you know, stay stay in the kitchen 263 00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:12,440 Speaker 1: at home with intent to her children. But she was 264 00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:20,119 Speaker 1: writing these radical, sometimes like violent proclamations of workers uprising 265 00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:22,960 Speaker 1: in the newspaper. What I think is so fascinating about 266 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:25,560 Speaker 1: that that aspect of her life is I think that 267 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:28,800 Speaker 1: we think of people who advocate for social change, we 268 00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:31,120 Speaker 1: think of them when we think of them advocating for 269 00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:34,160 Speaker 1: non violence and peaceful resistance. They sort of get this 270 00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:37,280 Speaker 1: elevated status, but we forget that a lot of women 271 00:16:37,400 --> 00:16:40,560 Speaker 1: in history were the ones advocating for arming yourself, for 272 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:44,080 Speaker 1: violent revolution, for threats of violence, if it called for that. 273 00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:46,680 Speaker 1: I'm not saying that violence is a good thing right, 274 00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:48,840 Speaker 1: that we should be advocating for that, or you know, 275 00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:51,280 Speaker 1: I think it's important to note that we think of 276 00:16:51,400 --> 00:16:54,680 Speaker 1: men as the ones who were driving, you know, calls 277 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:57,560 Speaker 1: for violence and armed resistance, when in fact, in history 278 00:16:57,600 --> 00:16:59,360 Speaker 1: a lot of women have done the same. Yeah, but 279 00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:01,440 Speaker 1: it doesn't they're like no space in our brains to 280 00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:04,119 Speaker 1: hang that, you know what I mean, Like, there's it's 281 00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:06,320 Speaker 1: so bucks the norm of what we've been taught to 282 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:09,840 Speaker 1: think of women as that. It's I think it's hard 283 00:17:09,880 --> 00:17:13,639 Speaker 1: to reconcile, like where in our historical collective memory we 284 00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:16,480 Speaker 1: can put women like Lucy Parsons, Like where did like 285 00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:19,600 Speaker 1: she just so doesn't align with everything we expect from women, 286 00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:23,359 Speaker 1: and especially in her time, we think of women as peaceful, 287 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:28,119 Speaker 1: non violent peacemakers finding a way through without sort of 288 00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:30,600 Speaker 1: ruffling up too many feathers. But that could not be 289 00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:33,760 Speaker 1: further from the actual historical reality that women faced. True, 290 00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:38,600 Speaker 1: And when you're watching, you know, mass starvation hit the nation, 291 00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:42,439 Speaker 1: when you're watching something like the Great Depression take hold, 292 00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:45,480 Speaker 1: and companies are still using six year old kids to 293 00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:50,560 Speaker 1: change the bobbins in their huge machines, and people are 294 00:17:50,640 --> 00:17:53,320 Speaker 1: dying because they were locked into the factory that caught 295 00:17:53,359 --> 00:17:56,040 Speaker 1: on fire because God forbid they should take a break. 296 00:17:56,440 --> 00:18:00,399 Speaker 1: You know, it's it's I can understand where violent revolution 297 00:18:00,680 --> 00:18:03,320 Speaker 1: would become a tactic because it's not like there wasn't 298 00:18:03,359 --> 00:18:06,879 Speaker 1: blood on the hands of corporations. That's really what these 299 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:09,720 Speaker 1: folks were thinking at the time, And I completely understand that. 300 00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:12,439 Speaker 1: And it all it all got more violent, didn't it. 301 00:18:12,480 --> 00:18:14,560 Speaker 1: So it got it got so much more violent. I 302 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:17,240 Speaker 1: completely agree. I think that I'm not someone who was 303 00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:21,400 Speaker 1: who thinks violence is never the answer. I understand where 304 00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:23,800 Speaker 1: where these where the sentiments come from. So this did 305 00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:27,480 Speaker 1: get more violent. So as things in Chicago hit a 306 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:34,240 Speaker 1: boiling point following the Baltimore, Ohio Railroad General Strike. Um, 307 00:18:34,280 --> 00:18:37,280 Speaker 1: you know, this was really all about worker protections as 308 00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:41,119 Speaker 1: it came to eight hour work days and maintaining the 309 00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:43,360 Speaker 1: current wages that they were at. So they were asking 310 00:18:43,359 --> 00:18:45,240 Speaker 1: for that was the critical demand here, the eight hour 311 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:48,320 Speaker 1: work day and standing up for wages that they had 312 00:18:48,359 --> 00:18:52,400 Speaker 1: been historically paid. And this is when what's known as 313 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:57,440 Speaker 1: the Haymarket Uprising occurred, which was originally a peaceful, non 314 00:18:57,560 --> 00:19:01,600 Speaker 1: violent gathering that even included the Mayor of Chicago as 315 00:19:01,640 --> 00:19:06,800 Speaker 1: being present, when basically workers after striking had come to 316 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:12,960 Speaker 1: Haymarket Square to gather peacefully, right to demonstrate peacefully, and 317 00:19:13,119 --> 00:19:17,320 Speaker 1: after the mayor left the square, the police didn't keep 318 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:21,119 Speaker 1: that nonviolent action up and they say that there was 319 00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:25,480 Speaker 1: a bomb hurled their way. So the police maintained that 320 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:29,119 Speaker 1: there was a bomb someone in the crowd hurled at 321 00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:32,040 Speaker 1: the police, but nobody knows to this day who exactly 322 00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:35,440 Speaker 1: did it. And that's when things really got out of control. 323 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:38,280 Speaker 1: The police thought this happened, that things really got violent. 324 00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:40,600 Speaker 1: The police went on raids looking for any and all 325 00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:45,200 Speaker 1: anarchists and this, unfortunately is where Lucy Parson's husband Um 326 00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:47,800 Speaker 1: lost his life. Yeah, so he was brought in with 327 00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:52,840 Speaker 1: five other known anarchists and and labor organizers UH and 328 00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:56,960 Speaker 1: given what was deemed a really unfair trial UM that 329 00:19:57,080 --> 00:20:01,760 Speaker 1: resulted in five of them being victed as guilty for 330 00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:05,960 Speaker 1: inciting violence. Three of them ended up being hanged, including 331 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:10,680 Speaker 1: Albert parsons Um. Two went on to have serving long 332 00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:14,119 Speaker 1: jail sentences, and actually three of them never made it 333 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:17,400 Speaker 1: to their death sentence because one of them killed themselves. 334 00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:19,960 Speaker 1: That's so sad, I know. And what's worse is that 335 00:20:20,040 --> 00:20:23,520 Speaker 1: on her way to see her husband Albert for the 336 00:20:23,600 --> 00:20:27,280 Speaker 1: last time, Lucy had her children in tow because they 337 00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:30,680 Speaker 1: had kids and they she was bringing them to see 338 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:33,560 Speaker 1: their father one last time before he was going to 339 00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:39,960 Speaker 1: be hanged, and she was identified and she had long 340 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:44,240 Speaker 1: been UH stalked basically and monitored by the police because 341 00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:46,879 Speaker 1: of her connections to Albert, and so when she showed 342 00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:50,400 Speaker 1: up to wish her hasband a final farewell, the police 343 00:20:50,560 --> 00:20:55,679 Speaker 1: arrested her and detained her, stripped her down, and left 344 00:20:55,680 --> 00:20:58,840 Speaker 1: her in a jail cell naked with her children until 345 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:00,959 Speaker 1: after the hanging was her so she didn't even get 346 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:03,280 Speaker 1: a chance to say goodbye. That's so horrible to me 347 00:21:03,359 --> 00:21:07,200 Speaker 1: because It's like a final way of dehumanizing her and 348 00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:10,280 Speaker 1: robbing her of her humanity. Not enough that her husband 349 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:12,480 Speaker 1: is being killed, It's not enough that all of this 350 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:16,240 Speaker 1: is happening. They have to deny her that final last 351 00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:18,639 Speaker 1: thing that all humans would want us to say goodbye 352 00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:21,439 Speaker 1: to their loved one. Right. It was a total power 353 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:24,439 Speaker 1: move and it just goes to show you how ugly 354 00:21:26,119 --> 00:21:31,120 Speaker 1: the labor movement fights have been historically. These are not fights, 355 00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:33,040 Speaker 1: I mean fighting for an eight hour work days what 356 00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:36,280 Speaker 1: led to all of this violence. So just knowing that 357 00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:39,360 Speaker 1: this is where some of our basic rights around workers 358 00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:42,159 Speaker 1: rights in the United States come from give gives me 359 00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:46,119 Speaker 1: a lot of pause. And then knowing beyond that people 360 00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:48,360 Speaker 1: like Lucy Parsons, of which there are many, by the way, 361 00:21:48,359 --> 00:21:51,160 Speaker 1: there are many incredible women in the labor early labor 362 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:54,440 Speaker 1: movement history books that just do not get talked about enough. 363 00:21:54,480 --> 00:21:58,520 Speaker 1: But Lucy went on for decades more as a speaker 364 00:21:58,680 --> 00:22:01,919 Speaker 1: as a writer. She became more involved in the socialist 365 00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:05,959 Speaker 1: movement in the United States and in the um Socialist 366 00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:07,840 Speaker 1: Party in the United States. I mean she went on 367 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:11,800 Speaker 1: to continue to speak around issues relating to workers rights 368 00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:15,879 Speaker 1: and freedom of the press well into her eighties. So 369 00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:18,720 Speaker 1: she made this her life's work, and you know it 370 00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:22,000 Speaker 1: cost her a lot along the way. And again, I 371 00:22:22,040 --> 00:22:24,439 Speaker 1: think for me, when you I think back to our 372 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:27,360 Speaker 1: episode around the gig economy, when you think about how 373 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:32,320 Speaker 1: important and weighty and bloody and lethal these fights were, 374 00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:36,400 Speaker 1: the fact that in we don't cherish the eight hour 375 00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:39,359 Speaker 1: work day, we don't cherish what Lucy Parsons fault for. 376 00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:42,359 Speaker 1: We're fine with maybe eroding that a little bit and 377 00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:44,639 Speaker 1: sort of not we don't. We don't think of it 378 00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:48,000 Speaker 1: as precious and people lost their lives for it, and 379 00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:50,280 Speaker 1: we're being sold to us like it's being sold as 380 00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:52,640 Speaker 1: a as a gift or as a positive thing that 381 00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:55,320 Speaker 1: you what is that poster from five It was like 382 00:22:55,880 --> 00:22:58,760 Speaker 1: you eat coffee for breakfast, you never sleep, you know, 383 00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:01,040 Speaker 1: you always follow up on your follow up. Like that 384 00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:03,359 Speaker 1: kind of culture of overwork is now being repackaged as 385 00:23:03,359 --> 00:23:05,600 Speaker 1: a privilege. You're going to die behind the desk, Isn't 386 00:23:05,600 --> 00:23:10,439 Speaker 1: that great? I think you're so about that, Bridget, and 387 00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:13,040 Speaker 1: I think it's diver us to take a quick break. 388 00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:16,560 Speaker 1: Sound good? And when we come back, let's talk about 389 00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:21,879 Speaker 1: a couple of notable women in the labor movement in 390 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:24,320 Speaker 1: more recent history. We'll be right back after a quick 391 00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:35,760 Speaker 1: word from our sponsors, and we're back, and we are 392 00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:39,639 Speaker 1: talking about women in the labor movement, especially here in 393 00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:43,439 Speaker 1: the United States. And I want to zoom forward a 394 00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:47,800 Speaker 1: little bit further now into the post World War two era, 395 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:50,520 Speaker 1: because there were also a lot of women we would 396 00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:52,840 Speaker 1: love to talk about in terms of the more modern era. 397 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:56,199 Speaker 1: So post World War Two, what was going on in 398 00:23:56,280 --> 00:23:58,320 Speaker 1: terms of women in the work for US? Post World 399 00:23:58,359 --> 00:24:01,240 Speaker 1: War Two, everything kind of change. Rosie the Riveter, A 400 00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:03,760 Speaker 1: lot of women who entered the workforce and droves the 401 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:06,240 Speaker 1: first time. They weren't going back. There was no going 402 00:24:06,280 --> 00:24:07,760 Speaker 1: back to the way things were before, and they were 403 00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:10,080 Speaker 1: here to stay. And we talked earlier about how a 404 00:24:10,119 --> 00:24:13,320 Speaker 1: lot of these women were joining sort of female dominated 405 00:24:13,359 --> 00:24:16,080 Speaker 1: workplaces that were still segregated from what you might think 406 00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:19,480 Speaker 1: of as traditionally male spaces. But now those same women 407 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:24,120 Speaker 1: weren't joining what you might think of us traditionally male workspaces, 408 00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:28,919 Speaker 1: things like operating machinery, um being mechanics, etcetera. And so 409 00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:32,760 Speaker 1: women were really joining these fields a lot. And Rosie 410 00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:36,600 Speaker 1: the Riveter is that famous sort of female archetype of 411 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:40,120 Speaker 1: we can do it right with the mechanics shirt rolled up, 412 00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:43,200 Speaker 1: showing off her bicep, with that sort of hair tied 413 00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:47,119 Speaker 1: up in a bandanna. And what she really represented was 414 00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:50,600 Speaker 1: how patriotic it was for women to fill in and 415 00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:55,040 Speaker 1: contribute to the war effort through their labor outside of 416 00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:57,760 Speaker 1: the home. And so this is when the sort of 417 00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:03,919 Speaker 1: revolution of not just working class women but also um, 418 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:07,720 Speaker 1: the Betty Drapers of the world starting to get more 419 00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:11,480 Speaker 1: into the workforce outside of the homes. This is really 420 00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:14,159 Speaker 1: you know, it's you Once. Once that happened, it was 421 00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:18,240 Speaker 1: impossible for that to be undone, right, it just became 422 00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:20,639 Speaker 1: part of the culture. And really shout out to Rosie 423 00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:26,320 Speaker 1: the Riveter for launching a million easy feminist Halloween costumes 424 00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:28,680 Speaker 1: still true today, that's true. Have you ever been a 425 00:25:28,760 --> 00:25:33,720 Speaker 1: Rosie the River I have? Yeah, it's an easy How 426 00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:35,480 Speaker 1: many of y'all were, if you were tagg Us and 427 00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:37,520 Speaker 1: some photos, I'm sure a lot of y'all were. I'd 428 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:41,200 Speaker 1: love to see that on our Instagram. Um, but Rosie 429 00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:43,560 Speaker 1: was a fictional character, right, so she was she was 430 00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:46,840 Speaker 1: sort of a she was a symbol, an icon for 431 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:50,560 Speaker 1: women entering the workforce. Like you said, into those otherwise 432 00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:55,440 Speaker 1: traditionally male spaces, and what that meant was, like the 433 00:25:55,560 --> 00:25:59,280 Speaker 1: unions that had been present for those male spaces, women 434 00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:02,880 Speaker 1: were also a ring sort of industries that had more 435 00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:07,320 Speaker 1: labor organizing, and during this time women became much more 436 00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:12,240 Speaker 1: involved in the labor rights movement. One of those women 437 00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:14,560 Speaker 1: who we'd like to once again sort of zoom in 438 00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:20,600 Speaker 1: on Um was heavily involved when it came to the 439 00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:26,000 Speaker 1: National farm Workers Association. Right by his side throughout the 440 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:30,560 Speaker 1: entire uh founding of the National farm Workers Association was 441 00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:35,119 Speaker 1: Dolores Guerta, and she ended up becoming in nineteen the 442 00:26:35,119 --> 00:26:39,760 Speaker 1: first female leader of the United farm Workers, who combined 443 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:47,040 Speaker 1: forces to launch a very successful national boycott of California grapes. 444 00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:51,440 Speaker 1: Because the workers, the farm workers who were um really 445 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:55,119 Speaker 1: picking grapes in California and who were the labor force 446 00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:59,600 Speaker 1: behind the entire California grape industry, we're not being paid 447 00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:03,199 Speaker 1: what was equivalent to the national minimum wage. So that 448 00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:07,080 Speaker 1: was their basic demand, and Dolora Suerta was a huge 449 00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:12,399 Speaker 1: part of the massive strike that she really started and 450 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:15,399 Speaker 1: led with, saysar Travis. Something that I love about her 451 00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:19,080 Speaker 1: story is that we really even today base a lot 452 00:27:19,119 --> 00:27:21,920 Speaker 1: of what you know about labor organizing and political organizing 453 00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:26,040 Speaker 1: in general from the United farm Workers UM. Today. A 454 00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:28,679 Speaker 1: lot of organizers go through training at Harvard University with 455 00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:30,800 Speaker 1: Marshall Gans. Shout out to him, did you go through 456 00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:33,800 Speaker 1: that training? It was in that fellowship him talk about it. Yes, yeah, 457 00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:35,679 Speaker 1: well he talks about it because he actually was a 458 00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:40,480 Speaker 1: Harvard dropout, Marshal Gans who went to join Star Traves 459 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:43,520 Speaker 1: and Delora Suerta during the strike movement, and they were 460 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:46,800 Speaker 1: so successful because they were able to actually engage the public. 461 00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:50,240 Speaker 1: So they were able to take UH an issue related 462 00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:55,080 Speaker 1: to paying farm workers a basic living wage, which is 463 00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:56,959 Speaker 1: already on the books right. This was like the minimum 464 00:27:56,960 --> 00:28:00,200 Speaker 1: wage had already been established, but they were being being 465 00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:04,560 Speaker 1: skirted that basic human right or that basic workers right 466 00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:08,280 Speaker 1: UM through a few different loopholes. And what Marshall Gangs 467 00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:10,920 Speaker 1: always points to is the tactics that they engaged actually 468 00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:14,520 Speaker 1: made it very easy for the average American consumer to 469 00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:17,840 Speaker 1: understand how they can make a difference. And that's one 470 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:20,120 Speaker 1: of the basic lessons of organizing is tell me what 471 00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:22,920 Speaker 1: I can do and why it's significant. So people started 472 00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:28,119 Speaker 1: boycotting nationwide, the buying of California grapes in the grocery store. 473 00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:31,520 Speaker 1: That's so incredible because it really underscores the importance of 474 00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:35,959 Speaker 1: storytelling and making people see what's at stake, making them 475 00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:38,400 Speaker 1: feel it and see it and understand it in their bones. 476 00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:41,160 Speaker 1: Not just throwing a bunch of facts and figures about 477 00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:43,280 Speaker 1: why they shouldn't do this or why they shouldn't do that, 478 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:47,160 Speaker 1: but really illustrating, um, why, like what's at stake here 479 00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:48,920 Speaker 1: and how they're a part of it. And I just 480 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:51,960 Speaker 1: think it's so important to note that this is people 481 00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:55,280 Speaker 1: are still benefiting from that in the political organizing space today. 482 00:28:55,320 --> 00:28:58,040 Speaker 1: So this isn't just fights of yesteryear that it's good 483 00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:00,400 Speaker 1: to talk about. If you are an organizer coming up 484 00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:03,280 Speaker 1: right now in you are problem and you're doing it right, 485 00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:06,840 Speaker 1: you have probably been, um, you know, been a student 486 00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:10,680 Speaker 1: of this. This theory of organizing people power and change. 487 00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:13,120 Speaker 1: That's the name of the course that I took with Marshall, 488 00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:16,920 Speaker 1: and it was pretty profound, and it so reminds me 489 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:18,400 Speaker 1: of a lot of the things we talked about here, 490 00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:22,040 Speaker 1: which is knowing where your dollars are going right, knowing 491 00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:24,240 Speaker 1: the implication of what your dollars are going to support 492 00:29:24,640 --> 00:29:26,640 Speaker 1: and how you as a consumer can have an impact. 493 00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:30,600 Speaker 1: And the grape strike in the nineteen sixties really made 494 00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:34,840 Speaker 1: it clear how the average American consumer can stand up 495 00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:37,360 Speaker 1: for workers rights and stand up for their principles and 496 00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:40,960 Speaker 1: stand up for the minimum wage through buying or not 497 00:29:41,120 --> 00:29:44,160 Speaker 1: buying table grapes. And if Yeah, it's interesting that you 498 00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:46,600 Speaker 1: bring that up in that framing, because we were just 499 00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:49,080 Speaker 1: talking off air about how the same way a lot 500 00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:51,200 Speaker 1: of folks that you want to be like a good shopper, 501 00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:54,080 Speaker 1: you maybe don't shop at Walmart because they, you know, 502 00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:56,360 Speaker 1: fund all this bad stuff and it's bad for your community. 503 00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:59,080 Speaker 1: The same way that that is happening now that was 504 00:29:59,160 --> 00:30:02,040 Speaker 1: happening then with grapes. So it was people didn't buy 505 00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:04,360 Speaker 1: table grapes because they didn't want to go to support 506 00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:08,840 Speaker 1: awful things exactly. And this actually has a really happy 507 00:30:08,960 --> 00:30:11,479 Speaker 1: ending to it too, because Dolora Sweart that ended up 508 00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:16,760 Speaker 1: negotiating a contract between the United farm Workers Organizing Committee 509 00:30:17,040 --> 00:30:20,840 Speaker 1: and the Shenley Schlenley It's kind of hard to pronounce, 510 00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:24,960 Speaker 1: but Slenley Wine Company, uh, making it the first time 511 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:29,600 Speaker 1: that workers successfully bargained with an agricultural enterprise. So These 512 00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:33,080 Speaker 1: are workers who have historically been abused. Right. These are 513 00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:38,080 Speaker 1: workers who aren't always documented, who don't always have um 514 00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:42,320 Speaker 1: irreplaceable skills. Right. These are workers who are really used 515 00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:46,480 Speaker 1: and abused. And they did, in fact bus in workers 516 00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:50,720 Speaker 1: from across national boundaries during the strike when the American 517 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:53,760 Speaker 1: farm workers were not you know, picking grape. So there 518 00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:55,960 Speaker 1: were lots of tactics that were leving on both sides 519 00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:58,440 Speaker 1: of this fight. So the fact that Dolora Swearter was 520 00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:01,560 Speaker 1: able to successfully negotiate a contract and come to an 521 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:05,280 Speaker 1: agreement and and have that victory for working people on 522 00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:08,000 Speaker 1: on her record, and thanks to her hard work and 523 00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:11,600 Speaker 1: the organizing work up so many others, UM was a 524 00:31:11,680 --> 00:31:16,400 Speaker 1: huge deal for workers in the fields across the country. 525 00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:18,880 Speaker 1: So another thing I love about Huerta, who I could 526 00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:21,280 Speaker 1: talk about all day, is that even now, as a 527 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:24,800 Speaker 1: woman in her eighties, she's not retreated, she's not shut 528 00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:27,160 Speaker 1: up about this kind of stuff. She still continues to 529 00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:31,200 Speaker 1: be a badass civil rights and labor and immigrant activist today, 530 00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:33,920 Speaker 1: well in her eighties. UM. I was lucky enough to 531 00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:36,800 Speaker 1: meet her during my time on the Clinton campaign this 532 00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:39,880 Speaker 1: past year. I've seen her speak and she's amazing and 533 00:31:40,280 --> 00:31:43,760 Speaker 1: again she's just as fierce as she probably was in 534 00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:46,480 Speaker 1: her in her youth. She still speaks with such a 535 00:31:47,160 --> 00:31:49,400 Speaker 1: I mean, I have chills even just thinking about it. 536 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:53,680 Speaker 1: She still speaks with such intense fervor, and she makes 537 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:55,840 Speaker 1: you feel like she's speaking just to you. She makes 538 00:31:55,840 --> 00:31:58,960 Speaker 1: it so clear what's at stake. The way that she 539 00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:02,720 Speaker 1: frames these story raising these fights, it makes the hair 540 00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:05,320 Speaker 1: in the back of your next stand up. She's amazing, amazing. 541 00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:07,560 Speaker 1: I love it, and I love to hear how the 542 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:10,640 Speaker 1: women of the labor movement whose stories we've really delved 543 00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:14,600 Speaker 1: into today have long careers of fighting on half of 544 00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:17,560 Speaker 1: working people. And I know we we could go on 545 00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:19,480 Speaker 1: for forever because there are so many great women in 546 00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:21,880 Speaker 1: the labor movement. But one other woman who you just 547 00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:26,160 Speaker 1: reminded me of, who is still fighting hard on the 548 00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:29,520 Speaker 1: half of what she believes in, is a little Supreme 549 00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:33,440 Speaker 1: card Justice y'all might know as the Notorious r b J. 550 00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:39,360 Speaker 1: Notorious and Ruth Vader Ginsburgh, as it turns out, has 551 00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:41,360 Speaker 1: we We could do a whole episode on her, and 552 00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:45,000 Speaker 1: we probably Should's something we should do, um, But she 553 00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:48,040 Speaker 1: can't be glossed over in thinking through the women of 554 00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:51,480 Speaker 1: the labor movement here in the US because she founded 555 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:56,040 Speaker 1: the Women's Rights Project, a project of the a c 556 00:32:56,280 --> 00:33:00,920 Speaker 1: l U that was focused specifically on fight getting discrimination 557 00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:04,960 Speaker 1: towards women, and that's still alive and kicking today. Yeah, 558 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:07,360 Speaker 1: that's still alive today. It's still a pretty active project 559 00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:09,360 Speaker 1: of the a C l U. And I mean I 560 00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:11,280 Speaker 1: was looking at the different kinds of fights they have 561 00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:13,960 Speaker 1: been involved in at a legislative at a legal level. 562 00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:17,640 Speaker 1: It's massive. So definitely, if you're if you're interested in that, 563 00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:20,240 Speaker 1: this could be a whole episode of the various fights 564 00:33:20,240 --> 00:33:23,320 Speaker 1: and legal challenges that that project that she started have 565 00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:27,440 Speaker 1: done to stick up for women, women employees. So let's 566 00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:29,080 Speaker 1: take a quick break, and when we come back, we're 567 00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:32,240 Speaker 1: going to talk about women today and how we are 568 00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:36,840 Speaker 1: shaping the future of the American labor movement. We'll be 569 00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:48,360 Speaker 1: right back, and we are back, and let's talk a 570 00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:53,760 Speaker 1: little bit now about how women and labor are looking 571 00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:57,080 Speaker 1: ahead to the future. So to bring this whole conversation 572 00:33:57,120 --> 00:34:00,760 Speaker 1: into the modern day, it has to be noted that 573 00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:03,880 Speaker 1: as of two thousand fourteen, according to the Wall Street Journal, 574 00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:08,800 Speaker 1: UH union membership represented only eleven point one percent of 575 00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:11,880 Speaker 1: the workforce, which was down from twenty point one percent 576 00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:16,000 Speaker 1: in three And so when we think about the average 577 00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:21,319 Speaker 1: American union member, that sort of demographic is starting to 578 00:34:21,440 --> 00:34:26,600 Speaker 1: shift as the population of American work workers who are 579 00:34:26,640 --> 00:34:30,319 Speaker 1: represented by a union shifts as well. Totally. So, even 580 00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:34,800 Speaker 1: as men's union membership is falling, steeply of labor is women. 581 00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:37,280 Speaker 1: And if these projections continue, you will have a majority 582 00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:40,800 Speaker 1: female labor movement pretty soon. Um. According to the Center 583 00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:44,000 Speaker 1: for Economic and Policy Research, they predict that women will 584 00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:48,000 Speaker 1: be the majority of unionized workers. So really, women women 585 00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:50,840 Speaker 1: of color are are sort of the growing demographic of 586 00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:54,840 Speaker 1: folks who have union representation. But just because the percentage 587 00:34:54,960 --> 00:35:00,160 Speaker 1: of women making up the population of unionized workers is increased, ing, 588 00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:03,080 Speaker 1: don't let the data confuse you, because it's actually not 589 00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:08,000 Speaker 1: the number of union members that skyrocketing. Rather because labor 590 00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:10,920 Speaker 1: unions are representing a smaller and smaller proportion of the 591 00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:14,400 Speaker 1: overall American workforce and men are happen to be dropping 592 00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:18,719 Speaker 1: out of labor unions at higher rates. Women's percentage is increasing, 593 00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:22,719 Speaker 1: but not necessarily the sheer numbers. So in just to 594 00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:25,160 Speaker 1: give you sort of a perspective on this, nearly a 595 00:35:25,239 --> 00:35:28,920 Speaker 1: quarter of working men were represented by unions, now just 596 00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:31,200 Speaker 1: twelve point eight percent of them are, according to the 597 00:35:31,239 --> 00:35:34,480 Speaker 1: Bureau of Labor Statistics. Over the same time period, the 598 00:35:34,520 --> 00:35:38,480 Speaker 1: percentage of women represented by unions also fell to eleven 599 00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:43,200 Speaker 1: point seven percent from only fifteen point nine percent. But 600 00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:47,719 Speaker 1: there is one huge, notable exception to this, which is nurses. 601 00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:51,239 Speaker 1: The union, the National Nurses United, really stands out in 602 00:35:51,280 --> 00:35:54,120 Speaker 1: its expansion. It's the largest union of nurses in the 603 00:35:54,200 --> 00:35:57,440 Speaker 1: United States, and really they are this huge force to 604 00:35:57,480 --> 00:36:00,840 Speaker 1: be reckoned with in labor. Um. It's run almost entirely 605 00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:03,400 Speaker 1: by women and has a largely female membership, is added 606 00:36:03,440 --> 00:36:05,880 Speaker 1: twenty members since two thousand and nine and expects to 607 00:36:05,920 --> 00:36:08,840 Speaker 1: grow as the healthcare field continues to grow. Um the 608 00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:12,440 Speaker 1: Economist has called nurses quote the new auto workers because 609 00:36:12,440 --> 00:36:15,520 Speaker 1: of their growing strength and willingness to fight cuts. UM. 610 00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:17,200 Speaker 1: I don't know if any of you guys have nurses 611 00:36:17,239 --> 00:36:19,640 Speaker 1: in your families, or maybe you're a nurse yourself, but 612 00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:22,680 Speaker 1: I always thought that nurses like you do not mess 613 00:36:22,719 --> 00:36:25,759 Speaker 1: with nurses, and I think you see that in the 614 00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:28,319 Speaker 1: personality of nurses. I think and you also see that 615 00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:31,680 Speaker 1: in these fights. This Nurses Union is this massive massive 616 00:36:31,719 --> 00:36:35,200 Speaker 1: force of political power. Um, they are not a union 617 00:36:35,320 --> 00:36:37,920 Speaker 1: that you want to tangle with. There are so many nurses, 618 00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:41,840 Speaker 1: and nurses, unlike other professions, aren't so easily replaced. If 619 00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:44,000 Speaker 1: you're a nurse, you have training, you have schooling, you 620 00:36:44,040 --> 00:36:46,759 Speaker 1: have a real specialized field. And so I think these 621 00:36:46,760 --> 00:36:51,600 Speaker 1: are people who are largely female identified, who know that 622 00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:54,520 Speaker 1: they are not easily replaceable, and they are more than 623 00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:57,400 Speaker 1: happy to roll up their sleeves and and engage in 624 00:36:57,440 --> 00:37:01,760 Speaker 1: these really amazing fights. Definitely, and wall public employee unions 625 00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:05,520 Speaker 1: in states across the country like Michigan and Wisconsin, the's 626 00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:09,719 Speaker 1: right to work states have been decimated by laws that 627 00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:13,440 Speaker 1: are restricting their collective bargaining rights. The nurses were pushing 628 00:37:13,480 --> 00:37:17,480 Speaker 1: bills in the California state House that eventually became law. 629 00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:21,200 Speaker 1: So meanwhile, the auto workers were agreeing to have some 630 00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:24,200 Speaker 1: of their members pay cut in half. When it came 631 00:37:24,239 --> 00:37:31,680 Speaker 1: to fighting Arnold Schwarzeneger when he was the governator in California. Um, 632 00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:35,840 Speaker 1: you know, Schwartzeneger was pushing to cut patient to staff 633 00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:41,040 Speaker 1: ratios and the National Nurses United fought back and he 634 00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:44,359 Speaker 1: eventually dropped it. So they beat, you know, a fight 635 00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:50,600 Speaker 1: a basic wage and labor fight with the governator and one. 636 00:37:50,880 --> 00:37:53,240 Speaker 1: I love that, and I think that their their power 637 00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:55,839 Speaker 1: and their presence. It's kind of proof that unions may 638 00:37:55,880 --> 00:37:57,560 Speaker 1: not be on the way out. They might just look 639 00:37:57,560 --> 00:37:59,200 Speaker 1: a little different than what we're used to when I 640 00:37:59,719 --> 00:38:01,600 Speaker 1: love at nurses are at the forefront of this fight 641 00:38:01,680 --> 00:38:05,000 Speaker 1: because they really are talking about issues that we all 642 00:38:05,040 --> 00:38:07,120 Speaker 1: should care about, which is our health right now, this 643 00:38:07,200 --> 00:38:09,440 Speaker 1: needing is at the forefront of the fight for single 644 00:38:09,440 --> 00:38:12,640 Speaker 1: payer healthcare in California, and I just love seeing them 645 00:38:12,680 --> 00:38:15,879 Speaker 1: continuing to get into these amazing fights. Yeah, and it's 646 00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:19,200 Speaker 1: also interesting to hear from the leadership because the end 647 00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:23,960 Speaker 1: in you is pretty hardcore in their tactics. And when 648 00:38:24,239 --> 00:38:28,879 Speaker 1: hearing straight from their leadership, what um, what they sort 649 00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:32,440 Speaker 1: of turned to when talking about why it's easier for 650 00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:35,320 Speaker 1: them to go to the mat and fight really hard 651 00:38:35,840 --> 00:38:39,000 Speaker 1: is that they're not out for their own pay right, 652 00:38:39,040 --> 00:38:43,319 Speaker 1: They're not necessarily fighting for better pensions or wages. They're 653 00:38:43,320 --> 00:38:46,320 Speaker 1: out for their own personal safety while on the job 654 00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:49,120 Speaker 1: and the safety of their patients. Right. Because if you 655 00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:51,360 Speaker 1: go into a hospital, even if you're not a nurse, 656 00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:53,640 Speaker 1: even if you don't care about labor you don't want 657 00:38:53,640 --> 00:38:56,320 Speaker 1: your nurse to have a zillion other patients that she 658 00:38:56,360 --> 00:38:58,839 Speaker 1: has to worry about and be frazzled. Your health care 659 00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:00,840 Speaker 1: is on the line, and exact, really being able to 660 00:39:00,880 --> 00:39:03,400 Speaker 1: tell that story, just like you were telling talking about before, 661 00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:06,160 Speaker 1: really being able to sell why that's a story that 662 00:39:06,239 --> 00:39:08,120 Speaker 1: you should care about and be invested in, is a 663 00:39:08,160 --> 00:39:11,800 Speaker 1: great way to do it totally. And I think that tactic, 664 00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:15,520 Speaker 1: the use of effective storytelling and impact making clear like 665 00:39:15,600 --> 00:39:19,560 Speaker 1: what the impact is for workers rights, is such a 666 00:39:19,680 --> 00:39:23,960 Speaker 1: thread that we've seen continue from successful labor fights all 667 00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:27,880 Speaker 1: the way back in the Industrial Revolution through today. But 668 00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:30,520 Speaker 1: one of the things that you mentioned briefly earlier, which 669 00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:33,360 Speaker 1: it really stood out to me, which is the tactics 670 00:39:33,600 --> 00:39:37,280 Speaker 1: are changing. Some of the ways in which labor fights 671 00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:40,359 Speaker 1: are being waged don't quite look the same anymore. And 672 00:39:40,400 --> 00:39:44,040 Speaker 1: that can be said about strikes. A general strike like 673 00:39:44,160 --> 00:39:47,040 Speaker 1: the one that led to the haymarket uprising is not 674 00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:50,440 Speaker 1: exactly viable today. I don't think of the American workforce 675 00:39:50,560 --> 00:39:53,920 Speaker 1: is as willing to strike and pick it as we 676 00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:58,240 Speaker 1: might have used to have been. And instead, where the 677 00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:02,239 Speaker 1: rise of unions and strikes might be on the decline, 678 00:40:02,880 --> 00:40:09,160 Speaker 1: we have seen in very successfully executed labor disputes across 679 00:40:09,200 --> 00:40:14,560 Speaker 1: the country that workers are forming instead smaller work site 680 00:40:14,600 --> 00:40:19,880 Speaker 1: committees that basically used the expansive powers of the National 681 00:40:20,120 --> 00:40:23,799 Speaker 1: Labor Relations Board. Thank you FDR who set that up 682 00:40:23,880 --> 00:40:27,920 Speaker 1: during his administration to form these committees that really pushed 683 00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:33,120 Speaker 1: for singular issues. So there were workers in New Mexico 684 00:40:33,840 --> 00:40:37,360 Speaker 1: UH in Santa Fe in particular, that had a specific 685 00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:42,200 Speaker 1: UH issue around mandatory five am work meetings that were 686 00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:45,120 Speaker 1: held weekly, but nobody was being compensated for them. The 687 00:40:45,160 --> 00:40:47,719 Speaker 1: fact that they were asked to be in at the 688 00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:50,200 Speaker 1: office at the I think it was a car wash 689 00:40:50,360 --> 00:40:52,920 Speaker 1: at their car wash at nine am, but weren't allowed 690 00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:55,840 Speaker 1: to clock in until eleven am. Like they were basically 691 00:40:55,920 --> 00:40:59,080 Speaker 1: being underpaid and just totally not compensated for their time. 692 00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:04,239 Speaker 1: Elite Gale. If if one person, if one worker had protested, 693 00:41:04,280 --> 00:41:08,680 Speaker 1: if one worker had tried to fight on his or 694 00:41:08,680 --> 00:41:11,600 Speaker 1: her behalf against the employer, they could have easily been 695 00:41:11,640 --> 00:41:16,040 Speaker 1: fired and would have had less collective bargaining ability. But 696 00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:19,040 Speaker 1: instead they formed a small committee. They got in touch 697 00:41:19,120 --> 00:41:24,120 Speaker 1: with a local organizing group and they wrote a letter 698 00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:27,960 Speaker 1: as a small work site committee and because they did 699 00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:31,560 Speaker 1: that as a collective. When they were all fired for 700 00:41:31,640 --> 00:41:34,279 Speaker 1: doing that, they were able to go to the l 701 00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:38,160 Speaker 1: r B and take that employer to court. That employer 702 00:41:38,280 --> 00:41:40,799 Speaker 1: ended up having to pay them back wages and hire 703 00:41:40,840 --> 00:41:43,640 Speaker 1: them all back. Yes, and that's happened in lots of 704 00:41:43,719 --> 00:41:47,439 Speaker 1: different work sites throughout Santa Fe because it's spread like wildfire. 705 00:41:47,680 --> 00:41:51,319 Speaker 1: It's this small example of using collective bargaining even if 706 00:41:51,320 --> 00:41:53,600 Speaker 1: you're not in a union. You can still use the 707 00:41:53,640 --> 00:41:56,600 Speaker 1: expanse of powers of the National Labor Relations Board to 708 00:41:57,520 --> 00:42:01,440 Speaker 1: basically form work site committees and use collective bargaining tactics 709 00:42:01,440 --> 00:42:04,080 Speaker 1: even if you're not in what would look like as 710 00:42:04,080 --> 00:42:08,040 Speaker 1: a measurable traditional labor movement. What's fascinating is that you 711 00:42:08,080 --> 00:42:11,239 Speaker 1: actually find people doing that exact same thing, but they're 712 00:42:11,280 --> 00:42:14,600 Speaker 1: doing it online. There's an amazing website called coworker dot 713 00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:18,239 Speaker 1: org where folks who maybe don't have traditional union representation 714 00:42:18,480 --> 00:42:21,759 Speaker 1: can really band together and advocate for a specific cause. 715 00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:24,960 Speaker 1: And right now you're really seeing that with Starbucks employees. 716 00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:28,319 Speaker 1: So Starbucks employees are not unionized, but coworker dot org 717 00:42:28,400 --> 00:42:32,239 Speaker 1: has been at the forefront of getting different Starbucks employees 718 00:42:32,360 --> 00:42:36,320 Speaker 1: and baristas to advocate for for changes in their work situation. 719 00:42:36,560 --> 00:42:39,359 Speaker 1: And right now there is a hugely successful campaign where 720 00:42:39,360 --> 00:42:41,600 Speaker 1: a growing number of baristas are speaking out about the 721 00:42:41,640 --> 00:42:45,719 Speaker 1: lack of company morale and chronic understaffing at Starbucks and 722 00:42:45,800 --> 00:42:48,160 Speaker 1: things like having to make specialty drinks and the increased 723 00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:50,840 Speaker 1: use of mobile ordering, where they're saying, hey, we're not 724 00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:55,000 Speaker 1: able to give customers this relaxing coffee experience that you 725 00:42:55,040 --> 00:42:57,520 Speaker 1: want us to provide because you're not setting us up 726 00:42:57,560 --> 00:42:59,719 Speaker 1: for success in terms of staffing. And so if you 727 00:42:59,760 --> 00:43:01,799 Speaker 1: go to coworker dot org, they have a petition from 728 00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:05,720 Speaker 1: a barista, Jamie Pratt or that now has eighteen thousand, 729 00:43:05,840 --> 00:43:09,600 Speaker 1: sixty five signatures trying to get Starbucks to change their 730 00:43:09,640 --> 00:43:14,080 Speaker 1: staffing situation. So I just love this idea of labor 731 00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:17,760 Speaker 1: organized labor and this kind of bargaining maybe just looking 732 00:43:17,760 --> 00:43:19,799 Speaker 1: a little bit different than maybe it did during where 733 00:43:19,920 --> 00:43:23,520 Speaker 1: this day, yes, and women are still at the forefront 734 00:43:23,600 --> 00:43:26,600 Speaker 1: of it. Yes. So keeping in mind that if you 735 00:43:26,719 --> 00:43:33,239 Speaker 1: are feeling like you have grievance in your workplace, know 736 00:43:33,480 --> 00:43:36,000 Speaker 1: that there are ways to band together to fight back, 737 00:43:36,080 --> 00:43:40,840 Speaker 1: to channel your inner parsons or where at that, and 738 00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:44,319 Speaker 1: you know, continue the legacy of being outspoken women who 739 00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:46,359 Speaker 1: are standing up for working people. I think we need 740 00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:49,719 Speaker 1: that now more than ever. Uh, in an environment where 741 00:43:49,800 --> 00:43:54,360 Speaker 1: the traditional infrastructure of the labor movement might not cut 742 00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:57,120 Speaker 1: it anymore, might not be doing what we needed to do. So, 743 00:43:57,120 --> 00:44:01,560 Speaker 1: whether it's coworker dot org or forming us work site committee, 744 00:44:01,760 --> 00:44:04,360 Speaker 1: or just knowing your rights and talking to the folks 745 00:44:04,880 --> 00:44:08,680 Speaker 1: um who can help you band together and collectively bargain 746 00:44:08,800 --> 00:44:12,040 Speaker 1: or collectively organize, I think it's important for us to 747 00:44:12,080 --> 00:44:14,680 Speaker 1: continue to rise up and now that we have the 748 00:44:14,680 --> 00:44:16,880 Speaker 1: power to do so as workers of the world. I'm 749 00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:21,080 Speaker 1: about to start singing Hamilton's right now. I love it well. 750 00:44:21,120 --> 00:44:24,279 Speaker 1: I want to hear from our listeners, sminty listeners, tell 751 00:44:24,360 --> 00:44:27,840 Speaker 1: us what you think about today's conversation. Tell us what 752 00:44:27,880 --> 00:44:31,240 Speaker 1: are the women in the labor movement that really spoke 753 00:44:31,320 --> 00:44:34,320 Speaker 1: to you the most. What other great women's stories should 754 00:44:34,360 --> 00:44:37,000 Speaker 1: we dive deeper on. Because we know that women have 755 00:44:37,040 --> 00:44:40,120 Speaker 1: played an instrumental role in labor movements here in the 756 00:44:40,200 --> 00:44:44,319 Speaker 1: United States and of course in labor movements abroad as well. 757 00:44:44,640 --> 00:44:46,399 Speaker 1: We can't wait to hear what you have to say, 758 00:44:46,440 --> 00:44:49,000 Speaker 1: so send us a tweet at mom Stuff podcast tag 759 00:44:49,080 --> 00:44:51,759 Speaker 1: us on your Rosie the Riveter or Halloween costume or 760 00:44:51,840 --> 00:44:54,480 Speaker 1: anything else you want to share on Instagram at stuff 761 00:44:54,480 --> 00:44:57,279 Speaker 1: Mom Never Told You, And as always, we'd love to 762 00:44:57,280 --> 00:45:00,399 Speaker 1: have your thoughts and feedback in our inbox at mom 763 00:45:00,480 --> 00:45:04,759 Speaker 1: stuff at how stuff works dot com m